SIMI VALLEY, Calif (Reuters) - The U.S. agency tasked with protecting the country from missile attacks is scouting the West Coast for places to deploy new anti-missile defenses, two Congressmen said on Saturday, as North Korea s missile tests raise concerns about how the United States would defend itself from an attack. West Coast defenses would likely include Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missiles, similar to those deployed in South Korea to protect against a potential North Korean attack.   The accelerated pace of North Korea s ballistic missile testing program in 2017 and the likelihood the North Korean military could hit the U.S. mainland with a nuclear payload in the next few years has raised the pressure on the United States government to build-up missile defenses.  On Wednesday, North Korea tested a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that can fly over 13,000 km (8,080 miles), placing Washington within target range, South Korea said on Friday. Republican party Congressman Mike Rogers, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee and chairs the Strategic Forces Subcommittee which oversees missile defense, said the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), was aiming to install extra defenses at West Coast sites. The funding for the system does not appear in the 2018 defense budget plan indicating potential deployment is further off.  It s just a matter of the location, and the MDA making a recommendation as to which site meets their criteria for location, but also the environmental impact,  the Alabama Congressman told Reuters during an interview on the sidelines of the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in southern California. After this story was published Congressman Rogers told Reuters in a statement he was  unaware of any effort by the Department of Defense to locate additional intermediate missile defense assets on the West Coast.  He added that his earlier comments to Reuters  should not be interpreted as confirmation of such an effort.  Reuters global head of communications, Abbe Serphos, said  We stand by our story.   When asked about the plan, MDA Deputy Director Rear Admiral Jon Hill  said in a statement:  The Missile Defense Agency has received no tasking to site the Terminal High Altitude Air Defense System on the West Coast.  The MDA is a unit of the U.S. Defense Department. Congressman Rogers did not reveal the exact locations the agency is considering but said several sites are  competing  for the missile defense installations. Rogers and Congressman Adam Smith, a Democrat representing the 9th District of Washington, said the government was considering installing the THAAD anti-missile system made by aerospace giant Lockheed Martin Corp, at west coast sites.  The Congressmen said the number of sites that may ultimately be deployed had yet to be determined. THAAD is a ground-based regional missile defense system designed to shoot down short-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles and takes only a matter of weeks to install.  In addition to the two THAAD systems deployed in South Korea and Guam in the Pacific, the U.S. has seven other THAAD systems. While some of the existing missiles are based in Fort Bliss, Texas, the system is highly mobile and current locations are not disclosed.  A Lockheed Martin representative declined to comment on specific THAAD deployments, but added that the company  is ready to support the Missile Defense Agency and the United States government in their ballistic missile defense efforts.  He added that testing and deployment of assets is a government decision. In July, the United States tested THAAD missile defenses and shot down a simulated, incoming intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM). The successful test adds to the credibility of the U.S. military s missile defense program, which has come under intense scrutiny in recent years due in part to test delays and failures. Currently, the continental United States is primarily shielded by the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system (GMD) in Alaska and California as well as the Aegis system deployed aboard U.S. Navy ships. The THAAD system has a far higher testing success rate than the GMD. The MDA told Congress in June that it planned to deliver 52 more THAAD interceptors to the U.S. Army between October 2017 and September 2018, bringing total deliveries to 210 since May 2011. North Korea s latest missile test puts the U.S. capital within range, but Pyongyang still needs to prove it has mastered critical missile technology, such as re-entry, terminal stage guidance and warhead activation, South Korea said on Friday.

Summary: पेंटागन अमेरिकी पश्चिमी तट मिसाइल रक्षा स्थलों का मूल्यांकन कर रहा हैः अधिकारी


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said on Monday military solutions cannot settle the Korean Peninsula issues and warned there was an  urgent need to maintain a cool head and refrain from any action that can escalate tensions.   A comprehensive settlement to the nuclear and other issues plaguing the Korean peninsula can be arrived at solely through political diplomatic channels, including by leveraging the mediation efforts of the United Nations secretary-general,  Nebenzia told the U.N. Security Council.

Summary: रूस के संयुक्त राष्ट्र दूत ने उत्तर कोरिया पर 'शांत सिर' रखने का आह्वान किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Interior Department as the White House seeks to increase fossil fuel production on federal lands. Ryan Zinke, a U.S. Representative from coal-producing Montana, won confirmation by a vote of 68 to 31, with several Democrats joining Republicans, who lead the chamber. The former Navy SEAL commander is an avid hunter and angler who is popular with many outdoor enthusiasts, including Trump’s son Donald Jr.  Many environmentalists, however, are concerned about Zinke’s zeal for exploiting coal and other fossil fuels. As a one-term Congressman, Zinke worked to boost mining, including supporting an effort to end a coal leasing moratorium on federal lands. Forty percent of U.S. output comes from federal lands that are  mostly in Wyoming and Montana. In his confirmation hearing in January Zinke said he would consider an expansion of energy drilling and mining on federal lands but would ensure that sensitive areas were protected.  Democrats who voted against Zinke, including Senators Maria Cantwell and Chuck Schumer, questioned his support of fossil fuel development on federal lands. “Congressman Zinke says he’s a dyed in the wool conservationist, but doesn’t have the record to back it up,” said Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat. “That should concern every outdoor enthusiast, every lover of our great and grand national parks.” Zinke will head an agency that employs more than 70,000 people across the country and oversees more than 20 percent of federal land, including national parks such as Yellowstone and Yosemite. Fellow Republican Senator Steve Daines, also from Montana, said Zinke “knows we must strike a balance between conservation and responsible energy development.” The White House is expected to issue an executive order soon reversing former President Barack Obama’s temporary moratorium on coal leasing on U.S. lands, which is part of a wider review of the program. The Senate is also expected to easily confirm Trump’s pick to head the Department of Energy, Rick Perry, a former governor of Texas, this week.

Summary: ट्रम्प के आंतरिक विभाग. चयन ने सीनेट की पुष्टि जीती


BEIJING (Reuters) - Meetings between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing this week will focus on addressing trade imbalances between the two countries, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Wednesday.  Ross was speaking at a signing ceremony in the Chinese capital for commercial deals worth about $9 billion on Trump s visit. Trump has ratcheted up his criticism of China s massive trade surplus with the U.S. - calling it  embarrassing  and  horrible  last week - and has accused Beijing of unfair trade practices, fuelling worries of increased tension between the world s two largest trading countries.  Addressing the imbalance in China trade has been the central focus of collaborative discussions between President Trump and President Xi and achieving fair and reciprocal treatment for the companies is a shared objective,  Ross said. Data on Wednesday showed China s exports to the U.S. rose 8.3 percent in October on the year, while imports grew 4.3 percent. That led to a trade surplus of $26.62 billion with the U.S. last month, down from September s record $28.08 billion, but higher than recent trends. Deals signed on Wednesday included a pledge by Chinese ecommerce company JD.com  to buy more than $2 billion of food products from the U.S. over three years and a pact for Reignwood International to buy additional helicopters from U.S. firm Bell Helicopter.  While 19 deals were signed on Wednesday, some in the U.S. business community have expressed worry that contract wins could come at the expense of resolving long-standing complaints over market access restrictions in China. At the ceremony, China s vice premier Wang Yang said deals signed between China and U.S. firms would  contribute to the stabilization of the general and overall economic relations between the two countries . The ceremony was a prelude to a  more important  signing ceremony set for Thursday, he added. Among the companies expected to sign deals on Thursday are Qualcomm, Boeing and Goldman Sachs. Chinese commerce minister Zhong Shan also attended the event in the Great Hall of the People next to Tiananmen Square.

Summary: वाणिज्य सचिव का कहना है कि ट्रम्प-शी वार्ता व्यापार असंतुलन को दूर करेगी


(Reuters) - President Barack Obama is set on Tuesday to unveil his budget proposal for fiscal year 2017, his final year in office.  But since the Republican-controlled Congress controls the purse strings, much of Obama’s budget will likely stay on the drawing board. The following are some of the proposals that will be included: The Pentagon will ask for more than $7 billion for the fight against Islamic State, up about 35 percent from the previous year’s budget request to Congress, and wants a fourfold increase for military training and exercises in Europe to support NATO allies. In a long-shot bid to raise $20 billion to expand transit systems and research self-driving cars, Obama will propose a $10-a-barrel tax on crude oil.  The budget will propose a 1.6 percent pay increase for military and civilian federal personnel. Obama will ask for $1.1 billion in new funding to expand treatment for people addicted to heroin and prescription pain killers, a growing epidemic. Obama pledged more than $450 million in aid to Colombia to help with security and integrating rebel combatants into society under a pending peace deal to end Latin America’s longest war. Obama wants to expand the earned income tax credit, or EITC, to low-income workers without children. Other proposals include $12 billion over 10 years to supplement food stamps for poor families when school meal programs are closed in the summer, $2 billion in emergency aid for families in crisis, a combined $328 million in education and housing grants to poor neighborhoods, and a $15 million pilot program to help poor families move to better neighborhoods. The budget will include three years of federal funding to 19 state governments that passed up an earlier offer to expand Medicaid coverage for more than 4 million low-income people. Obama will ask for tweaks to a tax on certain health insurance plans that is unpopular with labor unions. The White House will ask for $5.5 billion in incentives for businesses that hire young people and $200 million for apprenticeship programs. Obama will ask for $4 billion for states and $100 million for school districts to expand computer science in schools. The budget will include $1 billion over five years to help coal-mining regions with economic development. The White House will ask for $755 million for Vice President Joe Biden’s “moonshot” effort to find new cancer treatments. The budget will include $700 million in agricultural research grants, double the spending level in 2016. Obama has proposed $500 million to boost access to mental healthcare as part of his push to address gun violence. Obama will propose $95 million for a new office responsible for background checks for federal employees. As part of reforms to the criminal justice system, Obama will ask for $24 million for better housing for inmates with serious mental illnesses. Obama will propose tax credits for small businesses offering 401(k) plans or expanding access to retirement savings programs. Obama will seek to expand unemployment insurance to more types of workers, provide wage insurance for workers moving to lower-paid positions, and provide incentives to states for retraining or relocating workers. Obama will ask for funding to hire 200 new ATF staff to enforce gun laws.

