MOSCOW (Reuters) - German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday he was unhappy about the state of relations between Moscow and Berlin and that both sides needed to work to improve it. The first visit to Russia by a German president since 2010 happened as relations remain strained over Russia s 2014 annexation of Crimea and a pro-Russian separatist uprising in eastern Ukraine, as well as German accusations of Russian meddling in its politics, something Moscow denies.        It s essential that we use this opportunity for us as presidents to continue our dialogue to try to improve our bilateral relations, the state of which we can t be happy about,  Steinmeier told Putin at the start of talks.   I m convinced that we need to resist the alienation that has grown up between our countries in recent years and to do that we need to continue the dialogue and need long-term attempts from both sides to find solutions in crises.  Steinmeier, a Social Democrat who previously served as foreign minister, has long called for increased engagement with Moscow.  His party, which will go into opposition after four years in a coalition government with Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives, wants a gradual easing of EU sanctions imposed on Moscow for its role in Ukraine. Steinmeier has also launched a disarmament initiative he hopes will spur Russia and the United States to embark on talks about reducing conventional weapons. Merkel, who has resisted moves to ease sanctions on Russia, is now trying to forge a three-way alliance with the pro-business Free Democrats and the environmental Greens.  A new Russia policy is unlikely to take shape until coalition negotiations begin in late November, but the Greens have generally backed a hard-line stance against Moscow for its annexation of Crimea and backing for the Syrian government.

Summary: जर्मन राष्ट्रपति ने पुतिन से कहाः हमें अपने संबंधों पर काम करने की आवश्यकता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Myanmar military, which has been accused of ethnic cleansing against the country s Muslim Rohingya minority, has been invited back as an observer in a major multinational military exercise next year led by the United States and Thailand.   Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Logan, a Pentagon spokesman, told Reuters that Thailand had invited Myanmar to take part in the annual Cobra Gold exercise, which involves thousands of U.S and Thai military personnel and participants from other Asian countries.  Myanmar had been invited to observe the humanitarian assistance and disaster relief portion of the exercise, Logan said.  A senior officer at the Directorate of Joint Intelligence of the Royal Thai Armed Forces told Reuters it was unclear whether Myanmar had accepted the invitation but Thailand was eager for them to join. Asked why Thailand decided to invite Myanmar despite concerns over the crackdown against the Rohingya and whether this issue was part of their deliberations, the official said:  That never came up in the discussions. We separated that issue (the Rohingya). We focus on training, on education, on military cooperation. That is our wish, to have Myanmar involved.   That is politics. We are soldiers. This is a military exercise,  added the official, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The Myanmar military did not respond to several requests for comment. When asked whether the U.S. military had attempted to apply pressure on Thailand not to invite Myanmar because of the international condemnation of its crackdown, the Pentagon declined to comment on internal deliberations.   Myanmar s military cracked down on Muslim Rohingya from Rakhine state following Rohingya militant attacks on an army base and police posts in August. The crackdown has caused around 650,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh in recent months.  The United States and the United Nations have described the campaign as ethnic cleansing of the stateless Rohingya people.  The Myanmar military has said its own internal investigation had exonerated security forces of all accusations of atrocities in Rakhine.   But earlier this week, the United States imposed sanctions on 13  serious human rights abusers and corrupt actors  including Myanmar general Maung Maung Soe, who oversaw the crackdown against the Rohingya.  Zachary Abuza, a professor at the U.S. National War College, said inviting Myanmar to the exercise was  outrageous  and sent the wrong message.  To invite them after what the U.S. government has labeled ethnic cleansing, when the Treasury Department just yesterday designated the commander for these egregious violations of human rights, just seems wrong, and that is putting it too mildly,  said Abuza, who focuses on Southeast Asia and security issues, including human rights. In the 2017 Cobra Gold exercise, 29 nations either participated or observed the exercise, including Myanmar. It included about 3,600 U.S. personnel. Cobra Gold is an annual exercise in Thailand. The 2018 war games are expected to be held in February. The United States and Thailand have carried out joint war games for decades, even though Bangkok s record on human rights and democracy has often been criticized in Washington. The U.S.-Thai relationship cooled when the Thai military took power in a 2014 coup but has improved under President Donald Trump. Two Reuters journalists were arrested in Myanmar on Dec. 12 and on Thursday appeared in court and have been remanded in custody. Reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been in detention for nine days with no detail on where they are being held. They have not had access to visitors or lawyers.

Summary: म्यांमार, कार्रवाई का आरोपी, U.S.-Thai सैन्य अभ्यास के लिए आमंत्रित किया गया


ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A hardline Pakistani Islamist group called off nationwide protests on Monday after the government met its demand that a government minister accused of blasphemy resign, following weekend clashes with police that paralyzed major cities. The cleric-politician leading the nearly three-week blockade of the capital, Islamabad, thanked the army chief for helping resolve the stand-off, raising questions about the military s role. The new ultra-religious political party Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan was protesting against a small change in wording to an electoral law changing a religious oath to a simple declaration, which it said amounted to blasphemy. The government climbdown will be seen as an embarrassment for the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party ahead of elections likely in mid-2018, and underlines the power of religious groups in the nuclear-armed nation of 207 million. Seven people were killed and nearly 200 wounded after a police bid to disperse protesters in Islamabad failed on Saturday, spurring demonstrators wielding sticks and iron rods to block key roads and motorways in other cities.  Our main demand has been accepted,  Ejaz Ashrafi, spokesman for Tahreek-e-Labaik, told Reuters, adding that part of the agreement was to free dozens of party workers arrested during the weekend crackdown.  Our workers  release is in process. Once that is done, we will leave.  At nightfall on Monday, the protesters were still in place. Law minister Zahid Hamid handed in his resignation to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi  to take the country out of a crisis-like situation , state-run news channel PTV said on Monday.  Government spokesmen did not respond to requests from Reuters for comment. The government called in the military to tackle the protests after a police operation failed, but there was no sign of troops around protest camps on Sunday. The military said the army chief in one telephone call had advised Abbasi to resolve the protests peacefully. Tehreek-e-Labaik leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi on Monday described the army s role in ending the standoff.  The honorable chief of army staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, sent his special envoys to us. We said we do not want to talk to the government; they are our murderers,  Rizvi said.  So the general took personal interest and sent his team, saying  we will become the guarantors, and have your demands fulfilled . So we said,  All right. That is what we want.     For more than two weeks, Tehreek-e-Labaik activists have blocked the main road into the capital, Islamabad, in a protest that blamed law minister Hamid for changing the wording in an electoral oath. The party says the words  I believe , used to replace the clause  I solemnly swear  in a proclamation of Mohammad as the religion s last prophet, amount to blasphemy. The government blamed the change on a clerical error and swiftly restored the original format. Insulting Islam s prophet is punishable by death under Pakistani law, and blasphemy accusations stir such emotions that they are difficult to defend against. Even a rumor of blasphemy can spark mob violence, as in the case of a university student beaten to death in April. Labaik, one of two new ultra-religious political movements to reach prominence in recent months, has made defending the blasphemy laws a campaign centerpiece with some success. The party won a surprisingly strong 6 percent and 7.6 percent share of votes in two recent by-elections. Islamist parties are unlikely to win a majority in the elections expected next August, but could play a major role.   Giving in to the group s demands had hit the government s reputation and credibility, said political analyst Hasan Askari.  These protests will have emboldened this group, and they are going to assert themselves and put up candidates wherever they can in the next general election, or at least they will oppose the PML-N,  he added. The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party accused the government of bungling the efforts to remove the protesters and called for early elections.

Summary: ईशनिंदा के दावे पर पाकिस्तानी इस्लामवादियों ने विरोध प्रदर्शन बंद किया, सरकार पीछे हटी


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel, the only big-name supporter of Donald Trump from the country’s technology hub, spoke on Thursday at the Republican National Convention to urge the country to discard petty cultural battles and turn its attention to solving the United States’ economic decline. Thiel offered a full-throated endorsement of Trump, echoing the Republican candidate’s themes of economic decline while  lambasting economic and foreign policies that have allowed the country to get embroiled in “stupid wars.” “Our nuclear bases still use floppy disks. Our newest fighter jets can’t even fly in the rain,” Thiel said on the final evening of the four-day convention in Cleveland. “Instead of going to Mars, we have invaded the Middle East.” A co-founder of PayPal and an early investor in Facebook Inc  who sits on that company’s board of directors, Thiel is well-known for contrarian and even eccentric views: a Libertarian who supports gay rights and legalizing marijuana, and who has proposed floating cities beyond the government’s reach while encouraging students to drop out of college and start companies. His support of Trump has been both a source of curiosity and the butt of jokes in Silicon Valley, where Trump’s anti-immigrant, anti-trade positions are regarded with horror. Many tech executives lean Democratic, and prominent Republican tech executives such as Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman have also rejected Trump. Thiel, who is gay, was expected to address gay rights in front of a political party whose platform rejects gay marriage and gay rights in general. He stopped short of such an appeal, however, addressing his sexuality only when saying: “I am proud to be gay. I am proud to be a Republican. But most of all, I am proud to be an American.” He is only the second openly gay man to address the Republican National Convention, CNN reported. “When I was a kid, the great debate was about how to defeat the Soviet Union, and we won,” Thiel said. “Now we are told that the great debate is about who gets to use which bathroom. This is a distraction from our real problems. Who cares?” Thiel said his support for Trump was based on the belief that the candidate could address the country’s economic decline. He cited the space program and other government technology achievements as examples of what has been lost. Thiel drew parallels between himself and Trump each as a “builder.” His family emigrated from Germany when Thiel was one year old, and arrived in Cleveland - the city hosting this week’s convention. When Thiel pointed that out, he got loud applause. Back then, Thiel said, “Opportunity was everywhere.” “In 1968, the world’s high-tech capital wasn’t just one city. All of America was high-tech.”

