KAMPALA (Reuters) - Ugandan police raided the office of a local newspaper, detaining staff and confiscating equipment on allegations it had published an inaccurate story, the paper s lawyer and police said on Wednesday.  The day before the Tuesday evening raid, Red Pepper, Uganda s leading tabloid, published a story alleging that Rwanda believed President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda was plotting to oust President Paul Kagame. The article cited unnamed sources. The government said there were no tensions between Uganda and Rwanda. Police spokesman Emirian Kayima said eight managers and editors at the newspaper s Kampala head office were detained after police searched the paper s Kampala office and confiscated computers and mobile phones.  Kayima said the eight staff were being held at a detention facility in eastern Uganda and would appear in court when investigations were complete.  He said the story contained  serious statements and insinuations...that have grave implications on national and regional security and stability.     The paper s lawyer Maxma Mutabingwa said uniformed police told Red Pepper staff during the search that they wanted  material and information on a story published on Monday . He said some managers  homes were also searched but gave no details.  Red Pepper was not published on Wednesday and staff had not been allowed to access the offices since the raid, Mutabingwa said.  Human rights groups say harassment of independent media by security personnel has been escalating in the East African country where Museveni, 73, has ruled for 31 years. Local media including Red Pepper have reported this month on tensions between Uganda and neighboring Rwanda over a range of economic and security disputes.   There s no tension between Uganda and Rwanda...we have no problem at all (with Rwanda),  Uganda s foreign affairs ministry spokeswoman, Margaret Kafeero, told Reuters.  She said Uganda had not received any official complaint from Rwanda regarding any allegations of a plot against Kagame and that the reports in Ugandan media were  rumors . Relations between the two countries are often complicated by a shared history which has by turns been a source of mutual suspicion and amity.  Kagame, the Rwandan leader, grew up as a refugee in Uganda and also occupied a top position in the Ugandan army after serving in the guerrilla movement that helped Museveni take power in 1986.  The Rwandan leader launched his own rebellion from Uganda that ushered him into power and halted a genocide in Rwanda in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed.

Summary: युगांडा पुलिस का कहना है कि राष्ट्रपति के बारे में लेख पर अखबार में छापा मारा गया, कर्मचारियों को हिरासत में लिया गया


DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkish security forces killed 17 Kurdish militants near the border between Iraq and southeast Turkey, the armed forces said on Thursday, after eight members of Turkey s security forces were killed in clashes. Early on Thursday, Turkish forces killed five Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in clashes after the militants sought to cross the border into Hakkari province s mountainous Semdinli district, the armed forces said in a statement. It said six Turkish soldiers and two members of the country s state-backed village guard militia were killed in the fighting. A helicopter-backed operation was started in search of further PKK militants, and Turkish warplanes later killed another 12 militants who were trying to escape across the border to northern Iraq, the military said. Separately, President Tayyip Erdogan said another five PKK militants were killed in clashes in the southeastern province of Tunceli. He said the clashes in Turkey s southeast were continuing. The PKK launched a separatist insurgency in 1984 and more than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict. It is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union.

Summary: इराकी सीमा के पास तुर्की सैनिकों और कुर्द आतंकवादियों के बीच झड़प, 25 की मौतः सेना


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ public testimony before a Senate panel on Tuesday sets up another potentially dramatic hearing on possible ties between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential race.     Sessions will likely face tough questions at the open Senate Intelligence Committee hearing over his dealings with Russian officials during the campaign and whether he had a role in the firing of former FBI Director James Comey. Until a statement on Monday from committee Chairman Richard Burr, a Republican, it had been unclear whether Sessions would testify in an open or closed setting. Initially, Sessions expected to testify in a closed-door session, said two sources familiar with the attorney general’s thinking. But he left the decision up to Burr, the sources said. A Justice Department spokeswoman said that Sessions requested the open setting because “he believes it is important for the American people to hear the truth directly from him.” Comey told the same panel last week that the FBI had information in mid-February on Sessions that would have made it “problematic” for the attorney general to continue leading a federal probe into Russian attempts to influence the presidential election. Sessions recused himself from that inquiry in March after media reports that he had been in two previously undisclosed meetings last year with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak. Tuesday’s testimony, scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. (1830 GMT), will be the first for Sessions in a congressional hearing since he became attorney general. During his nomination hearing in January, the former senator told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he had no contacts with Russian officials as part of the Trump campaign. Sessions is likely to be questioned over the truthfulness of his answers in January. A spokesman for the Justice Department said after media reports emerged in March of the meetings that Sessions had answered honestly because the encounters were part of his job as a senator and not as a surrogate of the Trump campaign.     Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, a member of both the Senate intelligence and judiciary committees, has said Sessions should answer questions about his January testimony.  Intelligence Committee members will also likely ask Sessions about a possible third undisclosed meeting with Kislyak that is now under investigation, according to media reports. Sessions, an early supporter of Trump’s election campaign, will be the most senior government official to testify to the committee on the Russia issue, which has dogged the Republican president’s early months in office. Critics charged that by firing Comey on May 9, Trump was trying to hinder the FBI’s Russia probe. The former FBI chief added fuel to that accusation with his testimony last week. Trump has denied he tried to interfere with the probe.       In his testimony, Comey said he had asked Sessions not to leave him alone with Trump following meetings where he said Trump had asked Comey for his loyalty. The attorney general may also face questions on that. Media reports last week said Sessions offered to resign because of tensions with Trump over his decision to recuse himself from the FBI’s Russia probe. The allegations are being investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller and several congressional panels, including the Senate Intelligence Committee.  Russia has denied interfering in the U.S. election. The White House has denied any collusion with Moscow.

Summary: अटॉर्नी जनरल सेशंस अमेरिकी सीनेट पैनल से सार्वजनिक रूप से बात करेंगे


SYDNEY (Reuters) - The U.N. refugee agency on Tuesday urged Australia to accept New Zealand s offer to resettle 150 refugees from an abandoned Australian-run detention center in Papua New Guinea, as about 450 men remain barricaded inside without food or water. The asylum seekers have been holed up inside the center for the past two weeks defying attempts by Australia and Papua New Guinea to close the facility, saying they fear for their safety if moved to transit centers. With many detainees complaining of illness bought about by the unsanitary conditions in the camp, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) urged Australia to allow 150 of them to resettle in New Zealand.  We urge Australia to reconsider this and take up the offer,  Nai Jit Lam, deputy regional representative at the UNHCR told Reuters.  Most of the asylum seekers are from Afghanistan, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Syria. Australia s  sovereign borders  immigration policy, under which it refuses to allow asylum seekers arriving by boat to reach its shores, has been heavily criticized by the United Nations and human rights groups but has bipartisan political support in Australia. Australia says allowing asylum seekers arriving by boat to reach its shores would only encourage people smugglers in Asia and see more people risk their lives trying to sail to Australia. Two motions introduced in Australia s parliament by the Labor and Green parties, and passed in the upper house on Tuesday, call on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to approve the New Zealand proposal.  This is a foul and bloody stain on Australia s national conscience,  Greens senator Nick McKim told reporters. Turnbull this month rejected the refugee resettlement offer from his New Zealand counterpart, Jacinda Ardern, preferring instead to work through an existing refugee swap deal he negotiated with former U.S. President Barack Obama last year. Under the U.S. deal, up to 1,250 asylum seekers detained by Australia in Papua New Guinea and Nauru in the South Pacific could be resettled in the United States in return for Australia accepting refugees from Central America. So far, the United States has accepted only 54. Despite Turnbull rejecting the offer, Ardern this week said it remained on the table and she would seek a second meeting with Turnbull to discuss the  unacceptable  situation inside the Manus island detention center. Water and electricity to the center were disconnected two weeks ago after Australian security withdrew and the camp closed on Oct. 31. The camp gad been declared illegal by a Papua New Guinea Court. Papua New Guinea has threatened to forcibly move the men if they remain inside the center. It has set three deadlines but all have passed largely without incident.

Summary: ऑस्ट्रेलिया को शरणार्थियों को फिर से बसाने के न्यूजीलैंड के प्रस्ताव को स्वीकार करना चाहिएः यू. एन. एच. सी. आर.


LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May will stress the value of free trade and her support for the Iran nuclear deal when she meets U.S. President Donald Trump later this week, her spokeswoman said on Monday. Trump’s election has raised questions over the future of the so-called special relationship that has underpinned close British-American ties for decades, but the new U.S. leader has praised last year’s vote to leave the EU and says he wants to arrange a swift bilateral trade deal with Britain. Supporters of Britain’s exit from the European Union have cheered these comments, but others have questioned how this will fit with Trump’s protectionist policies, including his inaugural speech promise to put “America first”.  “You can expect the prime minister to be very clear during her U.S. visit on the benefits of free trade and championing them and wanting to look at what more can be done to increase that,” May’s spokeswoman told reporters on Monday. The spokeswoman said she expected the prime minister would also make clear to Trump that Britain is a strong supporter of the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and world powers, which the new U.S. leader has threatened to either scrap or change. At the White House, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said the new U.S. president will discuss the potential for greater trade with Britain in his meeting with May. He said he did not believe there were plans for the two leaders to hold a news conference. Spicer acknowledged the “special relationship” between the United States and the UK, adding, “but we can always be closer.” May is due to attend the annual “Republican Retreat” in Philadelphia on Thursday, becoming the first serving head of state to speak at the event, before holding bilateral talks with Trump in Washington on Friday.    Thousands of women marched in London on Saturday to protest about Trump’s attitude to women, joining demonstrations held in major cities across the globe. When asked during a BBC interview on Sunday about controversy over Trump’s comments on women, May, Britain’s second female premier, said she would not be afraid to challenge any “unacceptable” talk from Trump. She is also expected to discuss NATO with Trump, who has described the military alliance as “obsolete.” Ahead of her U.S. visit, May spoke with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Sunday. “They discussed the continued importance of the alliance as the bulwark of our defense and agreed on the need for the alliance to continue to evolve to be able to effectively counter the biggest threats of the day, in particular terrorism and cyber attacks,” a spokesman for May said after the call. “The prime minister said she would be taking these messages to Washington later this week.”