Summary: ओबामा के अंतिम बजट प्रस्ताव में क्या होगा?


THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The daughter of an Iranian Arab activist killed in the Netherlands last month linked his death to political conflict in the Middle East, and warned other exiles in Europe to be on their guard. Ahmad Mola Nissi, 52, was gunned down by an unidentified assailant in front of his home in The Hague on Nov. 8 in a suspected political killing. Hawra Ahmad Nissi said her father s death was reminiscent of a string of murders of Iranian dissidents in Europe in the 1990s.  Europe seems safe, but be careful,  she told Reuters in an interview.  The conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran is not confined to the Middle East. It is spreading into Europe.  Relations between Shi ite Muslim Iran and Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia have soured in recent months, with the struggle for influence between the two long-standing regional rivals played out through increasingly bitter proxy confrontations, notably in Syria, Yemen and Lebanon. Mola Nissi established the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz (ASMLA), which seeks a separate state in Iran s oil-rich southwestern Khuzestan province, in 1999. Since his murder, his family have been under Dutch police protection at a safe house.   We came here to be safe but we don t feel safe. European governments should do more to secure the safety of activists,  Hawra Nissi, 25, said. Ahvazi Arabs are a minority in mainly ethnic Persian Iran, and some see themselves as victims of occupation and want independence or autonomy.  Tehran, which has condemned Mola Nissi s killing and promised to investigate it, accuses Riyadh of funding separatist groups active in Iran, a charge the Saudis deny. A source close to Mola Nissi s family, who asked not to be named due to security concerns, said he had accepted Saudi financial support but did not want the Ahvazi cause to be used as a pawn in the proxy war. This attitude could have made him an obstacle to efforts to bring the ASMLA movement under Saudi influence, the source said.  The family is open to all scenarios. Iran is a prime suspect, but not the only suspect,  Hawra Nissi said. Police are exploring a possible link between Mola Nissi s killing and the unsolved murder of another Iranian near Amsterdam in December 2015, a spokeswoman said. They are looking for two suspects believed to have gunned down Ali Motamed. The police declined to comment on the circumstances of Motamed s death or a motive, but Iranian media have linked him to exiled Iranian opposition Shi ite group the People s Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), which would have made him a potential target. A man detained in relation to Mola Nissi s death has since been released, the spokeswoman added. The most prominent among a string of killings and disappearances of Iranian dissidents in the 1980s and 1990s was the shooting of three Iranian Kurdish opposition leaders in Berlin in 1992, which a German court ruled had been ordered by the government in Tehran.

Summary: मारे गए ईरानी कार्यकर्ता की बेटी ने यूरोपीय निर्वासितों से कहा, सावधान रहें


NAIROBI (Reuters) - Several dozen women in Kenya said police officers attacked them during this year s election season and some said they were raped by men in uniform, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday. More than 70 people were killed in an election in August, later nullified by the Supreme Court, and a repeat presidential poll in October won by President Uhuru Kenyatta. The opposition boycotted the repeat poll and said it would not be fair. The sexual attacks, mostly on women, occurred over this period in some of Nairobi s slums and in two opposition strongholds, Kisumu and Bungoma, in western Kenya, HRW said in a report.   Kenyan police dispute rights groups  allegations that officers used excessive force to quell election-related unrest. They did not respond to a request from Reuters for comment on the report. One 28-year-old woman in the Nairobi slum of Mathare told Reuters:  Four men in police uniforms burst into my home and my children were sleeping, they pulled my husband out. One grabbed my neck, the other pulled off my clothes, another beat me with a stick, and the other forced sex on me.   The woman who declined to be identified said she was four months pregnant and miscarried shortly after the rape.  I was bleeding and confused afterwards,  she said.    Another woman, aged 26, said:  Two men dragged me away from my friend, stripped off my clothes and one raped me as another one held me down.   Kenyan women who have been raped - they are lonely and abandoned and ashamed,  said HRW researcher Agnes Odhiambo.  It s the Kenyan government who should feel shame for failing to protect them and help them get medical treatment.   Kenyan rights groups accuse police of brutality and extrajudicial killings.  A government civilian watchdog tasked to oversee the police exists, but few officers are charged and convictions are extremely rare.  The sexual violence mirrored widespread violations against women after a disputed 2007 vote, when 1,200 people were killed, HRW said. At the time, the group documented at least 900 cases of sexual violence but said this was likely an underestimate.  The new cases related to the August and October 2017 elections demonstrate a disturbing continuum,  Tina Alai, a lawyer with New York-based Physicians for Human Rights.  Police have continued to perpetrate sexual violence against civilians they are obligated to protect,  she said.

Summary: केन्याई पुलिस ने चुनाव के दौरान महिलाओं के साथ दुर्व्यवहार कियाः मानवाधिकार समूह


LONDON (Reuters) - Britain launched a fund on Friday to support new technology to screen hand-luggage in airports in a bid to detect concealed explosives without passengers having to remove electrical items from their bags. The Department for Transport said 3 million pounds  ($3.9 million) would be made available to support innovation in the detection of hidden explosives, as well as new methods to recognize when electrical items had been tampered with.  We need to embrace and encourage the talent from industry that will allow us to stay several steps ahead of those who wish us harm, security minister Ben Wallace said in a statement. Britain joined the United States in imposing a so-called  laptop ban  on certain flights from the Middle East earlier this year, restricting passengers from carrying electronic items in their hand luggage.   The restrictions have been lifted on some flights from Turkey and Tunisia following the introduction of new security measures, but remain in place elsewhere. The transport department said it would consider funding proposals that focused on screening at airport security areas, as well as portable technology which could be used at other points in a passenger s journey.

Summary: ब्रिटेन हवाई अड्डों पर विस्फोटकों का पता लगाने के नए तरीके चाहता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House threatened on Tuesday to veto a Senate defense policy bill, saying it would prevent President Barack Obama from closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and limit the size of his National Security Council. “The bill would undermine expert judgments of the (Defense) Department’s civilian and military leadership and constrain the ability of the president and the secretary of defense to appropriately manage and direct the nation’s defense,” the White House said in a statement. The $602 billion National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, sets spending policy for the Pentagon each year. The Republican-led Congress generally uses the must-pass bill as a vehicle for a range of policy measures. The Senate Armed Services Committee passed the bill last month. It is now being debated in the full Senate, where lawmakers have introduced hundreds of amendments.  Obama had already threatened to veto the House of Representatives’ version of the annual bill, which passed that chamber last month. The White House opposed it for a number of reasons, including its use of $18 billion in special war funds for day-to-day military programs to avoid automatic budget cuts. The Senate version did not adopt that strategy. But Senator John McCain, the Armed Services Committee’s Republican chairman, filed an amendment with a similar plan to use $18 billion of so-called Overseas Contingency Operations, or OCO, funds to pay for additional troops, more equipment and an increase in a planned military pay increase. McCain and other Republicans argued that the increased spending was necessary to keep Americans safe. In a statement, he criticized Obama’s veto threat as “a sorry defense of the status quo,” and said he hoped Obama would change his mind. “I hope when the NDAA reaches the president’s desk, he understands the critical importance of this legislation to our national security better than his administration seems to now,” McCain said. Democrats said they would support more military spending if Republicans also approved spending on civilian programs. Harry Reid, the top Democrat in the Senate, said Democrats would offer their own amendment, adding funding for airport security, to combat Zika, for local police, to fight opioid addiction and improve infrastructure. “If the Republicans pass the defense amendment but then block a similar increase to middle-class programs, they will have broken the budget agreement and the appropriations process will come to a grinding halt,” Reid told a news conference. After the House and Senate pass their versions of the NDAA, the two chambers agree on a final version of the bill. If that passes, it is sent for Obama to veto or sign into law. Obama vetoed the 2016 NDAA because it sought to increase defense spending by using the war funds, and over the restrictions involving the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for terrorism suspects. He eventually signed a version with the Guantanamo measures after the spending plan was removed.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउस ने सीनेट रक्षा विधेयक पर वीटो करने की धमकी दी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Tuesday he believes there is enough support in the House of Representatives to pass the Republican healthcare plan, which has been criticized by some conservative groups and members of Congress. “This is the beginning of the legislative process ... we’ll have 218 when this thing comes to the floor (of the House), I can guarantee you that,” Ryan said, referring to the 218 votes needed to pass legislation in the Republican-controlled House.

