The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS.  The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy.  @realDonaldTrump : - Can you believe that Mitch McConnell, who has screamed Repeal & Replace for 7 years, couldn’t get it done. Must Repeal & Replace ObamaCare![0654 EDT] - Mitch, get back to work and put Repeal & Replace, Tax Reform & Cuts and a great Infrastructure Bill on my desk for signing. You can do it! [1240 EDT] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR)

Summary: ट्विटर पर ट्रम्प (10 अगस्त): मिच मैककोनेल


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump, like his predecessors, may find that neither negotiations nor economic and military pressure can force North Korea to abandon its nuclear program, and that the United States has no choice but to try to contain it and deter North Korean leader Kim Jong Un from ever using a nuclear weapon. North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 2, describing it as an advanced hydrogen bomb for a long-range missile, a dramatic escalation of its stand-off with the United States and its allies. U.S. officials declined to discuss operational planning, but acknowledge that no existing plan for a preemptive strike could promise to prevent a brutal counterattack by North Korea, which has thousands of artillery pieces and rockets trained on Seoul. In an implicit recognition that the military options against the North are unpalatable at best and pyrrhic at worst, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis last week told reporters:  We are never out of diplomatic solutions.  U.S. and Asian officials believe it is necessary to try negotiations and more economic pressure but concede these are unlikely to curb, let alone eliminate, the nuclear and missile programs that North Korean considers essential to its survival. That leaves Washington and its allies in South Korea, Japan and elsewhere with an unwelcome question: Is there any way to live with a nuclear-armed North Korea, one that is contained and deterred from using its nuclear weaponry? Trump declined to answer that question at a news conference on Thursday, saying he would not disclose his negotiating strategy publicly and adding it would be a  very sad day  for North Korea if the U.S. military settles the matter.   Military action would certainly be an option. Is it inevitable? Nothing is inevitable,  Trump said.  Still, a senior Trump administration official said it is unclear whether the Cold War-era deterrence model that Washington used with the Soviet Union could be applied to a rogue state like North Korea, adding:  I don t think the president wants to take that chance.   We are very concerned that North Korea might not be able to be deterred,  the official said, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity shortly after Trump s remarks. Among the U.S. options to strengthen its deterrent is the long-planned modernization of America s aging nuclear forces that would assure that North Korea would be destroyed if it fired a nuclear-tipped missile at the United States, a U.S. military base, Japan, or South Korea. Another is stepped-up investment in U.S. missile defenses, particularly testing, research and development of technologies that could defeat a significant number of incoming missiles. Both steps would need to avoid triggering new arms races with Beijing and Moscow, experts say. Another factor weighing on Pentagon planners is their readiness for a major conventional conflict after 16 years of war in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere. There has been no sign the White House, which has been cool to the idea of talks and hopes pressure can change the North s calculus, is ready to settle for a containment strategy. Despite pessimism about talks, a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity said there was a chance that economic pressure, especially from China, combined with an agreement to negotiate could convince Pyongyang to limit its nuclear arsenal or even sign the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty.  Signing the CTBT would given the North tacit admission to the nuclear club but end its testing program,  the official said.  That, along with assured destruction, might be the best that could be done.  The remaining question, however, is whether Trump would be willing to settle for that.  Discipline and steadiness are not words one usually uses in a sentence that also has the name Donald Trump,  said Robert Einhorn, a former State Department official who negotiated with North Korea and is now at the Brookings Institution think tank.  Would he over time recognize that he may have no choice?  Frank Jannuzi, president of the Mansfield Foundation, which promotes U.S.-Asia relations, is more optimistic.  Does he have the patience to manage a difficult process of deterrence and containment against the (North) rather than doing something impulsive? I think so,  he said.  Some of his deals have taken years to come to fruition.

Summary: ट्रम्प को उत्तर कोरिया को निरस्त्र करने के बजाय रोकने के लिए समझौता करना पड़ सकता है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. senators John McCain and Marco Rubio won their party’s nominations on Tuesday to seek re-election in Arizona and Florida in November, as both of the high profile politicians defeated insurgent challengers. McCain, the 2008 failed Republican presidential candidate, now faces a spirited challenge in Arizona from Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick, who has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2011 and wants to move to the Senate. McCain has said this year’s race could be the toughest of a political career spanning more than three decades. In advancing to the general election, the 80-year-old McCain handily beat ex-state Senator Kelli Ward, 47, a conservative Tea Party activist and a follower of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Like McCain, Rubio also is girding for a potentially tough challenge on Nov. 8. Also in Florida, U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz overcame a challenger - and the embarrassment of being stripped last month of her job as head of the Democratic National Committee - and will get a shot at a seventh House term in the Nov. 8 general elections. She beat law professor Tim Canova, an outspoken Wall Street critic aligned with U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders. The non-traditional campaigns of Trump and Sanders, who exceeded expectations in his failed Democratic White House bid, spurred speculation that other insurgent politicians could make an impact this year. But that didn’t happen in either of the closely watched nominating races in Florida and Arizona. Rubio, who abandoned his presidential campaign in March, cleared the initial hurdle in his battle for a second six-year term in the U.S. Senate. He defeated novice politician Carlos Beruff, a millionaire homebuilder, who embraced Trump. U.S. Representative Patrick Murphy, a Democrat, won his party’s Senate nomination on Tuesday, and is expected to give g Rubio a tough fight, especially if Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton leads Trump in Florida. There is speculation that Rubio might still harbor presidential ambitions after media reports this week that he had refused to commit to serving all six years of a Senate term if he were re-elected. Trump has endorsed McCain and Rubio in their re-election bids even though he has rocky relations with both. How McCain and Rubio fare could have a big say in whether Republicans can defy expectations and maintain majority control of the Senate after November’s election. “The balance of the Senate and the outcome of the presidential election are all hanging on Florida,” Rubio predicted in a fundraising appeal late on Tuesday.  Trump offended McCain and many other Republicans last year by suggesting the maverick senator was anything but a war hero because he was captured during the Vietnam War after his airplane was shot down during a bombing mission. In March, Trump ended Rubio’s presidential run by trouncing him in the Florida primary to cap a race in which the New York businessman taunted the first-term senator as “little Marco.” Rubio fired back, insulting Trump on everything from his hair color and the size of his hands to misspelled words in tweets. During their re-election efforts, both McCain and Rubio have offered support for Trump as the party’s White House nominee and steered clear of attacks on that might antagonize Trump’s core supporters. But they have tiptoed around Trump, mainly out of concern that his provocative comments on illegal immigration, Muslims and U.S. support for NATO could alienate moderate and independent voters in their states. (This version of the story corrects McCain’s failed presidential bid in second paragraph to 2008, from 2012)

Summary: मैक्केन, रूबियो ने अमेरिकी सीनेट की दौड़ में रिपब्लिकन की मंजूरी जीती


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration has engaged in an unconstitutional practice of searching without a warrant the phones and laptops of Americans who are stopped at the border, a lawsuit filed on Wednesday alleged. Ten U.S. citizens and one lawful permanent resident sued the Department of Homeland Security in federal court, saying the searches and prolonged confiscation of their electronic devices violate privacy and free speech protections of the U.S. Constitution. DHS could not be immediately reached for comment. The lawsuit comes as the number of searches of electronic devices has surged in recent years, alarming civil rights advocates. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol reported in April that searches increased from 8,500 in fiscal year 2015 to about 19,000 in fiscal year 2016. The agency has conducted nearly 15,000 in the first half of fiscal year 2017. The suit, filed in a U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, is being brought by travelers including a military veteran, a NASA engineer, two journalists and a computer programmer. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union, who are representing the travelers, said that several of the plaintiffs are Muslim or minorities. Suhaib Allababidi, a U.S. citizen who lives in Texas and a plaintiff in the case, said in an interview that he was stopped by Customs and Border Patrol on Jan. 21 at the Dallas airport after returning from a business trip to Dubai.  Allababidi said he declined to unlock his personal phone for the officers after allowing them to search his separate business phone. The officers confiscated both his phones, Allababidi said, and returned his business phone to him two months later. The government has still not returned his personal phone after more than seven months, he said. “You are left in the dark with no answers,” Allababidi said. “Will I get my phone back, did I do anything wrong? ... They took my phone, and that’s all I know.” Generally, U.S. law enforcement is required to obtain a warrant before it can search an American’s electronic devices.  But a so-called border search exception allows federal authorities to conduct searches within 100 miles (160 km) of a U.S. border without a warrant. In April, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden and Republican Senator Rand Paul introduced legislation that would require a warrant before federal agents search devices at the border that belong to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, except in some emergency circumstances.