Summary: ब्रिटेन की मई ने ट्रम्प के साथ बातचीत में मुक्त व्यापार और ईरान समझौते का बचाव किया


EDINBURGH (Reuters) - British outsourcer G4S has suspended nine members of staff at an immigration removal center while it investigates a BBC report alleging abuse in the treatment of migrants, the company said on Friday.  We have received written allegations of abhorrent conduct at Brook House and on that basis we have deemed it serious enough to suspend the staff involved,  a spokeswoman for G4S said. She said the company had not yet seen footage of the alleged incidents, however. BBC Panorama, a flagship documentary program, said on its website that an investigation revealed  chaos, incompetence and abuse  in the treatment of migrants in a program which will be aired next week. The incident has been reported to the police, the spokeswoman said. Officers were not immediately able to comment.  The kind of behavior alleged is completely unacceptable, and does a great disservice to the vast majority of staff who do a great job in very difficult circumstances,  the spokeswoman said. The issue highlights the difficulty of running sensitive services for the government and the potential reputational damage for outsourcing companies. Earlier this year an investigation at the G4S-run Medway Secure Training Centre resulted in allegations of abuse and mistreatment of youngsters. The center is now run by the government s National Offender Management Service. Brook House, near Gatwick Airport, is staffed by more than 200 employees and has around 500 occupants. More than 14,000 people passed through it in the last year.  The unit houses a mix of those who have not fulfilled their visa requirements and criminals who are being deported.

Summary: जी4एस ने ब्रिटेन के प्रवासी केंद्र में नौ कर्मचारियों को निलंबित किया, आचरण की जांच करने के लिए कहा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives proposed legislation on Monday to bar the U.S. government from renting rooms at President Donald Trump’s hotels for official business. “Donald Trump should not be allowed to line his or his family’s pockets with taxpayer dollars,” Representative Don Beyer of Virginia said in a statement. He said the amendments he was introducing to a spending bill were necessary because of the Republican president’s “unprecedented failure to divest from his business, and the ongoing entanglement between the Trump Organization and the White House.” Republicans control the House and the Senate. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Last month, the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit alleging that government payments to Trump’s businesses violated the U.S. Constitution.

Summary: सांसद ने अमेरिकी सरकार द्वारा ट्रम्प होटलों के उपयोग पर प्रतिबंध लगाने का प्रस्ताव रखा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Rand Paul said he spoke to President Donald Trump by phone about healthcare reform on Monday and told the president he thought Trump had the authority to create associations that would allow organizations to offer group health insurance plans. Paul, a Republican, told reporters that Trump was considering taking some form of executive action to address problems with the healthcare system after the Senate failed last week to pass a measure to reform the system. Allowing groups like AARP, which represents retirees, to form health associations could enable individuals and small businesses to form larger groups to negotiate with health insurance companies for lower rates.

Summary: स्वास्थ्य सेवा पर कार्यकारी कार्रवाई का अध्ययन कर रहे हैं ट्रम्प, सीनेटर रैंड पॉल ने कहा


BEIJING (Reuters) - A Donald Trump presidency does not mean the United States will withdraw from the South China Sea, but rather will continue pursuing “regional hegemony”, Chinese academics who drafted a report for an influential government think tank said on Friday. Ensuring “absolute control” over the South China Sea was the crux of U.S. military strategy in the Asia-Pacific, according to what the authors said was China’s first ever public report on the U.S. military presence in the region, released on Friday in Beijing. “There will be no overturning change to U.S. policy in the South China Sea,” said Wu Shicun, head of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, an influential Hainan-based think tank that wrote the report. Trump rarely mentioned the South China Sea on the campaign trail, but concentrated on the economic relationship with Beijing, threatening to label China a currency manipulator and impose import tariffs on Chinese imports. U.S. commitments to its allies would not change, nor would its stance on protecting freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, said Wu. As such, tensions between China and the United States in the South China Sea would likely grow in lock-step with China’s military growth, he added. China claims most of the energy-rich waters through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims. Recent U.S. efforts to counter what it sees as China limiting freedom of navigation in the South China Sea have drawn Beijing’s ire and stoked fears of military conflict. A patrol by U.S. warships in October was dubbed “illegal” and “provocative” by the Chinese Defence Ministry. “From the U.S. perspective, China’s large-scale construction activities in the South China Sea confirmed U.S. suspicion that China intended to implement an anti-access/area-denial strategy,” the report said. There would be “more continuity than change” in Trump’s military policy in the Asia-Pacific, said Zhu Feng, director of the South China Sea Center at Nanjing University, at the report launch. Trump may not use the term “rebalancing” to the region, but he would likely retain most of policies, he added. Both academics agreed that there was a high possibility of increased U.S. military spending in the Asia-Pacific under Trump. A Trump administration would “not be an exception” to other Republican-led governments that increase military spending when they take office, said Zhu Feng. The build-up of military might in the region has led to worries of a rising risk of accidental collisions that could spark conflict. Zhu said that the decision to release a public report now was not China “preparing for war” but rather to avoid an “arms race” between China and the United States.

Summary: ट्रंप दक्षिण चीन सागर में 'क्षेत्रीय वर्चस्व' बनाए रखेंगेः चीनी शिक्षाविद


(Reuters) - Highlights for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday: The Trump administration could respond to North Korea’s latest failed missile test by speeding plans for new U.S. sanctions against Pyongyang, including possible measures against specific North Korean and Chinese entities, a U.S. official says. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warns failure to curb North Korea’s nuclear and missile development could lead to “catastrophic consequences” while China and Russia rebuke Washington for its threat of force. Trump signs a bill approved by the Republican-led Congress to avert a U.S. government shutdown and give lawmakers another week to work out federal spending through Sept. 30, with tricky issues like defense spending still unresolved. Trump pledges to uphold Americans’ right to possess guns in a speech that he uses to revisit some 2016 election campaign themes from his vow to build a border wall to dismissing Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahontas.” Trump tells Reuters he will either renegotiate or terminate what he calls a “horrible” free trade deal with South Korea and says Seoul should pay for a U.S. anti-missile system he prices at $1 billion. A 5-year-old U.S.-South Korean trade deal could be improved to increase access for American vehicles and deter currency manipulation but changes will not necessarily shrink the U.S. trade deficit with the Asian export powerhouse. OBAMA-ERA REGULATIONS Lawmakers, lobbyists and interest groups are making a final push in their fight over regulations enacted during former President Barack Obama’s last months in office, with the financial services industry working hard to kill a rule on retirement plans run by states. Trump signs an executive order to extend offshore oil and gas drilling to areas that have been off limits — a move meant to boost domestic production but that could fall flat due to weak industry demand for the acreage. A U.S. appeals court grants a Trump administration request to put on hold a legal challenge by industry and a group of states to Obama administration regulations aimed at curbing greenhouse emissions mainly from coal-fired power plants, rules Trump is moving to undo. In an unexpected triumph for privacy advocates, the U.S. National Security Agency says it has stopped a form of surveillance that allowed warrant-less collection of the digital communications of Americans who mentioned a foreign intelligence target in their messages.

Summary: हाइलाइट्सः 28 अप्रैल को रात 8.45 बजे ईडीटी/0045 जीएमटी 29 अप्रैल को ट्रम्प प्रेसीडेंसी