Summary: स्पीकर रयान का कहना है कि रिपब्लिकन स्वास्थ्य सेवा योजना सदन में पारित हो जाएगी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives took a new step toward tax reform legislation on Wednesday by approving a fiscal 2018 budget resolution that would allow the Senate to pass a sweeping tax code overhaul without Democratic support. The House Budget Committee voted 22-14 along party lines to send the measure to the floor of the House for consideration by the full chamber, a day after the $4 trillion spending blueprint was unveiled.  But it was not clear how the measure would fare in the full House, where it could become embroiled in Republican infighting between conservatives and moderates similar to the political tug-of-war that caused healthcare legislation to disintegrate in the Senate this week.  Both the House and Senate must approve a budget agreement to unlock a legislative tool called reconciliation, which would allow Republicans to pass tax legislation with a simple majority in the Senate. Republicans control the chamber by only a 52-48 margin. Democrats oppose the Republican budget and Republican plans for a tax reform bill that is likely to offer steep tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy. The House budget resolution would combine tax cuts in the same legislation as $203 billion in spending cuts to mandatory programs including food assistance for the poor. Enough Republican conservatives to prevent its passage already oppose the plan, because they believe it does not go far enough to cut spending. But Republican moderates are against larger cuts. Some House conservatives also want to see a Republican tax reform plan before supporting a budget that would facilitate its passage. The Trump administration and Republican leaders in Congress are not expected to unveil a tax plan until September.     The budget resolution would also bundle a partial repeal of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law into the same legislation as taxes and spending cuts.

Summary: हाउस पैनल ने कर सुधार को आगे बढ़ाने वाले बजट उपाय को मंजूरी दी


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of the Navy withdrew from consideration on Sunday, the second time a Trump nominee to lead one of the armed services bowed out because of government conflict-of-interest rules. Trump last month nominated Philip Bilden, a private equity executive and former military intelligence officer, to lead the Navy, which the president has pledged he will expand. In a statement on Sunday, Bilden said that “after an extensive review process, I have determined that I will not be able to satisfy the Office of Government Ethics requirements without undue disruption and materially adverse divestment of my family’s private financial interests.” The development leaves Trump and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis without nominees to head both the Navy and Army. Vincent Viola, whom the president had picked to be secretary of the Army, withdrew earlier this month. In a statement, Mattis said he was disappointed but understood Bilden’s decision. “In the coming days I will make a recommendation to President Trump for a leader who can guide our Navy and Marine Corps team as we execute the president’s vision to rebuild our military,” he said.

Summary: नौसेना सचिव के लिए ट्रम्प का चयन वापस लिया गया


NEW YORK (Reuters) - A comic gag turned into a gaffe for Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, triggering a storm of social media comment accusing them of being insensitive to African-Americans. Clinton on Saturday took the stage with de Blasio at the Inner Circle, an annual media roast of city and state politicians that traditionally ends with New York’s mayor delivering a snarky rebuttal in the form of a rehearsed skit, often with the help of Broadway cast members. This year Leslie Odom Jr., who is black and plays Aaron Burr in the hit Broadway show “Hamilton,” participated in the skit in which Clinton teased de Blasio about his delay in endorsing her bid for the White House. “Sorry, Hillary, I was running on C.P. Time,” de Blasio said, referring to the phrase “colored people’s time,” an in-joke used to indicate chronic lateness but also viewed as a negative stereotype. “I don’t like jokes like that,” Odom said, apparently as part of the skit. Clinton then delivered the punchline: “‘Cautious politician time,’” she said. “I’ve been there.” The joke set off angry reaction on social media with commentators criticizing Clinton, who has strong support from black voters, and de Blasio, whose wife Chirlane McCray is African-American, for insensitivity. Despite opinion polls showing Clinton has overwhelming support among African Americans heading into New York state’s Democratic primary next Tuesday, some supporters worry her challenger Bernie Sanders has begun making inroads.  De Blasio, who was Clinton’s campaign manager in her successful election to the U.S. Senate in 2000, defended the joke in an appearance on CNN on Monday. “It was clearly a staged show,” he said. “I think people are missing the point here.” In a statement on Monday, the mayor’s office said, “Let’s be clear, in an evening of satire, the only person this was meant to mock was the mayor himself - period. Certainly no one intended to offend anyone.” In an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine, Clinton distanced herself from the skit. “Well, look, it was Mayor de Blasio’s skit,” she was quoted as saying. “He has addressed it, and I will really defer to him because it is something that he’s already talked about.”

Summary: नस्लीय मजाक के आरोप में न्यूयॉर्क की मेयर हिलेरी क्लिंटन पर हमला


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Turkey s military has begun setting up observation posts in northwest Syria s Idlib province, its General Staff said on Friday, part of a deployment that appears partly aimed at containing a Kurdish militia.  Turkey sent a convoy of about 30 military vehicles into rebel-held northwest Syria through the Bab al-Hawa crossing in Idlib, rebels and a witness said.  Video distributed by the Turkish army showed what it said was the convoy starting to move on Thursday night, with military vehicles traveling along a road in darkness.  Turkey says its operation, along with Syrian rebel groups it backs, is part of a deal it reached last month with Russia and Iran in Astana, Kazakhstan, to reduce fighting between insurgents and the Syrian government.  The army said its forces in Syria were conducting operations in line with rules of engagement agreed with Russia and Iran.  However, the deployment is also intended to rein in the Kurdish YPG militia, which holds the adjacent Afrin region, a senior rebel official involved in the operation said.   (It is) in line with Astana 6 resolutions to ensure the area is protected from Russian and regime bombing and to foil any attempt by the separatist YPG militias to illegally seize any territory,  said Mustafa Sejari, an official in a Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebel group.  Broadcaster CNN Turk reported on its website that there was a clash in Idlib countryside near the Ogulpinar border post in Turkey s Reyhanli district.  It said the sound of  doshka  (machine-gun) fire from across the border could be heard in Reyhanli district and it was not clear which forces were clashing. The convoy was heading toward Sheikh Barakat, a high area overlooking rebel-held territory and the Kurdish YPG-controlled canton of Afrin, the witnesses said.   President Tayyip Erdogan announced the deployment on Saturday, saying Turkey was conducting a  serious operation  with rebel groups it supports. Turkey has supported rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad throughout the war. But since last year Ankara has focused on securing its border, both from jihadists and from Kurdish forces that control much of the frontier area inside Syria.  Sejari, the rebel official, said it was important to contain the YPG to prevent any new military offensive to reach the Mediterranean, something that would require it to capture swathes of mountains held by rebels and Syria s army.  Today we can say that the dream of the separatists to reach the sea and enter Idlib and then to Jisr al-Shaqour and the coastal mountains has become a dream,  he said  Turkey regards the YPG as an extension of the PKK, a Kurdish group inside Turkey that has been waging armed insurgency against Ankara for three decades.   We said we may come unannounced one night, and tonight our armed forces started the operation in Idlib with the Free Syrian Army,  Erdogan said in a speech to his AK Party on Friday.   We are the ones with the 911 km border with Syria, the ones who are constantly under threat,  he added, noting the YPG s presence in Afrin.  As the strongest part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the YPG has received military aid from Turkey s NATO ally the United States to fight Islamic State.  Last year, Turkey launched the Euphrates Shield operation, an incursion into northern Syria alongside Syrian rebel groups to take territory on the frontier from Islamic State.  That operation was also aimed at stopping the YPG using its own advances against IS from linking Afrin with the much larger area it controls in northeastern Syria.  In the area taken by the Euphrates Shield campaign, Turkey has made changes to local governance that indicate it may be laying a foundation for long term ties with that part of Syria. The Astana agreement with Assad s foreign allies Russia and Iran involves reducing fighting in several regions of Syria, including Idlib and adjacent swathes of the northwest, the most populous rebel-held area.

Summary: तुर्की की सेना ने सीरिया के इदलिब में पोजीशन स्थापित की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Challengers to President Donald Trump’s travel ban targeting several Muslim-majority countries on Thursday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to decide the policy’s legality even though it has been replaced with a revised plan. In separate letters to the court, the American Civil Liberties Union and the state of Hawaii said the justices  should still hear the case, which had been scheduled for arguments next week but was taken off their calendar after the administration announced the reworked ban last month. The challengers, characterizing the new ban as an indefinite extension of the previous one, said individuals who sued have an interest in the expired measure being declared unlawful because they continue to be harmed by the new policy.  Hawaii also told the court in a separate letter that it intended to challenge Trump’s latest travel ban by seeking on Friday to amend its existing lawsuit against the previous one. The Justice Department urged the justices not to hear the case, to throw out earlier lower court rulings that had invalidated the ban and to order that the legal challenges be dismissed. Trump’s three successive moves to block entry into the United States by people from several predominantly Muslim countries have been among his most contentious acts since taking office in January. Trump had promised as a candidate “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.”  The ACLU told the court that the plaintiffs who sued to stop the policy “retain an all-too-real stake in the outcome of the case” even though the original 90-day travel ban on people from six countries expired on Sept. 24. That order was signed by Trump in March and was enacted with some changes in June with the high court’s blessing. The justices on Sept. 25 asked all the parties to file court papers expressing views on whether the case was moot, meaning there was nothing left to decide, because the temporary ban expired. That ban had targeted people from Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and Sudan. The new open-ended ban announced in a presidential proclamation on Sept. 24 removed Sudan from the list and blocked people from Chad and North Korea and certain government officials from Venezuela from entering the United States. Among the issues raised by the challengers is whether the ban discriminated against Muslims in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on the government favoring or disfavoring a particular religion. A separate 120-day ban on refugees entering the United States that was part of Trump’s March order expires on Oct. 24. Hawaii’s lawyers said that even if the high court decided not to issue a ruling, it should still leave the lower court decisions in place. To do otherwise would allow the administration to effectively win the case by erasing rulings that had gone against Trump, Hawaii argued. The Justice Department said that it wants the lower court rulings tossed because the challengers will otherwise cite them in new litigation against Trump’s reworked ban. “The lower courts should be considering challenges to the proclamation anew based on its text, operation, and findings,” Justice Department lawyers wrote. The weekly behind-closed-doors meeting in which the justices consider next steps in cases before them is scheduled for Friday morning. The court could make an announcement at any time. The new ban could affect tens of thousands of potential immigrants and visitors to the United States. Opponents have said that like the earlier two orders from January and March, it was still effectively a “Muslim ban.”  Even if the Supreme Court dismissed the older case, it may still have to weigh in on the issue in the future. Various challengers have filed suit against the reworked ban, and those cases potentially could reach the high court.