Summary: अमेरिकी सीमाओं पर फोन पर तलाशी लेने पर ट्रम्प प्रशासन ने मुकदमा दायर किया


NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Leading Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage visited Donald Trump at his home on Saturday, after suggesting he could act as a go-between to help smooth British relations with the U.S. president-elect. British Prime Minister Theresa May is not expected to meet the incoming leader until early next year and Farage has suggested her criticisms of Trump in the early days of the campaign could damage ties with Washington.     “We’re just tourists!” Farage, head of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), told reporters as he waited for an elevator to take him up to the meeting at Trump Tower in New York City. He later tweeted a photograph of himself with Trump standing in front of a pair of golden doors and smiling broadly, the president-elect giving the camera a thumbs-up. “It was a great honor to spend time with @realDonaldTrump,” Farage tweeted. “He was relaxed and full of good ideas. I’m confident he will be a good President.”     Trump’s election campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said: “I think they enjoy each other’s company, and they actually had a chance to talk about freedom and winning and what this all means for the world.”  In a separate photograph posted on Twitter, UKIP donor Arron Banks, Breitbart London Editor in Chief Raheem Kassam, and Gerry Gunster, an American whose advocacy firm worked on the Brexit campaign, were also pictured with Trump and Farage.  May - who spoke to Trump by phone on Thursday - and her predecessor David Cameron last year described Trump as “divisive” and “wrong” over his call to ban Muslims from entering the United States. At that time he was not considered likely to win the presidency. In a leaked diplomatic telegram, sent on Nov. 9 and printed in the Sunday Times newspaper, Britain’s ambassador to Washington, Kim Darroch, said he believed Britain had built better relationships with Trump’s team than other foreign diplomats. “(Trump) is above all an outsider and an unknown quantity, whose campaign pronouncements may reveal his instincts, but will surely evolve and, particularly, be open to outside influence if pitched right,” he said. “We should be well placed to do this.” While the British government has congratulated Trump on his election, the head of the opposition, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, said he should “grow up” on the immigration issue and recognize that the U.S. economy depends on migrant workers.  “The treatment of Mexico by the United States, just as much as its absurd and abusive language towards Muslims, is something that has to be challenged and should be challenged,” Corbyn, whose wife is Mexican, told the BBC on Sunday. UKIP, which has only one member of parliament in London, said Farage and Trump spent more than an hour discussing Trump’s victory, global politics and Brexit. A UKIP official has suggested Farage could even be the next ambassador to the United States, but British media reported that May’s office rejected the idea of any role for Farage, citing unnamed sources who described him as an “irrelevance”. A day after Trump’s election victory, Farage called on the real estate mogul to reverse “loathsome” Barack Obama’s policy by making Britain his top priority.  Farage said he had been pleased at Trump’s “very positive reaction” to the idea that a bust of former British prime minister Winston Churchill be put back in the Oval Office. He has also joked about sexual assault allegations against Trump, urging him to “schmooze” May but not touch her. He proposed that in any meetings between the British and American leaders, he could attend to be the “responsible adult to make sure everything is OK.”     Farage, who spoke at a Trump rally during the election campaign, had predicted the former reality TV host would tap into the same dissatisfaction among voters that led to Britain deciding on June 23 to leave the European Union. Trump made repeated references to Brexit during his campaign, saying it had highlighted the desire for change among voters frustrated with traditional politics. (Story refiles to add dropped word “the” in first paragraph.)

Summary: ब्रिटेन के ब्रेक्सिट फायरब्रांड फराज ने न्यूयॉर्क में ट्रम्प से मुलाकात की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress should consider legislation that would regulate “bump stocks,” the attachments that allowed the Las Vegas gunman to fire his semi-automatic rifles more rapidly, U.S. Senator John Cornyn said on Wednesday. Cornyn, the second-ranking Senate Republican, told reporters that if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) does not have the authority to regulate bump stocks,  “maybe that’s something we ought to consider giving them.” Cornyn, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he was urging panel Chairman Charles Grassley to call a hearing on bump stocks. “I’d like to hear from the ATF who previously during the Obama administration said they didn’t feel like they had the authority to regulate those. I’m not sure I agree with that,” the Texas senator said. On Oct. 1, a gunman in Las Vegas opened fire at an outdoor music festival killing 58 people and injuring nearly 500 others before killing himself, the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.  The attachments are legal and allow semiautomatic rifles to operate as if they were fully automatic machine guns, which are heavily restricted in the United States. Slide Fire Solutions, the maker of bump stocks, has announced that it is restarting sales of the product after a pause following the Las Vegas shooting.

Summary: कांग्रेस को बंदूक 'टक्कर स्टॉक' के अमेरिकी विनियमन पर विचार करना चाहिएः रिपब्लिकन सीनेटर


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said after talks with top Chinese diplomats and defense chiefs on Wednesday that both sides call on North Korea to “halt its illegal nuclear weapons program and its ballistic missile tests.” “We reiterated to China that they have a diplomatic responsibility to exert much greater economic and diplomatic pressure on the regime if they want to prevent further escalation in the region,” Tillerson told reporters.

Summary: टिलरसन ने कहा, अमेरिका, चीन ने उत्तर कोरिया से परमाणु हथियार कार्यक्रम रोकने का आह्वान किया


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States told Russia at the United Nations on Wednesday that it is isolating itself by continuing to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Britain said its scientists found sarin was used in a deadly toxic gas attack on Syrian civilians last week. Russia is set to block a push by Western powers at the United Nations later on Wednesday to bolster support for international inquiries into the April 4 toxic gas attack in Syria. It will be Moscow’s eighth veto in support of the Assad government since the Syrian war began six years ago. “To my colleagues from Russia - you are isolating yourselves from the international community every time one of Assad’s planes drop another barrel bomb on civilians and every time Assad tries to starve another community to death,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, told the U.N. Security Council. During a heated Security Council meeting, Russia’s deputy U.N. envoy Vladimir Safronkov told the 15-member body that Western countries were wrong to blame Assad for the attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun. “I’m amazed that this was the conclusion. No one has yet visited the site of the crime. How do you know that?” he said.  The attack prompted the United States to strike a Syrian air base with cruise missiles and worsened relations between the United States and Russia.  President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday trust had eroded between the two countries under President Donald Trump, as Moscow delivered an unusually hostile reception to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a face-off over Syria.     Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told the Security Council that samples taken from the site of the gas attack, in a rebel-held area of northern Syria, have tested positive for the nerve gas sarin. He accused Russia of siding with “a murderous, barbaric criminal, rather than with their international peers.” Safronkov, who demanded Rycroft look at him while he was speaking, responded: “I cannot accept that you insult Russia.”  Haley also accused Iran of being “Assad’s chief accomplice in the regime’s horrific acts,” adding: “Iran is dumping fuel on the flames of this war in Syria so it can expand its own reach.” Western powers blame the gas attack, which killed scores of civilians - many of them children - on Assad’s forces. Syria’s government has denied responsibility for the attack, which prompted a U.S. strike on a Syrian air base. Syrian U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari said Syria had sent dozens of letters to the Security Council, some detailing “the smuggling of sarin from Libya through Turkey on a civilian air plane by using a Syrian citizen.” “Two litres of sarin were transported from Libya through Turkey to terrorist groups in Syria,” he said, adding that the government does “not have these weapons.”   U.N. Syria mediator Staffan de Mistura warned the Security Council on Wednesday that fragile progress in peace talks was now “in grave danger.”      (This version of the story has been refiled to fix garbled words in first paragraph)

