BOGOTA (Reuters) - Pope Francis arrived in Colombia on Wednesday with a message of unity for a nation deeply divided by a peace deal that ended a five-decade war with Marxist FARC rebels but left many victims of the bloodshed wary of the fraught healing process. Francis, making his 20th foreign trip since becoming pontiff in 2013 and his fifth to his native Latin America, started his visit in Colombian capital Bogota. He will travel later in the week to the cities of Villavicencio, Medellin and Cartagena. Greeted at the airport by President Juan Manuel Santos as attendees waved white handkerchiefs, the Argentine pope hopes his presence will help build bridges in a nation torn apart by bitter feuding over a peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Speaking to reporters on the Bogota-bound plane, Francis said the trip was  a bit special because it is being made to help Colombia go forward on its path to peace.  Francis will encourage reconciliation as Colombians prepare to receive 7,000 former FARC fighters into society and repair divisions after a war that killed more than 220,000 people and displaced millions over five decades. References to the recent peace deal were immediate. A teenage boy, born in 2004 to vice presidential candidate Clara Rojas when she was held captive in the jungle by the FARC, handed Francis a white porcelain dove as a welcome present. On his drive to the Vatican Embassy in central Bogota, the leader of the world s Roman Catholics was mobbed in the  pope mobile  by screaming crowds tossing flowers and holding up children to be kissed.  Peace is what Colombia has been seeking for a long time and is working to achieve,  the pope said in a video message ahead of his arrival.  A stable, lasting peace, so that we see and treat each other as brothers, never as enemies.       The FARC, which began as a peasant revolt in 1964 and battled more than a dozen governments, has formed a political party and now hopes to use words instead of weapons to effect changes in Colombia s social and economic model. But many Colombians are furious that the 2016 peace deal with the government granted fighters amnesty and some will be rewarded with seats in congress. A referendum on the deal last year was narrowly rejected, before being later modified and passed by congress. Trumpet players, singing children and white-clad rappers greeted the pope - wearing a traditional woolen poncho - at the embassy where he urged young people to  keep smiling  and then led the crowd in the Hail Mary prayer.  Don t let anyone steal your hope,  he said. People lined up all day to see the pope pass by, queues stretched around the cathedral in Bogota as residents sought passes for his events, and street vendors sold t-shirts, baseball caps and posters carrying Francis s image.  Pope Francis coming to Colombia has to unite the people. We cannot continue to be polarized. We must learn to live in peace and respect our differences,  Lucia Camargo, a pensioner, said as she lined up for a glimpse of the pontiff. Although most church leaders have voiced support for the accord, some politicians and Catholic bishops have criticized the deal for being too lenient on the guerrillas. The pope is expected to urge them to set aside their differences.  The visit will leave us a sense of union, of forgiveness,   Bogota Mayor Enrique Penalosa told Reuters.  Colombia is very polarized at the moment. There are many passions, many hatreds.  Reconciliation will be the emphasis for events on Friday in the city of Villavicencio, south of Bogota, where the pope will listen to testimonials from people whose lives were affected by the violence and then deliver a homily. Victims and former rebels who demobilized prior to the accord will attend. The pope will not meet FARC leaders or the opposition. He also had a message of dialogue and forgiveness for neighboring Venezuela, wracked by months of protests against President Nicolas Maduro, who has tightened his hold on power as an economic crisis has escalated. As his plane flew over the socialist nation, the pope sent  cordial greetings  in a telegram to Maduro and Venezuelans.   Praying that all in the nation may promote paths of solidarity, justice and harmony, I willingly invoke upon all of you God s blessings of peace,  he said.

Summary: पोप 50 साल के युद्ध के घावों को भरने में मदद के लिए कोलंबिया पहुंचे


The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS.  The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy.  @realDonaldTrump : - Small business owners are the DREAMERS & INNOVATORS who are powering us into the future! Read more and watch here:bit.ly/2uYZdol [0938 EDT] - It was my great honor to pay tribute to a VET who went above & beyond the call of duty to PROTECT our COMRADES, our COUNTRY, & OUR FREEDOM! [1009 EDT] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR)

Summary: फैक्टबॉक्सः ट्विटर पर ट्रम्प (2 अगस्त)-छोटे व्यवसाय के मालिक


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Native American tribe in Montana and a coalition of conservation groups sued the Trump administration on Wednesday for lifting a moratorium on coal leases on public land without consulting tribal leaders and conducting a full environmental review. “It is alarming and unacceptable for the United States, which has a solemn obligation as the Northern Cheyenne’s trustee, to sign up for many decades of harmful coal mining near and around our homeland without first consulting with our Nation,” Tribal Council Chairman and President Jace Killsback said in a statement. The Northern Cheyenne Tribe in southern Montana said the administration had lifted the moratorium without hearing the tribe’s concerns about the coal-leasing program’s impact on its members and lands. The tribe sent a letter earlier this month to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke requesting a meeting to discuss the issue. Zinke did not respond, and signed the order lifting the moratorium on Tuesday. In a press call on Wednesday, Zinke did not respond to a query about the Northern Cheyenne lawsuit. Killsback said the tribe, which filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Great Falls, would be harmed by lifting the ban. “The Northern Cheyenne rarely shares in the economic benefits to the region generated by coal industry and other energy development projects,” he said.  About 426 million tons of federal coal are located near the Northern Cheyenne Reservation at the Decker and Spring Creek mines in Montana, the tribe said. However, neighboring tribe, the Crow, relies on coal production as its predominant industry and has called for the relaxation of coal regulations for years. “A war on coal is a war on the Crow people,” Zinke said on the call. Legal group Earthjustice argued that lifting the coal moratorium imperils public health for the benefit of coal companies. “No one voted to pollute our public lands, air or drinking water in the last election, yet the Trump administration is doing the bidding of powerful polluters as nearly its first order of business,” Earthjustice attorney Jenny Harbine said in a statement. The legal filing said that undoing the moratorium violates the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires a full environmental review prior to major policy changes.

Summary: मोंटाना जनजाति, संरक्षणवादियों ने कोयला अधिस्थगन को समाप्त करने के लिए अमेरिकी सरकार पर मुकदमा दायर किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration plans to cap the number of refugees admitted to the United States in the coming year at 45,000, two people with knowledge of the decision said on Tuesday, and advocates said this historically low level is insufficient in the face of growing humanitarian crises worldwide. That figure would be the lowest ceiling for refugee admissions since the U.S. Refugee Act was signed in 1980. Since then, the ceiling has never been set below 67,000 and in recent years has been around 70,000 to 80,000.  The secretaries of State and Homeland Security are consulting with members of Congress on Wednesday, according to one White House official. The president’s decision on the refugee limit will be announced following that consultation, two officials said. The Wall Street Journal first reported the 45,000 figure on Tuesday. By law, the president is required to consult with members of Congress about the number of refugee admissions before the start of each fiscal year, on Oct. 1.  The number of refugees actually admitted to the country, which can fall below the cap, dropped to its lowest in the fiscal year after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks with only around 27,000 admitted. For fiscal year 2017, which ends Sept. 30, former President Barack Obama established a cap of 110,000 refugees for permanent resettlement in the United States.  After taking office in January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order lowering the maximum number to 50,000 for 2017, saying that more would be “detrimental to the interests of the United States.”  Critics said if the 2018 level is set even lower, it could damage the international reputation of the United States.  “It’s tragic,” said Robert Carey, former director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement under Obama. “It’s really moving away from the commitments the government has had for protections of refugees from both Republican and Democratic administrations,” he said. “Some people will die.” In a speech to the United Nations last week, Trump said that more could be done to help refugees in their home regions. Offering financial assistance to hosting countries “is the safe, responsible, and humanitarian approach,” Trump said. But that type of assistance “ignores all the people who have fled to places that are still not safe,” said another former Obama administration official, Anne Richard. “Those are the people that the U.S. program really rescues,” said Richard, a former assistant secretary for  refugees and migration at the State Department. She said other countries might try to follow suit by closing the door to more refugees.   A September 2016 study by the libertarian think tank the Cato Institute found that of 3.3 million refugees admitted to the United States between 1975 through 2015, 20 were convicted of planning or committing a terrorist attack on U.S. soil.  A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security declined to comment ahead of Trump’s final decision on the cap. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. David Inserra from the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation said Congress should have more of a say in setting the cap to avoid radical swings in the numbers when there is a change in administrations. “When president Obama increased the number dramatically Republicans said they didn’t want that but the consultation process didn’t give them any authority to stop it,” he said. “Now the same is going to be true for the other side.”