Summary: ट्रम्प के विरोधियों ने अमेरिकी सर्वोच्च न्यायालय से यात्रा प्रतिबंध पर निर्णय लेने का आग्रह किया


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc (FB.O) Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, who has been mentioned as a potential Treasury Secretary should Democrat Hillary Clinton become the next U.S. president, said on Tuesday she has no plans to go into government. “I’m staying at Facebook,” Sandberg said when asked at a conference in Menlo Park, California if she would consider taking a position in government if Clinton wins the Nov. 8 presidential election.

Summary: फेसबुक के सैंडबर्ग का कहना है कि सरकार में काम करने की उनकी कोई योजना नहीं है


ADEL, Iowa (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called on the Democratic National Committee on Wednesday to authorize an additional debate in New Hampshire next week for the party’s candidates. “I am, you know, anxious if we can get something set up to be able to be there,” she said in an interview with MSNBC which will air later Wednesday. “So, let’s try to make it happen.” She said she would like to see DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and the campaigns of the other two candidates, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley, to agree to the new debate.

Summary: क्लिंटनः डीएनसी को अगले सप्ताह अतिरिक्त डेमोक्रेटिक बहस को अधिकृत करना चाहिए


FRONT ROYAL, Va. (Reuters) - Ralph and Mike Waller are such ardent backers of President Donald Trump that they help stage a counter-protest every Wednesday in front of their Front Royal, Virginia, pawn shop, sparring with anti-Trump demonstrators who gather across the street.  But ask them about Ed Gillespie, the Republican candidate for Virginia governor in next Tuesday’s election, and they show little enthusiasm.  “I would like somebody who’s more closely aligned with Trump,” Ralph Waller, who is Mike Waller’s uncle, said from the shop floor, racks of pawned rifles behind him.  Gillespie is, in fact, nothing like Trump, a real estate magnate who had never before held political office, although both are members of the same party. Gillespie is a Washington lobbyist who worked in President George W. Bush’s White House, the kind of establishment mainstay Trump bashed on the campaign trail.  Moreover, Gillespie has largely kept his distance from Trump, rarely mentioning him by name and notably not asking for Trump’s help in a tight race. But Gillespie still needs voters like the Wallers. Trump, who lost Virginia last year by 5 points to Democrat Hillary Clinton, did best in rural areas such as the counties along Virginia’s mountainous spine, less so in urban areas. That tension has Gillespie looking to thread the thinnest of needles, trying to appeal to voters turned off by Trump while retaining enough of Trump’s passionate base to secure victory. Should he win, Gillespie might provide a blueprint for other Republican candidates unsure how to campaign in an era when the president is popular with fewer than 40 percent of Americans.  “If he manages to do this, he’s shown how you engage Trump voters while literally avoiding Donald Trump,” said Quentin Kidd, a political scientist at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia. The Virginia governor’s race, one of only two in the country this year, is being watched nationally by political observers looking for clues about next year’s midterm elections, in which Democrats are seeking to seize one or both houses of Congress.  Gillespie has been courting Trump voters by focusing on what he says is the threat posed by illegal immigrants, a longtime Trump campaign theme. He has criticized “sanctuary cities” and run ads warning of the street gang MS-13, which is largely composed of members from Central America.  He has also called for preserving Confederate monuments following the clashes between white supremacists and protesters in August in Charlottesville, Virginia.  Once trailing significantly behind Democrat Ralph Northam, the state’s lieutenant governor, Gillespie has risen in the polls since the ads began running regularly. Kidd credits the spots for making the race competitive.  Sanctuary cities, Gillespie told Reuters in an interview, are “not going to make us safer.”  While Virginia has no sanctuary cities, which often do not use municipal funds or resources to enforce federal immigration laws, the issue arose earlier this year when a measure by the state’s legislature to prohibit them was vetoed by Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe. But some argue Gillespie is being too cautious. Corey Stewart, who ran against Gillespie in the gubernatorial primary and garnered support from Trump’s base, said Gillespie erred in not asking the president to campaign for him and in not doing more to harness the energy Trump has stirred. “He’s put the president at a distance, and he has offended a lot of the president’s supporters,” Stewart said. “And it could cost him the election.” Trump has tweeted his support for Gillespie, but that is as far as it has gone.  Gillespie said he appreciated Trump’s endorsement but declined to say whether he would ask for more, even parroting Trump’s own words in doing so.  “Just like the president doesn’t disclose his military strategy, we don’t disclose our campaign strategy,” he said.  At a recent house party in Fairfax County, Virginia, just outside Washington, Gillespie mixed with a prosperous group of Republicans who snacked on a catered spread and chatted about private schools. He spoke to them about traditional Republican priorities such as economic growth and education reform - and never once mentioned Trump, while referring to other politicians who  support him such as Vice President Mike Pence and George W. Bush. “That’s smart,” said Chris Andreas, a Great Falls, Virginia, resident who attended the event and said he believed Trump had hurt the Republican party. In 2016, Trump fared significantly worse in Fairfax County than Republican nominee Mitt Romney did four years earlier. There are more voters to be gained there than anywhere else in the state.  The strategy’s downside is that while Democrats hold a large advantage in Northern Virginia, they are losing ground in rural areas.  In Warren County, where Front Royal is located, Trump gained 2,000 votes more than Romney largely by attracting wayward Democrats, said Stephen Kurtz, a former chair of the county Republican Party. The pattern, he said, repeated across other counties in rural Virginia.  Kurtz said he had heard grumbling over Gillespie’s Washington background and worries some voters energized by Trump may stay home.  “It is a hard sell, believe me,” Kurtz said.

Summary: वर्जीनिया के गवर्नर की दौड़ में ट्रम्प ने रिपब्लिकन के लिए हाई-वायर एक्ट को मजबूर किया


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Wednesday congratulated Donald Trump on his victory in the U.S. presidential election, saying it was an opportunity to further bilateral relations. In a speech in the capital Ankara, Yildirim said a “new page” would be opened in U.S.-Turkey relations if Washington extradited the U.S.-based cleric Turkey blames for orchestrating the July 15 failed coup. “An area of opportunity has been created for the new president to advance relations with policies taking into account Turkey’s fight against terror,” Yildirim said.

Summary: तुर्की के प्रधानमंत्री ने कहा कि ट्रम्प की जीत अमेरिका के साथ संबंधों को आगे बढ़ाने का एक मौका है


BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.S.-backed militias in Syria have declared victory over Islamic State in its capital Raqqa, a milestone in the fight to roll back the theocratic  caliphate  declared in 2014.. Here are facts about Raqqa: Raqqa sits on the Euphrates river around 90 km (56 miles) from the Turkish border in north central Syria.  Sunni militant group Islamic State overran Raqqa in January 2014, seizing control from rebel factions opposed to the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The United States has said Islamic State planned and sent teams from Raqqa to carry out attacks on cities including Paris, Brussels and Istanbul.  THE ANTI-IS OFFENSIVE The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of mostly Kurdish and Arab militias, began to advance towards Raqqa city in November 2016. After encircling the city, they launched the offensive to take it, facing tough resistance.  The United States-led coalition supported the SDF with air strikes and special forces on the ground.  The battle for Raqqa has taken a severe toll on civilians. The United Nations said in March the city contained around 200,000 people, just under its pre-war population.  Since late last year, fighting around and in Raqqa has displaced tens of thousands of people. Many have fled the city to camps in surrounding territory now under the control of the SDF and its strongest component, the Kurdish YPG militia.  Civilians who were trapped inside the Islamic State enclave in the city endured miserable conditions for months, lacking water, power, food and healthcare. As the SDF captured parts of Raqqa they were mostly been cleared of residents.     Air strikes, fighting and Islamic State snipers and mines have killed many hundreds of people.   The coalition says it is careful to avoid civilian casualties in its bombing runs in Syria and Iraq. But the U.N. human rights office and rights group Amnesty International have raised concerns about reports of high civilian deaths.  Islamic State imposed its very strict interpretation of Islamic law on Raqqa s residents. The fighters have carried out public executions, lashings and violent punishments for infringements of their rule. The Raqqa campaign has stirred tension between the United States and NATO-ally Turkey. Potential Kurdish influence in the future of the mainly Arab city is sensitive both for some activists from Raqqa and for Turkey.   The YPG has become the main U.S. partner in the fight against Islamic State in northern Syria. Ankara views it as a Syrian extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency within Turkey, and fears growing Kurdish power along its border. The SDF s political allies have set up a Raqqa Civil Council of people from the city, which the SDF has said it will hand control to after Islamic State s defeat. This echoes the pattern in other towns and cities that the SDF captured. The U.S.-led coalition has helped train a new police force for the city.  Islamic State has made enemies of all sides in the more than six-year Syrian conflict, with separate offensives now trying to clear it from its last foothold in the towns along the Euphrates river in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border. Besides the U.S.-backed SDF, the Syrian army, with Russian jets and Iran-backed militias, is also waging its own campaign against Islamic State in eastern Syria.         A modern-day provincial transport hub and market town, Raqqa was built by the Abbasid Islamic Caliphate in the eighth century, serving as its capital at one point. It has been inhabited since antiquity and contains important archeological and architectural sites. The United Nations has said they have been extensively looted during the war and religious buildings have been damaged. Islamic State militants released a video of them bombing a large part of the Uwais al-Qarani shrine complex in March 2014.