(Reuters) - Several countries, the United Nations and journalist groups are demanding the release of Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo from detention in Myanmar.  The reporters were arrested on Dec. 12 after being invited to meet police officials on the outskirts of Yangon. They had worked on stories about a military crackdown in Rakhine state, scene of more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh since late August. Myanmar s Ministry of Information has said the reporters  illegally acquired information with the intention to share it with foreign media,  and released a photo of them in handcuffs. It said the reporters and two policemen faced charges under the British colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years, though officials said they have not been charged. Their exact whereabouts are not known. Reuters  driver Myothant Tun dropped them off at a police compound and the two reporters and two police officers headed to a nearby restaurant. The journalists did not return to the car.  Reuters President and Editor-in-Chief Stephen J. Adler said  the arrests were a  blatant attack on press freedom  and called for the immediate release of the journalists.  Here are reactions to their detention from politicians and press freedom advocates around the world:   - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the United States was  demanding their immediate release or information as to the circumstances around their disappearance.   - British Minister for Asia and the Pacific Mark Field said,   I absolutely strongly disapprove of the idea of journalists, going about their everyday business, being arrested. We will make it clear in the strongest possible terms that we feel that they need to be released at the earliest possible opportunity.  - Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom called the arrests a  threat to a democratic and peaceful development of Myanmar and that region.  She said,  We do not accept that journalists are attacked or simply kidnapped or that they disappear ... To be able to send journalists to this particular area is of crucial importance.   - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said countries should do everything possible to secure the journalists  release and freedom of the press in Myanmar. Guterres said,  It is clearly a concern in relation to the erosion of press freedom in the country.  He added:  And probably the reason why these journalists were arrested is because they were reporting on what they have seen in relation to this massive human tragedy.   - Canada s Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland, the former managing director and editor, consumer news, at Thomson Reuters, tweeted that she was  deeply concerned  by the reports about the arrests. Global Affairs Canada, the Canadian government department that manages its foreign and trade relations, issued a separate statement on Saturday calling for the reporters  release and said that  no person should ever face intimidation in the exercise of their profession.  - President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani called on Myanmar to protect media freedoms and release the two reporters. - Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, information adviser to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said,  We strongly denounce arrests of Reuters journalists and feel that those reporters be free immediately so that they can depict the truth to the world by their reporting.  - Japan s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe s spokesman Motosada Matano said his government was closely watching the situation, and that Japan has been conducting a dialogue with the Myanmar government on human rights in Myanmar in general. - Australia s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said its embassy in Myanmar was registering Canberra s concern at the arrest of the two journalists.  A free and functioning media is an essential part of a modern democracy,  the department said in an e-mail to Reuters on Monday. - The Committee to Protect Journalists said,  We call on local authorities to immediately, unconditionally release Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo. These arrests come amid a widening crackdown which is having a grave impact on the ability of journalists to cover a story of vital global importance.  - The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said there was no justification for the arrests. Daniel Bastard, the head of the group s Asia-Pacific desk, said the charges being considered were  completely spurious . - Advocacy group Fortify Rights demanded the Myanmar government immediately and unconditionally release the two Reuters journalists.  The environment for media right now is as hostile as it s been for years, and if adequate pressure doesn t mount on the civilian and military leadership, we can expect it to worsen,  Matthew Smith, chief executive officer of Fortify Rights, said in a statement on Thursday. - Myanmar s Irrawaddy online news site called on Dec. 14 for the journalists  release in an editorial headlined  The Crackdown on the Media Must Stop.  The newspaper said that  it is an outrage to see the Ministry of Information release a police record photo of reporters handcuffed   as police normally do to criminals   on its website soon after the detention. It is chilling to see that MOI has suddenly brought us back to the olden days of a repressive regime.  - The Southeast Asian Press Alliance asked for the immediate release of the journalists.  These two journalists are only doing their jobs in trying to fill the void of information on the Rohingya conflict,  said SEAPA executive director Edgardo Legaspi.  With this arrest, the government seems to be sending the message that all military reports should be off limits to journalists.  - The Protection Committee for Myanmar Journalists, a group of local reporters who have demonstrated against past prosecutions of journalists, decried the  unfair arrests that affect media freedom .  A reporter must have the right to get information and write news ethically,  said video journalist A Hla Lay Thu Zar - a member of the group s executive committee. - The Foreign Correspondents  Club of Myanmar said it was  appalled  by the arrests and  gravely concerned  about the state of press freedom in Myanmar. It called on authorities to ensure the reporters  safety and allow their families to see them. - The Foreign Correspondents  Club in Thailand, The Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines, and the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club, have also issued statements of support for the journalists. (Refiles to add dropped surname of Swedish foreign minister.)

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः म्यांमार में रॉयटर्स के संवाददाताओं की गिरफ्तारी पर अंतर्राष्ट्रीय प्रतिक्रिया


LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Friday it believed North Korea was behind the  WannaCry  cyber attack in May that disrupted businesses and government services worldwide, including the National Health Service (NHS) in England.  Security Minister Ben Wallace said Britain believed  quite strongly  that the ransomware attack came from a foreign state.  "North Korea was the state that we believe was involved in this worldwide attack on our systems," he told BBC radio.   We can be as sure as possible - I can t obviously go into the detailed intelligence but it is widely believed in the community and across a number of countries that North Korea had taken this role.   WannaCry infected more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries in a matter of days, demanding victims pay ransoms starting at $300 to regain access to their machines.  Cyber security researchers quickly identified a possible link to North Korea.  More than a third of England s 236 NHS trusts and an estimated 19,000 appointments were affected, Britain s National Audit Office said on Friday in a report on the attack.  It said WannaCry was a relatively unsophisticated attack that could have been prevented by the NHS had it followed basic IT security best practice.  No NHS organization paid the ransom but the government does not know how much the disruption to services cost the NHS, it said.  Wallace said Britain needed to redouble its efforts to strengthen cyber security.   It s a salient lesson for us all that all of us, from individuals to governments to large organizations, have a role to play in maintaining the security of our networks,  he said.

Summary: ब्रिटेन का मानना है कि 'वानाक्राई' एनएचएस साइबर हमले के पीछे उत्तर कोरिया का हाथ था


MARAWI CITY, Philippines (Reuters) - With a grimace, Brigadier General Melquiades Ordiales of the Philippines 1st Marine Brigade recounted the painful gains made against Islamist militants in Marawi City.  It took us one week from this point to that point, to cross that street,  he said, casting his eyes to the other side of a two-lane road in the heart of the southern Philippines city, lined by three-storey buildings shattered by air strikes and the remaining walls riddled with bullet holes.  It was really very, very tough.  The grinding urban warfare that has destroyed much of the grandly named Sultan Omar Dianalan Boulevard shows just how much of a threat Islamic State is to the Philippines and potentially other countries in the Southeast Asian region.  But when the fighting started, Philippine authorities were unfazed. After the Islamic State-backed militants took over large parts of picturesque, lakeside Marawi in May, the country s defense minister, Delfin Lorenzana, predicted the entire conflict would be over in one week. Now, after four months of intense aerial bombardment and house-by-house battles, Philippine commanders believe they are in the final stages of the operation to oust the rebels from the city. In the past two weeks, military officials say they have conquered three militant bastions, including a mosque, and restricted about 60 remaining guerrillas to about 10 devastated city blocks in the business district. Patrols have been increased on the lake to prevent the supply of armaments and recruits to the holed-up militants. HIGH-POWERED WEAPONS Military officers who have skirmished for years with Islamic insurgents in the southern Philippines say the battle in Marawi has been more intense and difficult than earlier encounters.  The Islamic State militants are better armed, with high-powered weapons, night vision goggles, the latest sniper scopes and surveillance drones, said Captain Arnel Carandang,  of the Philippines Army First Scout Ranger Battalion. He said he has served for almost a decade in the remote jungles and mountains of Mindanao, the southern Philippines region that has long been wracked by insurgencies. Now, Carandang says, the military is in unfamiliar urban terrain. The militants have exploited the battlefield to their advantage and held off Philippines forces despite a 10-to-1 numerical advantage for the government troops. Borrowing heavily from Islamic State tactics in the Iraqi city of Mosul, they have surrounded themselves with hostages and used snipers and a network of tunnels. Marawi s underground drainage system and  rat holes  - crevices in the walls of high floors allowing access to adjacent buildings - have enabled the rebels to evade bombs and remain undetected, soldiers at the battlefront said.   We believe there have been some foreign terrorists that have been directing their operations that s why they are, how do I define this, really good,  said Carandang.  We have seen some cadavers of foreigners. Some are white, some are black and some tall people we guess are Asians (from outside the Philippines). We have been hearing in their transmissions some English speaking terrorists.  Hostages - many of them Christians - have been deployed to build improvised explosive devices, scavenge for food and weapons in the heat of battle and fight for the Islamist rebels, according to those who escaped.  When we were first moved to the mosque, there were more than 200 of us,  an escaped hostage, who asked not to be identified for safety reasons, told Reuters last week.  We gradually became fewer. People would go on errands but they wouldn t come back. They either escaped or died. By the time I left, there were only about 100 of us.  The account could not be verified, but military officials confirmed the man escaped from Marawi in early August. The hostage said the militants were excited by their successes in Marawi, speaking often of the advantages of urban warfare and talking about some of their next possible targets, including other cities in Mindanao and the Philippines capital Manila.  They said they could hide well in the cities. They can get civilians to become hostages and it s more difficult in the mountains with only the soldiers,  he said. Many of the fighters are young recruits, who are fanatical and accomplished fighters, the soldiers said.  By the way they move and their tactics, you can see they ve been trained,  said Colonel Jose Maria Cuerpo, deputy commander of the 103rd Brigade fighting in Marawi. For a description of how Mindanao youngsters are recruited by militants, click on [nL3N1KB1Z5] Much of this bloodshed could have been avoided, local political leaders told Reuters. Naguib Sinarimbo, a Muslim leader who has negotiated between the military and Islamic separatists for years, said he and other elders had urged the armed forces to allow militias and rival Islamist groups to take the lead in ousting the Islamic State militants. The groups were familiar with Marawi s terrain and, through family and clan links, could influence many of the fighters to lay down their weapons, they told the armed forces.  The proposal was rebuffed, Sinarimbo said. Air power, the military assured them, was the path to a quick win. Zia Alonto Adiong, a provincial politician, said the military also had doubts about the loyalty of some of the  political personalities  offering to provide their militias to push out the fighters. The result was a city in ruins, hundreds of thousands of residents displaced and  emboldened  Islamists, Sinarimbo said.  They proceeded with the aerial bombing but they didn t take the city,  Sinarimbo said.  The military lost authority.  In addition, the devastation of the city will play into  militants  hands, creating resentment and further radicalising many youngsters, he said. Marawi residents in evacuation centers or staying with relatives elsewhere are becoming increasingly frustrated, said Adiong, who is a spokesman for the local government s crisis management authority. Some residents were disappointed and angry that requests for a moratorium on bank loan repayments had not been met, he told Reuters.  Philippines central bank governor Nestor Espenilla told Reuters legislation would be needed for a debt moratorium and was being studied. Mindanao has long been marred by the decades of Muslim hostility to rule from Manila. After years fighting insurgent groups and then long negotiations, the government signed an agreement in 2014 to give Muslim majority areas in Mindanao autonomy. But the deal has been long delayed.    This part of the Philippines is fertile ground to plant violent extremism,  Adiong said.  There is a narrative of social injustice that is strong. Young people are fed up with the peace process and nothing concrete or sustainable has developed.   [The militants] use this as the basis to entice people, to get support of the local people.  In Marawi, some in the armed forces are hopeful that at least some militants will surrender and hand over between 45 to 50 civilian captives. Carandang, the Scout Rangers captain, however said indications were the rebels are preparing for a bloody final stand.  We are monitoring the enemy s transmissions and it s like during these final days they are being more fanatical,  he said.  Transmissions indicate they are preparing for suicide bombings.  An unused suicide vest was discovered this month in Marawi s Grand Mosque, a former stronghold of the militants, government sources told Reuters. Suicide attacks are rare in the Philippines despite decades of Islamist insurgency.  That s the difference between here and Syria and Iraq,  said Ordiales, the marine general.  It s almost the same war tactics and fighting tactics, the one thing that s not the same is the human bomb or the suicide bombing.   It hasn t happened, not yet.