Summary: ट्रम्प को 45,000 अमेरिकी शरणार्थियों की सीमा निर्धारित करने की उम्मीद हैः सूत्र


ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan wants the foundations to be laid for the Akkuyu nuclear plant in southern Turkey by the end of this month, Yeni Safak and other newspapers cited him as telling reporters during a visit to Qatar. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday Russia and Turkey plan to launch the first reactor at Akkuyu in 2023, with Russian state nuclear agency Rosatom set to begin work at the site in the near future.

Summary: तुर्की के एर्दोगन का कहना है कि वे नवंबर के अंत तक अक्कुयू परमाणु संयंत्र की नींव रखना चाहते हैंः कागजात


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Michael Cohen, one of President Donald Trump’s closest business advisers, said on Sunday he would testify on Tuesday to the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, as the panel investigates alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. The timing of Cohen’s testimony was first reported by NBC. Cohen confirmed that he would testify to the committee on Tuesday and said he did not know whether it would be in a closed session or public. Aides to the committee’s leaders did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Cohen said previously he had received a subpoena from at least one of the congressional committees investigating what U.S. intelligence has determined were Russia’s efforts to influence the election on Trump’s behalf, and whether Trump associates colluded with Russia. Russia denies such activity. The White House denies any collusion, but concerns about the issue and Trump’s ties to Russia have shadowed the first months of the Republican’s presidency. Cohen, a personal attorney to Trump, would be one of a series of close associates of the president to testify in Congress. Members of both the Senate and House of Representatives committees conducting investigations have said they expect to call more. Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month.

Summary: ट्रम्प के करीबी व्यापार सलाहकार कोहेन मंगलवार को सीनेट में गवाही देंगे


SYDNEY (Reuters) - Papua New Guinean police cleared the remaining asylum-seekers from a shuttered Australian-run detention complex on Friday, ending a three-week protest which started with some 600 people surviving on rain water and smuggled food and supplies. Australia closed the Manus Island detention centre on Oct. 31, after it was declared illegal by a Papua New Guinea court, but the asylum seekers refused to leave to transit centres saying they feared for their safety. Despite the unsanitary conditions and lack of adequate food and fresh water, about 300 remained when Papua New Guinea police started removing people on Thursday and Friday.  The refugees are leaving the prison camp,  Kurdish journalist Behrouz Boochani told Reuters in a text message on Friday.  We did our best to send out our voice but the government does not care.  Australia s Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said in a statement on Friday that all of the asylum seekers had now departed for alternative accommodation.  Advocates should now desist from holding out false hope to these men that they will ever be brought to Australia,  Dutton said. In Geneva, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR denounced the use of force by Papua New Guinean police to remove the refugees and asylum seekers and called for Australia to ensure their protection.  The beating of refugees and asylum-seekers by uniformed officers with metal poles, shown by footage released today, is both shocking and inexcusable,  UNHCR said in a statement. Several refugees were  severely injured  in the raid and needed medical treatment, it added, warning of a  grave risk  of further deterioration of the situation on the island. The fate of the asylum seekers, some of whom have been detained for years and come mostly from Afghanistan, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Syria, remains unclear. Australia steadfastly refuses to allow them entry under its strict  sovereign borders  policy and the asylum seekers have refused to resettle in Papua New Guinea.  Australia and Papua New Guinea both say the asylum seekers are now the other s responsibility, although the Australian government said it had spent A$10 million ($7.6 million) on the transit facility and it wanted the men to move there. Under Australia s  sovereign borders  policy asylum seekers trying to reach its shores by boat are intercepted and detained in either Papua New Guinea or Nauru in the South Pacific. The United Nations and human rights groups have for years criticised Australia s policy, citing human rights abuses in the offshore detention centres and called for their closure.  Papua New Guinea intensified efforts to clear the Manus facility on Thursday by bringing in buses to start moving the men and cutting off routes previously used to deliver smuggled supplies, said Christian pastor Jarrod McKenna, who was at the shuttered centre earlier this week helping the refugees.  Pictures sent to Reuters by an asylum-seeker showed Papua New Guinean officials wearing army fatigues inside the camp on Friday, and a video distributed by advocacy group GetUp showed police armed with sticks pulling an asylum seeker to his feet.       Buses are waiting for you, trucks are waiting for you...you will get on to them and you will move to your new location, you will not stay here,  a man who identified himself as a police commander told the asylum seekers in a video posted to Facebook by Sudanese refugee Abdul Aziz. Papua New Guinea immigration and police officials did not return telephone calls from Reuters to seek comment. ($1 = 1.3118 Australian dollars)

Summary: पापुआ न्यू गिनी पुलिस ने ऑस्ट्रेलिया द्वारा संचालित शिविर से शरण चाहने वालों को बेदखल किया, यू. एन. एच. सी. आर. ने बल प्रयोग करने की निंदा की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said on Monday he has recommended that President Donald Trump reduce the size of the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah - a move that drew quick fire from conservationists but was supported by mining and drilling interests. The 1.35 million acre (5,463 square kms) area, designated by former President Barack Obama during his final days in office and named for its iconic twin buttes, is the first of 27 national monuments to be reviewed by the Trump administration as part of a plan to increase development on federal lands. “My job is to make sure that I ... reflect the concerns of Utah, and reflect the concerns of the taxpayers and the public who own the lands, and I think we’ve done that,” Zinke told reporters in a teleconference about his interim recommendation sent to Trump on Saturday. Zinke toured Utah for four days before making the recommendation. His report said that the Antiquities Act, used by past presidents to declare monuments, should cover the “smallest area compatible” with protecting important sites.  “Therefore... the Secretary of the Interior recommends that the existing boundary of the (Bears Ears) be modified to be consistent with the intent of the act.” Rather than designating a vast monument, as Obama did, “it would have been more appropriate to identify and separate the areas that have significant objects to be protected to meet the purposes of the Act,” Zinke’s report said. More study is necessary to determine how much smaller Bears Ears should be, Zinke said, and that decision will not be made until all of the 27 monuments are reviewed.  Jamie Williams, president of The Wilderness Society, said Zinke’s recommendation was “nothing less than an attack on the future of all American monuments, parks and public lands,” and was “against the wishes of the overwhelming majority of Americans.”  A public comment period that closed in late May generated hundreds of thousands of comments, with the majority expressing hope that monuments like Bears Ears remain protected. Zinke also recommended that tribes be allowed to co-manage “cultural areas” within the resized monument - a nod to Native Americans who had lobbied for protections for the territory - and that Congress review conservation policies in the area. His recommendation to Trump set the tone for the administration’s broader review, triggered by an executive order in April. Trump had argued that previous administrations “abused” their right to designate monuments under the Antiquities Act of 1906 and put millions of acres of land, mainly in western states, off limits to drilling, mining, logging and ranching without adequate input from locals. The review is likely to add fuel to a heated national debate over Washington’s role in America’s wildest spaces. Environmentalists and tribal groups support federal oversight, but many state political leaders, conservatives and industry groups say the lands should generate money for business, creating jobs, or yielding revenue for education and other public services. While the land encompassed by the Bears Ears monument is not believed to contain huge amounts of coal, oil or gas, several other monuments on Zinke’s review list do - making the Bears Ears decision symbolically important to industry groups. Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Western Energy Alliance, representing oil and gas companies, said Zinke’s approach was sensible. “It’s clear that Bears Ears was an overreach, and was much larger than necessary to protect cultural resources.”