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः रक्का-इस्लामिक स्टेट का सीरियाई मुख्यालय गिर गया है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady on Tuesday said Republicans should defend free trade and the party should defend the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) in the new Congress. “Republicans are going to continue to support the freedom to trade,” the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee said. When it comes to the controversial TPP, which president-elect Donald Trump has opposed, Brady said the plan was defensible. “Don’t withdraw, renegotiate,” he told a panel of the Wall Street Journal CEO Council. “There is plenty that levels the playing field. Renegotiate. Fix the problems that exist today. Let’s find a way to move forward.”

Summary: शीर्ष कर-लेखक रिपब्लिकन ने कहा कि टी. पी. पी. व्यापार सौदा कांग्रेस में मृत नहीं है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.-backed militias fighting Islamic State are not planning to enter the city of Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria, a U.S. military spokesman said on Thursday, reducing the chances of the American allies coming face to face with Syrian government forces. The Syrian army and its allies recently broke an Islamic State siege of an enclave in Deir al-Zor that had lasted three years. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a U.S.-backed alliance of mostly Arab and Kurdish fighters, meanwhile have also launched a separate assault in Deir al-Zor province, which has become Islamic State s last major foothold in Syria. Earlier this week, the SDF said it had reached an industrial zone miles to the east of Deir al-Zor city. The advances bring the SDF to within 15 km (10 miles) of the Syrian army. The advances against Islamic State, another blow to its control over territory it held for years as part of a self-declared caliphate, has raised concerns that it would bring the SDF into closer proximity to the Syrian government side, which is backed by Russia and Iran.  U.S. Army Colonel Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State, told reporters that the battlefield was already congested and the plan was for the SDF to move down the middle Euphrates River Valley.  I ll just tell you that the plan is not to go into Deir   al-Zor city but there (are) plenty of ISIS fighters and resources and leaders that continue to have holdouts throughout the middle Euphrates River valley,  Dillon told reporters in Washington through a video briefing.

Summary: U.S.-backed सेना देइर अल-ज़ोर शहर में प्रवेश करने की योजना नहीं बना रही है


MANILA (Reuters) - The police chief of the Philippines on Wednesday stood by the head of a secretive unit behind dozens of killings in the country s war on drugs, saying officers fired only in self-defence and the death toll reflected the danger and the scale of the narcotics problem. National police chief Ronald dela Rosa was responding to a Reuters Special Report that spent four months examining killings by one group of policemen from or near Davao City, the hometown of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Dela Rosa said police district 6 in Quezon City had Metro Manila s most serious drug problem and he personally sent squad commander Lito Patay there because he was a  very professional  and  very dedicated  officer capable of dealing with it. Patay handpicked and headed a unit of 10 men who called themselves the  Davao Boys , which racked up the highest number of kills in Quezon City, a violent frontline in Duterte s ferocious anti-narcotics campaign.  Police station 6 officers killed 108 people in anti-drug operations from July 2016 through June 2017, the campaign s first year, accounting for 39 percent of Quezon City s body count, according to official crime reports analyzed by Reuters. A majority of the killings were carried out by the squad run by Patay, who was reassigned to Quezon City just a few weeks after Duterte unleashed his crackdown.  He (Patay) was chosen because I have big trust in him, he has the balls to face the problems. He will fight,  dela Rosa told reporters.  He is not an officer who is after money, who will be assigned in an area only to collect money, he is not that kind of officer. He has focus. I assigned him there because I know he can deliver.  Asked about the high rate of killings in areas under Patay, he said deaths were inevitable where the drugs trade was rampant.  So what s the problem? The worst drug problem is there in station 6, so if you hit the problem head on, you face the problem head on then, there would always result in casualties,  he said.     Nearly 4,000 mostly urban poor Filipinos have been killed in anti-drug operations since July 2016. Police reject activists  allegations they have executed drug users and peddlers and say they kill only when their lives are in danger. Dela Rosa said Patay has since been reassigned to another province to make him eligible for promotion, reflecting his success in convincing drug suspects in Quezon City to surrender to the authorities.  He said Patay had been  given a free hand  at station 6 and had command responsibility over his operations.   It is his own call whatever he does there, he has to solve the drug problem,  dela Rosa said. The story of the Davao Boys also highlights a larger dynamic: Many of the drug war s key police officers - dela Rosa included - hail from or served in Duterte s hometown, where the campaign s brutal methods originated during his time as mayor. Duterte has repeatedly denied he ordered the killings of criminals and drug dealers during his 22 years as Davao mayor, or his 17 months as president. Dela Rosa appeared frustrated when asked by a reporter if he personally had ordered the deaths of drug suspects in Quezon City. He said Patay s men had no alternative but to kill armed criminals who refused to go quietly.  He was placed there to address the drug problem, and not to kill those who deserved to be killed,  he said of Patay.  If they resist, why would you risk your life? You have to fight back.

Summary: फिलीपींस के पुलिस प्रमुख ने 'दावो लड़कों' के घातक नशीली दवाओं के युद्ध का बचाव किया


EDINBURGH (Reuters) - A mother who has been fighting for four decades to find out what happened to her dead baby boy has discovered that his coffin has no human remains in it. Lydia Reid s son Gary was seven days old when he died at Edinburgh s Hospital for Sick Children in 1975, she told the BBC. Reid was a leading campaigner to expose how Scottish hospitals unlawfully retained dead children s body parts for research following a public enquiry into practices at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool, England in the 1990s, the BBC said.   Lydia Reid wants answers from people ... somebody coming forward to explain to her what has happened to her son s body,  David Short, a lawyer acting on her behalf, told the BBC on Monday. Reid has suspected for years that her son s organs were taken without permission, and thought the coffin was empty on the day of the funeral because it weighed so little. But she has had no proof of what happened to his remains until now, following a court order for an exhumation at Saughton Cemetery in Edinburgh.  I wanted to be wrong. I wanted to be called a stupid old woman but the minute (the forensic scientist) lifted the shawl out of the ground I knew there was nothing in it. Nothing,  she said.   My heart hit my feet and I didn t know what to say.  Reid has appealed to the Scottish health authorities and the funeral company to help her find out what happened.  They know what happened to my son, they know fine and well that they have that knowledge and they can give me peace.  Even if he s been incinerated I want to know. Even if he s lying in a jar in a hospital somewhere I want to know. If it s possible to get my son back, I want my son back. And if it s not, then at least tell me, and let me have peace.  Reid, now 68, said that after her son died and she asked to see him again she was shown a child that was not hers.  This baby was blond and big, my baby was tiny and dark-haired. This was not my son,  she said.  I objected but they said I was suffering from post-natal depression.  Jim Crombie, Deputy Chief Executive at NHS Lothian, said:  Our condolences are with the family of Gary Paton. This matter is now being looked into by the police and we are unable to comment further.

Summary: मृत बच्चे के शव का पता लगाने के लिए मां की लड़ाई में मिला खाली ताबूत


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Venture capitalists and startup executives, who had mounted a campaign against a proposal to change how the federal government taxes stock options, expressed relief on Wednesday after the U.S. Senate dropped the measure from its tax overhaul plan. The Senate tax bill had proposed taxing employee stock options, a crucial part of compensation at technology startups, as they vest. Options generally vest over a four-year period. The result would have been annual tax bills for startup employees that soared into the tens of thousands of dollars, warned startup founders and employees. Startup options give employees the right to purchase shares in the future and are illiquid, meaning employees cannot spend or save their options. The Senate removed that provision late Tuesday night following heavy lobbying from the National Venture Capital Association, the industry trade group, and an outpouring of opposition from Silicon Valley venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. They predicted the demise of the startup industry should the tax become law. “The entrepreneurial ecosystem can breathe a sigh of relief,” said Bobby Franklin, president and chief executive of the trade association. More than 600 startups, investors and executives from companies such as Uber, Airbnb and Stripe signed a letter Tuesday to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, urging him to remove the provision. “This shift would have profound negative consequences for technology startups by, among other things, undermining their ability to compete with large incumbents for employees,” they wrote in the letter, organized by technology advocacy group Engine. A spokesman for Hatch did not respond to a request for comment. The current tax code taxes employees only when they exercise their options. The Senate proposal would have required employees to pay regular income tax on the value gain of stock options even before cashing them in. The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) was also successful in getting a similar proposal removed from the original House tax reform bill. “We don’t anticipate it coming back up again,” said Ben Veghte, spokesman for the NVCA. In the new version of the Senate bill, the finance committee also added language that would enable startup employees to defer for five years their stock options tax bill if they reach the deadline to exercise them but the company is still private and shares do not trade on the public markets. Venky Ganesan, managing director of Menlo Ventures, called the changes “consistent with economic growth and job creation.”