Summary: संयुक्त राष्ट्र में, अमेरिका ने रूस से कहा कि वह असद का समर्थन करके खुद को अलग-थलग कर रहा है


(Reuters) - Florida Power & Light said on Wednesday it had provided power to part of a nursing home that housed six residents who died after the facility lost electricity due to Hurricane Irma, adding that it was not on a county priority list for emergency power restoration.    Parts of the facility itself were energized by FPL, I can t give you anything more specific than that at this point,  FPL spokesman Rob Gould told a news conference, referring to the  Rehabilitation Center of Hollywood Hills.  Two elderly residents were found dead at the nursing home, and four later died at a hospital. Police opened a criminal investigation at the nursing home in Broward County, which is north of Miami.  Some residents were evacuated on early Sunday morning and some woke up feeling sick at the center, which had been without air conditioning, Broward County Mayor Barbara Sharief said.  Gould said FPL met with Broward County officials in March before the storm season to discuss what facilities would be prioritized for power restoration this year.   They identified which facilities were to be critical top infrastructure facilities, this was not one of them,  he said about the Hollywood Hills center.  Broward County officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.  FPL, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Inc, has said earlier this week that the company prioritizes restoring power to critical facilities such as hospitals, police and fire stations, communications centers, water treatment plants, transportation and shelter.   Gould said the incident at Hollywood Hills emphasizes that all facilities need to have backup plans in case power is lost during storms.  Memorial Regional Hospital, a facility across from the nursing home, was identified as a top priority by the county and had power, Gould said. Florida has more than 680 nursing homes that house about 73,000 residents, the Florida Health Care Association said.

Summary: फ्लोरिडा नर्सिंग होम, जहाँ मौतें हुईं, प्राथमिकता सूची में नहीं थाः उपयोगिता


WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand s Labour Party on Thursday promised no surprise new taxes until 2020 and improved its position as frontrunner in a national election, with a poll showing its support edging up, threatening the National Party s ten-year grip on power. The result was at odds with a shock survey by another pollster this week that put the centre-right National in the lead and underscored the unusually volatile nature of the race to the vote on Sept. 23. Backing for the Labour Party rose 1 point to 44 percent, the One News-Colmar Brunton poll showed, while support for the National Party also gained 1 point, putting it at 40 percent. In another positive sign for Labour, its potential coalition partner, the Green Party, recovered, rising 2 points to 7 percent, comfortably above the 5 percent threshold needed to gain seats in Parliament.  The nationalist New Zealand First Party fell 3 points to 6 percent, making it less likely that Labour would need the populist party to form a coalition government after the election. Poll results have been swinging wildly and a separate Newshub-Reid poll on Tuesday had shown a surprise surge for National, giving it a robust lead of almost ten points. The National Party has vowed to support free trade as global protectionism rises, in particular, by championing the Trans-Pacific Partnership pact, which Labour has said it would renegotiate. An average of polls released by Radio New Zealand on Wednesday, which included the results of Newshub s shock poll, put the two parties at almost even support. Thursday s poll was published on the same day Labour moved to stem criticism of a plan to set up an expert panel to consider new levies, such as a capital gains tax.  To avoid any doubt, no one will be affected by any tax changes arising from the outcomes of the Working Group until 2021,  said Labour finance spokesman Grant Robertson, in a statement. As rivalry has heated up, Labour leader Jacinda Ardern on Wednesday called National  desperate liars  in response to an advertisement saying the centre-left party would bring in new taxes and subverting its slogan,  Let s Do This  into  Let s Tax This .  Investors have been made jittery by the uncertainty over who will govern, but currency reaction to the latest poll was muted.  The New Zealand dollar - the word s 11th most traded currency in 2016 - softened slightly to $0.7240 from $0.7250 shortly before the poll results.

Summary: न्यूजीलैंड की लेबर पार्टी के लिए समर्थन ने चुनाव की दौड़ में सबसे आगे रहने वाले उम्मीदवार के रूप में स्थिति में सुधार किया


(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to honor the longstanding “one China” policy in a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, a major diplomatic boost for Beijing which brooks no criticism of its claim to neighboring Taiwan. The following are some of the major developments in U.S.-Sino relations since Trump won the U.S. presidential election in November.  Dec 2 - Trump speaks by phone with President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan, a move that is likely to infuriate China, which considers the self-ruled island its own, and complicate U.S. relations with Beijing. China lodges swift protest, blaming Taiwan for the petty move. Dec 11 - Trump says the United States did not necessarily have to stick to its long-standing position that Taiwan is part of “one China,” questioning nearly four decades of U.S. policy. Dec 12 - China expresses “serious concern” after Trump said the United States did not necessarily have to stick to its long-held stance that Taiwan is part of “one China”. Dec 14  - In a veiled warning to Trump, China’s ambassador to the United States says Beijing will never bargain with Washington over issues involving its national sovereignty or territorial integrity. Jan 11 - Taiwan scrambles jets and navy ships after a group of Chinese warships, led by its sole aircraft carrier, sailed through the Taiwan Strait, the latest sign of heightened tension between Beijing and the island. Jan 12 - Trump’s then nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, says China should be denied access to islands it has built in the contested South China Sea, describing the placing of military assets there as “akin to Russia’s taking Crimea” from Ukraine. Feb 3 - China’s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, tells Michael Flynn, Trump’s National Security Advisor, that China hopes it can work with the United States to manage and control disputes and sensitive problems. Feb 9 - Trump breaks the ice with Xi in a letter that says he looks forward to working with him to develop relations. Feb 9 - Trump changes tack and agrees to honor the “one China” policy during a phone call with Xi.

Summary: समयरेखाः ट्रम्प ने सवाल उठाए और फिर "एक चीन" नीति का सम्मान किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Representative Trent Franks said on Friday that he would resign from Congress effective immediately, instead of the Jan. 31 date he previously had set following the announcement of a probe into accusations of sexual harassment against him. “Last night, my wife was admitted to the hospital in Washington, D.C., due to an ongoing ailment. After discussing options with my family, we came to the conclusion that the best thing for our family now would be for me to tender my previous resignation effective today, December 8th, 2017,” Franks said in an emailed statement. Late on Thursday, Franks, who has represented a district in the Phoenix, Arizona, area since 2003, issued a statement saying that two women on his staff complained that he had discussed with them his efforts to find a surrogate mother, but he denied he had ever “physically intimidated, coerced, or had, or attempted to have, any sexual contact with any member of my congressional staff.” The news website Politico on Friday quoted unnamed sources that it was not clear to the women whether he was asking about impregnating them through sexual intercourse or in vitro fertilization. The Associated Press reported that a former aide to Franks said the congressman offered her $5 million to carry his child. Reuters has not confirmed either report. The House of Representatives Ethics Committee said on Thursday it had opened an investigation into accusations of sexual harassment against Franks. The 60-year-old lawmaker also said that he and his wife “have long struggled with infertility.” Franks’ departure comes just days after Democratic Representative John Conyers of Michigan announced his immediate retirement amid sexual harassment allegations that he has denied. On Thursday, Democratic Senator Al Franken announced on the Senate floor that he too would resign his Minnesota seat amid harassment claims.