Summary: अमेरिकी आंतरिक प्रमुख ने यूटा के भालू कान स्मारक को सिकोड़ने की सिफारिश की


LONDON (Reuters) - London s Natural History Museum said on Saturday there had been a serious incident outside and it was working with police.  A museum spokesman told Reuters that no one was being allowed into the building and people were being let out through a different exit.

Summary: लंदन संग्रहालय ने कहा कि बाहर गंभीर घटना हुई, पुलिस के साथ काम कर रहा हूं


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Friday pledged to build support in the U.S. House of Representatives for legislation keeping firearms from people on terrorism watch lists, despite repeated gun control failures this week in Congress. The “Terrorist Firearms Prevention Act” was introduced by nine House members representing diverse states stretching from Hawaii to Delaware, including some who have led the gun control fight for years. “If you can’t get on a plane because of the danger that may pose, there is no reason you should be able to purchase a dangerous weapon,” said Republican Representative Carlos Curbelo of Florida, in a refrain that has ricocheted through the U.S. Capitol since the June 12 mass shooting in Orlando. The legislation, identical to a bill by Senator Susan Collins of Maine that was debated on the Senate floor on Thursday, would halt sales of weapons to people on a “no-fly” list barring them from boarding airplanes, or a “Selectee” list in which they are subjected to special airport screenings. Over the past two weeks, the Senate failed to advance this or several other proposals placing new constraints on gun sales, as the U.S. mourned the deaths of 49 people killed at an Orlando nightclub with 53 others injured. Curbelo said he met with House Speaker Paul Ryan’s top aide to inform him of the bill. The lawmaker left that meeting with no assurances it would advance, but simply “no objection from the speaker’s office” to the legislation being introduced, Curbelo said. He added that the bill’s sponsors now must build support “amongst our colleagues” in a House that has a concentration of conservative Republicans opposed to most gun control ideas. Many Republicans have argued that travelers can mistakenly be placed on terrorism watch lists and denying them the ability to buy weapons would stomp on their constitutional rights. “We cannot let that argument stop, into perpetuity, our ability to advance wise legislation in this matter,” countered    Republican Representative Scott Rigell of Virginia. Rigell, a co-sponsor of the bill, introduced himself to reporters at a press conference as a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, which lobbies against gun controls,  and an owner of 10 firearms, including an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle that is similar to the weapon used by Omar Mateen, the Orlando shooter.

Summary: द्विदलीय अमेरिकी सदन के सदस्यों ने बंदूक नियंत्रण लड़ाई को जीवित रखने का संकल्प लिया


NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - For more than 1,000 years, the al-Hawza al-Ilmiyya south of Baghdad has been one of the hearts of Shi ite Islamic scholarship, training the clerics who lead Shi ite communities across the Muslim world. Thousands of students, from teenage boys to university graduates, study Islam at its schools in the holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala. Shi ites, who are the majority in Iraq, were repressed under dictator Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Muslim, but now lead the Iraqi government since Saddam was overthrown in 2003. Clerics trained at the Hawza have wide social and political influence, both inside Iraq and abroad.  This year, around 200 fully fledged clerics will graduate, completing a process that requires at least ten years of study. In the Najaf school, a typical day will see clerics in flowing black robes and white turbans giving lectures to groups of students sitting on the floor of a great hall, lined with pointed arches and elaborate mosaics. For a photo essay on the life of student Shi'ite clerics, click here: reut.rs/2wQATVE Students are given instruction in subjects including Islamic jurisprudence, philosophy, theology, logic and interpreting Islam s holy book, the Koran. The Kerbala school teaches around 250 students each year, and in Najaf there are more than 1000. Together they are served by a faculty of around 90 teachers.  Hawza has a high rank at the heart of the society,  Wael Noor Al-Deen Murtadha, a Shi ite cleric and lecturer at the school, told Reuters.  What is important about Hawza is that it reduces the moral degeneration and irregularities of life. It creates a culture among people aimed at reinforcing social relationships between different sects away from any discrimination.

Summary: इराक के शियाओं के लिए 'समाज के दिल' के अंदर एक दुर्लभ नज़र


PALONG KHALI, Bangladesh (Reuters) - Hannah McKay was on her first foreign assignment, just three months after joining Reuters, photographing Rohingya Muslims in refugee camps in Bangladesh. Then she and other photographers heard around 5,000 more people were heading to the area, trying to find their way across the border from neighbouring Myanmar. Here is her account of what happened next:  We were standing, looking out over paddy fields and grasslands   lots of water and one thin path leading to the border with Myanmar.   In the distance we could see a huge group of people. But they weren t moving. It was 4 o clock in the afternoon with only two hours left of daylight. So we decided to move towards them.   It took us about an hour along the muddy path, meeting border guards and persuading them to let us pass. Then we saw thousands of refugees just sitting there, with more Bangladeshi border guards telling us to go back.  We could see something was going on behind the crowd. So we waited for an opportunity to move closer, and that s when we saw them.   The crowd was sitting on a riverbank and behind them, about three meters below, in the river itself, there were just hundreds of refugees coming across every minute. It was non-stop. There was no end to the people. People carrying babies. Elderly people being escorted through the water and mud, more than knee-deep.  And we were just photographing everyone coming towards us.   Then this woman appeared. She got to the point where she needed to get up to the footpath where we were. But she was just exhausted. She didn t have anything left to get herself up. Two refugee men on her level were trying to push her up, which was when we reached out to help. Another Reuters photographer, Adnan Abidi, took a hand. Another photographer took another and I got her leg when she got within range. It was a case of dragging her.  She lay there for a few minutes and then, I have no idea what happened to her. There were so many people around and it was chaos.  We decided to get down into the river to get a different view. And it was so difficult   even for us who had some energy to spare. All the people around us had been walking for days. When I got back to the bank, I found I had nothing to hold onto, with two cameras weighing me down. That s when two refugee men reached out with their hands and pulled me on to the bank. I kept saying  Thank You , but they didn t understand.  It was overwhelming and made me think of the woman we had pulled out.   You are there trying to do your job with a camera in your hand. And then your heart overrules your head. I had been in the camps, where everything was quite settled. But then I saw the real chaos and the refugees  desperate situation. You hear about it. But seeing it is a completely different thing.  Related photo at reut.rs/2yp96R4

Summary: एक तस्वीर और इसकी कहानीः एक रोहिंग्या महिला को बचाने के लिए आगे बढ़ना


MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin formally registered his re-election bid on Wednesday, submitting the necessary documents to Russia s central election commission in person ahead of a March 18 vote.  Polls show that Putin, who has dominated Russia s political landscape for the last 17 years as either president or prime minister, is on course to comfortably win another six-year term. That would allow him to rule until 2024, when he ll turn 72. The former KGB officer is running as an independent, a move seen as a way of strengthening his image as a  father of the nation  rather than as a party political figure. The ruling United Russia party and the Just Russia party have both said they will support him. Allies laud Putin for restoring national pride and expanding Moscow s global clout with interventions in Syria and Ukraine. But opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who has been barred from the election over a suspended prison sentence he says was fabricated, says Putin has been in power too long and that his support is artificially maintained by a biased state media and an unfair system which excludes genuine opponents.  Navalny has called for a boycott of the election, raising the prospect of large-scale protests and clashes with the police.