Summary: सड़क पार करने के लिए एक सप्ताहः कैसे आईएस ने मरावी में फिलीपींस के सैनिकों को मार गिराया


BARCELONA (Reuters) - Catalonia s High Court has asked for Spanish national police to provide extra security at the court building in case the Catalan parliament goes ahead with a unilateral declaration of independence, the court said on Monday. The decision to ask for Spanish national police to supplement Catalan police guarding the building was taken in order to increase the security of the building and to  guarantee its full and normal operation  in the event of a Catalan declaration of independence from Spain, the court said in a statement.

Summary: कैटेलोनिया के उच्च न्यायालय ने स्पेन की पुलिस से स्वतंत्रता की स्थिति में सुरक्षा प्रदान करने को कहा


LONDON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump plans to visit Britain in February to open the new U.S. embassy in London but will not meet Queen Elizabeth, the Daily Mail newspaper reported on Wednesday. Trump s planned visit to Britain has proved controversial since Prime Minister Theresa May invited him for a state visit, which typically involves lavish pageantry and events hosted by the queen. However nearly 2 million people have signed a petition saying Trump should not be invited because it  would cause embarrassment  to the queen, and protests could be expected to greet the U.S. leader. The Daily Mail cited a source in Westminster as saying Trump had told May during a call on Tuesday that he planned a working visit to Britain to open the new embassy, a billion-dollar building which overlooks the River Thames, in late February.  A spokesman for May s Downing Street office declined to comment on the report. He said the position on the state visit had not changed. An offer had been extended but no dates have been arranged.  May originally invited Trump to visit by the end of 2017.  Britain regards its close ties with Washington as a  special relationship  and a pillar of its foreign policy as it prepares to leave the European Union. However the ties have been strained in recent months, most recently when Trump sparked outrage by rebuking May on Twitter after she criticized him for retweeting British far-right anti-Islam videos.

Summary: अमेरिकी राष्ट्रपति ट्रम्प फरवरी में ब्रिटेन की यात्रा करेंगेः डेली मेल


PARIS (Reuters) - France s young new president, Emmanuel Macron, said life as a world leader is less  cool  than it might seem, citing talks with Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan as an example. Asked by Le Point magazine in an interview if he was trying to be the new  cool  kid on the global stage, Macron replied:  The global stage is not really a  cool  scene, you know.  Asked to give an example, he said:  I am the one who has to talk with Erdogan every 10 days.  He did not elaborate. Erdogan is often criticized by leaders in Western Europe and he has clashed with the European Union over human rights and other issues. The last known conversation between Macron and Erdogan was on Aug. 27, when they discussed the fate of a French journalist jailed in Turkey. An aide to Macron later said the French president had not meant to mock or criticize his Turkish counterpart.   The conversations with Mr. Erdogan are always very serious,  the aide explained.

Summary: फ्रांस के मैक्रों ने तुर्की के एर्दोगन के साथ बातचीत का हवाला देते हुए कहा कि उनका काम 'अच्छा' नहीं है


SITTWE, Myanmar (Reuters) - Rohingya Muslims who return to Myanmar after fleeing to Bangladesh are unlikely to be able to reclaim their land, and may find their crops have been harvested and sold by the government, according to officials and plans seen by Reuters. Nearly 600,000 Rohingya have crossed the border since Aug. 25, when coordinated Rohingya insurgent attacks on security posts sparked a ferocious counteroffensive by the Myanmar army. The United Nations says killings, arson and rape carried out by troops and ethnic Rakhine Buddhist mobs since late August amount to a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya. Civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has no control over the military, has pledged that anyone sheltering in Bangladesh who can prove they were Myanmar residents can return. Reuters has interviewed six Myanmar officials involved with repatriation and resettlement plans. While the plans are not yet finalised, their comments reflect the government s thinking on how Suu Kyi s repatriation pledge will be implemented. Jamil Ahmed, who spoke to Reuters at a refugee camp in Bangladesh, is one of many Rohingya who hope to go back. Describing how he fled his home in northern Rakhine state in late August, Ahmed said one of the few things he grabbed was a stack of papers - land contracts and receipts - that might prove ownership of the fields and crops he was leaving behind.  I didn t carry any ornaments or jewels,  said the 35-year-old.  I ve only got these documents. In Myanmar, you need to present documents to prove everything.  The stack of papers, browning and torn at the edges, may not be enough, however, to regain the land in Kyauk Pan Du village, where he grew potatoes, chilli plants, almonds and rice.  It depends on them. There is no land ownership for those who don t have citizenship,  said Kyaw Lwin, agriculture minister in Rakhine state, when asked in an interview whether refugees who returned to Myanmar could reclaim land and crops. Despite his land holdings, Myanmar does not recognize Ahmed as a citizen. Nearly all the more than 1 million Rohingya who lived in Myanmar before the recent exodus are stateless, despite many tracing their families in the country for generations. Officials have made plans to harvest, and possibly sell, thousands of acres of crops left behind by the fleeing Rohingya, according to state government documents reviewed by Reuters. Myanmar also intends to settle most refugees who return to Rakhine state in new  model villages , rather than on the land they previously occupied, an approach criticized in the past by the United Nations as effectively creating permanent camps. The government has not asked for help from any international agencies, who are calling for any repatriation to be voluntary and to the refugees  place of origin. The exodus of 589,000 Rohingya - and about 30,000 non-Muslims - from the conflict zone in northern Rakhine has left some 71,500 acres of planted rice paddy abandoned and in need of harvesting by January, according to plans drawn up by state officials. Tables in the documents, reviewed by Reuters, divide the land into paddy sown by  national races  - meaning Myanmar citizens - or  Bengalis,  a term widely used in Myanmar to refer to the Rohingya, but which they reject as implying they are illegal migrants from Bangladesh. Kyaw Lwin, the state minister, confirmed the plans, and said there was a total of 45,000 acres of  ownerless Bengali land . Two dozen combine harvesters operated by officials from the agriculture ministry will begin cutting stalks this month in areas under military control. The machines will be able to harvest about 14,400 acres according to official calculations contained in the plans. It is unclear what will become of the remaining crop, but officials told Reuters they would try to harvest all the paddy, recruiting additional labor to harvest manually if necessary. An acre of paddy in Myanmar typically makes more than $300 at market, meaning the state will gain millions of dollars worth of rice. The harvested rice will be transported to government stores, where it would either be donated to those displaced by the conflict or sold, Rakhine state secretary Tin Maung Swe told Reuters by phone.  The land was abandoned. There is no one to reap that, so the government ordered to harvest it,  he said. Human Rights Watch (HRW) deputy Asia director Phil Robertson, said the government should at least guarantee that the rice would be used for humanitarian support and not for profit.  You can t call a rice crop  ownerless  just because you used violence and arson to drive the owners out of the country,  he said. Many refugees are fearful to return and are skeptical of Myanmar s guarantees. Those who do decide to cross back into Myanmar will first be received at one of two centers, according to government plans reviewed by Reuters, before mostly being relocated to model villages. International donors, who have fed and cared for more than 120,000 mostly Rohingya  internally displaced persons  (IDPs) in supposedly temporary camps in Rakhine since violence in 2012, have told Myanmar that they will not support more camps, according to aid workers and diplomats.  The establishment of new temporary camps or camp-like settlements carries many risks, including that the returnees and IDPs could end up being confined to these camps for a long time,  said U.N. spokesman Stanislav Saling in an emailed response. Satellite imagery shows 288 villages, mostly Rohingya settlements, have been fully or partially razed by fires since Aug. 25, according to HRW.  Refugees say the army and Buddhist mobs were responsible for most of the arson. The government says Rohingya militants and even residents themselves burned the homes for propaganda. The hamlets where Rohingya farmers lived were  not systematic , and so should be rebuilt in smaller settlements of 1,000 households set out in straight rows to enable development, said Soe Aung, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement.  In some villages there are three houses here, four houses over there. For example, there s no road for fire engines when fire burns the villages,  Soe Aung said. Those who decide to cross back into Myanmar will first be received at one of two centers, according to government plans reviewed by Reuters. At the centers, officials said, the returnees will fill out a 16-point form that will be cross-checked with local authorities  records. Immigration officials have for years visited Rohingya households at least annually for checks, photographing family members. For refugees who lost all their documents, the government would compare their photos to those that immigration authorities have on file, said Myint Kyaing, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population. Officials will accept as evidence  national verification  cards handed out in an ongoing government effort to register Rohingya that falls short of offering them citizenship. The card has been widely rejected by Rohingya community leaders, who say they treat life-long residents like new immigrants.  We are not going to go back like this,  said Mushtaq Ahmed, 57, a farmer from Myin Hlut village now living in the Tenkhali refugee camp in Bangladesh, where Jamil Ahmed is also staying.  If I can go back to my house, and get my land back, only then I will go. We invested all our money into those paddy fields. They are killing so many of us with swords and bullets, and killing the rest of us like this.