Summary: कांग्रेसी फ्रैंक्स ने तुरंत इस्तीफा देने की घोषणा की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would ban transgender people from the U.S. military, a move appealing to some in his conservative political base but creating uncertainty about the fate of thousands of transgender service members. The surprise announcement by Trump, who as a presidential candidate last year vowed to fight for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people, came in a series of morning Twitter posts. It drew condemnation from rights groups and some lawmakers in both parties as politically motivated discrimination but was praised by conservative activists and some Republicans. The administration has not determined whether transgender individuals already serving in the military would be immediately thrown out, a point the White House and Pentagon have yet to decide, Trump spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said. A transgender ban would reverse Democratic former President Barack Obama’s policy and halts years of efforts to eliminate barriers to military service based on sexual orientation or gender identity. “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military,” Trump tweeted, without naming any of the generals or experts. “Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail,” he said. Sanders said Trump had “extensive discussions with his national security team,” and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was informed after the president made the decision on Tuesday. “This was about military readiness,” Sanders told a briefing. “This was about unit cohesion. This was about resources within the military, and nothing more.” The Pentagon earlier referred questions about Trump’s decision to the White House. Critics said the health costs of caring for transgender service members were a tiny portion of the military’s healthcare budget and Trump’s policy change was based on prejudice. His action unleashed a torrent of legal threats from civil liberties advocates seeking plaintiffs willing to challenge the ban in court and sparked a protest by hundreds who rallied outside an armed forces recruiting station in Manhattan’s Times Square. “We are in a crisis. This is a dark day for everyone,” Brad Hoylman, New York’s sole openly gay state senator, said as he addressed the crowd, which carried “Resist” signs amid chants of: “Hey-hey, ho-ho, Donald Trump has got to go.” Trump’s tweet caught some White House officials by surprise.  A senior administration official said Trump had been determined to act for a while but the question was the timing, with advisers split on whether to conduct reviews before announcing the move. The announcement at least temporarily changed the subject in Washington, where Trump’s administration faces investigations into his presidential campaign’s contacts with Russia and has struggled to win major legislative victories. It was not the first time Trump has targeted transgender people since taking office in January. In February, he rescinded protections for transgender students put in place by Obama that had let them use bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity. Senate Armed Forces Committee Chairman John McCain - the most prominent military veteran in Congress, who was a Navy pilot and prisoner of war during the Vietnam War - called Trump’s announcement unclear and inappropriate until a Pentagon study on the issue is completed and reviewed by Mattis, the military leadership and lawmakers. Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council advocacy group, was among those praising Trump, saying, “Our troops shouldn’t be forced to endure hours of transgender ‘sensitivity’ classes and politically correct distractions.” Under Obama, the Pentagon last year announced it was ending its ban on transgender people serving openly, calling the prohibition outdated. The Defense Department had been expected to begin formally allowing transgender people to enlist this year. But Mattis on June 30 approved a six-month delay in that step. Transgender service members already number about 2,500 active-duty personnel, with about 1,500 more in the military reserves, according to a RAND Corporation think tank study cited last year by Obama’s defense secretary, Ash Carter. “To choose service members on other grounds than military qualifications is social policy and has no place in our military,” Carter said on Wednesday, noting the existing ranks of transgender individuals serving “capably and honorably.” Advocacy groups said Trump’s policy was open to legal challenge under the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law. American Civil Liberties Union attorney Joshua Block said Trump had rejected the “basic humanity” of transgender service members. “There are no cost or military readiness drawbacks associated with allowing trans people to fight for their country,” Block said. “The president is trying to score cheap political points on the backs of military personnel who have put their lives on the line for their country.” The House of Representatives’ top Democrat, Nancy Pelosi, noted that a Pentagon-commissioned study determined the cost of providing medically necessary transition-related care involving transgender service members would amount to about one-100th of 1 percent of the military’s healthcare budget.  The study put the cost at $2.4 million to $8.4 million a year of the more than $50 billion the Defense Department spends on healthcare. “Once again, President Trump has shown his conduct is driven not by honor, decency, or national security, but by raw prejudice,” Pelosi said. Retired Colonel Sheri Swokowski, 67, the highest-ranking openly transgender veteran, joined the criticism.  “Transgender people are serving today knowing that their leader frankly doesn’t trust them,” she said. “The bottom line is that this does great harm to people who simply want to serve their country.” U.S. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican whose son is transgender, said on Twitter: “No American, no matter their sexual orientation or gender identity, should be prohibited from honor + privilege of serving our nation.” Transgender celebrity Caitlyn Jenner defended “patriotic transgender Americans” in the military and asked Trump on Twitter, “What happened to your promise to fight for them?” Canada’s military also took to Twitter on Wednesday to say it welcomes citizens “of all sexual orientations and gender identities,” adding the hashtag #DiversityIsOurStrength. But Vicky Hartzler, a Republican congresswoman, praised Trump for changing Obama’s “costly and damaging policy.” The U.S. military’s ban on gays serving openly in the armed forces ended under Obama in 2011 after Congress passed legislation in 2010 reversing a law dubbed “don’t ask, don’t tell” that had forced the ouster of thousands of service members and others to hide their sexual orientation. The Pentagon under Obama also opened all combat roles in the military to women. The U.S. military at times has been in the vanguard of social progress. Trump’s action came on the 69th anniversary of Democratic President Harry Truman racially integrating the armed forces, years before the 1950s and 1960s civil rights battles.

Summary: ट्रांसजेंडर अमेरिकी सैन्य कर्मियों पर प्रतिबंध लगाने के लिए ट्रम्प, ओबामा को उलटते हुए


ANKARA (Reuters) - Exhausted and exposed to freezing cold, survivors of a weekend earthquake in western Iran begged authorities for food and shelter on Tuesday, saying aid was slow to reach them. Iranian officials called off rescue operations earlier in  the day on the grounds that there was little chance of finding more survivors from the quake, which killed at least 530 people and injured thousands of others. It was Iran s deadliest earthquake in more than a decade.  Survivors, many left homeless by Sunday s 7.3 magnitude quake that struck villages and towns in Kermansheh province along the mountainous border with Iraq, struggled through another bleak day on Tuesday in need of food, water and shelter. Iran has so far declined offers of foreign assistance to deal with the aftermath of the tremor, which officials said damaged 30,000 homes and completely destroyed two villages.  The U.S. government expressed condolences to the Iranian people despite President Donald Trump s  aggressive  policy towards the Islamic Republic, Iranian state media reported.   We are hungry. We are cold. We are homeless. We are alone in this world,  a weeping Maryam Ahang, who lost 10 members of her family in the hardest hit town of Sarpol-e Zahab, told Reuters by telephone.  My home is now a pile of mud and broken tiles. I slept in the park last night. It is cold and I am scared.   Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged state agencies on Tuesday to speed up aid efforts. President Hassan Rouhani paid a visit to the stricken region, promising to resolve  the problems in the shortest time .  Thousands of people huddled in makeshift camps while many others chose to spend another cold night in the open because they feared more tremors after some 230 aftershocks.    In some areas, no building was left standing and those that were had been deserted for fear they could come crashing down at any moment. Houses in impoverished Iranian villages are often made of concrete blocks or mudbrick that can quickly crumble and collapse in a strong quake.  State television aired footage of weeping villagers carrying away bodies wrapped in bloodied blankets and bed sheets and scrabbling with their bare hands through rubble in search of friends and relatives.  It was my cousin s birthday ... All the relatives were there ... like 50 people. But now almost all are dead,  Reza, who refused to give his full name, told Reuters from Sarpol-e Zahab town. He lost 34 members of his family on Sunday.    We spent two nights in the cold. Where is the aid?   On the Iraq side of the frontier, nine people were killed and over 550 injured, all in the northern Kurdish provinces. Television showed rescue workers combing through the rubble of dozens of villages immediately after the quake. But by Tuesday morning Iranian officials said there was no longer any likelihood of finding survivors and called off the search.  Hospitals in nearby provinces took in many of the injured, state television said, airing footage of survivors waiting to be treated. Hundreds of critically injured were dispatched to hospitals in Tehran.   Iran s Red Crescent said emergency shelter had been provided for thousands of homeless people but a lack of electricity and water, as well as blocked roads, hindered aid supply efforts.  People in some villages are still in dire need of food, water and shelter,  said Faramraz Akbari, governor of Qasr-e Shirin county in Kermanshah province.  State TV showed dozens of green and white tents dotting Sarpol-e Zahab, many containing two or three families. Groups clustered around bonfires trying to warm themselves.  It is cold. My children are freezing. We have water and food but no tent. The quake did not kill us but the cold weather will kill us,  a woman in her 30s said.   The mayor of the city of Ezgeleh said 80 percent of its buildings had collapsed. Survivors desperately needed tents with elderly people and babies as young as a one-year-old sleeping in the cold for two straight nights.  People are hungry and thirsty,  a local man told ISNA news agency.  There is no electricity. Last night I cried when I saw children with no food or shelter.   Some people were angry that among the collapsed buildings were homes built under an affordable housing scheme initiated in 2011 by then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.   The people should build their own houses. They build better houses than those built under projects and schemes,  Rouhani said in Kermanshah, state TV reported.  I promise you, those responsible will be punished.  Iran is crisscrossed by major geological fault lines and has suffered several devastating earthquakes in recent years, including a 6.6 quake in 2003 that reduced the historic southeastern city of Bam to dust and killed some 31,000 people.