Summary: रूस के राष्ट्रपति पुतिन ने फिर से चुनाव लड़ने की घोषणा की


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The special counsel investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election on Monday accused President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, of working with a Russian colleague to draft an opinion piece about his political work for Ukraine. In court filings, a prosecutor working with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team said Manafort was working on the article as recently as Nov. 30. Had it been published, prosecutors say it would have violated a Nov. 8 court order not to discuss the case publicly.  The Russian colleague who was working with Manafort allegedly to shape public opinion about his work for a Ukrainian political party has ties to Russian intelligence agencies, according to the filing.  Manafort ultimately never published the opinion piece, after prosecutors reached out to his attorneys to alert them, they said in the filing.  Due to Manafort’s actions, prosecutors said the judge should reject his request to modify his bail conditions.  Manafort has proposed an $11.65 million bail package in exchange for lifting him from house arrest and electronic monitoring.   As part of that deal, he would forfeit four of his real estate properties if he violated his bail conditions. “Even if the ghost-written op-ed were entirely accurate, fair and balanced, it would be a violation of this court’s November 8 order if it had been published,” wrote prosecutor Andrew Weissmann.  A spokesman for Manafort did not have any immediate comment.  Manafort and his business associate Rick Gates were both indicted in October in a 12-count indictment by a federal grand jury. They face charges including conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy against the United States and failing to register as foreign agents of Ukraine’s former pro-Russian government. Initially, Manafort’s lawyers had said in their court filing that the special counsel’s office was willing to accept the proposed terms of his release.  But prosecutors wrote that they can no longer trust Manafort, and cannot accept his proposed terms. “Because Manafort has now taken actions that reflect an intention to violate or circumvent the court’s existing orders, at a time one would expect particularly scrupulous adherence, the government submits that the proposed bail package is insufficient,” the filing said.

Summary: मैनफोर्ट ने यूक्रेन के काम पर सकारात्मक लेख लिखने की कोशिश कीः विशेष वकील


DUNDO, Angola (Reuters) - Captured by militia and accused of being married to a Congolese government official, Kimpanga Caro could smell the fire she was told would be used to burn her decapitated head to ash. Caro, whose husband is a pastor not an official, was freed when one of the militiamen recognized her. She raced back home to find her husband in their ransacked village. They fled south, on foot with their five children, towards a country they heard was safe: Angola. Thirty thousand of her compatriots have made the same journey so far, among 1.4 million people driven from their homes in a year of violence in the central Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. There are signs that the refugee crisis is causing Angola   a powerful regional ally that helped sustain Congolese President Joseph Kabila and his father in power for two decades   to question its support for the leader of its volatile neighbor. At least 3,300 people have been killed in Kasai since the Kamuina Nsapu militia launched an insurrection to force a military withdrawal from the area. Refugees say villages have been destroyed and women have been raped both by the militiamen and by soldiers who have fought them. Their flight into the Angolan province of Lunda Norte has brought an international relief effort to the area for the first time since Angola s own 27-year civil war ended in 2002. A cooling in Angola s support for Kabila would leave the Congolese president more isolated than ever and make it even harder for him to hang on to power beyond the end of this year, when he has pledged to hold an election already a year late. Angola, with the third largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa and one of the region s strongest militaries, has twice in the past sent troops to prop up Kabila. Now, its soldiers are trying to contain the violence on the frontier. Luanda has doubled its troops and police on the border, according to Marcelino Caetano, provincial director of the Service for Migration and Foreigners, responsible for Lunda Norte province s 770-kilometre border with the DRC.  We will maintain this level of control for as long as we have to,  he said in his cramped, well-guarded offices in Dundo, an old diamond mining town just 9 kilometers from the border, declining to give exact numbers for Angolan troops in the area. Angola had pushed Kinshasa to allow U.N. officials into Kasai to help, but the Congolese have declined, he said. Since March, two Angolan border guards and one immigration official have been killed in attacks by Congolese militia on four separate border posts, said Inacio Feliciano, a senior police commander. Aid agencies suspect Angolan forces are patrolling inside Congo, though Caetano denied this. The unrest is not the only change that could alter Angola s policy of supporting Kabila: in Luanda, a new president is about to take power after 38 years of rule by Jose Eduardo dos Santos. Jo o Louren o, a military man and former defense minister, lacks dos Santos s historic ties with Kabila and his father Laurent, who took power in Congo in 1997 and was killed in 2001. Louren o regards Kabila as an increasingly destabilizing force, according to a diplomat familiar with his thinking, although the diplomat said military intervention against Kabila remains unlikely as it would probably make things worse.  He doesn t want a Libya on his doorstep.  Angola has worried about the 2,600-kilometre border it shares with the DRC for decades. During Angola s civil war, enemies of the ruling MPLA party hid, trained and armed in the former Zaire. Unrest in the vast, mineral rich Congo has had a tendency to draw its neighbors into regional conflict. With the victims of the Kasai violence now crossing into Angola and the threat of militia groups moving across the border too, the benefit of keeping Kabila as an ally is less obvious. At the Chissanda crossing last week, located just north of Dundo, two officials said the border was closed. Guards sat around chatting and watching the sun set. Authorities say they are letting refugees cross, though the stream has stopped in recent weeks. Some are even choosing to return home. The Congolese army says it has taken back control of Kasai, though Commander Feliciano said he had received reports of clashes around the city of Kananga on Sept 7. Refugees interviewed by Reuters told of soldiers raping and executing residents for supporting the militia in villages the army had taken back.  We expect it to get worse again as we approach the end of the year,  said Guy-Rufin Guernas, the local head for the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) in Dundo. Kabila agreed to hold presidential elections, due in 2016, by December. But the vote looks unlikely to happen by then, potentially sparking a violent backlash. UNHCR is working on the basis that another 50,000 refugees could cross into Angola before 2017 ends. To accommodate them, a new settlement is being constructed about 100 km outside Dundo, in the municipality of Lovua. Last Wednesday, recent arrivals were digging up roots on the 25x25 meter plots of land that families are being given in this remote area of sparse forest. Getting equipment, from solar lights to bulldozers, is difficult and expensive. Located at the north-eastern tip of Angola, Dundo s airport only just re-opened. Most goods are brought in by truck from Saurimo, the provincial capital of neighboring Lunda Sul, three hours away. At night there is almost total darkness. Buying basic goods is difficult. The cost of taking in the refugees is steep for Angola, which is in the midst of recession after the fall in the price of oil, its main source of wealth.  Angola has had its own war, it understands the suffering these people are going through,  said Guernas. In Cacanda, an earlier more ad-hoc settlement where nearly 7,000 refugees are still crammed under tarpaulin before they move to Lovua, many complain of a lack of food and shelter. Rafael Tshimbumba, 50, says the conditions may be basic but he cannot return to Kasai. He lost four children in the violence, when militias arrived at his village and began killing anyone that spoke Tshiluba, language of the Baluba people, highlighting the increasingly tribal element of the conflict.  Here at least we are safe,  he said, wearing the red and black t-shirt of the MPLA party that governs Angola. For Caro, who escaped from Congo with her pastor husband after the militia threatened to kill her, the flight itself led only to more danger. As the family stopped to rest in a village near the border, a passing car snatched her 5-year old boy. She searched for him for days and put a message out on the local radio, but found nothing.  Only God knows where he s gone,  she said, holding her youngest child in her arms.