Summary: सीनेट ने स्टार्टअप स्टॉक विकल्पों पर करों में बदलाव का प्रस्ताव हटाया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. presidential campaigns face threats from hackers bent on espionage and other activity more nefarious than mere political mischief, the office of U.S. National Intelligence Director James Clapper said on Wednesday, but did not provide details on specific intrusions. “We’re aware that campaigns and related organizations and individuals are targeted by actors with a variety of motivations - from philosophical differences to espionage - and capabilities - from defacements to intrusions,” Clapper’s spokesman, Brian Hale, said in a statement, deferring to the FBI for details on specific incidents. Earlier, Clapper said the U.S. intelligence community had “already had some indications” of hacking attempts against presidential campaigns. “As the campaign intensifies we’ll probably have more” attacks, Clapper said at a morning event at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington. The hacking efforts against the campaigns are considered so serious that some congressional committees have been briefed on the activity, a government source said. “Given the intense scrutiny paid to the 2016 campaign, and the broad implications for U.S. foreign policy, it’s no surprise that actors are launching cyber attacks against presidential campaigns,” Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a statement. The U.S. Secret Service, which is charged with protecting the presidential candidates, said in a statement that it works to prevent and detect cyber security threats and makes the candidates aware of vulnerabilities. Cyber attacks against political candidates occur in countries around the world. The last two U.S. presidential cycles in 2008 and 2012 witnessed a barrage of cyber attacks from a range of adversaries targeting President Barack Obama’s campaign and the campaigns of his Republican foes. U.S. intelligence officials have said many previous assaults were linked to Chinese hackers.  Matthew Prince, co-founder and chief executive of CloudFlare, which has provided internet security services to Donald Trump and other presidential candidates, said his company has seen a “surprisingly civil cyber landscape” in the United States compared with elections in other countries where it has worked, such as Turkey or Mexico.	 “We have not seen anything (in the United States) that would suggest a level of sophistication that you would see if a nation-state actor threw its full weight behind it,” Prince said. Clapper said the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are working to educate “both campaigns” about cyber threats, likely referring to the campaigns of Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, and Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee. A U.S. security official said foreign hackers would likely seek information about a candidate’s foreign policy intentions and team and about the campaign’s internal operations. The Republican and Democratic candidates for president will begin receiving intelligence briefings after their official nominations at party conventions this summer.  Clapper said the two candidates would receive “exactly the same” briefings. He said the sessions would not be used to try to persuade Trump to soften his stance about a proposed ban on Muslim immigration, which some national security professionals have said is counterproductive to fighting Islamic extremism. “We’ve been doing this for many years, it’s not designed to shape anybody’s world view,” Clapper said. Because the candidates are briefed in person, U.S. intelligence officials said they are not concerned about hackers eavesdropping on the sessions. But they are worried that Trump or Clinton might share information with aides, advisers or supporters using email systems that are less secure than those the government uses for classified information.  One official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, cited Clinton’s previous use of a private email server when she was secretary of state and noted Trump’s reputation for speaking, and tweeting, off the top of his head.

Summary: हैकरों ने राष्ट्रपति अभियानों को निशाना बनायाः अमेरिकी जासूस प्रमुख


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton came closer than any other woman to winning the White House on Tuesday but fell short for a second time, a bitter disappointment for a pioneering but polarizing American political figure. Seeking to win election to the office her husband Bill Clinton held from 1993 to 2001, Clinton, 69, lost her battle for the Democratic presidential nomination to Barack Obama in 2008 and lost on Tuesday to Republican Donald Trump, 70. Trump told supporters at a rally early on Wednesday that Clinton had phoned to congratulate him on his victory. A Clinton campaign aide confirmed the phone call. In 2000, Clinton became the only first lady to win elected office, as a U.S. senator from New York. In 2009, she became the third female secretary of state. In July, she became the first woman to claim a major U.S. party’s presidential nomination.  The presidency turned out to be a bridge too far. Accepting her party’s nomination in July, she embraced the historic nature of her candidacy, saying that “when any barrier falls in America it clears the way for everyone. After all, when there are no ceilings, the sky’s the limit. So let’s keep going. Let’s keep going until every one of the 161 million women and girls across America has the opportunity she deserves to have.”     During four decades in public life, Clinton withstood such controversies as an FBI investigation of her use of a private email server as secretary of state, probes into past business dealings, her husband’s infidelity and an unsuccessful Republican effort to remove him from office. Two American women, Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and Sarah Palin in 2008, were nominated by major parties as their vice presidential nominees, but fell short in the general election. After losing to Obama in the 2008 race, Clinton deferred her White House ambitions, and served as his secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. Clinton’s admirers consider her a tough, capable and sometimes inspirational leader who endured unrelenting efforts by political enemies to chop her down. Campaigning for her on Monday in Michigan, Obama called Clinton “a candidate who is smart, a candidate who’s steady, a candidate who’s tested - probably the most qualified person ever to run for this office.” Her detractors consider her an unscrupulous and power-hungry opportunist. She was detested by many Republicans and conservatives, and in 1998 during her husband’s presidency bemoaned a “vast right-wing conspiracy.” Against Trump, she portrayed herself as guarding the country from the threat she said he posed to American democracy. “As I’ve told people, I’m the last thing standing between you and the apocalypse,” Clinton told The New York Times in October. When she entered the race last year for the Democratic presidential nomination, she was considered such a prohibitive favorite that others in her party shied away from challenging her. But she was an establishment figure and a Washington insider at a time when voters were smitten with outsiders. She secured the Democratic nomination in July only after beating back a surprisingly stout challenge from U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, who appealed to young voters and mustered the kind of excitement that Clinton sometimes failed to generate. As secretary of state, she dealt with civil wars in Syria and Libya, Iran’s nuclear program, China’s growing clout, Russian assertiveness, ending the Iraq war, winding down the Afghanistan war, and an unsuccessful bid to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Congressional Republicans spent years investigating allegations of State Department security lapses related to a 2012 attack by militants in the Libyan city of Benghazi that killed the U.S. ambassador. She testified during marathon congressional hearings in January 2013 at the end of her tenure at the State Department and in October 2015, while already a candidate for president, facing Republican criticism of her handling of the incident. Another politically damaging issue came to light during the lengthy congressional investigation into the Benghazi attack: accusations that she broke the law in her handling of classified information while corresponding through the private email server for her government work as secretary of state. The U.S. Justice Department in July accepted FBI Director James Comey’s recommendation not to bring criminal charges against her, although he faulted her “extremely careless”  handling of classified information. Comey announced 11 days before the election that the FBI was investigating a new collection of emails as part of its probe, but said two days before the election that a review of those emails produced nothing that would change the decision not to bring charges. Trump called her “Crooked Hillary,” said he would seek to put her behind bars if elected and encouraged his supporters to chant “lock her up.” Clinton called Trump as a racist hate-monger, a sexist and a tax-dodger enamored with Russian President Vladimir Putin. She defended her lengthy service in government, dismissing Trump’s contention that she had produced no real accomplishments. Born in Chicago on Oct. 26, 1947, Hillary Rodham Clinton was  the eldest of three children of a small-business owner father she called a “rock-ribbed, up-by-your-bootstraps, conservative Republican” and a mother who was a closet Democrat. She attended public schools, then enrolled in 1965 at all-female Wellesley College in Massachusetts, where she headed the Young Republicans Club. Her political views changed during the 1960s civil rights struggles and Vietnam War escalation and she switched parties. At Yale Law School, she met a similarly ambitious fellow student from Arkansas, Bill Clinton, and they became a couple. She moved to Washington to work for a congressional panel in the impeachment drive against Nixon, who resigned as president in 1974 during the Watergate scandal. She moved to Arkansas to be with Bill, married him in 1975, and was hired by a top law firm. He jumped into politics, eventually being elected governor, at age 32, in 1978. She gave birth to the couple’s only child, daughter Chelsea, in 1980. As Arkansas’ first lady, she was a high-powered lawyer in the capital Little Rock and a Wal-Mart corporate board member. Most Americans were introduced to her during her husband’s bid for the 1992 Democratic presidential nomination. Bill Clinton said voters would get “two for the price of one” if they elected him. She unapologetically said she was not a woman who “stayed home and baked cookies.” After a woman named Gennifer Flowers accused Bill Clinton during the campaign of a sexual affair, Hillary Clinton appeared on TV with her husband and referred to singer Tammy Wynette’s song, “Stand by Your Man.” “You know, I’m not sitting here, some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette,” she said, adding that she loved and respected her husband. “And you know, if that’s not enough for people, then heck, don’t vote for him,” she added.  Conservative critics painted her as a radical feminist and a threat to traditional family values. Bill Clinton defeated incumbent Republican President George H.W. Bush in November 1992. As first lady from 1993 to 2001, unlike many of her predecessors, she was an active part of policymaking. Critics assailed her unsuccessful effort to win congressional passage of healthcare reform, deriding it as “Hillarycare.” She and her husband faced a long investigation into past business dealings but ultimately no criminal charges were brought. A real estate venture known as Whitewater faced scrutiny, spawning an independent counsel investigation that later encompassed Bill Clinton’s sexual relationship with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky. Deputy White House Counsel Vince Foster, a figure in the Whitewater controversy and a close friend of the Clintons from Arkansas, was found dead of a gunshot in 1993. His death was ruled a suicide. In a 2003 memoir, Hillary Clinton blasted “conspiracy theorists and investigators trying to prove that Vince was murdered to cover up what he ‘knew about Whitewater.’”  In 2000, the independent counsel investigation concluded there was insufficient evidence to show the Clintons had been involved in any criminal behavior related to Whitewater. In December 1998, the Republican-led House of Representatives voted to impeach a president for only the second time in U.S. history, charging Bill Clinton with “high crimes and misdemeanors” for allegedly lying under oath and obstructing justice to cover up his relationship with Lewinsky. The Republican-led Senate acquitted Clinton in February 1999. Hillary Clinton called the impeachment an abuse of power by Republicans with a “Soviet-style show trial” and condemned what she called “an attempted congressional coup d’etat.” She also said she “wanted to wring Bill’s neck” for the affair and upbraided him privately. Ultimately, she said, she decided she still loved him and remained after they went through counseling. She launched her own bid for elected office and won election in 2000 as a U.S. senator. The 2008 race for the Democratic presidential nomination pitted America’s foremost woman politician against the son of a black Kenyan father and a white Kansan mother. After vanquishing Clinton, Obama made history when he defeated Republican John McCain to become the first black U.S. president.