Summary: ईरान के भूकंप पीड़ितों ने धीमी सहायता प्रयास की शिकायत की, कड़ाके की ठंड से लड़ रहे हैं


AMSTERDAM/NAIROBI (Reuters) - Burundi said on Friday it will refuse to cooperate with an International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into war crimes  prosecutors suspect were committed by forces loyal to President Pierre Nkurunziza s government against their political opponents. The court ordered a formal investigation on Thursday into crimes committed between April 2015 to October 2017. But experts say it will be hard for ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to gather evidence without support from Burundi s government, which last month became the first to withdraw from the Hague-based court amid waning support from African nations. An earlier ICC case in Kenya fell apart due to opposition from the government of President Uhuru Kenyatta. Like Burundi, Kenya and South Africa have threatened to withdraw from the court, arguing that it disproportionately targets Africans.    The government rejects that decision (to investigate) and reiterates its firm determination that it will not cooperate,  said Burundi s Justice Minister Aimee Laurentine Kanyana.   Unrest has gripped Burundi since Nkurunziza said in April 2015 he would seek a third term in office, triggering protests and a crackdown by security forces. He won re-election that July but opponents boycotted the vote, saying his decision to stand violated the constitution and the terms of a peace agreement that had ended a war in the central African country. The ICC says that under international law it still has jurisdiction over crimes committed while Burundi was a member.    Judges said Bensouda should investigate whether crimes against humanity were committed including murder, torture, rape and persecution. Government forces are suspected to have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced 400,000 during the crackdown. Human rights groups say the number killed could be far higher. Human rights groups and opposition politicians in Burundi welcomed the court s decision. Charles Nditije, the exiled head of Burundi s opposition platform CNARED, called the move  a victory for justice .... for those who want the return of peace and rule of law to Burundi.  Armel Niyongere, a Burundian lawyer representing families of the victims, said he would assist Bensouda s investigation.  Legal experts said Bensouda may be unable to bring any suspects to the Hague as long as Nkurunziza remains in power.  I suspect that it will be very challenging for the ICC to access ... evidence in Burundi  said Berlin-based international criminal justice lawyer Angela Mudukuti. Bensouda s decision was courageous and she will likely seek to use evidence obtained by interviewing refugees who have fled to neighboring Tanzania and Rwanda, said Karine Bonneau, a senior official at the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights.  She had very little choice but to open an investigation given the gravity of the crimes,  she said. Others said the prosecution was largely symbolic. Bensouda s job is in part to deter future crimes, said Thijs Bouwknegt, an Africa expert at the Netherlands  Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies.  If she acts like some super human rights watchdog and names and shames people I think this may be effective,  he said.

Summary: बुरुंडी ने अंतर्राष्ट्रीय आपराधिक न्यायालय के युद्ध अपराधों की जांच को खारिज किया


MOSCOW/ASTANA (Reuters) - A Moscow-backed congress of all Syria s ethnic groups may take place in Russia and begin working on a new constitution as early as next month, the news agency RIA reported on Monday, citing a source familiar with the situation. The congress, which President Vladimir Putin first mentioned earlier this month, may take place in mid-November at Russia s  Black Sea resort of Sochi, RIA said. The idea of a congress had United Nations backing, a senior Russian negotiator on Syria said. Russia s Hmeymim air base in Syria also might be used, he added.  This matter is still being discussed,  Alexander Lavrentyev, the head of the Russian delegation at Syria talks in Kazakhstan, told reporters between meetings with diplomats from Turkey and Iran.  As you know (U.N. Special Representative on Syria Staffan) de Mistura has in principle supported the idea of holding the congress,  Lavrentyev said.  Although he had some reservations, he supported this initiative of Russia.  Lavrentyev said the congress would focus on seeking  compromise solutions towards the political settlement  of the Syrian conflict. Russia, Turkey and Iran are holding the seventh round of talks on Syria - which are separate from the U.N.-sponsored Geneva process - in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, this week.

Summary: रूस समर्थित सीरिया कांग्रेस अगले महीने हो सकती है, संविधान पर ध्यान देंः आर. आई. ए.


(This October 18 story has been refiled to fix dateline, amend headline and first paragraph) ANGOOR ADDA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan is betting that a pair of nine-foot chain-link fences topped with barbed wire will stop incursions by Islamist militants from Afghanistan, which opposes Islamabad s plans for a barrier along the disputed frontier. Pakistan plans to fence up most of the 2,500 km (1,500 mile) frontier despite Kabul s protests that the barrier would divide families and friends along the Pashtun tribal belt straddling the colonial-era Durand Line drawn up by the British in 1893. Pakistan s military estimates that it will need about 56 billion rupees ($532 million) for the project, while there are also plans to build 750 border forts and employ high-tech surveillance systems to prevent militants crossing. In the rolling hills of the Angoor Adda village in South Waziristan, part of Pakistan s restive Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), three rolls of barbed wire are sandwiched in the six-foot gap between the chain-link fences.  (The fence) is a paradigm change. It is an epoch shift in the border control management,  said a Pakistani army officer in command of South Waziristan during a presentation to foreign media on Wednesday.  There will not be an inch of international border (in South Waziristan) which shall not remain under our observation.  Pakistan s military has so far fenced off about 43 km of the frontier, starting with the most violence-prone areas in FATA, and is expected to recruit tens of thousands of new troops to man the border. It is not clear how long it will take to fence the entire boundary.  But Pakistan s plans have also drawn criticism from across the border. Gulab Mangal, governor of the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar, told Reuters the wall will create  more hatred and resentment  between two neighbors and will do neither country any good.  The fence will definitely create a lot of trouble for the people along the border on both sides but no wall or fence can separate these tribes,  he said.  I urge the tribes to stand against this action.  Pakistan has blamed Pakistani Taliban militants it says are based on Afghan soil for a spate of attacks at home over the past year, urging Kabul to eradicate  sanctuaries  for militants. Afghanistan, in turn, accuses Islamabad of sheltering the leadership of the Afghan Taliban militants who are battling the Western-backed government in Kabul. Both countries deny aiding militants, but relations between the two have soured in recent years. In May, the tension rose when 10 people were killed in two border villages in Baluchistan region. The clashes occurred in so-called  divided villages , where the Durand Line goes through the heart of the community, and where residents are now bracing for the fence to split their villages in two. Pakistan s previous attempts to build a fence failed about a decade ago and many doubt whether its possible to secure such a lengthy border. But Pakistani army officials are undeterred by the scepticism and insist they will finish the job as the country s security rests on this fence.  By the time we are done, inshallah, we will be very sure of one thing: that nobody can cross this place,  said the Pakistani officer in charge of South Waziristan.