Summary: एक्सक्लूसिवः म्यांमार की योजनाओं के तहत लौटने वाले रोहिंग्याओं की जमीन, फसलें बर्बाद हो सकती हैं


LONDON (Reuters) - Donald Trump was being a gentleman, British Prime Minister Theresa May said, describing when the U.S. president held her hand during her visit to Washington earlier this year. In an interview with U.S. magazine Vogue, May played down the importance of the two leaders holding hands. “I think he was actually being a gentleman,” she said. “We were about to walk down a ramp, and he said it might be a bit awkward.” May was the first foreign leader to meet Trump after his inauguration as president, and her visit was hailed by her aides as a resounding success in cementing the “special relationship” between Britain and the United States. But she has been criticized by opposition lawmakers for failing to take the U.S. president to task on contentious issues in order to win promises for future trade as Britain navigates its departure from the European Union. “I like to think we got on,” she told Vogue. “We don’t comment on private conversations that take place. All I would say is, I’ve been very clear: I’m not afraid to raise issues. And the nature of the relationship is such that we should be able to be frank and open with each other.”

Summary: ब्रिटेन की मे ने हाथ पकड़ने पर कहा, ट्रम्प एक सज्जन व्यक्ति थे


LONDON (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Thursday U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel s capital was  not helpful  and that the world would like to see some serious announcements from President Donald Trump on how to resolve Middle Eastern issues.

Summary: ब्रिटेन के जॉनसन ने कहा कि जेरूसलम को ट्रम्प की मान्यता मददगार नहीं है


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration would virtually eliminate federal funding for the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget for vehicle emissions and fuel economy testing but will seek to raise fees on industry to pay for some testing, a government document shows. The cuts would slash by more than half the staff of the EPA department that conducts vehicle, engine, and fuel testing to verify emissions standards are met and mileage stickers are accurate. Its work helped lead to Volkswagen AG’s (VOWG_p.DE) 2015 admission that it violated vehicle emissions rules for years.     In a March 21 budget document posted online by the Washington Post, the Trump administration proposed eliminating $48 million in federal funding for EPA vehicle and fuel testing and certification. It represents a 99 percent federal cut to the vehicle testing budget and would require “pretty much shutting down the testing lab,” said Margo Oge, who headed the EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality under President Barack Obama. The proposal, which would also cut 168 out of 304 full-time jobs, seeks to partially fund current operations by boosting fees automakers and engine manufacturers pay for testing. An EPA official confirmed the document’s authenticity.     The Trump administration has proposed cutting the EPA’s budget by 31 percent and eliminating more than 50 programs. EPA spokesman John Konkus declined to answer questions about how the cuts could affect vehicle testing. “We know we can effectively serve the taxpayers and protect the environment. While many in Washington insist on greater spending, EPA is focused on greater value and real results,” Konkus said. Gloria Bergquist, a spokeswoman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, an auto trade association, said automakers were concerned the proposed cuts could delay certification of new vehicles “and getting products to consumers.” Janet McCabe, a former EPA official in the Obama administration, said Monday that companies that take care to comply with the rules can be at a disadvantage without strong enforcement of the rules. “We know that a little bit of cheating can mean a lot of air pollution,” McCabe said. The administration plans to release a detailed budget plan in May.  In March, Trump ordered a review of tough U.S. vehicle fuel-efficiency standards put in place by the Obama administration. The EPA stepped up scrutiny of automakers after Volkswagen admitted to cheating diesel emissions tests in 580,000 U.S. vehicles. VW agreed to pay up to $25 billion in penalties and buyback costs and pleaded guilty in March to felony charges. In September 2015, EPA said it would review emissions from all U.S. diesel vehicles after Volkswagen’s admission it used secret software to emit up to 40 times allowable emissions.     That review prompted the allegation by the EPA in January that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV used undisclosed software to allow excess diesel emissions from 104,000 U.S. trucks and SUVs. Fiat Chrysler denies wrongdoing.     The EPA is also scrutinizing emissions from Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz vehicles. It has not approved Daimler or Fiat Chrysler’s request to sell 2017 model diesels.     The EPA has also investigated cases of several automakers overstating mileage on window stickers in recent years. In 2014, the EPA hit Korean automakers Hyundai Motor Co and affiliate Kia Motors Corp with $350 million in penalties for overstating fuel economy ratings.

Summary: अमेरिका ट्रम्प योजना के तहत ई. पी. ए. वाहन परीक्षण बजट में कटौती करेगा


SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A local court in the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou is using social media to shame people into repaying their debts, the China Daily reported on Tuesday. Citizens who ignore court repayment orders have been subjected to targeted advertisements on the popular Chinese social media app WeChat, notifying their contacts about the amount of money they owe, the paper said. It said the court in Wenzhou s Ouhai district had released the names and photos of 20 local defaulters owing a total of 10.7 million yuan ($1.61 million). Though China has sought to make more credit available to individuals in a bid to develop a consumer economy, officials have expressed concern about surging levels of household debt, which is estimated to have doubled in less than a decade to reach around 50 percent of gross domestic product.  China s outstanding household consumer loans surged nearly 30 percent by the end of September from a year earlier, and the country s central bank governor recently issued a strong warning about the risks of rapidly rising debt. With no reliable nationwide credit rating system, authorities across the country are looking for ways to crack down on people who fail to repay.

Summary: चीन की अदालत ने कर्जदारों को शर्मिंदा करने के लिए सोशल मीडिया का इस्तेमाल कियाः चाइना डेली


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee has invited former FBI Director James Comey to testify at a closed hearing on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the committee’s chairman, Richard Burr, said. The invitation was extended by Burr, a Republican, and Mark Warner, the panel’s top Democrat. There was no immediate word on whether Comey, whom President Donald Trump dismissed from his position at the FBI on Tuesday, would appear. Comey had been due to testify before the committee both publicly and behind closed doors on Thursday, but Acting Director Andrew McCabe will now appear at the committee’s hearing on Worldwide Threats.

Summary: कोमी को अगले सप्ताह अमेरिकी सीनेट में गवाही देने के लिए आमंत्रित किया गया


BEIJING (Reuters) - China wants to improve its military relationship with Singapore, but is resolutely opposed to any country having defense ties with self-ruled Taiwan, China s Defence Ministry said on Thursday, obliquely criticizing Singapore s Taiwan links. China is suspicious of the city state s good military relations both with the United States and Taiwan, claimed by China as its own. Singaporean troops train in Taiwan, despite a lack of formal diplomatic relations between the two, which has been an irritant in China-Singapore ties. Last November, Hong Kong port authorities impounded nine Singaporean armored military vehicles being shipped home from training grounds in Taiwan, leading to tensions between Singapore and China. Hong Kong later released the vehicles. Asked about a visit of Singaporean Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen to China last week and speculation this may lead Singapore to end its military training in Taiwan, Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said relations with Singapore s military had been generally developing smoothly. There are high level talks, mutual visits of warships and other exchanges, which has deepened mutual understanding and achieved practical results, Wu told a monthly news briefing.  China is willing to work with Singapore to create favorable conditions to develop an even more mature military relationship,  he said.  I also want to stress here that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China. We resolutely oppose any country having any form of official exchanges with Taiwan or military links.  Ng s meeting with Chinese Defence Minister Chang Wanquan came as part of a trip to Beijing by Singapore s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, where there was no public mention of the Taiwan matter. Influential state-run Chinese newspaper the Global Times said last week that it was  inevitable  the military training in Taiwan would end, though it offered no proof. Taiwan is one of China s most sensitive issues. Beijing has never renounced the use of force to bring what it considers a wayward province under its rule. Ties across the Taiwan Strait have nosedived since Tsai Ing-wen from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party won presidential elections last year. China suspects she wants to push for the island s formal independence. She says she wants to maintain peace with her giant neighbor. In recent months, Chinese air force jets have carried out a series of drills around Taiwan which have included bombers and advanced fighter jets. Spokesman Wu reiterated that the drills were routine.  We will continue with such exercises,  he added. Taiwan s Defence Ministry declined to comment.

Summary: चीन ने कहा कि वह सिंगापुर के साथ गहरे सैन्य संबंध चाहता है, ताइवान के साथ संबंधों को बढ़ा-चढ़ाकर पेश करता है


CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro looked to the world of digital currency to circumvent U.S.-led financial sanctions, announcing on Sunday the launch of the  petro  backed by oil reserves to shore up a collapsed economy. The leftist leader offered few specifics about the currency launch or how the struggling OPEC member would pull off such a feat, but he declared to cheers that  the 21st century has arrived!     Venezuela will create a cryptocurrency,  backed by oil, gas, gold and diamond reserves, Maduro said in his regular Sunday televised broadcast, a five-hour showcase of Christmas songs and dancing. The petro, he said, would help Venezuela  advance in issues of monetary sovereignty, to make financial transactions and overcome the financial blockade.       Opposition leaders derided the announcement, which they said needed congressional approval, and some cast doubt on whether the digital currency would ever see the light of day in the midst of turmoil. The real currency, the bolivar, is in freefall, and the country is sorely lacking in basic needs like food and medicine. Still, the announcement highlights how sanctions enacted this year by U.S. President Donald Trump s administration are hurting Venezuela s ability to move money through international banks.  Washington has levied sanctions against Venezuelan officials, PDVSA executives and the country s debt issuance.   Sources say compliance departments are scrutinizing transactions linked to Venezuela, which has slowed some bond payments and complicated certain oil exports. Maduro s pivot away from the U.S. dollar comes after the recent spectacular rise of bitcoin, which has been fueled by signs that the digital currency is slowly gaining traction in the mainstream investment world. The announcement bewildered some followers of cryptocurrencies, which typically are not backed by any government or central banks. Ironically, Venezuela s currency controls in recent years have spurred a bitcoin fad among tech-savvy Venezuelans looking to bypass controls to obtain dollars or make internet purchases. Maduro s government has a poor track record in monetary policy. Currency controls and excessive money printing have led to a 57 percent depreciation of the bolivar against the dollar in the last month alone on the widely used black market. That has dragged down the monthly minimum wage to a mere $4.30.  For the millions of Venezuelans plunged into poverty and struggling to eat three meals a day, Maduro s announcement is unlikely to bring any immediate relief.  Economists and opposition leaders say Maduro, a former bus driver and union leader, has recklessly refused to overhaul Venezuela s controls and stem the economic meltdown. He could now be seeking to pay bondholders and foreign creditors in the currency amid a plan to restructure the country s major debt burden, opposition leaders said, but the plan is likely to flop.  It s Maduro being a clown. This has no credibility,  opposition lawmaker and economist Angel Alvarado told Reuters.   I see no future in this,  added fellow opposition legislator Jose Guerra. Maduro says he is trying to combat a Washington-backed conspiracy to sabotage his government and end socialism in Latin America. On Sunday he said Venezuela was facing a financial  world war.