Summary: इतिहास रचने की कोशिश में, क्लिंटन पर्वत की चोटी तक पहुँचने में विफल रहीं


(The Dec. 1 story was refiled to correct Gates’ first name to Richard in paragraph 3) (Reuters) - Michael Flynn’s plea of guilty on Friday to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation made him the fourth person known to be charged in a U.S. Justice Department investigation of ties between President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign and Russia. The other three known to be charged by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe are: ** Former Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort and Richard Gates. A grand jury in October indicted Manafort, a longtime Republican political consultant, and Gates, a business associate.  The two men pleaded not guilty on Oct. 30 to the 12-count indictment, whose charges include conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy against the United States and failing to register as foreign agents of Ukraine’s former pro-Russian government.  Manafort has agreed to an $11.65 million bail deal that would result in his release from house arrest and electronic monitoring. ** Former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos. Papadopoulos, a Chicago-based international energy lawyer, pleaded guilty on Oct. 30 to lying to FBI agents about contacts with people who claimed to have ties to top Russian officials. It was the first criminal charge alleging links between the Trump campaign and Russia. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders played down Papadopoulos’ campaign role, saying it was “extremely limited” and “any actions that he took would have been on his own.”

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्स-ट्रम्प-रूस संबंधों की अमेरिकी जांच में चार लोगों पर आरोप लगाया गया


JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African anti-apartheid veteran Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, ex-wife of the late President Nelson Mandela, is  in high spirits  after being admitted to hospital for minor surgery, her spokesman said on Thursday.  Victor Dlamini said in a statement the 81-year-old former first lady was admitted to hospital on Tuesday for minor surgery on her knee and doctors had decided to keep her in for the next two weeks as she recovers.  I visited her at the hospital this afternoon and she was in high spirits,  Dlamini said.  In our conversation (she) said that her health problems go back to the time when she was banished to Brandfort by the apartheid government and during this period her knee first gave her trouble.  Madikizela-Mandela spent several weeks in hospital last year for back surgery.   During her ex-husband s 27-year incarceration for his fight against apartheid, Madikizela-Mandela campaigned for his release and for the rights of black South Africans, undergoing detention, banishment and arrest.

Summary: मामूली सर्जरी के बाद विनी मंडेला की तबीयत बिगड़ीः प्रवक्ता


ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish authorities issued detention warrants on Friday for 79 former teachers, the state-run Anadolu news agency said, as part of a widening crackdown since last year s failed coup attempt. The teachers were formerly employed at schools allegedly linked to the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused by Ankara of orchestrating last July s abortive putsch, Anadolu said. The schools were shut down after the coup attempt. Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, denies involvement. Anadolu said security forces were carrying out operations to capture the suspects in Ankara, where thousands of teachers from across the country arrived to visit the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey, to celebrate the national teachers  day. Since the abortive coup, more than 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial over alleged links to Gulen, while some  150,000 people have been sacked or suspended from jobs in the military, public and private sectors. Rights groups and some of Turkey s Western allies have voiced concern about the crackdown, fearing the government is using the coup as a pretext to quash dissent. The government says only such a purge could neutralize the threat represented by Gulen s network, which it says deeply infiltrated institutions such as the army, schools and courts.

Summary: तुर्की तख्तापलट के बाद की जांच में 79 पूर्व शिक्षकों को हिरासत में लेगा-अनादोलु


MOSCOW (Reuters) - A journalist became the second woman to enter Russia s presidential race, saying on Monday she wanted to use the election to campaign for the rights of single mothers and children. The presidential election takes place in March next year. President Vladimir Putin is expected to stand and win, but has yet to confirm his plans. Some opposition activists believe the Kremlin s aim is to crown the field with candidates designed to distract and entertain in order to boost turnout and divide the liberal opposition.  The Kremlin denies that, saying anyone who meets the legal criteria to run can take part. On Monday, mother-of-two Ekaterina Gordon, 37, who has worked as a TV and radio talk show host, said she was putting herself forward as an independent presidential candidate. She said she had never voted, but had become disillusioned by both the liberal opposition and pro-Kremlin politicians.  I understood that everyone is fed from the same trough,  Gordon said in an online video.  There are many populist themes ... But there is one reality - we are a country of single mothers, and no one gives a damn about them.  She said she had not agreed her candidacy with the Kremlin and had experience of the kind of problems Russian woman faced due to her ownership of a law firm. Another female candidate, Russian TV personality Ksenia Sobchak, said earlier this month she planned to run for president, offering liberal voters unhappy with Putin s rule someone to back, though she, like Gordon, has little prospect of winning. Post-Soviet Russia has never had a female president.   Kremlin critic and opposition leader Alexei Navalny wants to run too, but Russia s central election commission has declared him ineligible due to a suspended prison sentence, which he says was politically-motivated.

Summary: रूस में दूसरी महिला राष्ट्रपति पद की दौड़ में शामिल, एकल माताओं के लिए किया प्रचार


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Russian government think tank controlled by Vladimir Putin developed a plan to swing the 2016 U.S. presidential election to Donald Trump and undermine voters’ faith in the American electoral system, three current and four former U.S. officials told Reuters. They described two confidential documents from the think tank as providing the framework and rationale for what U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded was an intensive effort by Russia to interfere with the Nov. 8 election. U.S. intelligence officials acquired the documents, which were prepared by the Moscow-based Russian Institute for Strategic Studies [en.riss.ru/], after the election. The institute is run by retired senior Russian foreign intelligence officials appointed by Putin’s office.  The first Russian institute document was a strategy paper written last June that circulated at the highest levels of the Russian government but was not addressed to any specific individuals. It recommended the Kremlin launch a propaganda campaign on social media and Russian state-backed global news outlets to encourage U.S. voters to elect a president who would take a softer line toward Russia than the administration of then-President Barack Obama, the seven officials said.  A second institute document, drafted in October and distributed in the same way, warned that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was likely to win the election. For that reason, it argued, it was better for Russia to end its pro-Trump propaganda and instead intensify its messaging about voter fraud to undermine the U.S. electoral system’s legitimacy and damage Clinton’s reputation in an effort to undermine her presidency, the seven officials said. The current and former U.S. officials spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the Russian documents’ classified status. They declined to discuss how the United States obtained them. U.S. intelligence agencies also declined to comment on them. Putin has denied interfering in the U.S. election. Putin’s spokesman and the Russian institute did not respond to requests for comment.  The documents were central to the Obama administration’s conclusion that Russia mounted a “fake news” campaign and launched cyber attacks against Democratic Party groups and Clinton’s campaign, the current and former officials said. “Putin had the objective in mind all along, and he asked the institute to draw him a road map,” said one of the sources, a former senior U.S. intelligence official.  Trump has said Russia’s activities had no impact on the outcome of the race. Ongoing congressional and FBI investigations into Russian interference have so far produced no public evidence that Trump associates colluded with the Russian effort to change the outcome of the election. Four of the officials said the approach outlined in the June strategy paper was a broadening of an effort the Putin administration launched in March 2016. That month the Kremlin instructed state-backed media outlets, including international platforms Russia Today and Sputnik news agency, to start producing positive reports on Trump’s quest for the U.S. presidency, the officials said.  Russia Today did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Sputnik dismissed the assertions by the U.S. officials that it participated in a Kremlin campaign as an “absolute pack of lies.” “And by the way, it’s not the first pack of lies we’re hearing from ‘sources in U.S. official circles’,” the spokesperson said in an email. PRO-KREMLIN BLOGGERS Russia Today and Sputnik published anti-Clinton stories while pro-Kremlin bloggers prepared a Twitter campaign calling into question the fairness of an anticipated Clinton victory, according to a report by U.S. intelligence agencies on Russian interference in the election made public in January. [bit.ly/2kMiKSA] Russia Today’s most popular Clinton video - “How 100% of the 2015 Clintons’ ‘charity’ went to ... themselves” - accumulated 9 millions views on social media, according to the January report. [bit.ly/2os8wIt] The report said Russia Today and Sputnik “consistently cast president elect-Trump as the target of unfair coverage from traditional media outlets.”  The report said the agencies did not assess whether Moscow’s effort had swung the outcome of the race in Trump’s favor, because American intelligence agencies do not “analyze U.S. political processes or U.S. public opinion.” [bit.ly/2kMiKSA] Neither of the Russian institute documents mentioned the release of hacked Democratic Party emails to interfere with the U.S. election, according to four of the officials. The officials said the hacking was a covert intelligence operation run separately out of the Kremlin. The overt propaganda and covert hacking efforts reinforced each other, according to the officials. Both Russia Today and Sputnik heavily promoted the release of the hacked Democratic Party emails, which often contained embarrassing details. Five of the U.S. officials described the institute as the Kremlin’s in-house foreign policy think tank.  The institute’s director when the documents were written, Leonid Reshetnikov, rose to the rank of lieutenant general during a 33-year-career in Russia’s foreign intelligence service, according to the institute’s website [bit.ly/2oVhiCF]. After Reshetnikov retired from the institute in January, Putin named as his replacement Mikhail Fradkov. The institute says he served as the director of Russia’s foreign intelligence service from 2007 to 2016. [bit.ly/2os4tvz] Reuters was unable to determine if either man was directly involved in the drafting of the documents. Reshetnikov’s office referred questions to the Russian institute.  On its website, the Russian institute describes itself as providing “expert appraisals,” “recommendations,” and “analytical materials” to the Russian president’s office, cabinet, National Security Council, ministries and parliament. [bit.ly/2pCBGpR]  On Jan. 31, the websites of Putin’s office [bit.ly/2os9wMr] and the institute [bit.ly/2oLn9Kd] posted a picture and transcript of Reshetnikov and his successor Fradkov meeting with Putin in the Kremlin. Putin thanked Reshetnikov for his service and told Fradkov he wanted the institute to provide objective information and analysis. “We did our best for nearly eight years to implement your foreign policy concept,” Reshetnikov told Putin. “The policy of Russia and the policy of the President of Russia have been the cornerstone of our operation.”