Summary: आतंकवादियों को बाहर रखने के लिए पाकिस्तान और अफगानिस्तान सीमा पर बाड़ लगाने को लेकर गुस्से में उलझे हुए हैं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration has suspended its  efforts to win congressional approval for his Asian free-trade deal before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, saying on Friday that TPP’s fate was up to Trump and Republican lawmakers. Administration officials also said Obama would try to explain the situation to leaders of the 11 other countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership pact next week when he attends a regional summit in Peru.   Obama’s cabinet secretaries and the U.S. Trade Representative’s office had been lobbying lawmakers for months to pass the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership deal in the post-election, lame-duck session of Congress. However, Trump’s stunning election victory that sends him to the White House in January and retains Republican majorities in Congress has stymied those plans. “We have worked closely with Congress to resolve outstanding issues and are ready to move forward, but this is a legislative process and it’s up to congressional leaders as to whether and when this moves forward,” USTR spokesman Matt McAlvanah said in a statement. On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would not take up TPP in the weeks before Trump’s inauguration and said its fate was now up to Trump. House Speaker Paul Ryan had earlier said he would not proceed with a lame-duck vote.  Trump made his opposition to the TPP a centerpiece of his campaign, calling it a “disaster” and “a rape of our country” that would send more jobs overseas. His anti-free-trade message and pledges to stem the tide of imported goods from China and Mexico won him massive support among blue-collar workers in the industrial heartland states of Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, helping to swing the election his way. Trump has said he will scrap TPP, renegotiate the 22-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement and adopt a much tougher trade stance with China. The TPP agreement, negotiated for more than five years and signed in October 2015, was aimed at reducing trade barriers erected by some of the fastest growing economies in Asia and boosting ties with U.S. allies in the region in the face of China’s rising influence. White House Deputy National Security Advisor Wally Adeyemo told reporters on Friday that Obama will tell TPP member countries at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that the United States will remain engaged in Asia, and that it recognizes the benefits of trade and such deals still make sense. “In terms of the TPP agreement itself, Leader McConnell has spoken to that and it’s something that he’s going to work with the President-elect to figure out where they go in terms of trade agreements in the future,” Adeyemo said. “But we continue to think that these types of deals make sense, simply because countries like China are not going to stop working on regional agreements.”

Summary: ओबामा प्रशासन ने प्रशांत व्यापार समझौते पर मतदान के प्रयास को निलंबित किया


ANKARA (Reuters) - The Turkish government has launched an investigation into a poster unfurled by fans of Istanbul s Galatasaray soccer team that pro-Turkish media said was clearly linked to organizers of the 2016 attempted coup. Just before Sunday s match kicked between Galatasaray and local rivals Fenerbahce, the home fans opened a giant red and yellow poster behind the goal showing Sylvester Stallone s famous fictional boxer  Rocky , with the caption  Stand Up  and  They look big because you are kneeling.  Pro-government Turkish media linked the poster and its caption to the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of masterminding the July 2016 failed coup attempt. Pro-government daily Takvim said the poster was a reference to a speech by Gulen, where he was quoted reading from a poem that ends with the words  Stand Up Sakarya . Sakarya is a province in northwest Turkey. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Monday ordered authorities to carry out an investigation into the poster, sources from his office said. The game between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce, Turkey s biggest fixture, ended in a 0-0 draw after a match that was marred by violence in which a referee was injured. In a statement, Galatasaray said the accusations were  a pathetic attempt  to discredit the club, adding that the same poster was used at a match in May.  We will use all our legal rights against any institution, person and social media account who tried to put the Galatasaray name next to that of the red-handed leader of the heinous terrorist organisation by using the choreography as an excuse,  the club said on its website. Some 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial over suspected links to last year s failed coup and more than 150,000 have been sacked or suspended from their jobs in the military, public and private sectors. Rights groups and Turkey s Western allies have said President Tayyip Erdogan is using the failed coup as a pretext to crush dissent, but the government says the measures are necessary to fight the threats it is facing. Following the statement from Yildirim s office, Galatasaray s shares were down 4.89 percent as of 1535 GMT. Current league leaders Galatasaray are Turkey s most decorated soccer club, with 20 league championships, and became the first Turkish club to win a major European trophy when they won the 2000 UEFA Cup, the predecessor to the Europa league.

Summary: तुर्की तख्तापलट से जुड़े गलातासराय के 'रॉकी' पोस्टर की जांच करेगा


HONG KONG (Reuters) - A British activist critical of Hong Kong s rights record was barred entry to the former British colony on Wednesday, prompting a demand from London for an explanation, a week before a Communist Party leadership meeting starts in Beijing. Benedict Rogers, a co-founder of the Conservative Party s Human Rights Commission, has been a vocal critic of Chinese-ruled Hong Kong s treatment of human rights activists, including that of jailed student protest leader Joshua Wong. After arriving from Bangkok on Wednesday, Rogers said immigration officials who were  perfectly friendly and polite  took him into a room and briefly asked him non-sensitive questions.  They denied him entry about an hour later without giving a reason, Rogers told Reuters over the phone. He was then escorted on to the next flight to Bangkok by half a dozen officials. Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997, is governed under a  one country, two systems  principle that promises it a high degree of autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland.  But critics have accused the government of bending to the will of Communist Party leaders in Beijing and of a gradual watering down of the territory s freedoms, including freedom of speech and right to protest. The Immigration Department said in a statement it does not comment on individual cases, adding it decides whether entry will be allowed  in accordance with the Hong Kong law and prevailing immigration policies .     The city s leader, Carrie Lam, also said she would not comment on individual cases when asked about it at a press conference about her maiden policy address. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said London needed an explanation from Hong Kong and Beijing.  I am very concerned that a UK national has been denied entry to Hong Kong. The British Government will be seeking an urgent explanation from the Hong Kong authorities and from the Chinese Government,  he said in a statement.  Hong Kong s high degree of autonomy, and its rights and freedoms, are central to its way of life and should be fully respected.  Hong Kong has, on occasion, barred entry to dissidents, including former leaders of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing and a Dutch sculptor who made a Tiananmen sculpture, though other Tiananmen activists have been allowed in for short visits. Rogers said he was  shocked  but he had been prepared because two days ago he had received, through an intermediary, a series of messages from the Chinese Embassy in London expressing displeasure with his visit.  They actually described me, to my amazement, as a  grave threat to China-British relations ,  Rogers said.  Rogers said the embassy had also become aware of his private discussions with others on the possibility of visiting Wong, leader of the 2014 pro-democracy protests that brought much of Hong Kong to a standstill for weeks, in prison, even though the plan fell through. He said a few messages relayed to him via the intermediary subsequently became more threatening, though they were not physically threatening.   I m also shocked because one aspect of  one country, two systems  is Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong,  Rogers said.   But this decision was not made in Hong Kong. This decision was from the Chinese government. This raises serious questions about that particular aspect of  one country, two systems .  The Chinese Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China s Communist Party holds a key party congress this month, a five-yearly event at which President Xi Jinping is expected to tighten his grip on power.