Summary: पीटर थिएल ने रिपब्लिकन सम्मेलन में कहा कि उन्हें 'समलैंगिक होने पर गर्व है'


SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean guards fired around 20 warning shots at North Korean troops searching for a defector who fled across the heavily militarized border between the two countries on Thursday, South Korea s Yonhap news agency reported.

Summary: दक्षिण कोरियाई सेना ने उत्तर कोरियाई सैनिकों पर चेतावनी देने के लिए गोलियां चलाईं जो दलबदलू की तलाश कर रहे हैंः योनहाप


MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court ordered the detention of a man on Saturday on suspicion of trying to intimidate cinemas into not showing a new film about the country s last tsar, Russia s news agencies said. Police said earlier they had opened a criminal case following a series of arson attacks in protest over the film  Matilda  by award-winning director Alexei Uchitel. The film tells the story of a love affair between the tsar, Nicholas II, and half-Polish ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya, who described the relationship in her memoirs. Interfax cited the court s spokeswoman as saying the man detained was Alexander Kalinin, leader of a radical religious group called  Christian State - Holy Rus , on suspicion of pressuring the cinemas not to screen the movie. The court ordered that he be held in custody until Nov. 22, without charge. Christian State vowed to set cinemas on fire if they screened  Matilda  and a series of arson attacks connected with the film have been reported across the country.   Matilda  is to be released internationally in late October despite protests from religious conservatives who are offended by what they regard as a disrespectful depiction of a man the Russian Orthodox Church regards as a martyr. Some cinemas have said they will not be showing the film because of threats that they had received.  A criminal case has been opened in connection with the fact (the cinemas) were forced not to show the film under the threat of violence against the spectators and causing harm and damage to the cinemas  owners , the police said in statement, not naming the film or those detained or charged. The police opened the case in connection with the arson attacks related to  Matilda , TASS news agency reported, citing a police source. On Thursday police said they had detained four men, including Kalinin, in connection with an arson attack related to the film. Three of the men had been charged with arson, including their alleged role in setting fire to two cars parked outside the office of Uchitel s lawyer. Other violent acts of protest against the film have included an arson attack on Uchitel s studio and a man driving a car into the facade of a cinema.

Summary: अंतिम ज़ार फ़िल्म के खिलाफ आगजनी हमलों के बाद रूसी संदिग्ध हिरासत में लिया गया


(Reuters) - U.S. Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence released a letter from his doctor on Saturday declaring Donald Trump’s running mate was in “excellent” health. “You are medically able to maintain your high level of professional work and your physical activity programs without limitations,” wrote Michael Busk of the St. Vincent Health, Wellness and Preventative Care Institute in Indianapolis. Trump, the Republican nominee for president, has released a note from his doctor saying that he, too, was in “excellent” health. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate in the Nov. 8 presidential election, and her running mate, Tim Kaine, also released medical information this week. The candidates moved to show their physical fitness to run for office after Clinton fell ill on Sunday at an event in New York City, prompting her campaign to disclose that she had been diagnosed with non-contagious, bacterial pneumonia. Busk said in the letter dated Thursday that he last examined Pence, who is the governor of Indiana, in July and has been his doctor since 2013. Pence exercises four days a week, mainly by biking, and takes no medications except for seasonal allergies. He had hernia repair surgery in 2015 and had basal cell carcinomas, a common form of skin cancer, removed in 2002 and 2010, the letter said. Pence’s father died of a heart attack, the letter said. But it said his father smoked cigarettes, while Pence neither smokes nor drinks alcohol. Pence’s cardiologists feel he has a “very good and strong heart,” the letter said.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन उपराष्ट्रपति पद के उम्मीदवार पेंस की तबीयत 'बहुत अच्छी' हैः डॉक्टर


(Reuters) - Backers of Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders have launched a campaign to win over some of his rival Hillary Clinton’s most prized supporters - the superdelegates that can make the difference in a tight race for the party’s nomination. But some emails, phone messages, and petitions sent by the Sanders boosters have backfired, upsetting superdelegates with their aggressive tone and leading many to dig in their heels for Clinton, according to interviews conducted by Reuters. The drive to flip Clinton’s super delegates has not been sanctioned by Sanders’ campaign, his spokesman Michael Briggs said. “Bernie’s campaign is focused on reaching out to all voters and earning delegates at primaries and caucuses,” he said in a statement, stressing that the Sanders campaign was not coordinating with supporters to contact superdelegates.  However, the unofficial push could complicate the U.S. Senator from Vermont’s efforts to woo the critical bloc in the coming months.  The effort has at times taken an angry tone, some of the messages reviewed by Reuters showed, reflecting the anti-establishment tinge of the 2016 presidential race where many voters are unhappy with Washington insiders. Some 85 percent of the 4,763 delegate votes to the Democratic National Convention that will decide who will face a Republican rival in the November election are determined by the results of states’ nominating contests. But the remaining 15 percent are held by superdelegates, who get to vote however they like - meaning they could hold the key to a tight contest. Superdelegates are made up of party leaders and elected Senators, members of Congress, and governors. The Democratic party adopted the system in the early 1980s as a way of giving party leaders more control over the nominating process, though they have yet to play a decisive role in a nomination. “The idea there is that you’ve got people who have a long view ... who have, arguably, the best interests of the party at heart,” said Terri Fine, a professor of political science at the University of Central Florida.  At least one superdelegate who has backed Sanders, however, finds the system that can overturn the will of regular voters flawed. “I’m a superdelegate to fight to end superdelegates,” said Larry Cohen, a former president of the Communications Workers of America union who volunteers full-time for the Sanders campaign.  Among super delegates that have tipped their hand so far, Clinton holds 453 to 20 for Sanders, according to the New York Times delegate tracker. Among regular delegates, won through nominating contests, Clinton leads by 91 to 65 after the South Carolina primary. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/1QHZCSj ) The Republican party does reserve slots for members of its national leadership, but they do not have such influence as Democratic superdelegates. Interviews with 10 of the 505 super delegates supporting Clinton Reuters has reached show that nine of them have been approached by people purporting to back Sanders, and nearly all were displeased by the tone of the outreach.  Isabel Framer of Ohio, a superdelegate for Clinton, for example, got a voice mail last week urging her to vote for Sanders “in accordance with the will of the people.”  On the voice mail, heard by Reuters, the anonymous male caller says: “I think it’s crap that you get to vote whichever way you want... I’ll be watching your vote.”  “I’m not easily frightened,” Framer told Reuters. “I’m not going to change a vote over threats.”  Akilah Ensley, a North Carolina superdelegate, said she started hearing more often from Sanders supporters after her name appeared on a Wikipedia list noting her support for Clinton. “Some of them were nice, and some were rather abrasive,” she said, adding “attacking my decisions is probably not the best way” to change her mind.  Luis Heredia, an Arizona superdelegate for Clinton, said he has received over 30 phone calls, emails and instant messages from Sanders supporters. “The majority of them are more angry, and the tone is more demanding,” Heredia said.  Lacy Johnson, an Indiana superdelegate backing Clinton, meanwhile, said he had received a mix of messages, including one that he said threatened: “we will make you pay.” Andres Ramirez, a political consultant in Las Vegas, Nevada, and a superdelegate supporting Clinton, said in the past campaigns would typically try to soft-sell their candidates rather than use pressure tactics. “The way this has gone down, in my experience, has never happened before,” said. While it is unclear who is directing some of the calls and emails to Clinton’s superdelegates, Seattle resident Justin Renquist has pushed for some of the outreach, although he stressed that such contacts needed to be civil. Renquist calls  himself part of the “Superdelegate Task Force Army” that rallies Sanders supporters to reach superdelegates via Facebook, Twitter and other means. “There are 3,000 in my group who have been slamming these guys as politely and nicely as we can...basically saying, look this system is undemocratic,” Renquist said.  On Friday, the group issued a statement saying it did not support, condone or engage in any communication with superdelegages that was “vulgar, threatening, harassing or intimidating.” Other Sanders fans, meanwhile, have gathered more than 300,000 signatures under at least two petitions on MoveOn.org, asking superdelegates to vote in line with the results of the primaries and caucuses.  A third petition, on the Democracy for America site, also asks superdelegates to follow state nominating contests. It was started by Robert Reich, who was a secretary of labor under Bill Clinton and who has endorsed Sanders. The Sanders campaign plans its own effort to win over superdelegates, possibly in April.  “That’s when we’ll make a much stronger approach to superdelegates,” said Tad Devine, a senior adviser to the Sanders campaign.  Clinton’s campaign, meanwhile, started officially courting superdelegates months ago. “We are proud to have the support of these Democratic party leaders, who have been in the trenches,” said Jesse Ferguson, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign.  (Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Tomasz Janowski) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.

Summary: सैंडर्स समर्थकों का क्लिंटन के सुपरडेलीगेट्स के साथ प्रेम प्रसंग उल्टा पड़ सकता है


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Puerto Rico, struggling to make its debt payments, outlined an increase in its financing gap on Monday, saying it now projects a $16.06 billion hole to fill, cumulatively, over the next five years, an increase of $2.1 billion from a September projection. The Government Development Bank said in an updated Fiscal and Economic Growth Plan (FEGP) released on Monday that at the request of creditors, it had added a 10-year financing gap projection. It now estimates its debt financing hole to grow to $23.9 billion through 2025. Facing over $70 billion in debt and a 45 percent poverty rate, Puerto Rico is trying to solve an economic crisis before it hits substantial debt payments in May and July. It has defaulted on some of its debt and is trying to persuade creditors to take concessions. The increases in the financing gaps occur, “even with the inclusion of economic growth and the implementation of all of the proposed measures in the FEGP,” the Government Development Bank (GDB) said in a separate statement. “Since the release of the FEGP in September, the fiscal and humanitarian crisis on the Island has worsened, and the Commonwealth is now facing even larger estimated financing gaps in both the near and long term. Specifically, the General Fund revenues included in the FEGP have decreased from a previous estimate of $9.46 billion for FY (fiscal year) 2016 to $9.21 billion,” the GDB said. GDB said that as of Jan. 10, it had $667 million of total net liquidity and $535 million in debt service payments during the next 6 months. “As previously indicated, we expect to sit with our creditors shortly and put forth a comprehensive restructuring proposal,” Melba Acosta, President of the GDB said in the statement. Puerto Rico, as a commonwealth of the United States with 3.5 million people, is not allowed to restructure its debt under existing bankruptcy law. It has sought unsuccessfully to convince the U.S. Congress to vote for a change. However, in one development highlighted on Monday by its representative to Congress, Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico’s hospitals will now receive the same basic reimbursement rate, known as the base rate, by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). This was included in the budget passed by the U.S. Congress in December. “The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that, as a result of this legislative change, Puerto Rico hospitals will receive $618 million more in federal reimbursement payments between 2016 and 2025, an average of over $60 million per year,” said a statement released by Pierluisi on Monday.