Summary: जैसे ही कांगो के शरणार्थी सीमा पार कर रहे हैं, अंगोला का कबिला के लिए समर्थन संदेह में है


(Corrects Feb. 25 story to show event took place Wednesday, not Saturday. Corrects second paragraph to past tense from present tense, corrects paragraph 5 to clarify ambassador spoke before event.) By Julia Harte WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Kuwaiti government could pay up to $60,000 to President Donald Trump’s hotel in Washington for a party it held on Wednesday in an early test of Trump’s promise to turn over profits from such events to the U.S. Treasury. The Kuwait Embassy hosted an event to mark their National Day. Similar National Day celebrations at the Trump International Hotel for a crowd of several hundred can run from $40,000 to $60,000, according to cost estimates from the hotel seen by Reuters. The hotel declined to comment on the figures. One of Trump’s lawyers, Sheri Dillon, pledged at a Jan. 11 press conference to donate any Trump Hotel profits from foreign governments to the U.S. Treasury. The White House and Alan Garten, the general counsel for the Trump Organization, did not return calls for comment on whether any profits from foreign government payments to the hotel have been donated. Dillon’s firm declined to comment.  Kuwaiti Ambassador Salem al-Sabah told Reuters he was paying the Trump Hotel an amount similar to what he had paid the Four Seasons hotel to host a previous National Day event. He said on Wednesday before the event that he expected it to draw 500 or 600 people, but declined to disclose specific cost details. The Four Seasons, which declined to comment, also charges prices in the $40,000 to $60,000 range for such events, according to cost estimates seen by Reuters.  A watchdog group led by former ethics lawyers for the Obama and George W. Bush administrations sued Trump in federal court in January, accusing him of violating the Constitution by allowing foreign government payments to businesses he owns.  Some ethics lawyers say even if Trump turns over all of the profits from the Kuwait National Day party, he would still be in violation of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits government officials from accepting “any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.” They say all of the income from the event, not just profits, would need to be donated to the U.S. Treasury to avoid contravening the constitutional ban. Trump resigned in February as an officer of Trump Old Post Office LLC, the company that operates the hotel, but Richard Painter, Bush’s chief ethics lawyer, said the resignation made no difference as long as Trump retained an interest in it.      The ethics experts say Trump is still technically a recipient of payments to his hotels because he still has an ownership interest in them.  Dillon, Trump’s lawyer, argued at the Jan. 11 press conference that payments to Trump’s hotels do not violate the Constitution because “paying for a hotel room is not a gift or a present and it has nothing to do with an office.” She also said that a separate law banning federal employees from engaging in matters affecting their financial interests does not apply to the president. The head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics agreed in public remarks in January but said it was “consistent policy of the executive branch” for the president to nevertheless avoid financial conflicts of interest.     The office declined to comment when asked by Reuters whether Trump would be contravening the Constitution if he did not turn over all hotel income from foreign governments. Four Democratic U.S. lawmakers asked the Government Accountability Office on Feb. 16 to assess whether Trump had made any payments to the Treasury resulting from profits at his hotels. GAO spokesman Chuck Young said the request was still being reviewed and the agency had not yet decided what to do about it. When the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee was asked on Feb. 23 whether it would be tracking payments from foreign governments to Trump Hotels, and from the hotels to the U.S. Treasury, a spokeswoman for the committee declined to comment.

Summary: कुवैत वाशिंगटन के ट्रम्प होटल में पार्टी के लिए 60,000 डॉलर तक का भुगतान कर सकता है


SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia s upper house Senate on Wednesday passed a measure to legalize same-sex marriage, perhaps as soon as next week, after lawmakers dismissed a conservative push to allow religious objectors to refuse service to same-sex couples. Australians overwhelmingly endorsed legalizing same-sex marriage in a postal survey run by the national statistics agency and the bill easily passed the Senate by 43 votes to 12. Conservative lawmakers had pressed for broad protections for religious objectors, among them florists, bakers and musicians, to refuse service to same-sex couples. But amendments for lay celebrants to refuse to solemnize same-sex marriages and permitting caterers opposed to the unions to refuse service at wedding receptions were either defeated or abandoned during two days of debate in the senate, where same-sex marriage supporters are in the majority.  The Australian people voted to lessen discrimination, not to extend it and we, the senate, have respected that vote by rejecting amendments which sought to extend discrimination, or derail marriage equality,  Labor Senator Penny Wong, who voted down all the amendments, told Parliament. The bill moves to the lower house next week, where conservative lawmakers hope for a renewed push to add measures exempting objectors to same-sex marriage from existing laws against discrimination.  I do not think we have made these changes in a way which advances rights fully,  said center-right National Party Senator Matt Canavan. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull s Liberal-National coalition government and the main opposition Labor Party have said they wanted to pass the law through parliament by Dec. 7.    If the legislation passes as expected, Australia will become the 26th nation to legalize same-sex marriage, a watershed for a country where some states held homosexual activity illegal until 1997.

Summary: समलैंगिक विवाह विधेयक को ऑस्ट्रेलिया की सीनेट ने दी मंजूरी


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European parliamentarians want Britain to end  regrettable  practices that discriminate against EU citizens in the workplace and elsewhere, a draft resolution published on Thursday showed.  Lawmakers also urged British authorities to grant broad rights to EU citizens and their families in Britain after it exits the EU in 2019, an issue where EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said on Thursday big differences remained. The European Parliament  expresses concern about regrettable administrative practices against EU citizens living in the United Kingdom , the draft resolution said.  Lawmakers said there were also cases of British citizens discriminated against in other EU countries. The British government said on Sept. 9 that its Equalities Office (GEO) was  aware of, and is looking into, reports of discrimination against non-UK EU nationals seeking employment  in violation of the 2010 Equality Act. The document, agreed on Thursday by the leaders of the assembly s political parties, will be voted on by the chamber next week in Strasbourg. The document is not binding on EU negotiators but the 28-nation parliament has the right to veto any deal with Britain on its future relations with the EU. MPs also urged Britain to protect the rights of EU citizens and their children even if they are born there after Brexit.  Future family members should continue to benefit from right of residence under the same provisions as current family members,  the document said. EU lawmakers have opposed Britain s proposals to create a new category of  settled status  under United Kingdom immigration law for EU citizens. Differences on these issues remain, Barnier said on Thursday at the end of a fourth round of Brexit negotiations. Without sufficient progress on citizens  rights, the EU will not move on to negotiations on a future trade deal with London.