Summary: 'पेट्रो' दर्ज करेंः वेनेजुएला तेल-समर्थित क्रिप्टोकरेंसी लॉन्च करेगा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday failed to override President Barack Obama’s veto of legislation that would have dismantled his signature healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act. At least a two-thirds vote of the House was needed to knock down Obama’s veto; the Republican-majority House fell short by more than three dozen votes. The vote was 241-186, and ends consideration of the bill; the Senate will not take it up. The widely expected outcome was the latest chapter in the lengthy clash between Republicans and Democrats over the Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare.”  Republicans have been vowing to gut the law since 2010, when the then Democratic-majority Congress passed the landmark program designed to provide healthcare for millions of uninsured Americans. The House has voted to dismantle Obamacare dozens of times, but Republicans could not get a repeal through the Senate until late last year, when they used a procedural maneuver denying Democrats’ ability to block the legislation. Obama vetoed the bill last month; it was the eighth veto of his presidency, and none have been overridden. Republicans were anxious to show they had done everything they could to take down Obamacare, which they say has raised insurance costs and reduced health care choices. They said Tuesday that this was not the end of the story. “The end of Obamacare is coming,” predicted Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. “When a Republican president takes office next year, we know we can get this passed ... Obamacare can be gone once and for all.” Such a scenario assumes, however, that the Republicans capture the White House in November elections, and maintain their majorities in the Senate and House as well. Democrats mocked Republicans, saying they were proposing to deprive millions of their health insurance without a replacement. About 11.3 Americans have signed up this year for  insurance on the Obamacare exchanges. “While we have voted as of today 63 times to dismantle it, how many times have we voted to replace it? Zero! Zero times to replace it!” declared Representative Chris van Hollen, a Democrat. The bill also would have taken funds away from Planned Parenthood, another target of Republican criticism after undercover videos showed the women’s healthcare provider discussing the use of fetus parts for research. Two anti-abortion activists behind the filming of the videos  were indicted by a Texas grand jury last month, while the jury cleared Planned Parenthood of wrongdoing.

Summary: ओबामा के ओबामा विरोधी विधेयक पर वीटो हटाने में विफल रहा सदन


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Texas Governor Rick Perry has endorsed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and is open to being his running mate, CNN reported on Thursday. In September, Perry was the first member of the initially crowded Republican field to drop out of the 2016 White House race, following a failed bid in the 2012 race. The longest-serving governor in Texas history had languished near the bottom of the 17-strong Republican presidential pack since entering the current race in June.  Trump is now the last one left and the presumptive Republican nominee.

Summary: टेक्सास के पूर्व गवर्नर पेरी ने ट्रंप का समर्थन किया, कहा-साथी की भूमिका निभाने के लिए तैयारः सीएनएन


NAIROBI (Reuters) - At least 33 people died in the Kenyan capital Nairobi during a police crackdown on opposition supporters after elections in August, including a child and a pregnant woman, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said on Monday. Protests erupted after President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared winner over opposition leader Raila Odinga in the vote. The Supreme Court later voided the result. Odinga has withdrawn from a re-run on Oct. 26, leaving Kenyatta as the only candidate, prompting further protests.    Kenyan police disputed the rights groups  report, which brings the nationwide death toll in the crackdown to at least  45. Human Rights Watch had earlier documented 12 killings after the vote by police in western Kenya, the main opposition stronghold.         HRW and Amnesty said police in Nairobi had used  excessive force  and that  most of (the 33 who died) were killed as a result of action by the police.  Among them was a nine-year-old child shot dead while standing on a balcony and a woman who was eight months pregnant and was trampled to death after fainting from inhaling tear gas, the rights groups said in the report. Kenya s National Police Service said in a statement the report was  totally misleading and based on falsehoods.   Immediately after the violence in August, police said only  criminals  and  thugs  had been killed or injured.      The report is likely to bolster the case of Kenyan activists and rights groups who accuse police of brutality and extrajudicial killings but say few officers are charged and convictions are extremely rare.  Researchers found that although police behaved appropriately in some instances, in many others they shot or beat protesters to death,  the groups said in the report.       On Thursday the government banned demonstrations in the central business district of Nairobi, the coastal city of Mombasa and the western city of Kisumu, where protesters had been gathering twice a week, calling on the election board to make reforms to ensure a fair poll. Police had used tear gas to disperse them.[L8N1MO1O3] A group of U.N. human rights experts called for the government s ban on protests to be listed and denounced a  pattern of police brutality  in response to recent demonstrations. During the violence the parents of a six-month-old baby in western Kenya told Reuters their child was clubbed by police in her home and died later in hospital from brain trauma.  Kenya receives financial support for security from the United States, Britain and other international donors.

Summary: नैरोबी में पुलिस की कार्रवाई में कम से कम 33 लोगों की मौत हो गई-अधिकार समूह


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has made too many  troubling statements recently that lend uncertainty over its ties with the United States and are at odds with their alliance, the White House said on Thursday. “We’ve seen too many troubling public statements from President Duterte over the last several months,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters at a daily press briefing. “And the frequency of that rhetoric has added an element of unnecessary uncertainty into our relationship that doesn’t advance the interests of either country.”

Summary: अमेरिका ने फिलीपींस के दुतेर्ते के 'बहुत अधिक' परेशान करने वाले बयानों को देखा


VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis’s suggestion that Donald Trump was “not Christian” because of his views on immigration was not a personal attack on the U.S. Republican presidential candidate, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said on Friday. Lombardi told Vatican Radio that the pope’s comments, made to reporters during a flight back from Mexico in response to a specific question on Trump, were simply an affirmation of his long-standing belief that migrants should be helped rather than shut off behind walls. “In no way was this a personal attack, nor an indication of how to vote,” Lombardi said. Trump, the longtime Republican party front-runner in opinion polls, dismissed the pope as “disgraceful” for questioning his faith. He has said that if elected president in November, he would build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border to keep out immigrants who enter illegally. Lombardi said the pope believed people “should build bridges, not walls”. He added: “This is his general view, which is very consistent with courageously following the indications of the gospel on offering welcome and solidarity.”

Summary: ट्रम्प पर पोप की टिप्पणी व्यक्तिगत हमला नहीं हैः पोप प्रवक्ता


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Adolfo Lagos, the head of struggling Mexican broadcaster Grupo Televisa s telecoms unit izzi, was shot dead on Sunday on the outskirts of Mexico City, the state attorney general s office said in a statement. The attorney general s office for the State of Mexico, which surrounds the capital, said it was investigating the homicide near the ancient Teotihuacan pyramids. It said Lagos was on a bicycle when he was shot. He died in hospital from his wounds.  Press reports said Lagos died after group of men tried to steal his bike. In his Twitter profile photo, Lagos is shown riding a bike. The attorney general s office could not immediately be reached for comment.   Grupo Televisa profoundly laments the death of izzi Director Adolfo Lagos Espinosa that took place in the State of Mexico. Our condolences to his wife, daughters and family members,  the company wrote on Twitter. izzi offers phone, internet and cable television services. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto took to Twitter to offer his condolences, saying that the federal attorney general s office would help state prosecutors investigate. The death of Lagos, a well-known former banker, is a fresh pain for Televisa, which is struggling with declining ad sales and tough competition from the widespread move to online video. The company s longtime chief executive will step down next year, the company said last month, and Televisa has also faced U.S. allegations that it was among media companies that paid bribes to secure television rights for soccer matches. The testimony came during the first trial to emerge from the U.S. investigation of bribery surrounding FIFA, soccer s world governing body.

Summary: मेक्सिको सिटी के बाहर साइकिल चलाते समय टेलीविसा के कार्यकारी की गोली मारकर हत्या कर दी गई


(Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Wednesday called for a “21st century” version of the 1933 Glass-Steagall law that required the separation of commercial and investment banking, a change the Republican Party also supported in its 2016 policy platform. Trump gave no details about his banking plan other than to say he would prioritize “helping African American businesses get the credit they need.”  Democrat Hillary Clinton’s husband, former president Bill Clinton, signed legislation in 1999 that repealed Glass-Steagall. U.S. banking law was comprehensively revised by the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010 as a response to the financial crisis of 2008.

Summary: ट्रंप ने 21वीं सदी के लिए ग्लास-स्टीगल बैंकिंग कानून बनाने का आह्वान किया


BARCELONA (Reuters) - Catalan regional leader Carles Puigdemont accused Spanish authorities of using  unjustified, disproportionate and irresponsible  violence in a crackdown on a Catalan independence referendum on Sunday. The batons, rubber bullets and violence used by Spanish police to prevent voting in what Spanish authorities have said was an illegal referendum had shown a  dreadful external image of Spain , he told reporters.  The unjustified, disproportionate and irresponsible violence of the Spanish state today has not only failed to stop Catalans  desire to vote ... but has helped to clarify all the doubts we had to resolve today,  he said.