Summary: अद्यतन पुनर्गठन योजना में प्यूर्टो रिको ऋण वित्तपोषण अंतर व्यापकः सरकार


GENEVA (Reuters) - The head of the Nobel Peace Prize winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons said on Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un should know that nuclear weapons are illegal. Asked for her message to the two leaders, ICAN s Executive Director Beatrice Fihn told Reuters:  Nuclear weapons are illegal. Threatening to use nuclear weapons is illegal. Having nuclear weapons, possessing nuclear weapons, developing nuclear weapons, is illegal, and they need to stop.

Summary: आईसीएएन प्रमुख का ट्रंप और किम को संदेशः परमाणु हथियार अवैध हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There is disagreement within President-elect Donald Trump’s camp about the structure of the top U.S. intelligence agency when he takes office and it is unclear whether his national security adviser will prevail in advocating a reorganization, sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday. At issue is the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), which Congress created after the Sept. 11 attacks to better coordinate the efforts of U.S. intelligence agencies to protect the United States. Trump security adviser Michael Flynn, who as head of the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency under President Barack Obama sometimes clashed with other intelligence agencies, favors restructuring and paring back the ODNI, the sources said. But one source close to the Trump transition cautioned that the outcome is not certain. “There is a general consensus that the ODNI is too big and grown too fast. Some around him (Trump) believe this, but whether they plan to address it or how, I just don’t know,” said the source, who like others requested anonymity to discuss the Trump team’s internal deliberations. Flynn has had a fraught relationship with the ODNI. After complaints over his management style at the Defense Intelligence Agency, he was fired by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. A senior transition official told Reuters on Thursday that Trump has picked former U.S. Senator Dan Coats as his director of national intelligence - a sign Trump does not plan to try to eliminate ODNI. A U.S. official familiar with Coats’ views suggested he would not move precipitously to overhaul U.S. intelligence agencies. “Any possible reforms to the structure of the intelligence community, he would approach with great caution and responsibility,” the official said. Relations between Trump and U.S. intelligence agencies are extraordinarily rocky even before he is sworn in on Jan. 20. Trump disparaged the spy agencies’ conclusions that Russia was behind hacks of the Democratic National Committee and the campaign staff of his 2016 election opponent Hillary Clinton. Clapper told Congress Thursday he was “even more resolute” that Russia staged cyber attacks, rebuking Trump’s skepticism. Trump was scheduled to be briefed on Friday on an intelligence report that reaches that conclusion. Russia has denied the hacking allegations. “I think the president-elect is more skeptical of the conclusions that are drawn from the raw data rather than the intelligence in the raw data that’s provided,” Trump spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters on Wednesday. Coats, according to another U.S. official familiar with his views, said he knew a lot about Europe and Russia and may well “butt heads with Trump over Russia.” The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Trump is working with top advisers to restructure and reduce the size of the ODNI. That report largely reflects the views of Flynn, said a  source familiar with the retired lieutenant general’s thinking who declined to be identified. Trump spokesman Sean Spicer on Thursday rejected the report. “There is no truth to this idea of restructuring the intelligence community infrastructure,” Spicer said. “All transition activities are for information gathering purposes and all discussions are tentative.” A broad intelligence reorganization would require congressional action. Congress created ODNI in a 2004 law that makes it the parent of 16 other U.S. intelligence agencies, ranging from the CIA and the DIA to the eavesdropping National Security Agency and the State Department’s intelligence bureau. Flynn, who served as a top military intelligence officer in Afghanistan and Iraq, is said by those familiar with his views to favor major changes at the CIA as well. Both on the battlefield and at the DIA, Flynn pushed for intelligence personnel to be moved out of compounds and offices and closer to front lines, where Flynn believed they would be more effective intelligence collectors, said the source familiar with his views. Flynn would like the CIA to reorganize itself along these lines, the source said. The CIA was just reorganized last year, however, to bring frontline spies and backroom analysts together in new units focused tightly on specific issues or regions. Republican congressman Mike Pompeo, Trump’s choice for CIA director, is known to share Flynn’s views about the need for restructuring at CIA, the source said. But two other people familiar with Trump transition discussions said Pompeo has not been involved in talks about possible CIA reorganization.

Summary: जासूसी एजेंसियों को आकार देने को लेकर ट्रंप की टीम में मतभेदः सूत्र


GENEVA (Reuters) - Syrians in the besieged enclave of Eastern Ghouta are so short of food that they are eating trash, fainting from hunger and forcing their children to eat on alternate days, the U.N. World Food Programme said in a report on Wednesday. Since September, approximately 174,500 people in the town of Douma in the besieged zone have been forced to adopt emergency  coping strategies , the WFP report said.   This includes consuming expired food, animal fodder and refuse, spending days without eating, begging and engaging in high risk activities to get food. Moreover, many hunger-induced fainting episodes have been reported among school children and teachers.   At least four people have died from hunger, including a child in Douma who took his own life due to hunger, said the report, which was based on a mobile phone survey and information from contacts on the ground. Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have besieged rebel-held Eastern Ghouta since 2012 and Douma has not had a food aid convoy since receiving wheat flour rations in August. Although the area is traditionally agricultural, arable land on the outskirts of Eastern Ghouta is either on the frontline of the conflict or targeted by snipers, the report said.  Last week fighting destroyed recently distributed rations in a storehouse, exacerbating shortages. Although Damascus is only 15 km (10 miles) away, 700-grams (25 ounces) of bread is 85 times more expensive in Eastern Ghouta, the report said.   The situation is anticipated to deteriorate further in the coming weeks when food stock is expected to be totally depleted and household coping strategies will be highly eroded as a result.  Government restrictions meant WFP could only provide a fraction of the food needed. Family food baskets were being shared among six families and were reportedly the only source of food for many female-headed and destitute households, it said.   Some households are even resorting to rotation strategies whereby the children who ate yesterday would not eat today and vice-versa.  The report quoted a female head of household in Douma as saying she was forced to rotate rations between her 13-year-old daughter and her two- and three-year-old orphaned grandchildren.  My daughter cries every time I lock her door cause she knows today is not her turn and will sleep with an empty stomach,  she said.

Summary: सीरिया में फंसे लोग कचरा खा रहे हैं, भूख से बेहोश हो रहे हैंः संयुक्त राष्ट्र सर्वेक्षण


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The death of Cuba’s Fidel Castro is unlikely to slow down U.S. efforts to normalize relations with its Cold War enemy, the White House said on Monday, pointing to the economic impact of the diplomatic thaw already underway such as commercial flights and other growing ties. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters at a daily briefing on Monday than any move to unwind the normalizing relations between the United States and Cuba over the past two years “would deal a significant economic blow” to Cuban citizens.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउसः कास्त्रो की मृत्यु संभवतः क्यूबा की ओर अमेरिकी प्रयासों को धीमा नहीं करेगी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, on Sunday called Muslim fallen Army Captain Humayun Khan “an American hero,” and said that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims seeking to enter the country did not fit American values.  “I agree with the (Khans) and families across the country that a travel ban on all members of a religion is simply contrary to American values,” McConnell said in a statement.

Summary: मैककॉनेल ने सेना के कप्तान खान को 'अमेरिकी नायक' कहा


SYDNEY (Reuters) - An earthquake of magnitude 6.0 struck off the Kermadec Islands at a depth of 10 km on Monday, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. There was no tsunami warning.

Summary: केरमाडेक द्वीप समूह में भूकंप, सुनामी की कोई चेतावनी नहीं


(Reuters) - A group including former White House ethics attorneys will file a lawsuit on Monday accusing President Donald Trump of allowing his businesses to accept payments from foreign governments, in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit, brought by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, will allege that the Constitution’s emoluments clause forbids payments to Trump’s businesses. It will seek a court order forbidding Trump from accepting such payments, said Deepak Gupta, one of the lawyers working on the case. Trump does business with countries like China, India, Indonesia and the Philippines, the group noted in a statement. “When Trump the president sits down to negotiate trade deals with these countries, the American people will have no way of knowing whether he will also be thinking about the profits of Trump the businessman,” it said. Trump told reporters on Monday the lawsuit was “without merit,” when asked about the case after signing some executive orders in the Oval Office.  The White House referred questions to a law firm representing the president on ethics matters.  “We do not comment on our clients or the work we do for them,” said the representative of the firm, Morgan Lewis & Bockius. The case is part of a wave of litigation expected to be filed against Trump by liberal advocacy groups. It will be filed in federal court in Manhattan, Gupta said, and attorneys for the plaintiffs will include Richard Painter, a former ethics lawyer in Republican President George W. Bush’s White House. The impending lawsuit was earlier reported by The New York Times.  Eric Trump, one of Trump’s sons and an executive vice president of the Trump Organization, told the Times on Sunday that the company had taken more steps than required by law to avoid any possible legal exposure, such as agreeing to donate any profits collected at Trump-owned hotels that come from foreign government guests to the U.S. Treasury. “This is purely harassment for political gain,” Trump told the newspaper. The Constitution’s emoluments clause states: “No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”

Summary: विदेशी भुगतान को लेकर नैतिकता के वकील करेंगे ट्रंप पर मुकदमा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama intends to brief, rather than lobby, President-elect Donald Trump about the Obama administration’s policies during the transition of power, the White House said on Wednesday. Speaking at a news briefing, White House spokesman Josh Earnest added, however, that viewing some policies from inside the government “gives you a new appreciation for the benefits of those policies.” “President Obama is committed to an effective transition that helps bring President-elect Trump and his team up to speed on the current status of U.S. policy, including foreign policy,” Earnest said.