Summary: यूरोपीय संसद चाहती है कि ब्रिटेन यूरोपीय संघ के नागरिकों के खिलाफ भेदभाव समाप्त करेः मसौदा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Seven U.S. senators urged Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday to press Bahrain’s government to do more to promote political and social reform, adding to recent concern in Washington over that country’s human rights record. The letter said the United States should be prepared to consider “tangible consequences,” including reconsidering arms sales, if a recent crackdown on opposition continues. “Bahrain’s failure to address the legitimate grievances of its citizens has strained the country’s social fabric and invited outside actors to take advantage of the deteriorating situation,” six Democratic lawmakers and one Republican said in a letter to Kerry, a former Democratic senator. “Indeed, we believe the government’s harsh crackdown on the political opposition undermines the country’s stability and plays into the hands of Iran,” they wrote, calling themselves “deeply alarmed.” State Department spokesman John Kirby said he was aware of reports about the letter, but had not seen it. Asked about whether U.S. arms provided to Bahrain could be used against the opposition, he said, “We always have concerns about the end use of items that are inside the foreign military sales program.” Bahrain, which hosts the United States’ Fifth Fleet and is seen by Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdoms as a strategic bulwark against Iranian influence, drew U.S. and United Nations criticism this month when it moved to strip a top Shi’ite cleric’s citizenship and closed the main Shi’ite opposition group.  A State Department report, first reported by Reuters, found Bahrain’s national reconciliation efforts after it crushed street protests in 2011 have stalled, and said the Western ally in the Gulf has not implemented recommendations to protect freedom of expression. “We continue to urge the government of Bahrain to reverse their recent harmful actions,” Kirby said a news briefing on Thursday. Earlier this week, the State Department said Bahrain’s plan to try an activist for tweets condemning its prison system and involvement in the war in Yemen is worrisome to the United States. The letter was led by Democratic Senator Chris Murphy and also signed by Republican Marco Rubio and Democrats Patrick Leahy, Ron Wyden, Bob Casey, Chris Coons and Tim Kaine. It asked for more information on specific actions President Barack Obama’s administration is taking to press Bahrain’s leadership on the issue.

Summary: अमेरिकी सांसदों ने बहरीन में मानवाधिकारों पर कार्रवाई के लिए जोर दिया


KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian authorities scrapped an annual beer festival on Monday after an Islamist party objected to the event that had been planned for the first weekend of October in the country s capital. Though there are plenty of beer drinkers among the sizable Chinese and Indian minorities, protests against events deemed to be  western  and unIslamic - such as concerts and festivals involving alcohol - are common in Muslim-majority Malaysia and are usually led by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS). Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) said in a short statement on Monday that it has rejected the application for a permit by the organizers of the  Better Beer Festival 2017  to host the event, which would have entered its sixth year.  If the organizers continue with the event without DBKL s approval, action will be taken in accordance to existing laws,  city hall said. Mybeer (M) Sdn Bhd, the company organizing the event, said in a separate statement that they were informed by DBKL officials that the decision was made  due to the political sensitivity surrounding the event . A member of PAS  central committee, Riduan Mohd Nor, said in a statement on Sept. 10 that there is no guarantee that such events would not lead to criminal acts, rape and free sex. Opponents of the beer festival also launched a campaign on Facebook to block the event. Around 6,000 people had been expected to attend the two-day festival, which would have featured craft beers from at least 11 countries, according to Facebook posts by the organizers and local news reports.

Summary: इस्लामवादियों की आपत्तियों के बाद मलेशिया ने बीयर उत्सव रद्द किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate passed a 10-year extension of sanctions against Iran on Thursday, sending the measure to the White House for President Barack Obama to sign into law and delaying any potentially tougher actions until next year. The measure passed by 99-0. It passed the House of Representatives nearly unanimously in November, and congressional aides said they expected Obama would sign it. The ISA will expire on Dec. 31 if not renewed. The White House had not pushed for an extension, but had not raised serious objections. Members of Congress and administration officials said the renewal of the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) would not violate the nuclear agreement with Iran reached last year. “While we do not think that an extension of ISA is necessary, we do not believe that a clean extension would be a violation of the JCPOA (Iran deal),” a senior administration official said. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said recently the extension would breach the agreement and threatened retaliation. Democrats who backed the accord said they did not believe the ISA extension violated the pact because it continued a sanctions regime that was already in place. They said they had not heard such objections from U.S. partners. “I have not heard strident objections from our key allies in the JCPOA,” Democratic Senator Chris Coons told reporters. The agreement was signed by the United States, Britain, Russia, France, China, Germany and Iran. Congress’ action did not address the fate of the nuclear pact, which was opposed by every Republican in the Senate and House. Lawmakers said it would make it easier for sanctions to be quickly reimposed if Iran violated the deal. Republican U.S. President-elect Donald Trump railed against the pact as he campaigned for the White House. Many other members of his party, which also controls Congress, have called for the new administration to tear up the agreement. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker said the renewal ensures Trump can reimpose sanctions Obama lifted under the deal, in which Iran curbed its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. “Extending the Iran Sanctions Act ... ensures President-elect Trump and his administration have the tools necessary to push back against the regime’s hostile actions,” Corker said in a statement. Trump becomes president on Jan. 20. Corker has been mentioned as a possible Trump secretary of state. (Fixes typo in word “objections” in paragraph 8.)

Summary: ईरान प्रतिबंध अधिनियम के विस्तार ने अमेरिकी कांग्रेस को पारित किया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday did not say when lawmakers would vote on a Republican plan to undo former President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, but said House leaders were making progress on the bill.  Speaking to reporters, Ryan said Republicans “were making very good progress” on their proposed legislation. He rejected concerns about the measure’s potential health insurance impact on people with pre-existing health conditions, saying there were layers of protections for such patients.

Summary: सदन के रिपब्लिकन नेताओं ने स्वास्थ्य सेवा मतदान के लिए कोई समय नहीं दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Republicans proposed on Tuesday to delay or suspend several taxes under former President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, including a tax on medical devices and the so-called “Cadillac” tax on generous health insurance plans. The move represents a new Republican attempt to roll back provisions of the 2010 Affordable Care Act widely known as Obamacare, after repeated failures by Congress’ majority party this year to repeal the law. Republicans in the House and Senate are also in the final stages of reconciling tax overhaul legislation, including a proposal to scrap Obamacare’s individual mandate, which imposes a tax penalty on Americans who do not obtain health insurance.  A spokeswoman for the House Ways and Means Committee said the additional proposed healthcare tax rollbacks would not be part of the broader tax overhaul bill. Republicans could try to merge the healthcare tax proposals with a must-pass government funding bill that is expected to be passed by Dec. 22, when current funding runs out. But to succeed, Republicans in the Senate, who hold a slim majority of seats, would need an assist from Democrats to get past procedural hurdles.  In a statement, House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady announced five new Republican-sponsored bills to provide targeted relief from Obamacare taxes, saying he looked forward to “advancing legislation in the weeks ahead.” One proposed bill would retroactively eliminate Obamacare penalties for employers who did not offer health insurance to their employees over the last three years, as well as for next year. The bill would also delay for one year the Cadillac tax on high-cost employer-sponsored insurance, which is otherwise scheduled to go into effect in 2020. Labor unions oppose this tax because their members often receive more generous healthcare plans, and they fear it would increase their costs. Another bill would suspend for five years the tax on medical devices, such as pacemakers and artificial hips. It was first imposed in January 2013 as a funding mechanism for Obamacare, a law that has brought medical coverage to millions of previously uninsured Americans. The medical device tax has powerful opponents in both parties and manufacturers have lobbied heavily against it. Other proposals in the package would suspend a tax on health insurers for two years, and provide two years of relief from a tax on over-the-counter medications.

Summary: रिपब्लिकन ने ओबामाकेयर करों में देरी, रोक लगाने का प्रस्ताव रखा


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday initiating a government-wide review of the U.S. defense industry and suggest changes to strengthen it. The review is intended to identify and address potential weak points in the defense manufacturing base including  companies that could go out of business and leave gaps in the supply chain for U.S. weapons systems, said Peter Navarro, the White House National Trade Council director. The executive order asked for recommendations on possible  legislative, regulatory and policy changes that would improve and support the defense industry, calling it a “significant national priority”. “America’s defense industrial base is now facing increasing gaps in its capabilities,” Navarro said. “There’s just one company in the U.S. that can repair propellers for Navy submarines,” he added in a briefing with reporters. Defense analyst Howard Rubel of the investment bank Jefferies & Co said the free market has so far done a reasonably good job. “We don’t want to invest in buggy whip suppliers just because there is only one (supplier).” He added that it is important to recognize that the United States can sometimes buy more cheaply from its allies. The review mandated by the executive order will be led by the Pentagon and conducted in concert with the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security as well as other government agencies. Skilled labor is also a big part of the huge military buildup Trump has promised to project American power. Industry has already shown initiative in addressing the skilled labor shortage, including in the metals trades, Navarro said in his remarks.