Summary: पुतिन से जुड़े थिंक टैंक ने 2016 के अमेरिकी चुनाव को प्रभावित करने की योजना बनाई-दस्तावेज


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi military parade in Baghdad s heavily fortified Green Zone celebrated final victory over Islamic State on Sunday, with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi looking on as troops marched in formation, their bodies spelling  victory day  in Arabic. Abadi, who is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces, listened solemnly to Quranic verses from a chapter titled al-Nasr, meaning victory.  Iraqi forces recaptured the last areas still under Islamic State control along the border with Syria on Saturday and secured the western desert, marking the end of the war against the militants three years after they had captured about a third of Iraq s territory.  The forces fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria now expect a new phase of guerrilla warfare. Watching the parade on Sunday, state television showed Abadi sat on a throne-like chair placed between two Iraqi flags with the country s official seal behind him, and with all other officials sat at a distance from him. Abadi declared Dec. 10 would be an annual national holiday. Fighter jets were seen and heard flying over Baghdad s skies. An announcer introduced various factions who took on Islamic State as troops marched, tanks rolled by and helicopters hovered, all brandishing Iraqi flags as Abadi stood up and waved.  Those who fought were drawn from the army, air force, federal and local police, elite counter-terrorism forces, as well as Shi ite and Sunni paramilitaries and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. They received key air support from a U.S.-led global coalition. In his victory speech, delivered on Saturday, Abadi did not mention the Peshmerga, who played a big part in the fight against Islamic State. The central government in Baghdad is in conflict with the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government after the latter unilaterally held an independence referendum in September. Instead Abadi hailed the Iranian-trained and backed Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), a group of Shi ite militias, many of whom are loyal to Iran. He also said  that the state should have a legitimate monopoly on arms, however. Disarming the PMF is seen as Abadi s greatest challenge after Islamic State s defeat. The man who many saw as weak and ineffectual when he took over in 2014 from a predecessor who was blamed for the Islamic State takeover now heads towards an election next year as the commander who freed Iraqi lands. Or as one Western diplomat described him -  the most popular man in Iraq.

Summary: इस्लामिक स्टेट को हराने के बाद इराक ने विजय परेड का आयोजन किया


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz turned to Twitter to defend their wives’ honor after a Super PAC put out an ad featuring Trump’s wife nude and Trump threatened to “spill the beans” on Cruz’s wife. Trump’s threat came on Tuesday night when he was upset about an ad that showed his wife, former model Melania Trump, lounging nude with a caption saying, “Meet Melania Trump. Your next first lady. Or, you could support Ted Cruz on Tuesday.” Trump said Cruz was behind the ad, which appeared on Tuesday, the day of nominating contests in Utah, where the heavily Mormon electorate favored Cruz in its caucuses, and Arizona, which gave Trump a victory in its primary vote. The ad said it was from Make America Awesome, a Super PAC that is allowed to promote a candidate but not coordinate with the campaign. “Wow @SenTedCruz, that is some low level ad you did using a picture [of] Melania in a G.Q. shoot,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday. “Be careful or I will spill the beans on your wife.”      Trump later deleted the tweet but published another that read: “Lyin’ Ted Cruz just used a picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his ad. Be careful, Lyin’ Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife!” Trump did not indicate what kind of beans he intended to spill about Heidi Cruz, who is on leave from an executive job at Goldman Sachs while campaigning, but her husband quickly came to her defense on Twitter. “Pic of your wife not from us,” the U.S. senator from Texas said. “Donald, if you try to attack Heidi, you’re more of a coward than I thought. #classless.” The battle continued on Wednesday with Cruz telling CNN: “He went directly after my wife. If Donald wants to get in a character fight, he’s better off sticking with me because Heidi is way out of his league.”   A Twitter response from Trump questioned Cruz’ honesty. “Lyin’ Ted Cruz denied that he had anything to do with the G.Q. model photo post of Melania. That’s why we call him Lyin’ Ted!” he said.  The director of Make America Awesome, Liz Mair, posted on Twitter that her group was responsible for the ad. She did not respond to an email from Reuters seeking comment. In a campaign appearance for her husband in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Heidi Cruz addressed the uproar briefly. “You probably know by now that most of the things that Donald Trump says have no basis in reality,” she told reporters. “So we are not worried in the least.”

Summary: राष्ट्रपति पद की दौड़ में पत्नियों को लेकर ट्रम्प और क्रूज़ के बीच तीखी नोकझोंक


NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Several U.S. chief executives had been considering resigning from Donald Trump’s business advisory councils for months after the president said he would pull out of the Paris climate accord and ban transgender people from the military, sources told Reuters on Wednesday, long before Trump’s comments on racial violence this week pushed them over the edge. Trump disbanded two high-profile advisory groups on Wednesday, after the head of his Strategic and Policy Forum advised the White House the group was breaking up, and a trickle of departures from his American Manufacturing Council threatened to become a mass exodus. “He was at 95 percent already,” a source close to Larry Fink, head of investment firm BlackRock Inc (BLK.N), said of Fink’s leaning toward resigning from the Strategic and Policy Forum.  “I think that (Trump’s latest comments) just made it 120 percent.”  A number of CEOs started to consider more seriously whether to disband after Trump’s initial remarks blaming violence at Saturday’s white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on “many sides,” which was taken to include not only white nationalists but also anti-racism activists who opposed them. Merck & Co Inc (MRK.N) CEO Kenneth Frazier, an African-American, was the first to leave the manufacturing council on Monday over Trump’s weekend reaction.   Trump then attacked Frazier on Twitter, prompting other CEOs to consider quitting also. Frazier’s resignation was followed by the CEOs of Under Armour Inc (UAA.N) and Intel Corp (INTC.O) later on Monday. Trump’s fiery comments on Tuesday, doubling down on his initial response to the Virginia rally, unnerved CEOs already doubting the utility and public relations value of remaining on Trump’s councils, sources close to several of the CEOs told Reuters.  Soon after Trump’s comments on Tuesday, JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) CEO Jamie Dimon, who serves on the Strategic and Policy Forum, started pushing for the forum to take some kind of action, a person close to him said. Dimon had previously expressed exasperation with politics in Washington, saying in July that it is “almost an embarrassment being an American citizen traveling around the world.” Sensing a breakdown in the group, Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of money manager Blackstone Group (BX.N) and chairman of the Strategic and Policy Forum, convened a call on Wednesday for its members. After some debate, “the momentum was such that there wasn’t much room for dissent,” said one source familiar with the discussion.  The decision to disband was agreed and Schwarzman called the White House to inform the president, the source said. Shortly after, Trump tweeted that he was disbanding the two groups.  The leader of the manufacturing council, Dow Chemical Co DOW.N CEO Andrew Liveris, had planned a call with remaining members to try to salvage the group on Wednesday, according to an email seen by Reuters. The call never took place, superseded by Trump’s dissolution of the group.     Sources familiar with the discussions of the boards of Merck and Intel said that they backed their CEOs’ decisions to leave because they did not believe stepping down from Trump’s councils would have a negative impact on their businesses.  “I don’t think these are personal decisions,” said Blain Rethmeier, a Republican strategist who worked on the Trump transition and consults with companies in California. “I think these are made through the eyes of what’s in the best interest of the company, and the brand risks of what it means to be involved with the council became too much.”

Summary: ट्रम्प की वर्जीनिया टिप्पणी निराश सीईओ के लिए अंतिम पुआल


DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that the United States would speed up the approval of promising new drug combinations in his government’s newly announced drive to cure cancer “once and for all”. Biden, who lost his 46-year-old son Beau to brain cancer last year, set out his plans at a World Economic Forum meeting of international cancer experts in Davos, a week after being appointed to lead the initiative by President Barack Obama. So-called combination therapy is increasingly seen as central to fighting tumours, as scientists unlock the different genetic factors driving cancer cell growth, but bringing such cocktails to market can be a slow and costly.  Biden said he had hosted a meeting at his home with three unnamed large drug companies and the head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at which both sides had pledged to do more to get novel cancer drug cocktails to patients. “The head of the FDA made a commitment that everybody would move much more rapidly in approving combinations,” Biden said. At the same, the pharmaceutical industry executives had all said they were “open to different way of doing business” in order to ensure that promising drugs from different companies were tested together as early as possible, he added. Cancer experts are particularly excited by the promise of new immunotherapy medicines that help the body’s immune system fight tumours and which have been shown to work well when used alongside other drugs. Francis Collins, director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, described their potential as “breath-taking”. But such immunotherapy drugs are expensive - typically costing well over $100,000 a year per patient - and companies have traditionally been defensive about sharing early-stage medical experiments. Obama’s call to “make America the country that cures cancer once and for all” in the last State of the Union address of his presidency has led to criticism from some scientists of an over-simplified approach to the killer condition. The latest government-led initiative has echoes of former President Richard Nixon’s unsuccessful “War on Cancer” in the 1970s, since when scientists have discovered that cancer is hundreds of different diseases rather than one single disorder, making the notion of a single cure outdated. Biden acknowledged the complexity in Davos. “I’m not naive enough to think or suggest we are going to have a cure for every cancer in the world in the near term,” he said.

Summary: बाइडन ने कैंसर की दवा कॉकटेल के लिए तेजी से अमेरिकी मंजूरी का वादा किया