Summary: ओबामा नीतियों पर ट्रंप को जानकारी देना चाहते हैं, न कि पैरवी करनाः व्हाइट हाउस


NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York state’s governor Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders announced late on Thursday an agreement on a 2016-17 state budget that includes a plan to increase minimum wage toward $15  per hour and introduce paid family leave. “I believe that this is the best plan the state has produced in decades,” Cuomo told a news conference in state capital Albany late on Thursday

Summary: न्यूयॉर्क के राजनीतिक नेताओं ने 2016-17 राज्य के बजट पर समझौता किया


OSLO (Reuters) - Norway and Germany have agreed to develop a common missile for their navies based on Kongsberg Gruppen s Naval Strike Missile (NSM), the Norwegian defense ministry said on Friday. It did not say how long the development was expected to take.

Summary: नॉर्वे, जर्मनी एनएसएम प्रौद्योगिकी पर आधारित मिसाइल विकसित करेंगे


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Hundreds of suspected Islamic State militants surrendered last week to Kurdish authorities after the jihadist group was driven out of its last stronghold in northern Iraq, a Kurdish security official said on Tuesday. The suspects were part of a group of men who fled toward Kurdish-held lines when Iraqi government forces captured the Islamic State base in Hawija, the official told Reuters, asking not to be identified. The report of the Sunni Muslim militants fleeing, rather than fighting to the finish as in previous battles, suggested their morale may be crumbling, according to Hisham al-Hashimi, a Baghdad-based expert on Islamic State affairs.  They no longer seem to believe in the cause,  Hashimi, who met some of those who surrendered in the Dibis camp near Kirkuk, told Reuters.  He said they had fled to the Kurdish-held region to avoid summary executions at the hands of vengeful Sunni Arab tribesmen and Iranian-trained and armed Shi ite Muslim paramilitaries who assisted the Iraqi army s offensive on Hawija.   Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi released an audio recording two weeks ago that indicated he was alive, after several reports he had been killed. He urged his followers to keep up the fight despite setbacks in Iraq and Syria.  Approximately 1,000 men surrendered over the last week. Not all, however, are terrorists,  said the security official in Erbil, the northern Iraqi base of the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government. They handed themselves in to Kurdish Peshmerga forces near the Kurdish-held oil city of Kirkuk, east of Hawija, he said.  It s fair to say hundreds probably are ISIS (Islamic State) members, but that will be clear after the debriefs.   The town of Hawija and surrounding areas fell on Oct. 5 in an offensive by U.S.-backed Iraqi government Shi ite paramilitary groups known as Popular Mobilisation, as well as Sunni tribal combatants. Islamic State s last territory in Iraq is now a stretch skirting the western border with Syria, including the border town of al-Qaim. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday this last piece of territory would be recaptured before the end of the year, marking the final defeat of the militants in Iraq. The militants also hold areas on the Syrian side of the border, but are retreating there in the face of two sets of hostile forces - a U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led coalition and Syrian government troops with foreign Shi ite militias backed by Iran and Russia. Islamic State s cross-border  caliphate  effectively collapsed in July when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces captured Mosul, the group s de facto capital in Iraq, in a nine-month battle.

Summary: इराक में इस्लामिक स्टेट के सैकड़ों संदिग्ध आतंकवादियों ने आत्मसमर्पण कियाः सूत्र


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico’s Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray will travel to the United States this week to meet with local leaders and beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, the ministry said on Monday.  Videgaray will travel to Sacramento and Los Angeles on Sept. 11-12 and then to Washington D.C. on Sept. 13, the ministry said in a statement. Videgaray will meet with California Gov. Jerry Brown as well as other officials, the statement said.

Summary: मेक्सिको के विदेश मंत्री सपने देखने वालों से मिलने के लिए अमेरिका जा रहे हैं


BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Syrian Christian Orthodox family was turned back from Philadelphia International Airport after traveling to the United States from Lebanon, airport sources in Beirut said on Sunday. The family of six were denied entry under U.S. President Donald Trump’s new ban on nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries, including Syria, and flew back to Lebanon via Doha, the sources said.

Summary: फिलाडेल्फिया में सीरियाई ईसाइयों को अमेरिका में प्रवेश करने से मना किया गयाः लेबनानी हवाई अड्डे के सूत्र


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters reached an agreement on Friday to stop fighting in northern Iraq, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said, although the status of any ceasefire remained unclear. A spokesman in Baghdad for the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State earlier said the deal covered all fronts in the conflict, which broke out after Kurdish authorities held an independence referendum last month in areas of northern Iraq. However, he later told Reuters that the truce had not been officially agreed, while an Iraqi military spokesman declined to comment. According to the KRG, which is based in the Kurdish autonomous region s capital of Erbil, the ceasefire entered effect at 1 am on Friday (2200 GMT Thursday).  The ceasefire is holding,  Vahal Ali, the director of KRG President Masoud Barzani s media office, told Reuters.  Diplomatic efforts are underway to set a date for talks to start between Erbil and Baghdad.  U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi urging for dialogue to start, the Iraqi central government said in a statement. Iraqi government forces, Iranian-backed militias and Kurdish troops fought alongside each other to defeat Islamic State, also called ISIS, but the alliance has faltered with the militants largely defeated in the country. Iraqi government forces and the Tehran-backed Popular Mobilisation launched a surprise offensive on Oct. 16 in retaliation to the Sept. 25 independence referendum organized by the KRG.  The offensive aims to capture disputed territories, claimed by both the KRG and the Iraqi central government, as well as border crossings and oil facilities. The city of Kirkuk, which lies in an oil producing area,  fell to Iraqi forces without much resistance on Oct. 16 but the Peshmerga began to fight back as they withdrew closer to the Kurdish autonomous region. The most violent clashes happened in the northwestern corner where Peshmerga are defending land crossings to Turkey and Syria and an oil hub that controls KRG crude exports, located in the region of Fish-Khabur. Speaking in Geneva on Thursday, Tillerson said he was  disappointed that the parties have been unable to reach an entirely peaceful resolution  and that he had encouraged Abadi to accept the KRG  overtures for talks on the basis of the Iraqi constitution .  Both parties are talking with one another, but it is not an official ceasefire,  U.S. Colonel Ryan Dillon, the spokesman of the U.S.-led coalition in Baghdad, told Reuters, correcting an earlier statement in which he said a ceasefire had been agreed, In an interview with Kurdish TV Rudaw, Dillon called on the two sides to extend the deal to a complete halt in hostility and  refocus our efforts on defeating ISIS .  We are encouraging dialogue, we are trying to get the tensions down,  he added. Abadi demanded on Thursday that the Kurds declare their referendum void, rejecting the KRG offer to suspend its independence push to resolve a crisis through talks.  We won t accept anything but its cancellation and the respect of the Constitution,  he said in a statement during a visit to Tehran. The KRG proposed on Wednesday an immediate ceasefire, a suspension of the referendum result and  starting an open dialogue with the federal government based on the Iraqi Constitution . The fall of Kirkuk was a major blow to the Kurdish drive for independence championed by Barzani, as it halved the region s oil export revenue.

Summary: कुर्दिस्तान ने कहा, इराकी सेना और कुर्द पेशमर्गा युद्धविराम पर सहमत


(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump named on Tuesday two possible candidates to run the Federal Reserve over the next few years: current Fed Chair Janet Yellen and Trump’s economic adviser Gary Cohn, according to an interview with The Wall Street Journal.  Yellen, whose four-year term expires in February, “is in the running, absolutely,” to be renominated, Trump was quoted as saying. In addition, Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs president who is now director of the National Economic Council, “certainly would be in the mix,” he said. Trump said he probably would make the announcement at the end of the year, the paper reported. He was also quoted saying that there are "two or three" other contenders, though he declined to name them. on.wsj.com/2h0HcTb Any Fed nominee would need Senate confirmation. Trump’s comments could sharpen speculation over who will take the helm of the world’s most influential central bank, which is leading a global shift toward tighter monetary policy. Earlier this month, Politico reported that Yellen was increasingly unlikely to serve another term, while Cohn was the top candidate. Cohn, a Democrat who is managing the White House’s search for candidates, did not work on Trump’s campaign and only got to know him after the November election. “I’ve gained great respect for Gary working with him,” the paper quoted Trump as saying on Tuesday.  Yellen took over from Ben Bernanke as Fed chair in February 2014 with the U.S. economic recovery from the 2008 financial crisis still on shaky ground. As unemployment has since fallen, she has overseen four interest rate hikes and aims for at least one more before the end of this year.  “I like her. I like her demeanor. I think she’s done a good job,” Trump was quoted as saying. “I’d like to see rates stay low. She’s historically been a low-interest-rate person.”  During last year’s presidential election campaign, Trump had accused the Fed of keeping rates low to help President Barack Obama, saying the Fed had created a “false economy” and that rates should change. In an April interview with The Wall Street Journal, Trump did not rule out a second term for Yellen.