Summary: ट्रम्प ने अमेरिकी रक्षा उद्योग को मजबूत करने के लिए समीक्षा का आदेश दिया


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Thursday that a national security review of the U.S. steel industry will be completed “very shortly” and will seek to protect the interests of both domestic steel producers and consumers. Ross told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing that he believes there is “a genuine national security issue that must be considered in this case,” the second major signal in two days that the Trump administration is preparing new steel import restrictions.   In a speech in Cincinnati on Wednesday, Trump said: “Wait until you see what I’m going to do for steel and for your steel companies. We’re going to stop the dumping, and stop all of these wonderful other countries from coming in and killing our companies and our workers. You’ll be seeing that very soon.” The steel review under a Cold War-era trade law would result in a “thoughtful” set of recommendations for Trump to consider for action, Ross said. He has previously said he expected to complete the study by the end of June. Ross identified three kinds of actions that could be recommended: imposing tariffs above the current, country-specific anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on steel products; imposing quotas limiting the volume of steel imports; and a hybrid “tariff-rate quota” option that would include quotas on specific products with new tariffs for imports above those levels. Choosing the latter option would help mitigate concerns over steel price inflation from tariffs, Ross said. Some steel users have voiced concerns that import limits would cause price increases that would make them more vulnerable to foreign competitors. “The overall impact on inflation, were that to be the route, should be relatively modest,” Ross said. “So we’re very mindful of the need both to protect the domestic steel producers from inappropriate behavior on the part of foreign dumpers, but also to protect the steel consumers, the steel fabricators, the auto companies and everybody else who uses steel.”

Summary: विल्बर रॉस इस्पात पर 'वास्तविक' राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा चिंता देखते हैं


ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey told U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday he could not buy its support in a United Nations vote on Jerusalem, and said the world should teach the United States a  very good lesson  by resisting U.S. pressure. Trump has threatened to cut aid to countries that support a draft U.N. resolution calling for the United States to withdraw its decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said in Ankara U.N. member states should not let their decision in Thursday s vote at the U.N. General Assembly be dictated by money.  Mr. Trump, you cannot buy Turkey s democratic will with your dollars,  he said.  The dollars will come back, but your will won t once it s sold.  That is why your stance is important.  Trump s announcement two weeks ago that he was recognizing Jerusalem as Israel s capital broke with decades of U.S. policy and international consensus that the city s status must be left to Israeli-Palestinian talks. Last week Erdogan hosted a special meeting of the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation, which condemned Trump s decision and called on the world to respond by recognizing East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. Jerusalem, revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, has been at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades. Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it in an action not recognized internationally. Trump s Jerusalem move led to harsh criticisms from Muslim countries and Israel s closest European allies, who have also rejected the move. A draft resolution calling for withdrawal of Trump s decision was vetoed at the United Nations Security Council by the United States on Monday. Following that vote, opponents of the U.S. decision called for the vote in the General Assembly.   I hope and expect the United States won t get the result it expects from there and the world will give a very good lesson to the United States,  Erdogan said.

Summary: एर्दोगन कहते हैं कि अमेरिका यरुशलम पर तुर्की का समर्थन नहीं खरीद सकता


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil said on Friday some forces were trying to oust the leader of the country, Russia s Interfax news agency reported.  Some sides are trying to use certain forces in order to displace the leader of Lebanon,  Interfax quoted Bassil as telling his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.

Summary: लेबनान के विदेश मंत्रीः कुछ बल लेबनान के नेता को हटाने की कोशिश कर रहे हैं-इफैक्स


DETROIT (Reuters) - A federal judge in Michigan halted on Monday the deportation of more than 1,400 Iraqi nationals from the United States, the latest legal victory for the Iraqi nationals facing deportation in a closely watched case. U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith granted a preliminary injunction requested by American Civil Liberties Union lawyers, who argued the immigrants would face persecution in Iraq because they are considered ethnic and religious minorities there. Goldsmith said the injunction provides detainees time to challenge their removal in federal courts. He said many of them faced “a feverish search for legal assistance” after their deportation orders were unexpectedly resurrected by the U.S. government after several years. Goldsmith wrote, in his 34-page opinion and order, the extra time assures “that those who might be subjected to grave harm and possible death are not cast out of this country before having their day in court.”  The decision effectively means no Iraqi nationals can be deported from the United States for several months.  It was not immediately known whether the U.S. government would appeal. A representative for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit was not immediately available for comment. There are 1,444 Iraqi nationals who have final deportation orders against them in the U.S., although only about 199 of them were detained in June as part of a nationwide sweep by immigration authorities.  The ACLU sued on June 15 to halt the deportations, arguing the Iraqis could face persecution, torture, or death because many were Chaldean Catholics, Sunni Muslims, or Iraqi Kurds and that the groups were recognized as targets of ill-treatment in Iraq. Those arrested by immigration authorities had outstanding deportation orders and many had been convicted of serious crimes, ranging from homicide to weapons and drug charges, the U.S. government said. Goldsmith sided with the ACLU, expanding on June 26 an earlier stay which only protected 114 detainees from the Detroit area to the broader class of more than 1,400 Iraqi nationals nationwide. Goldsmith’s Monday decision came hours before that injunction was set to expire. The ACLU argued many Iraqi detainees have had difficulty obtaining critical government documents needed to file deportation order appeals, and also that the government has transferred many detainees to facilities in different parts of the country, separating them from their lawyers and families. Under Goldsmith’s ruling, immigration authorities must provide the ACLU with bi-weekly reports about each Iraqi that include where they are detained. On Friday, a federal prosecutor told Goldsmith his injunction was not necessary because many of the detainees were appealing final deportation orders through immigration court. The roundup of Iraqis in the Detroit area followed Iraq’s agreement to accept deportees as part of a deal that removed the country from Trump’s revised temporary travel ban on people from six Muslim-majority countries. Some of those affected came to the United States as children and committed their crimes decades ago but were allowed to stay because Iraq previously declined to issue travel documents for them. That changed after the two governments came to the agreement in March.

Summary: अमेरिकी न्यायाधीश ने 1,400 से अधिक इराकी नागरिकों के निर्वासन पर रोक लगाई


SYDNEY (Reuters) - China summoned Australia s ambassador to lodge a complaint last week over Canberra s allegation that Beijing had sought to interfere in Australian politics, a source familiar with the diplomatic action told Reuters on Thursday. Relations between Australia and China became strained in recent weeks after Canberra said it would ban foreign political donations as part of a crackdown aimed at preventing external influence in domestic politics, sharpening the focus on China s soft power. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull singled out China as he said foreign powers were making  unprecedented and increasingly sophisticated attempts to influence the political process  in Australia. In response, China summoned Ambassador Jan Adams to a meeting at the Chinese Ministry for Foreign Affairs on December  8 to lodge a complaint, the source said. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang confirmed the ministry had an  important discussion  with the Australian ambassador.  The Australian side should be very clear about China s position on the relevant issue,  Lu told a daily news briefing, without elaborating. China s Foreign Ministry said last week Turnbull s allegations were full of prejudice against China, were baseless and poisoned the atmosphere of China-Australia relations. Turnbull s allegations have been criticized by Australia s opposition Labor Party as showing an  anti-China  bias that could jeopardize bilateral trade.  China, which is easily Australia s biggest trading partner, bought A$93 billion ($70 billion) worth of Australian goods and services last year. Australia s unshakeable security relationship with the United States, however, has limited how cosy it gets with China. Turnbull denied indulging in anti-Chinese rhetoric, insisting Labour was using the issue to win favor with a large voter block ahead of a make-or-break by-election on Saturday that analysts said will determine his political future.  I am disappointed they have tried to turn Australians against each other,  Turnbull told reporters in Sydney.