Summary: कैटलन नेता ने जनमत संग्रह में स्पेन पर 'अनुचित हिंसा' का आरोप लगाया


ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - The White House said on Tuesday it does not know where President-elect Donald Trump got his figure of more than $4 billion to replace the Air Force One plane that transports presidents, a spokesman said on Tuesday. Trump urged the federal government on Tuesday to cancel an order with Boeing Co to develop a new Air Force One, saying costs were more than $4 billion and “out of control.” “Some of the statistics that have been cited, shall we say, don’t appear to reflect the nature of the financial arrangement between Boeing and the Department of Defense,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.

Summary: व्हाइट हाउसः एयर फोर्स वन पर ट्रम्प का $4 बिलियन का आंकड़ा संदिग्ध है


TOKYO (Reuters) - President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to work together on steps to counter North Korea s nuclear and missile development, ahead of the U.S. leader s visit to Asia, the Japanese government said late on Monday. In a 20-minute phone call, Trump and Abe discussed the schedule of the president s coming visit, which includes a Nov. 5-7 stop in Japan, and agreed to remain in close contact over North Korea, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasutoshi Nishimura told reporters. Trump told Abe  he is looking forward to his visit to Japan, that Japan and America are 100 percent together and there is no room to doubt the Japan-U.S. alliance,  Nishimura said.   They agreed to deepen their discussions on the North Korean situation and other matters  during Trump s visit, he said.

Summary: एशिया यात्रा से पहले उत्तर कोरिया पर मिलकर काम करने पर सहमत हुए ट्रंप और जापान के आबे


BEIJING (Reuters) - A workaholic keen swimmer with an extensive knowledge of foreign literature   China s state news agency Xinhua on Friday cracked open the door to President Xi Jinping s private life in an unusual and glowing profile. The private lives of senior Chinese leaders have traditionally been shrouded in secrecy, and tell-all books with juicy gossip strictly off limits. But since Xi took power five years ago the government has on occasion released personal details, as it seems both to burnish his image as an approachable man of the people who will lead China to greatness, and control the narrative about who he is. Xi emerged from a twice-a-decade Communist Party Congress last month with his power ever further cemented and key allies appointed to top new positions. In a lengthy story published in Chinese and English in the early hours of Friday, Xinhua hailed Xi as the  unrivalled helmsman , a term more frequently used to refer to the founder of modern China Mao Zedong rather than any other leaders.  Wherever he works, he makes a remarkable impact,  Xinhua said. While some of the anecdotes have previously been reported by state media - like his 2014 stroll around old Beijing alleyways during one of the city s periodic smog crises - others were new. Xi personally reviews every draft of major policy documents, sentence by sentence, Xinhua said.  Sources close to him told Xinhua that all reports submitted to him, no matter how late in the evening, were returned with instructions the following morning.  But he also  takes time out of his busy schedule to swim over 1,000 meters a time , it added, without saying how often he manages to fit this in. Xi can reel off the names of foreign, especially Russian, writers, and his  extensive knowledge of literature and the arts makes him a consummate communicator in the international arena .  Xi treats everyone with sincerity, warmth, attentiveness, and forthrightness,  it said. However, underscoring China s sensitivities about more difficult parts of its recent past, the Chinese version of the profile skipped a description of the suffering inflicted on Xi s father Xi Zhongxun during the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, when Mao declared class war.  In 1962, Xi Zhongxun s 16 years of suffering from political persecution began. However, he never gave in to adversity and ultimately helped clear the names of others who were persecuted,  Xinhua said in its English profile.   When his father was wronged, Xi Jinping went through some tough times,  it added, without elaborating. Public discussion of the Cultural Revolution is generally taboo in China.

Summary: चमकती प्रोफ़ाइल ने चीन के शी के निजी जीवन पर दरवाजे खोल दिए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s nominee to head the CIA sought on Thursday to repair damage from the president-elect’s feud with U.S. intelligence agencies, saying he accepted their findings on Russian hacking, would not comply if ordered to renew use of harsh interrogation techniques and would always “have their backs.” Mike Pompeo’s testimony at his Senate confirmation hearing appeared aimed at reassuring staff at the agency he has been picked to lead, even at the risk of contradicting or distancing himself from some of Trump’s strongest criticism of the intelligence community. Diverging from Trump’s stated aim of seeking closer ties with Russia, Pompeo accused the Russian leadership of “aggressive action” in meddling in the November U.S. elections, of “asserting itself aggressively” by occupying part of Ukraine and of doing “doing nearly nothing” to destroy Islamic State. Pompeo, a Republican member of the House of Representatives and a former U.S. Army officer, insisted that if necessary he would be ready to stand up to Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, and would shield CIA operatives against any effort to politicize its work. “You have my commitment that every day, I will not only speak truth to power, but I will demand that the men and the women (of the CIA) ... follow my instruction to do that each and every day,” he said. For weeks, the Republican president-elect questioned the intelligence agencies’ conclusion that Russia used hacking and other tactics to try to tilt the election in his favor - an unprecedented breach between an incoming U.S. leader and the intelligence operatives he will soon command. Trump said on Wednesday that Russia was behind the hacking but that other countries were hacking the United States as well. Asked about the hacking, Pompeo said he was very clear about what he called an “aggressive action” ordered by the Russian leadership, and accepted the U.S. intelligence report on the matter. “I’ve seen nothing to cast any doubt on the findings in the report,” he said. Trump this week also furiously denounced intelligence officials for what he said were leaks to the media by intelligence agencies of a dossier that makes unverified, salacious allegations about his contacts in Russia. By contrast, Pompeo voiced strong support for the agency,  saying he has seen Central Intelligence Agency staff “walk through fire.” He said he understood it would be a problem “if folks were afraid there would be political retribution” and promised “to have their backs at every single moment. You have my word I will do that.” Pompeo also signaled he would stand firm if necessary against Trump on the issue of enhanced interrogation techniques for terrorism suspects. Such techniques, which were introduced under President George W. Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, are widely regarded as torture and their use has been banned by Congress. Trump said during the election campaign the United States should bring back tactics such as waterboarding, which simulates drowning, although since the election he has said he has heard arguments against such methods. Asked about the issue, Pompeo said that he would “absolutely not” restart enhanced interrogation techniques by the CIA if asked by the president-elect. He noted it would take a change in the law for the CIA to use interrogation techniques that go beyond those permitted by the Army, adding he could not imagine that Trump would order the CIA to use illegal methods. Pompeo, a conservative lawmaker from Kansas who is on the House Intelligence Committee, emphasized that he would be a neutral assessor of challenges and threats. In opening remarks he said he understood that if confirmed his role would switch from policymaker to provider of information. Noting that the CIA does not make policy on any country, he added, “it is a policy decision as to what to do with Russia, but it will be essential that the Agency provide policymakers with accurate intelligence and clear-eyed analysis of Russian activities.” Equally, he said that he would drop the opposition he has had as a lawmaker to the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers. He said the CIA must be “rigorously fair and objective” in assessing the deal. But he called the Iranians “professionals at cheating” and said he would work to improve U.S. capability to detect violations of Tehran’s commitment to curb its nuclear activities. He called Iran an “emboldened, disruptive player in the Middle East, fuelling tensions” with Sunni Muslim allies of the United States.  Pompeo listed it among the challenges facing the United States along with what he called a “resilient” Islamic State and the fallout from Syria’s long civil war. Pompeo also named North Korea, which he said had “dangerously accelerated its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities.” He said China was creating “real tensions” with its activities in the South China Sea and in cyberspace as it flexed its muscles and expanded its military and economic reach.

Summary: सी. आई. ए. के उम्मीदवार ने जासूसी एजेंसियों के साथ ट्रम्प के झगड़े से हुए नुकसान की मरम्मत करने की मांग की


JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa s ruling African National Congress should discipline President Jacob Zuma for bringing the party into disrepute, housing minister and presidential hopeful Lindiwe Sisulu said on Friday. Sisulu s comments are the latest swipe taken at Zuma by former allies as the ANC fractures ahead of an elective conference in December where a new party leader will be chosen. Zuma can remain head of state until a 2019 parliamentary election. Sisulu, a veteran cabinet minister who comes from a prominent family in the struggle against apartheid, is seen as an outside bet to succeed Zuma. She said a report presented at the ANC s policy conference in July found that scandals surrounding Zuma had caused tensions and disquiet within the party.  If we all agreed at the policy conference that that is what happened to the president, why was he not taken through a disciplinary process?  Sisulu told Eyewitness News, a domestic news service.  I have been insisting that there must be a disciplinary process so that if there is an interpretation that you put the ANC into disrepute, that is an offense.  Spokesmen for Sisulu and Zuma did not respond to calls for comment. Members of the ANC have called for Zuma to step down in recent months following a series of corruption scandals, a much-criticized cabinet reshuffle and a failure to handle an economy that slipped into recession this year. Lawmaker Makhosi Khoza, a strident critic of Zuma, quit the ANC on Thursday, labeling Nelson Mandela s 105-year-old liberation movement  alien and corrupt . Nkosozana Dlamini-Zuma, former chair of the African Union and Zuma s ex-wife, and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa are viewed as the frontrunners to take over as ANC leader. Dlamini-Zuma has the support of Zuma s powerful faction within the ANC while unionist-turned-business tycoon Ramaphosa is more popular with investors.