Summary: ट्रंप का कहना है कि येलेन और कोहन संभावित फेड अध्यक्ष चुन सकते हैंः डब्ल्यूएसजे


LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan and foreign special forces raided a Taliban prison in southern Helmand province on Sunday and rescued at least 30 people, according to army and provincial officials. Those rescued in the raid in Helmand s Nawzad district included four children under the age of 12 and two policemen, the officials said. Twenty of the people had been arrested by the Taliban in connection with helping the government or were family members of Afghan army and police. The reasons for the jailing of six of those rescued was still being investigated, said Abdul Qadir Bahadurzai, a deputy spokesman for the army s 215th Maiwand military corps. The Taliban said in a statement that the people rescued were criminals accused of robbery, kidnapping, personal disputes and other crimes and were awaiting trial.  There wasn t anyone belonging to the enemy in that prison and there wasn t enough security for it,  Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said in the statement.

Summary: अफगानिस्तान में तालिबान की जेल पर छापे में 30 से अधिक लोगों को बचाया गया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. senators said late on Wednesday that they had reached a bipartisan deal on legislation aimed at easing hurdles to getting self-driving cars to drivers. U.S. Senator John Thune, a Republican who chairs the Commerce Committee, and Senator Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat, said they had reached a deal on the legislation that would be voted on by the committee on Oct. 4. They said they planned to release the text on Thursday.  General Motors Co, Alphabet Inc, Ford Motor Co and others have lobbied for the legislation to speed deployment of self-driving cars without human controls by allowing federal regulators to approve their use if they deem them safe and barring states from blocking autonomous vehicles.    Current law prohibits vehicles without human controls. Two sources briefed on the matter said the bill would not include larger commercial trucks. “We expect adoption of self-driving vehicle technologies will save lives, improve mobility for people with disabilities, and create new jobs,” Thune and Peters said in a joint statement.  A similar bill that unanimously passed the U.S. House earlier this month also excluded vehicles above 10,000 pounds. Senate aides have been negotiating for weeks over trucks and language in the bill that could preempt some state court lawsuits over the safety of self-driving vehicles. The House measure, the first significant federal legislation aimed at speeding self-driving cars to market, would allow automakers get approval to sell up to 25,000 vehicles in the first year, rising to 100,000 by year three, as long as they could demonstrate the vehicles are at least as safe as current vehicles with human controls. States could still set rules on registration, licensing, liability, insurance and safety inspections, but not performance standards. Automakers would have to submit safety assessment reports to regulators, but the bill would not require pre-market approval of advanced vehicle technologies. Automakers and some technology companies hope to begin deploying driverless vehicles around 2020. They have been pushing for new federal rules making it easier to deploy self-driving technology, but some consumer groups have sought additional safeguards. States have issued a variety of rules in the absence of clear federal guidance, and automakers have complained that California’s rules are too restrictive. Advocates hope self-driving cars will reduce U.S. road deaths, which rose 7.7 percent in 2015, the highest annual increase since 1966. A 2014 study found U.S. traffic crashes cost society $836 billion annually, with human error behind 94 percent of crashes.

Summary: अमेरिकी सीनेटरों ने स्व-ड्राइविंग कार कानून पर समझौते की घोषणा की


(Reuters) - Drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc’s (VRX.TO) new chief executive, Joseph Papa, will receive a base salary of $1.5 million, the company said in a filing on Wednesday. Valeant said on Monday former Perrigo Co Plc (PRGO.N) head Papa would replace Michael Pearson as its CEO. Papa will also receive a cash payment of $8 million to make up for the equity-based compensation he forfeited in connection with the termination of his employment with Perrigo.  Valeant said in March Pearson was leaving the company, just three weeks after returning from a two-month medical leave.  Pearson's base salary for full-year 2014 was $2 million and his total compensation amounted to $10.3 million, according to a regulatory filing. (1.usa.gov/1aapxiM)

Summary: वेलेंट नए सी. ई. ओ. पापा को 15 लाख डॉलर का मूल वेतन देगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Monday he has chosen New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a rival turned ally, to lead his White House transition team as he prepares for the general election campaign. “Governor Christie is an extremely knowledgeable and loyal person with the tools and resources to put together an unparalleled Transition Team, one that will be prepared to take over the White House when we win in November,” Trump said in a statement.  Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee in the Nov. 8 presidential election, said Christie will oversee an “extensive team.” Christie endorsed Trump after dropping out of the 2016 Republican primary race in February and has been campaigning with the New York billionaire. Trump’s campaign said the candidate was moving into a general election mode and “implementing an infrastructure capable of securing a victory including making key hires, building a finance operation to benefit the Republican Party and unifying the party by working with several Republican leaders now voicing their support for Mr. Trump and his candidacy.”

Summary: ट्रंप ने एनजे गवर्नर क्रिस्टी को संक्रमण दल का नेतृत्व करने के लिए चुना


WASHINGTON/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A U.S. Energy Department report calls for incentives to boost coal-fired and nuclear power plants following a slew of closures that it said undermined reliable sources of electricity.  The findings of the study, released late on Wednesday, drew praise from the coal and nuclear industries and a mixed reaction from renewable energy groups - some of which said the report’s recommendations could help them too.  President Donald Trump has promised to revive the ailing coal mining sector but has also said he welcomes all forms of energy development to shore up domestic production. Energy Secretary Rick Perry commissioned the grid study in April to evaluate whether “regulatory burdens” imposed by past administrations, including that of former President Barack Obama, had hurt the grid by forcing shutdowns of baseload plants, which provide nonstop power, like those fired by coal and nuclear fuel. Obama introduced regulations intended to slash emissions of carbon dioxide, which are blamed for climate change. This accelerated the retirement of coal-fired power plants and bolstered the nascent solar and wind sectors, which depend heavily on weather conditions for their power output.     “It is apparent that in today’s competitive markets certain regulations and subsidies are having a large impact on the functioning of markets, and thereby challenging our power generation mix,” Perry said in a letter introducing the study. “It is important for policy makers to consider their intended and unintended effects.” The study, conducted by the department’s staff, said cheap natural gas was the main driver of the closure of baseload coal and nuclear plants, a trend that was putting areas of the country at greater risk of power outages.  The department recommended giving baseload plants pricing advantages for their power, as well as making it easier and cheaper to get permits to build more such projects. The report differed from an earlier draft, which had said big increases in renewable power generation remained possible without undermining grid reliability, and which did not propose added support for baseload producers.  The administration had not yet reviewed the earlier draft, which was written by department staff.  Some coal and nuclear energy groups welcomed the final report’s findings. “This is a much-needed, pragmatic look at U.S. electricity reliability and resilience, including the priority of maintaining critical clean baseload power as electricity markets change,” said Rich Powell, director of ClearPath, which advocates for nuclear and hydropower. Renewable fuels supporters had a wide range of reactions. The Center for Biological Diversity called the report’s recommendations “dangerously misguided,” and the Sierra Club also bashed the study. But America’s biggest solar and wind power associations said they felt the study contained elements that were positive such as not singling out renewable energy as a big problem. “The report did not... lay the demise of coal at the feet of renewable energy, and that is an important finding,” Abigail Ross Hopper, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, wrote in an email to the trade group’s members on Thursday. SEIA and other groups, including the American Wind Energy Association, said wind and solar could benefit from some of the report’s recommendations, such as a call for infrastructure development and market reforms. AWEA said in a blog post that technological advances could allow wind energy to provide reliability services, such as fast ramping to regulate the grid’s frequency signal.

Summary: अमेरिकी ऊर्जा विभाग ग्रिड अध्ययन ने कोयले, परमाणु ऊर्जा को बढ़ावा देने का आह्वान किया


HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe s new leader Emmerson Mnangagwa told a cheering crowd in Harare on Wednesday that the country was entering a new stage of democracy following Robert Mugabe s removal as president after nearly four decades in power. Mnangagwa returned to the country earlier in the day, having fled for his safety when the 93-year-old former leader sacked him as vice president two weeks ago to smooth a path to the succession for his much younger wife Grace.   The people have spoken. The voice of the people is the voice of God,  Mnangagwa told thousands of supporters gathered outside the ruling ZANU-PF party s offices in the capital.  Today we are witnessing the beginning of a new and unfolding democracy.  Zimbabwe was once one of Africa s most promising economies but suffered decades of decline as Mugabe pursued policies that included the violent seizure of white-owned commercial farms and money-printing that led to hyperinflation.  Most of its 16 million people remain poor and face currency shortages and sky-high unemployment, something Mnangagwa promised to address.   We want to grow our economy, we want peace in our country, we want jobs, jobs, jobs,  he told the crowd, adding:  The will of the people will always, always succeed.   Mnangagwa s dismissal was the trigger for the army and former political allies to move against Mugabe, feted as an independence hero when Zimbabwe broke with former colonial power Britain in 1980 but later feared as a despot. He resigned as president on Tuesday as parliament began an impeachment process, after resisting pressure to do so for a week. People danced in the streets following his downfall, some brandishing posters of Mnangagwa and army chief General Constantino Chiwenga, who led the takeover. Parliamentary speaker Jacob Mudenda said on Wednesday that Mnangagwa would be sworn in as president on Friday after being nominated by ZANU-PF to fill the vacancy left by Mugabe. The demise of Mugabe leaves Zimbabwe in a different situation to a number of other African countries where veteran leaders have been toppled in popular uprisings or through elections. The army appears to have engineered a trouble-free path to power for Mnangagwa, who was for decades a faithful lieutenant of Mugabe and member of his elite. He was also in charge of internal security when rights groups say 20,000 civilians were killed in the 1980s.  Mugabe has gone but I don t see Mnangagwa doing anything different from that old man. This is not the change I expected but let us give him time,  said security guard Edgar Mapuranga, who sat by a bank cash machine that was out of money. Restoring the country s fortunes and international standing will be a challenge. Alleged human rights abuses and flawed elections prompted many Western countries to impose sanctions in the early 2000s that further hurt the economy, even with Chinese investment to soften the blow. Staging clean elections next year will be key to winning fresh funds. Although Mnangagwa is almost certain to win any vote, German Chancellor Angela Merkel s personal representative for Africa, Guenther Nooke, said it would be a victory for Zimbabwe s  old elites  with the help of China.   He will manage to get elected using fear or many tricks, and then we ll have a succession from one tyrant to the next,  Nooke told broadcaster SWR2. China s foreign ministry said on Wednesday it respected Mugabe s decision to resign. In London, Prime Minister Theresa May said Britain wanted Zimbabwe to rejoin the international community now that Mugabe has resigned. Mnangagwa met neighboring South Africa s President Jacob Zuma before his return on Wednesday. Mugabe is one of the last of a generation of African leaders who led their countries to independence and then ruled, among them Ghana s Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta in Kenya, Felix Houphouet-Boigny in Ivory Coast and South Africa s Nelson Mandela. The African Union said he would be remembered  as a fearless pan-Africanist liberation fighter and the father of the independent Zimbabwean nation  and that his decision to step down would enhance his legacy.     But he also stifled democracy en route to winning a series of elections. His government is accused by the opposition and human rights groups of persecuting and killing opponents. The forced takeover of white-owned farms from around 2000 aimed to bolster his popular support but crippled foreign exchange earnings from agriculture. Mnangagwa s human rights record also stirs hostility in many Zimbabweans.  The dark past is not going to disappear. They will be following him around like a piece of chewing gum on his shoe,  International Crisis Group s southern Africa senior consultant Piers Pigou said.  For him to really be seen to be doing the right thing, he s going to have to introduce policies that fundamentally undermine the power structures of ZANU-PF, through a shift to genuine political pluralism and a decoupling of the party and state.