Summary: लंदन ने जवाब मांगा क्योंकि ब्रिटिश अधिकार कार्यकर्ता को हांगकांग से प्रतिबंधित कर दिया गया


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Professional ballet dancer Misty Copeland and wrestler turned-actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson joined National Basketball Association star Stephen Curry in opposing comments made by the chief executive of their sponsor Under Armour supporting U.S. President Donald Trump. On Tuesday, Plank expressed support for Trump on CNBC, saying: “To have such a pro-business president is something that is a real asset for the country.” On Thursday, Copeland wrote on her Instagram page (@mistyonpointe) that she strongly disagrees with Plank’s recent comments in support of Trump.  Johnson on Twitter (@TheRock) also posted that Plank’s words on CNBC were neither his words or his beliefs. But he added that his disagreement does not mean he will be abandoning Under Armour, with which he currently has a shoe line. Copeland and Johnson join a number of athletes including Curry to speak out against Trump. In an interview with The San Jose Mercury News on Wednesday, Curry, one of Under Armour’s most-visible athletes, said, “I agree with that description (of asset made by Plank), if you remove the ‘et’.” A number of NBA players including Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James, who is endorsed by Nike Inc, have recently expressed concerns over Trump’s policies. But Curry is the first player to directly oppose comments made by their sponsor.      Plank’s comments immediately drew backlash on social media with many using hashtags #boycottUnderArmour and #Grabyourwallet to promote a campaign against pro-Trump companies. Under Armour has since released a statement saying Plank’s comments were in regard to Trump’s business policies, not his social viewpoints.  “We believe in advocating for fair trade, an inclusive immigration policy that welcomes the best and the brightest and those seeking opportunity in the great tradition of our country, and tax reform that drives hiring to help create new jobs globally, across America and in Baltimore,” the company said. Under Armour is based in Baltimore.  Under Armour was not immediately available for comment on Thursday. Curry, who has a multimillion-dollar contract that includes an equity stake in Under Armour that runs through 2024, said in the interview that Plank working with Trump is not a deal-breaker, but he is more concerned about Under Armour adopting Trump’s values.  Curry endorsed Hilary Clinton, Trump’s Democrat opponent, in the Nov. 8 election. Shares of Under Armour closed up nearly 3 percent at $21.71 on Thursday.

Summary: अंडर आर्मर-प्रायोजित खिलाड़ियों ने सी. ई. ओ. की ट्रम्प समर्थक टिप्पणियों का विरोध किया


ERBIL/BAGHDAD Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani said he would give up his position as president on Nov. 1, after an independence referendum he championed backfired and triggered a regional crisis.  There was high drama at the Kurdish parliament, which was stormed by armed protesters as it met to approve the veteran leader s resignation as Kurdish president. Some MPs were barricaded in their offices on Sunday evening.     In a televised address, his first since Iraqi forces launched a surprise offensive to recapture Kurdish-held territory on Oct. 16, Barzani confirmed that he would not extend his presidential term after Nov. 1  under any conditions .  I am the same Masoud Barzani, I am a Peshmerga (Kurdish fighter) and will continue to help my people in their struggle for independence,  said Barzani, who has campaigned for Kurdish self-determination for nearly four decades.  The address followed a letter he sent to parliament in which he asked members to take measures to fill the resulting power vacuum. The region s parliament met in the Kurdish capital Erbil on Sunday to discuss the letter. A majority of 70 Kurdish MPs voted to accept Barzani s request and 23 opposed it, Kurdish TV channels Rudaw and Kurdistan 24 said.  Demonstrators, some carrying clubs and guns, stormed the parliament building as the session was in progress. Gunshots were heard. Some protesters outside the building said they wanted to  punish  MPs who they said had  insulted  Barzani. Some attacked journalists at the scene. A Kurdish official had told Reuters on Saturday that Barzani had decided to hand over the presidency without waiting for elections that had been set for Nov. 1 but which have now been delayed by eight months. The region, which had enjoyed unprecedented autonomy for years, has been in turmoil since the independence referendum a month ago prompted military and economic retaliation from Iraq s central government in Baghdad. In his address, Barzani vigorously defended his decision to hold the Sept. 25 referendum, the results of which  can never be erased , he said. The vote was overwhelmingly for independence and triggered the military action by the Baghdad government and threats from neighboring Turkey and Iran.  He added that the Iraqi attack on Kirkuk and other Kurdish held territory vindicated his position that Baghdad no longer believed in federalism and instead wanted to curtail Kurdish rights.  Barzani condemned the United States for failing to back the Kurds.  We tried to stop bloodshed but the Iraqi forces and Popular Mobilization Front (Shi ite militias) kept advancing, using U.S. weapons,  he said.   Our people should now question, whether the U.S. was aware of Iraq s attack and why they did not prevent it.  Asked for reaction to Barzani s resignation, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said:  I would refer you to Kurdistan officials for information on President Barzani. Also, we are not going to get into any private diplomatic discussions.  Barzani has been criticized by Kurdish opponents for the loss of the city of Kirkuk, oil-rich and considered by many Kurds to be their spiritual home. His resignation could help facilitate a reconciliation between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Iraq s central government, whose retaliatory measures since the referendum have transformed the balance of power in the north.  Barzani has led the KRG since it was established in 2005. His second term expired in 2013 but was extended without elections being held as Islamic State militants swept across vast swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.     U.S.-backed Iraqi government forces, Iranian-backed paramilitaries and Kurdish fighters fought alongside each other to defeat Islamic State but the alliance has faltered since the militants were largely defeated in the country.  After the Kurdish vote, Iraqi troops were ordered by the country s prime minister Haider al-Abadi to take control of areas claimed by both Baghdad and the KRG.  Abadi also wants to take control of the border crossings between the Kurdish region and Turkey, Iran and Syria, including one through which an oil export pipeline crosses into Turkey, carrying Iraqi and Kurdish crude oil. The fall of Kirkuk - a multi-ethnic city which lies outside the KRG s official boundaries - to Iraqi forces on Oct. 16 was a major symbolic and financial blow to the Kurds  independence drive because it halved the region s oil export revenue. Iraqi forces and the Peshmerga started a second round of talks on Sunday to resolve a conflict over control of the Kurdistan region s border crossings, Iraqi state TV said.  A first round was held on Friday and Saturday, with Abadi ordering a 24-hour suspension on Friday of military operations against Kurdish forces. He demanded on Thursday that the Kurds declare their referendum void, rejecting the KRG offer to suspend its independence push to resolve a crisis through talks, saying in a statement:  We won t accept anything but its cancellation and the respect of the constitution.

Summary: कुर्द नेता बरजानी ने स्वतंत्रता के लिए हुए मतदान के बाद इस्तीफा दे दिया


ANKARA (Reuters) - Istanbul s main Ataturk airport was reopened to traffic on Thursday after a private jet crashed on the runway, causing authorities to suspend flights, the head of Turkish Airlines said on Twitter. The jet, registered as TC-KON, crashed after reporting a malfunction as it was taking off, the state-run news agency Anadolu said. The flight was heading to the Ercan airport in northern Cyprus, Anadolu reported. Police said the jet s two pilots, a cabin crew member and a passenger were slightly injured in the crash. The jet s rear end was detached from the aircraft, with emergency teams and firefighters at the crash site, images from a Reuters photographer on the scene showed. The jet had briefly burst into flames after crashing, causing traffic at the airport to be suspended, Anadolu said. Turkish Airlines Chief Executive Bilal Eksi said both runways at the airport were now operational.