Summary: दक्षिण अफ्रीका के मंत्री ने ए. एन. सी. से जुमा को अनुशासित करने का आह्वान कियाः रिपोर्ट


SARANDE, Albania (Reuters) - Whatever the outcome of November’s U.S. presidential election, the Albanian town of Sarande is backing Hillary Clinton by erecting a bronze bust to thank her for supporting Albanian causes. Albania is a staunch ally of the United States and has a history of commemorating its presidents.  Woodrow Wilson has a statue there for helping foster the young Albanian state. So does George W. Bush, who visited Albania in 2007 and backed the independence of Kosovo, whose population is mainly ethnic Albanian. Bill Clinton has a statue in Kosovo in recognition of his role in the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 in support of Kosovo. “This bust in our most central public space is an expression of our gratitude through Mrs. Clinton to the American people and state for what they have done for the Albanian people and nation,” Sarande Mayor Florjana Koka told a small crowd. It was also a tribute to Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate, as an example to women in politics, said Koka, the first female mayor of Sarande. American tourist Jessica Rightmayer wiped away tears as the U.S. national anthem was played. “I think it is beautiful and I really think it is a very good likeness,” she said. Sculptor Idriz Balani said the idea for the statue came to him when Hillary Clinton told the Albanian parliament in 2012 that Albania and the United States had together marked the Balkan country’s first centenary and would be friends for another 100 years. Her “charm, elegance and vitality” had convinced him to sculpt her. “I used three photos to get her smile, hair, posture and attire right and kept the necklace. She exudes benevolence. I hope they like it,” Balani told Reuters.

Summary: अल्बानियाई शहर ने कांस्य प्रतिमा के साथ क्लिंटन का समर्थन किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump is expected to nominate attorney John Sullivan as deputy secretary of state, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing U.S. officials familiar with the discussions. Sullivan, 57, has been a partner in the Washington office of law firm Mayer Brown and served in the George W. Bush administration in senior roles in the Commerce Department and the Defense Department, the Journal reported. He was initially picked to become general counsel at the Pentagon, but the Trump administration recently decided to nominate him for the No. 2 post at the State Department, the Journal quoted the officials as saying.

Summary: ट्रम्प को राज्य विभाग में नंबर 2 के रूप में वकील सुलिवन को नामित करने की उम्मीद थी।


SEOUL (Reuters) - The more sanctions the United States and its allies impose on North Korea, the faster it will move to complete its nuclear plans, the reclusive nation s official KCNA news agency said on Monday, citing a foreign ministry spokesman. The latest sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council represent  the most vicious, unethical and inhumane act of hostility to physically exterminate the people of the DPRK, let alone its system and government,  the spokesman said on Monday, using the North s official name, the Democratic People s Republic of Korea. The U.N. Security Council unanimously passed a U.S.-drafted resolution a week ago mandating tougher new sanctions against Pyongyang that included banning textile imports and capping crude and petrol supply.

Summary: उत्तर कोरिया का कहना है कि और प्रतिबंध उसे परमाणु योजनाओं को तेज करने के लिए प्रेरित करेंगे


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department filed an appeal late Saturday to restore President Donald Trump’s immigration order barring citizens from seven mainly Muslim countries and temporarily banning refugees, even as travelers raced to enter the country while the ban was lifted. The government moved to reverse a federal judge’s Friday order that lifted the travel ban and warned the decision posed an immediate harm to the public, thwarted enforcement of an executive order and “second-guesses the president’s national security judgment about the quantum of risk posed by the admission of certain classes of (non-citizens) and the best means of minimizing that risk.”  Friday’s ruling prompted Trump to denounce the “so-called” judge in a series of tweets on Saturday..  The appeal now goes to a three-judge panel which can act at anytime to uphold the order or suspend it pending a full appeal. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment beyond the filing. A ruling could come at any time. Seattle U.S. District Judge James Robart’s decision barred the administration from enforcing the sweeping order that also indefinitely barred Syrian refugee admissions and prompted large protests across the United States.  Trump, whose personal attack on Robart, decrying his opinion as “ridiculous,” went too far for some who said the president was undermining an institution designed to check the power of the White House and Congress, said he was confident the government would prevail. “We’ll win. For the safety of the country, we’ll win,” he told reporters in Florida. Robart’s ruling came in a case brought by the state attorney general of Washington state and was backed by major state employers Amazon.com Inc and Expedia Inc.. The lawsuit is one of several now filed against the Trump executive order around the United States, but it was the first case leading to a broad decision that applies nationwide. The Justice Department appeal criticized Robart’s legal reasoning, saying it violates the separation of powers and steps on the president’s authority as commander chief. The appeal said the state of Washington lacked standing to challenge the order and denied that the order “favors Christians at the expense of Muslims.” Congress gave the president “the unreviewable authority to suspend the admission of any class” of visitor, the Justice Department wrote. “Courts are particularly ill-equipped to second-guess the president’s prospective judgment about future risks,” the appeal said, calling the decision “vastly overbroad.” Washington state lawyers worked around the clock last weekend against the backdrop of turbulent scenes at U.S. airports, where immigrants were detained by federal officials unprepared to implement the president’s directive. A spokesman for Washington state attorney general Bob Ferguson didn’t immediately comment early Sunday. The U.S. State Department and Department of Homeland Security said they were complying with Robart’s order and many visitors are expected to start arriving on Sunday, while the government said it expects to begin admitting refugees again on Monday. A decision to reinstate Trump’s order could again cause havoc at U.S. airports because some visitors are in transit, as was the case when the order took effect on Jan. 27. As the ban lifted Friday, refugees and thousands of travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen who had been stopped in their tracks last weekend by the  executive order scrambled to get flights to quickly enter the United States. The panel that will decide whether to immediately block the ruling includes three judges appointed by former Republican president George W. Bush and two former Democratic presidents, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama. U.S. immigration advocacy groups including the American Civil Liberties Union on Saturday in a joint statement urged those with now valid visas from the seven nations “to consider rebooking travel to the United States immediately” because the ruling could be overturned or put on hold. A U.S. State Department email reviewed by Reuters said the department is working to begin admitting refugees including Syrians as soon as Monday. Trump’s Jan. 27 order had barred admission of citizens from seven majority Muslim nations for 90 days, suspended all refugee admissions for 120 days and indefinitely barred Syrian refugees.  It is unusual for a president to attack a member of the judiciary, which the U.S. Constitution designates as a check to the power of the executive branch and Congress. Reached by email Saturday, Robart declined comment on Trump’s tweets. Democratic U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont said in a statement Saturday that Trump’s “hostility toward the rule of law is not just embarrassing, it is dangerous. He seems intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis.” In an interview with ABC scheduled to air Sunday, Vice President Mike Pence said he did not think that Trump’s criticisms of the judge undermined the separation of powers. The court ruling was the first move in what could be months of legal challenges to Trump’s push to clamp down on immigration. The sudden reversal of the ban catapulted would-be immigrants back to airports, with uncertainty over how long the window to enter the United States will remain open. In Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, Fuad Sharef and his family prepared to fly on Saturday to Istanbul and then New York before starting a new life in Nashville, Tennessee. Virtually all refugees also were barred by Trump’s order, upending the lives of thousands of people who have spent years seeking asylum in the United States.

Summary: न्याय विभाग ने न्यायाधीश के आव्रजन आदेश के खिलाफ अपील की


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Allan Landon prepared for his job at the Federal Reserve for two-and-a-half years during the Obama administration before his nomination sank into the partisan quicksand of Washington D.C., a swamp which has only deepened under President Donald Trump, leaving more vacancies than ever at the top of the U.S. federal government.  Former U.S. President Barack Obama nominated Landon as a Fed governor in early 2015. With the community-banking experience sought by the Republicans who controlled Congress and a non-partisan background, he should have avoided any political pitfalls on the way to Senate confirmation.  Landon, a former Bank of Hawaii chief executive, began preparing for the job immediately after the White House’s initial phone call in mid-2014. He sold assets, stepped back from university lecturing and corporate boards, met Fed Chair Janet Yellen and U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, and even attended a Senate confirmation hearing to study for his own.       But his confirmation hearing never came.  Neither the Republican Senator who chaired the key committee, Richard Shelby, nor his staff met with Landon, he said in an interview.  While not bitter, he was left disillusioned by an increasingly political nomination system that can block promising candidates from public service, leaving top jobs unfilled at agencies and departments across Washington.  “Along the way you run into some things that are hard to understand if you are outside the system,” Landon, 69, told Reuters from his home in Park City, Utah. “It requires a level of trust and confidence, and when you wait two years you conclude that maybe that really never existed.”    Republican party control of both the White House and the congressional committees that approve nominees has not solved these problems during the Trump administration.  A dearth of nominations by Trump, hearings delayed by Democrats, and disinterest by prospective candidates has left  most of the 577 key federal government positions requiring Senate confirmation unfilled.  According to the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service,  an organization whose mission is to inspire a new generation of civil servants, Trump had nominated 277 people to these top government positions by Wednesday, compared to 433 nominees at this point in Obama’s first presidential term, and 414 in that of President George W. Bush.  Obama and Bush each had more than twice as many nominees confirmed at this point than does Trump, who has 124. Big staffing vacancies remain at the U.S. departments of State, Justice and Defense, and some high-profile names have backed down after having been nominated. Three vacancies remain at the Federal Reserve, which has not had a full slate of seven board governors for more than a decade. “It’s a brutal, long road and it seems to be getting worse,” former Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser said of the nomination process.  As part of his vetting in late 2014, in which he and his wife almost leased a home in the trendy Penn Quarter neighborhood of Washington D.C., Landon said he “felt an obligation to help” when he realized the sitting Fed governors were doing the jobs of two or three people. “You wish there were a more certain path to the job,” he said.  (For a graphic of the Fed's doves and hawks, click here)

Summary: प्रमुख पदों को भरने के लिए संघर्ष कर रहे हैं ट्रंप, फेडरल रिजर्व के उम्मीदवार को दी चेतावनी