Summary: जिम्बाब्वे के नए नेता कहते हैं, "लोगों ने बात कर ली है।"


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not comment on the planned U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel s capital on Wednesday during his first public remarks since the White House confirmed the new policy. In his 21-minute speech to a Jerusalem diplomatic conference, Netanyahu outlined Israel s economic strengths and international outreach, emphasising the importance of ties with the United States. But he did not mention the U.S. President Donald Trump s Jerusalem announcement, due later on Wednesday.

Summary: ट्रंप के पहले भाषण में नेतन्याहू के जेरूसलम जाने पर कोई टिप्पणी नहीं


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State is building up its defenses in a pocket of territory on the Syrian-Iraqi frontier, the U.S.-led coalition said on Friday, in an anticipation of assaults by Syrian and Iraqi forces aiming to snuff out the jihadists  last stronghold.     Iraq launched an offensive on Thursday to capture the last Iraqi territory held by Islamic State, the areas of Rawa and al-Qaim, a town just over the border from the Syrian town of Albu Kamal, which is also held by the jihadists.  Right now, we are seeing the buildup of (IS) defenses in both al-Qaim and in Albu Kamal,  Colonel Ryan Dillon told Reuters by phone, adding that Islamic State s leadership had shifted to Albu Kamal from towns deeper into Syria. Albu Kamal is in the crosshairs of both the U.S.-led coalition and the Syrian government and its Iranian-backed militia allies. Pro-Damascus forces, who are also backed by the Russian air force, said on Thursday they would march on the town  having driven IS out of a base some 70 km (40 miles) away. Dillon said Albu Kamal was  definitely  a target for the coalition but said it would be up to the leadership of the coalition s Syrian allies, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to take the decision on a ground assault. The SDF s priority for now was to shore up its control over the al-Omar oil field, Syria s largest, which was captured from IS on Sunday, he said.  Right now, we have to consolidate that area in and around Omar oilfield and the area that led up to it to make sure that that area is secure, and then it ll be the SDF leadership decision if they can allocate the right resource to adequately push into Albu Kamal,  he said. Assisted by the coalition, the SDF is fighting IS on the eastern banks of the Euphrates, whereas the Syrian army and its allies, supported by Russian air power, is largely fighting on the western banks of the river. Dillon said IS fighters were now  much different fighters  from the ones the U.S.-led coalition fought leading up to the battle for Mosul, the Iraqi city recaptured from IS in June.  We have not seen this fight to the death that we saw in Mosul, and I think it is attributed much to their morale,  he said.

Summary: इस्लामिक स्टेट ने सीरिया-इराक सीमा पर अपना आखिरी गढ़ बनाया


LONDON (Reuters) - Iran will strengthen its missile capabilities and not seek any country s permission, President Hassan Rouhani said on Friday rejecting demands from U.S. President Donald Trump.  Rouhani spoke at a military parade where an Iranian news agency said one of the weapons on display was a new ballistic missile with range of 2,000 km (1,200 miles), capable of carrying several warheads. The Tasnim news agency, which quoted the head of the Revolutionary Guards  aerospace division, Amirali Hajizadeh, gave few other details of the missile. Iranian state television showed footage of the firing of  Khoramshahr missile  but did not specify if the test-fire happened on Friday or in the past. At the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump said Iran was building its missile capability and accused it exporting violence to Yemen, Syria and other parts of the Middle East. He also criticized the 2015 pact that the United States and six other powers struck with Iran under which Tehran agreed to restrict its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions. In a speech broadcast on state television, Rouhani said:  We will increase our military power as a deterrent. We will strengthen our missile capabilities ... We will not seek permission from anyone to defend our country.  All countries in the world supported the nuclear deal in the United Nations General Assembly this year ... except the United States and the Zionist regime (Israel),  Rouhani said. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said that the agreement must be changed or the United States could not stick with it. Iran has said its nuclear accord cannot be renegotiated. The prospect of Washington reneging on the deal has worried some of the U.S. allies that helped negotiate it, especially as the world grapples with North Korea s nuclear and ballistic missile development. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said tensions on the Korean peninsula underlined the importance of the Iranian deal, and that China would continue to support it. Trump put Iran  on notice  in February for test-firing a ballistic missile and imposed new economic sanctions in July over its missile program and  malign activities  in the Middle East. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that the U.S. imposition of unilateral sanctions on Iran was  illegitimate and undermines the collective nature of international efforts.

Summary: ट्रंप की अवहेलना करते हुए ईरान ने कहा, मिसाइल क्षमताओं को बढ़ाऊंगा


LONDON (Reuters) - Britain s environment minister and prominent Brexiteer Michael Gove said he hoped Theresa May would remain prime minister after party divisions over her future burst into the open on Friday, revealing a plot by up to 30 lawmakers to unseat her.  Theresa does have the qualities to be Prime Minister, she s been an excellent prime minister, I hope she carries on as our Prime Minister for years to come,  Gove told BBC radio.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के मंत्री गोवे का कहना है कि उन्हें उम्मीद है कि मे प्रधानमंत्री बने रहेंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When implementation of the Iran nuclear pact was looming and a secret prisoner swap deal in the works, Obama administration officials called the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in early January to ask him to put a hold on calls for sanctions over Tehran’s missile test, the senator told Reuters. Senator Bob Corker is the first U.S. senator to confirm reports by Reuters that there was a link between the Obama administration’s delaying sanctions over Iran’s ballistic missile program and efforts to free Americans held prisoner there. He had hoped that the ballistic sanctions would be imposed before the nuclear sanctions were lifted. “I just thought that that was a better place for us to be, that we were going to be firm in implementing the deal,” he told Reuters at the U.S. Senate late on Tuesday. However, he added, “Once I knew that the hostages were wrapped in all of that, I realized it may be difficult for that to occur.” Sources described to Reuters before the prisoner deal was announced how Secretary of State John Kerry and other officials scrambled to ensure that the possibility of new sanctions over Iran’s ballistic missile program did not derail the effort. Corker had been pushing hard for the administration to impose new sanctions since Tehran’s ballistic missile tests last year. After the sanctions were almost announced and then delayed on Dec. 30, he issued a strong statement on Jan. 1 calling for action. Corker was then contacted by President Barack Obama’s administration about the link to American prisoners and decided to hold off on more calls for sanctions, for a time. “I didn’t know who we were swapping for, but I knew that the ballistic missile sanctions were being held until such a time that we could work something out on the hostages,” Corker said. “Once you know that we’ve got an opportunity to get four Americans out, obviously we turn the volume off,” he added, A Swiss plane left Iran on Sunday with Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post’s Tehran bureau chief; Saeed Abedini, a pastor from Idaho; and Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine from  Michigan, as well as some family members. Another released Iranian-American, Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, stayed behind. A fifth prisoner, American student Matthew Trevithick, was released separately on Saturday. The U.S. Treasury Department said on Sunday after the release that it had imposed the sanctions on 11 companies and individuals for supplying Iran’s ballistic missile program.

Summary: अमेरिकी सीनेटर को ईरान के प्रतिबंधों, कैदियों के बीच संबंध के बारे में बताया गया था


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missiles program required a “determined response,” and that the era of “strategic patience” with North Korea’s government had ended. “The era of strategic patience with the North Korean regime has failed. ... Frankly, that patience is over,” Trump said in the White House Rose Garden in a joint appearance with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. “We’re working closely with South Korea and Japan, as well as partners around the world, on a range of diplomatic, security and economic measures to protect our allies and our own citizens from this menace known as North Korea,” Trump said.