Summary: विमान दुर्घटना के बाद इस्तांबुल का अतातुर्क हवाई अड्डा फिर से खुला, तुर्की एयरलाइंस के सीईओ ने कहा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Sunday ramped up his criticism of a federal judge who blocked a travel ban on seven mainly Muslim nations and said courts were making U.S. border security harder, intensifying the first major legal battle of his presidency. In a series of tweets that broadened his attack on the country’s judiciary, Trump said Americans should blame U.S. District Judge James Robart and the court system if anything happened. Trump did not elaborate on what threats the country potentially faced. He added that he had told the Department of Homeland Security to “check people coming into our country VERY CAREFULLY. The courts are making the job very difficult!” The Republican president labeled Robart a “so-called judge” on Saturday, a day after the Seattle jurist issued a temporary restraining order that prevented enforcement of a 90-day ban on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and a 120-day bar on all refugees. A U.S. appeals court later on Saturday denied the government’s request for an immediate stay of the ruling. Vice President Mike Pence defended Trump earlier on Sunday, even as some Republicans encouraged the businessman-turned-politician to tone down his broadsides against the judicial branch of government. “The president of the United States has every right to criticize the other two branches of government,” Pence said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. It is unusual for a sitting president to attack a member of the judiciary, which the U.S. Constitution designates as a check on the power of the executive branch and Congress. U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Trump seems intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis. Some Republicans also expressed discomfort with the situation. “I think it is best not to single out judges for criticism,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. “We all get disappointed from time to time at the outcome in courts on things that we care about. But I think it is best to avoid criticizing judges individually.” Republican Senator Ben Sasse, a vocal critic of Trump, was less restrained. “We don’t have so-called judges ... we don’t have so-called presidents, we have people from three different branches of government who take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution,” he said on the ABC News program “This Week.”     The ruling by Robart, appointed by former Republican President George W. Bush, coupled with the decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to deny the government’s request for an immediate stay of the ruling dealt a blow to Trump barely two weeks into his presidency.  It could also be the precursor to months of legal challenges to his push to clamp down on immigration, including through the construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border, and complicate the confirmation battle of his U.S. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. The Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, said on Saturday that Gorsuch, a conservative federal appeals court judge from Colorado, must meet a higher bar to show his independence from the president. Trump, who during his presidential campaign called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, has vowed to reinstate his controversial travel ban. He says the measures are needed to protect the United States from Islamist militants. Critics say they are unjustified and discriminatory. The legal limbo will prevail at least until the federal appeals court rules on the government’s application for an emergency stay of Robart’s ruling. The court was awaiting further submissions from the states of Washington and Minnesota on Sunday, and from the federal government on Monday. The final filing was due at 5 p.m. PST on Monday (0100 GMT on Tuesday). The uncertainty has created what may be a short-lived opportunity for travelers from the seven affected countries as well as refugees to get into the United States.   Sara Yarjani, an Iranian student with a U.S. visa who was attempting to return to Los Angeles to visit her parents, was among those who boarded flights to the United States after learning that Trump’s travel ban had been blocked. Her visa had been stamped “revoked” and she was sent back to Vienna last week. She was slated to arrive in Los Angeles on Sunday, according to her sister, Sahara Muranovic.  “This is our only window,” Muranovic said. “Maybe they’ll blow it again by Monday.” Trump’s Jan. 27 travel restrictions have drawn protests in the United States, provoked criticism from U.S. allies and created chaos for thousands of people who have, in some cases, spent years seeking asylum. Reacting to the latest court ruling, Iraqi government spokesman Saad al-Hadithi said: “It is a move in the right direction to solve the problems that it caused.” In his ruling on Friday, Robart questioned the use of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States as a justification for the ban, saying no attacks had been carried out on U.S. soil by individuals from the seven affected countries since then. For Trump’s order to be constitutional, Robart said, it had to be “based in fact, as opposed to fiction”. The 9/11 attacks were carried out by hijackers from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Lebanon, whose nationals were not affected by the order. In a series of tweets on Saturday, Trump attacked Hobart’s opinion as ridiculous. “What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?” he asked. Trump told reporters at his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida late on Saturday: “We’ll win. For the safety of the country we’ll win.” The Justice Department’s appeal criticized Robart’s reasoning, saying the ruling violated the separation of powers and stepped on the president’s authority as commander-in-chief. It said the state of Washington lacked standing to challenge Trump’s order and denied it “favors Christians at the expense of Muslims.”The U.S. State Department and Department of Homeland Security said they were complying with Robart’s ruling and many visitors were expected to start arriving on Sunday, while the government said it expected to begin admitting refugees again onMonday. A spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, Leonard Doyle, confirmed on Sunday that about 2,000 refugees were ready to travel to the United States. “We expect a small number of refugees to arrive in the U.S. on Monday, Feb. 6th. They are mainly from Jordan and include people fleeing war and persecution in Syria,” he said in an email. Iraqi Fuad Sharef, his wife and three children spent two years obtaining U.S. visas. They had packed up to move to America last week, but were turned back to Iraq after a failed attempt to board a U.S.-bound flight from Cairo. On Sunday, the family checked in for a Turkish Airlines flight to New York from Istanbul. “Yeah, we are very excited. We are very happy,” Sharef told Reuters TV. “Finally, we have been cleared. We are allowed to enter the United States.”

Summary: यात्रा प्रतिबंध को लेकर ट्रंप ने न्यायाधीश, अदालत प्रणाली पर हमला तेज किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior official with the Republican National Committee on Sunday played down the prospect that the party would cut off cash and logistical support to White House nominee Donald Trump in order to shift resources toward congressional races. Last week 70 Republicans wrote a letter urging the RNC to stop helping Trump and to focus instead on candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. The letter, signed by former members both of Congress and RNC staff, said Trump’s actions were “divisive and dangerous” and posed a threat to the party and the country.  Sean Spicer, RNC communications director, said in a telephone interview that abandoning Trump with nearly three months to go to the Nov. 8 election “doesn’t make logical sense.”  In October 1996 the RNC moved money from the presidential race to congressional candidates after Republican nominee Bob Dole fell far behind Democratic President Bill Clinton in opinion polls. But Spicer said giving up on Trump could be harmful to other Republican candidates and there was still time for him to rebound in opinion polls against Democrat Hillary Clinton. “Number one, you need a strong top of the ticket. That’s number one. Number two, we’re only six points down,” Spicer said, referring to the gap that Clinton has opened up against Trump in some national polls. Clinton led Trump by more than five percentage points in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday. Clinton has strong leads in hotly contested states such as Pennsylvania and New Hampshire and some polls show her within a few percentage points of Trump in some states such as Georgia that normally lean strongly Republican. Any discussions of cutting off funds to Trump in August would be “ridiculous,” Spicer said. Trump has polarized the party with his vow to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and his plan to impose a temporary ban on Muslims seeking to enter the country. Trump has been criticized by both Republicans and Democrats for a prolonged feud with the Muslim family of a fallen U.S. Army captain and his assertion last week that President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton had co-founded the Islamic State militant group.

Summary: ट्रम्प से समय से पहले धन स्थानांतरित करने की बातः रिपब्लिकन अधिकारी


DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia detained 11 princes, four current ministers and tens of former ministers in a probe by a new anti-corruption body headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television reported. According to a senior Saudi official who declined to be identified under briefing rules, those detained include:  - Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman of Kingdom Holding 4280.SE - Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, minister of the National Guard - Prince Turki bin Abdullah, former governor of Riyadh province - Khalid al-Tuwaijri, former chief of the Royal Court - Adel Fakeih, Minister of Economy and Planning - Ibrahim al-Assaf, former finance minister - Abdullah al-Sultan, commander of the Saudi navy - Bakr bin Laden, chairman of Saudi Binladin Group - Mohammad al-Tobaishi, former head of protocol at the Royal Court - Amr al-Dabbagh, former governor of Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority - Alwaleed al-Ibrahim, owner of television network MBC - Khalid al-Mulheim, former director-general at Saudi Arabian Airlines  - Saoud al-Daweesh , former chief executive of Saudi Telecom 7010.SE - Prince Turki bin Nasser, former head of the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment - Prince Fahad bin Abdullah bin Mohammad al-Saud, former deputy defence minister - Saleh Kamel, businessman - Mohammad al-Amoudi, businessman

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः सऊदी अरब ने भ्रष्टाचार विरोधी जांच में राजकुमारों, मंत्रियों को हिरासत में लिया