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया के साथ रणनीतिक धैर्य खत्म हुआः ट्रंप


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday warned that a dangerous financial bubble has formed in the technology industry - and Silicon Valley responded with a collective eye roll.  In a Reuters interview, the New York billionaire said technology start-ups that had never earned a profit were able to sell shares at very high prices, likening the situation to the overheated stock market in 2007. “I’m talking about companies that have never made any money, that have a bad concept and that are valued at billions of dollars, so here we go again,” Trump said. Many tech watchers have repeatedly warned of a tech bubble as the number of private companies valued at $1 billion or more - known as unicorns - have soared to 163, according to venture capital research firm CB Insights. So Trump’s declaration, in the eyes of Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, was nothing new. Investors and others took to Twitter to poke fun at Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again!” by repeating the phrase, “Make Bubbles Great Again.”     “FINALLY someone calls it out,” Marc Andreessen, a general partner at the prominent venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, tweeted, mocking Trump. In the interview, Trump said the high valuations that tech start-ups are able to fetch today remind him of 2007, when an overheated housing market helped drive U.S. stocks to unsustainable valuations before the bubble burst. “You have a stock market that is very strange,” the presumptive Republican nominee said. “You look at some of these tech stocks that are so, so weak as a concept and a company, and they’re selling for so much money. And I would have said can that ever happen again? I think that could happen again.” Some startup founders rejected Trump’s generalization that all companies are burning cash and overvalued; certainly many of them are, and in the last several months a correction has started to rectify years of exuberant investments.  Still, other companies continue to raise money successfully and turn profits. “So far he has been saying dumb things but they seem to be getting dumber and dumber,” Vivek Wadhwa, an entrepreneur and Stanford University fellow, told Reuters. “I was going to tweet (the comments) while calling Peter Thiel and saying, ‘Here is your buddy.’” Thiel, an influential investor well-known for his contrarian ideas, is one of the few Silicon Valley leaders to openly support Trump. Thiel was not immediately available for comment. “There is nothing in his (Trump’s) track record to show that he has been out here and met with any technology leaders and knows this industry and knows about innovation,” said Aaron Ginn, co-founder of the Lincoln Initiative, a community that promotes libertarian and technology-friendly values.  Which is ironic, Ginn said, given how much technology - especially Twitter - has helped Trump’s campaign. “He says things and does things that are made for entertainment,” Ginn said. Read more on our interview with Trump here

Summary: सिलिकॉन वैली ने तकनीकी बुलबुला चेतावनी को लेकर ट्रंप का मजाक उड़ाया


LIMA (Reuters) - Peru s center-right President Pedro Kuczynski is considering appointing Vice President Martin Vizcarra as his new prime minister in a new Cabinet he will swear in on Sunday to replace the one Congress ousted, two government sources said Friday. Kuczynski is also eyeing Claudia Cooper as his new finance minister, one of the sources said. A third source also confirmed Cooper, currently deputy economy minister, was being considered. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because a final decision had not been made. Early on Friday, the opposition-ruled Congress voted 77-22 to dismiss Kuczynski s Cabinet in a motion of no-confidence, deepening a political standoff that could lead to new legislative elections if lawmakers reject the next cabinet. The crisis forced Kuczynski to cancel his trip to New York City, where he planned to dine with U.S. President Donald Trump and deliver a speech at the United Nations General Assembly. It also threatens to stifle a nascent economic recovery in the world s No.2 copper producer following a sharp slowdown early this year. Accusing the opposition of undermining his policies, especially on education, Kuczynski told Peruvians in a televised speech that he would keep working to better their lives.  That s the mandate I have until July 28, 2021 and I won t retreat one millimeter in that goal,  said Kuczynski, a former Wall Street banker who narrowly won last year s election. Kuczynski did not announce any cabinet appointments. While he cannot rename outgoing Prime Minister Fernando Zavala as prime minister, Kuczynski can reappoint other cabinet members. Zavala, who faced criticism that he was too much of a technocrat, has doubled as finance minister since Congress ousted the previous finance minister in June. Lawmakers with the opposition party Popular Force warned Kuczynski not to fill his cabinet with old faces. The rightwing populist party has a majority in Congress and is led by Kuczynski s defeated electoral rival, Keiko Fujimori, the eldest daughter of jailed former autocratic president Alberto Fujimori.        Appointing Vizcarra, a former governor of a mining region, could gratify lawmakers who have called for a cabinet with more political experience. But it might also anger Popular Force after the party pressured Vizcarra to resign as transportation minister over a proposed change to an airport contract. Cooper was also criticized by the opposition in the controversy. New legislative elections might provide an opening for anti-establishment parties with support for Kuczynski s government and Congress falling in opinion polls. Despite the sparring, Kuczynski and Fujimori both support free-market economic policies. Central Bank President Julio Velarde made a rare plea for politicians to refrain from fuelling tensions further.  I hope that doesn t happen. We re talking about adults, aren t we?  Velarde told reporters at an event Friday.

Summary: मंत्रिमंडल के हटाए जाने के बाद पेरू के कुजिंस्की की नजर उपराष्ट्रपति को प्रधानमंत्री बनाने परः सूत्र


DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - The long and sometimes arcane ritual of electing the next U.S. president begins on Monday in more than 1,100 schools, churches and libraries across Iowa, a state that wields political influence far greater than its small size. After more than a year of up-close and personal evaluation of the candidates, Iowans will gather with their neighbors on what promises to be a cold wintry night to kick off the state-by-state process of picking the Republican and Democratic nominees for the Nov. 8 presidential election. The starring opening-night role of the largely rural Midwestern state in the presidential drama, now four decades old, is a source of pride for Iowa voters, who spend months evaluating the candidates, looking them in the eye and asking questions. “Iowans see it as a great privilege and a great gift. They take their role very seriously,” said Tom Henderson, chairman of the Democratic Party in Polk County, home to Iowa’s biggest city, Des Moines. The caucuses will begin on Monday at 7 p.m. CST, and results are expected within two or three hours. Most gatherings will be in schools, community centers or other public locations, although at least two Republican caucuses will be in private homes and one Democratic caucus will be held at an equestrian center. Turnout varies by community, with up to 1,000 people typically gathering in cities like Des Moines, while a few dozen or less may gather in more sparsely populated areas. The state Republican and Democratic parties run their caucuses separately, although in some areas they hold them in different parts of the same building. Republicans will have more than 800 caucus sites, and Democrats will have about 1,100. The two parties also have different rules. Iowa Democrats gather in groups by candidate preference in a public display of support, a tradition that can allow for shifts back and forth. If a candidate does not reach the threshold of support of 15 percent of voters in a caucus needed to be considered viable, that candidates’ supporters are released to back another contender, leading to another round of persuasion. Republicans are more straightforward. They write their vote privately on a sheet of paper that is collected and counted at the site by caucus officials. A surrogate or volunteer from each campaign may speak to their neighbors in a last-ditch plea for support, adding to the uncertainty going into the process. Neither party is offering voter turnout estimates this year, although many Iowans predict the Republicans will surpass the 121,503 who turned out in 2012. In the last contested Democratic caucus, in 2008, excitement over Barack Obama’s candidacy spurred a record turnout of 239,872. Iowa, the 30th most populated state, and tiny New Hampshire, which holds the second nominating contest on Feb. 9, have traditionally served as early filters to winnow out the losers and elevate the top contenders for later contests. But Iowa Republicans recently have had a spotty record at backing the ultimate presidential nominees. Neither the Republican winner in 2008, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, nor the winner in 2012, former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, managed to win the party nomination. Iowa Democrats did back the party’s last two nominees: John Kerry in 2004 and Obama in 2008, which ultimately launched Obama’s drive to the White House.  (Editing by Leslie Adler) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency.

Summary: आयोवा ने कॉकस परंपरा के साथ 2016 अमेरिकी राष्ट्रपति पद की दौड़ शुरू की


DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland s government will collapse if the opposition Fianna Fail party proceeds with its plan to vote for the resignation of the Deputy Prime Minister Frances Fitzgerald on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said.   If they move ahead with the motion of no confidence, then the confidence and supply (agreement) is over,  Coveney, a member of the ruling Fine Gael party, told state broadcaster RTE on Friday, referring to a three-year agreement Fianna Fail signed to support the government.   If there is no confidence and supply agreement in place ... then I don t see how we can have a government that can function,  he said.

Summary: आयरलैंड के विदेश मंत्री का कहना है कि विपक्ष के मतदान से सरकार गिर जाएगी


(Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to support sweeping legislation that will reshape the way the Food and Drug Administration approves new medicines.  It will also provide funding for cancer and Alzheimer’s research, help fight the opioid epidemic, expand access to mental health treatment and advance research into precision medicine.  Two years in the making, the 21st Century Cures Act was passed last week by the House of Representatives and will now go to President Barack Obama to sign into law. Supporters say it will speed access to new drugs and devices, in part by allowing clinical trials to be designed with fewer patients and cheaper, easier-to-achieve goals. “For the second consecutive year, the Senate is sending the President another Christmas miracle for his signature,” Senator Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee said in a statement. “Last year, it was the Every Student Succeeds Act, and this time, it’s the 21st Century Cures Act — a bill that will help virtually every American family.”  Critics of the legislation say it gives massive handouts to the pharmaceutical industry and will lower standards for drug and medical device approvals. “This gift – which 1,300 lobbyists, mostly from pharmaceutical companies, helped sell – comes at the expense of patient safety by undermining requirements for ensuring safe and effective medications and medical devices,” consumer watchdog Public Citizen said in a statement. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren was among the handful of senators who voted against the bill, as was independent senator and former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Each decried what they described as big handouts to the pharma industry. Even so the bill passed 94-5. The House passed it by a vote of 392-26. The $6.3 billion act, sponsored by Republican Representative Fred Upton, authorizes $4.8 billion for the National Institutes of Health and $500 million to the Food and Drug Administration. It also calls for $1 billion over two years to battle the opioid epidemic. On Tuesday the Drug Enforcement Administration issued a report showing that in 2014 about 129 people died every day as a result of drug poisoning. Of those, 61 percent are opioid or heroin related. “Opioids such as heroin and fentanyl - and diverted prescription pain pills - are killing people in this country at a horrifying rate,” Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg said. “We face a public health crisis of historic proportions.” The bill also calls for $1.8 billion in funding for Vice President Joseph Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative designed to bolster cancer research by reducing bureaucracy and promoting research collaboration. Critics note that the money described in the bill must be appropriated by separate funding bills and that the money may ultimately never materialize. Yet the changes to the clinical trial process, something long sought by the drug industry, will be set in stone regardless of whether money for the research projects is forthcoming.  Among those changes: Greater prominence will be given to “real world” evidence gathered outside the framework of a randomized, controlled clinical trial, the gold standard for determining whether a drug is safe and effective. Such evidence could be much easier for drug companies to collect. “The passing of 21st Century Cures Act is a show of extraordinary bipartisan unity after a divisive election that should be celebrated,” said Ellen Sigal, chair of the patient advocacy group Friends of Cancer Research. Under the Act patient input will be formally incorporated into the FDA’s drug review process. Funding for the Act will be offset by reductions in some Medicaid payments and through the sale of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The White House supports the bill but said earlier it was concerned that draining the Petroleum Reserve “continues a bad precedent of selling off longer term energy security assets to satisfy near term budget scoring needs.”

Summary: सीनेट ने नए स्वास्थ्य विधेयक को पारित करने के लिए सदन में भाग लिया


(Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders on Wednesday cheered the end of U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc’s (PFE.N) $160 billion merger with Ireland-based Allergan Plc (AGN.N). “Glad to hear Pfizer is calling off the merger. We need to close the loopholes that let corporations escape paying their taxes,” Clinton said on Twitter.  Sanders said on the social media site that he applauded President Barack Obama for new rules aimed at curbing so-called inversion deals, which Pfizer said led it to scrap the deal.

Summary: डेमोक्रेटिक व्हाइट हाउस को उम्मीद है कि फाइजर, एलर्गन सौदे का उत्साहजनक अंत होगा


BET EL, West Bank (Reuters) - For many in the Israeli settlement of Bet El, deep in the occupied West Bank, Donald Trump’s choice of Jared Kushner as his senior adviser on the Middle East is a sign of politics shifting in their favor. They regard Kushner, whose family’s charitable foundation has donated tens of thousands of dollars to their settlement, as part of a diplomatic rebalancing after what they view as eight years of anti-Israel bias under the U.S. administration of Barack Obama. “He will stand up for our interests. I suppose he will lean in our favor,” said Avi Lavi, 46, who has lived in Bet El for more than 40 years. “He’ll be fair, as opposed to Obama, whose policy leaned always towards the Arabs.” New U.S. President Trump says his son-in-law Kushner, 36, is capable of brokering the “ultimate deal” to deliver peace between Israelis and Palestinians.     Roi Margalit, manager of the Bet El Yeshiva, a seminary complex with around 400 students, said Kushner, an Orthodox Jewish father of three, understood the position of Israeli settlers better than previous envoys. “At least now we have someone who knows us,” the 43-year-old added. “He will now have to study the other side (the Palestinians) and see if there is any common ground.”      Trump’s pick for Israeli ambassador has sparked particular enthusiasm in the community: David Friedman, who chairs the American Friends of Bet El Institutions fundraising group. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Kushner and Friedman. Kushner, a businessman who built his career on real estate and publishing, has said little about his views about one of the world’s most intractable conflicts, either during the campaign or since Trump took office. The big question for the Palestinians is whether he can be an impartial actor given his family foundation’s past financial ties to Bet El.  Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been careful to say he looks forward to working with the Trump administration, but others are less optimistic. Wasel Abu Youssef, a senior official at the Palestine Liberation Organisation, the main Palestinian political umbrella body, said Kushner could not be a neutral envoy if he was supportive of Israeli settlements. Hani al-Masri, a political scientist and director of the Palestinian Center for Policy Research and Strategic Studies, said Kushner would be a representative of Israel rather than of the United States. “If he attempts to resume negotiations, he will seek to hold them at a lower level than previous negotiations. It will be more biased to the Israeli position in an era where Israel is more extreme.”  Palestinians want the West Bank and Gaza Strip for an independent state, with its capital in East Jerusalem.  Israel has built about 120 settlements in the West Bank. About 350,000 settlers live there and a further 200,000 in East Jerusalem, among about 2.6 million Palestinians.     Most countries consider the settlements illegal and an obstacle to peace as they reduce and fragment the territory Palestinians need for a viable state.  Israel disagrees, citing biblical, historical and political connections to the land and security interests. Bet El, a community of 1,300 families perched on a hillside where many believe God promised Jacob the land, has been financed in part by donations from American backers. Among its donors have been the Donald J. Trump Foundation, which gave $10,000 in 2003, and the foundation of Charles and Seryl Kushner, the parents of Jared, which gave $38,000 in 2013, U.S. tax records show. The New York-based American Friends of Bet El Institutions hosts dinners to raise funds for the settlement, which overlooks the Palestinian city Ramallah. Kushner has left it up to his father-in-law to comment on what role he might play. “Jared is such a good kid and he’ll make a deal with Israel that no one else can,” Trump told The Times of London newspaper last month. “He’s a natural dealmaker - everyone likes him.” Middle East analysts say the settlement donations by Kushner’s family foundation are not necessarily deal-breakers.  After decades of failed negotiations, the real test is whether he is prepared to rethink the way the Middle East peace process is conducted, said Hugh Lovatt, a fellow of the European Council on Foreign Relations. “If he reverts to pushing for a process for the sake of process and diplomatic prestige, then he will prove no more successful than his predecessors,” Lovatt told Reuters.  “If he acquiesces to Israeli territorial demands and gives a green light to more settlement activity, he could even do irreparable damage to the prospects of long-term peace.” A key diplomatic factor will be whether the Trump administration commits itself to a two-state solution - Israel and an independent Palestinian state living side-by-side. This remains firmly the goal for the Palestinians and, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israelis. But some of Kushner’s supporters in Bet El appear to be heading in a different direction - and the political voice of hardliners could prove a significant obstacle should peace talks resume. “The two-state solution is a scam,” said Shai Alon, the head of the local council, who describes himself as optimistic about the “Trump era”.  “It’s not going to happen.”

Summary: वेस्ट बैंक के कट्टर बसने वालों के लिए, जारेड कुशनर उनका आदमी है


AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Sunday that the death toll from Hurricane Irma on the Dutch part of the island of Saint Martin has risen to four. In a first estimate on Friday, the government said that two people had died and 34 had been wounded, 11 seriously, as a result of the storm.

Summary: नीदरलैंड के प्रधानमंत्रीः डच सेंट मार्टिन पर इरमा से मरने वालों की संख्या बढ़कर चार हुई


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military will fight Islamic State in Syria  as long as they want to fight,  Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Monday, describing a longer-term role for U.S. troops long after the insurgents lose all of the territory they control. As U.S.-backed and Russian-backed forces battle to retake the remaining pockets of Islamic State-held terrain, Mattis said the U.S. military s longer-term objective would be to prevent the return of an  ISIS 2.0.   The enemy hasn t declared that they re done with the area yet, so we ll keep fighting as long as they want to fight,  Mattis said, speaking to reporters at the Pentagon about the future of U.S. operations in Syria. He also stressed the importance of longer-term peace efforts, suggesting U.S. forces aimed to help set the conditions of a diplomatic solution in Syria, now in its seventh year of civil war.  We re not just going to walk away right now before the Geneva process has traction,  he added. U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin affirmed joint efforts to stabilize Syria as its civil war wanes, including with the expansion of a July 7 truce in the southwestern triangle bordering Israel and Jordan. Mattis said he believed the southwestern zone was working, and spoke hopefully about additional areas in the future that might allow for more refugees to return home.  You keep broadening them. Try to (demilitarize) one area then (demilitarize) another and just keep it going, try to do the things that will allow people to return to their homes,  he told reporters at the Pentagon. He declined to enter into specifics about any future zones.  Russia, which has a long-term military garrison in Syria, has said it wants foreign forces to quit the country eventually. Turkey said on Monday the United States had 13 bases in Syria and Russia had five. The U.S-backed Syrian YPG Kurdish militia has said Washington has established seven military bases in areas of northern Syria. The U.S.-led coalition says it does not discuss the location of its forces. One key aim for Washington is to limit Iranian influence in Syria and Iraq, which expanded during the war with Islamic State.

Summary: अमेरिका सीरिया में इस्लामिक स्टेट से तब तक लड़ेगा जब तक वे लड़ना चाहते हैंः मैटिस


PRISTINA (Reuters) - Kosovo police arrested three lawmakers on Friday, including the popular main opposition leader whom they handcuffed in the street, after the three failed to appear in court on charges of releasing tear gas in parliament in 2015 and 2016. Opposition lawmakers obstructed parliament for almost two years by letting off tear gas in the chamber in a protest against a border deal with Montenegro and an EU-brokered agreement with Serbia. Albin Kurti, leader of Kosovo s biggest opposition party Vetevendosje, was seized and handcuffed by police close to parliament building when he was on his way to attend a regular session. Police used paper spray to disperse several other lawmakers from Kurti s party who tried to hold onto him and prevent police from taking him away, Kosovo media showed. He was eventually moved into a police van. Kurti won more votes than any other political candidate and his party came first in June snap elections, but he did not enter the ruling coalition.  All three MPs were given one month detention, Dukagjin Gorani of Vetevendosje told Reuters later in the day. Dozens of other MPs have been indicted so far for releasing tear gas in the 120-seat parliament.  This is the continuation of a massive and wide-ranging persecution that has started against Vetevendosje,  the party president, Visar Ymeri, said. Last week a court in Pristina sentenced four people, including one member of parliament, to prison terms ranging from two to eight years for taking part in a grenade attack against the parliament building last year. They were all loyalists of Vetevendosje. Opposition parties oppose the border deal with Montenegro saying the country of 1.8 million is losing land by handing over some 8,000 hectares (19,700 acres). The opposition is also against a deal signed in 2013 between Pristina and Belgrade as part of an EU-sponsored dialogue that would give more rights to the local Serb minority. They say the deal will practically divide the poor Balkan country on ethnic lines. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, nearly a decade after NATO bombing drove Serb forces from the territory.

Summary: पुलिस ने अदालत में पेश नहीं होने पर कोसोवो के विपक्षी नेता को गिरफ्तार किया