Summary: चीन ने राजनीतिक हस्तक्षेप के आरोपों पर ऑस्ट्रेलियाई राजदूत को तलब किया


COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark intends to invest to boost efforts to prevent cyber attacks in a strategy to be presented early next year, its defense minister said on Tuesday.  We are going to spend more money in this area,  Claus Hjort Frederiksen told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Copenhagen, though he declined to disclose a figure. Cyber security is  very high on the agenda  for the right-leaning government, but also for the broad selection of Danish political parties negotiating a new defense strategy for the coming six years, he said. The government would like to expand an early warning system with sensors that detects when Danish companies or authorities are under attack from, for example, malware.  To some degree we do have a system today, but we would like to expand it to the strategic infrastructure and to private companies,  he told Reuters. The government also wants to increase the preventive capacity at the Danish center for cyber security to increase its ability to better catch and inform about imminent cyber threats, he said. World s no.1 container shipper and one of Denmark s largest companies Maersk was hit by major cyber attack in June, one of the biggest-ever disruptions to hit global shipping.  The government also works for a deeper cooperation between authorities and private companies in battling cyber attacks, Frederiksen said. He said he believed companies were sometimes reluctant to inform they had been hit by cyber attacks, because they were afraid to scare off customers or investors.  Frederiksen said he saw the overall cyber threat as  one of the greatest threats of our time .  If you can undermine our democratic nations by hacking the energy systems or the communication systems or the financial systems it will undermine our own people s belief in our societies  ability to protect them,  he said. Russia hacked the Danish defense network and gained access to employees  emails in 2015 and 2016, Frederiksen said in April. Danish troops will get training in how to deal with Russian misinformation before being sent to join a NATO military build-up in Estonia in January, Frederiksen said in July.

Summary: डेनमार्क साइबर सुरक्षा प्रयासों को तेज करेगाः रक्षा मंत्री


LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May will travel to the Middle East this week to lend her support to economic reforms in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, her spokesman said. Her trip comes as Britain is looking for new relationships around the world, to replace those it will lose after it quits the European Union in a little more than a year. She will meet Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, where she will also discuss the crisis in Yemen and the dispute in Qatar. In Jordan, she will meet King Abdullah and Prime Minister Hanu Mulki. The London Stock Exchange is competing now to host part of Saudi Aramco s [IPO-ARMO.SE] initial public offering. Britain said this month it would provide $2 billion in credit guarantees to the energy company so it can buy British goods more easily. On Tuesday, British foreign minister Boris Johnson hosted officials from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and the United States to discuss humanitarian aid in Yemen, where aid agencies have complained about a port blockade. Aid agencies say it has worsened the crisis in Yemen where war has left an estimated 7 million people facing famine and killed more than 10,000 people.

Summary: ब्रिटेन का मई मध्य पूर्व की ओर बढ़ रहा है


FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Tensions between Germany and Turkey are holding up planned defense projects at Rheinmetall, the German company s chief executive told news agency DPA in an interview. Ties between the two NATO allies have been strained by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan s crackdown on opponents after a failed coup last year as well as Germany s refusal to extradite people Turkey says were involved in the plot. Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said in the interview published on Monday that several projects, including the production of ammunition for fighter jets in Turkey and upgrades to Turkey s Leopard tanks, were still awaiting decisions by the two governments.  If relations with Turkey don t improve it will be difficult to obtain clearance from Germany,  he said. Poor relations have also dimmed Rheinmetall s prospects for playing a role in Turkey s Altay tank project, worth an estimated 7 billion euros ($8.13 billion), DPA said. Turkey s BMC, with which Rheinmetall has a joint venture in Turkey, is among the bidders for the first tranche to build around 100 to 200 of a planned 1,000 combat tanks, DPA said. If BMC wins the contract, Rheinmetall could in theory take part in the development of the tank via joint venture RBSS, in which the German company holds a 40 percent stake, but it would need an export clearance from the German government. Papperger said Rheinmetall had no plans to build its own tank factory in Turkey.

Summary: राइनमेटल के सी. ई. ओ. का कहना है कि तुर्की ने रक्षा परियोजनाओं को रोक दिया हैः डी. पी. ए.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - FBI Director James Comey told Congress on Sunday a recent review of newly discovered emails did not change the agency’s conclusion reached in July that no charges were warranted in the case of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. U.S. Republican Representative Jason Chaffetz said in a tweet that Comey had informed him of the conclusion. Comey’s letter to Congress informing it of the newly discovered emails had thrown Clinton’s presidential race against Republican Donald Trump into turmoil.

Summary: एफ. बी. आई. ने कांग्रेस को बताया कि उसने क्लिंटन के ईमेल पर निष्कर्ष नहीं बदला है।


BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump spoke about keeping pressure on North Korea with economic sanctions imposed through the United Nations, the White House said in a statement on Monday. The United States and South Korea and separately Russia together with China, carried out military drills in a show of force against North Korea, which has defied U.N. Security Council resolutions to conduct nuclear tests and ballistic missile tests. Trump and Xi spoke on the phone days after Trump and his aides publicly discussed potential military action against North Korea. On Friday, while delivering an address at a military base outside of Washington, Trump said he was  more confident than ever that our options in addressing this threat are both effective and overwhelming.  Trump is attending the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, while Xi is not. North Korea s nuclear threat is likely to loom large on the agenda.  The two leaders also discussed Trump s coming China visit, the Xinhua News Agency said.   Xi said China and the United States share extensive common interests and have seen sound momentum of exchanges and cooperation in various areas at present,  Xinhua said. Xi called on both sides to work closely to ensure a fruitful trip and inject new impetus into the development of Sino-U.S. relations, the report said.  The Chinese leader said he is happy to maintain communications with the U.S. leader on a regular basis over topics of mutual concern,  it said.  Trump will likely visit China in November as part of a trip that will take him to an ASEAN summit in the Philippines and an APEC summit in Vietnam.

Summary: शी और ट्रम्प ने उत्तर कोरिया पर प्रतिबंधों के दबाव पर चर्चा कीः व्हाइट हाउस


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump is asking Congress to give the Pentagon about $2 billion for a “flexible” fund to use against Islamic State over the next six months, as his administration weighs changes to the U.S.-led campaign against the militant group. Trump is also seeking to upgrade long-underfunded facilities at the U.S. military’s Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba that Trump’s Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, unsuccessfully sought to close during his eight-year administration. “It doesn’t seem like we are going to close it anytime soon,” John Roth, the acting Pentagon comptroller, told a Pentagon news briefing, explaining the move.  The proposals were part of a $30 billion supplemental request to Congress to add more money to the Pentagon’s budget during the government’s ongoing fiscal year, which began under the Obama administration and ends in September. It includes plans to crank up U.S. funding for the fight against Islamic State militants for items like high-tech bombs and defenses against insurgents’ drones, bringing overall spending on the campaign to the highest level yet, the Pentagon said. “This will likely be our largest request,” Roth said. One analyst called the $2 billion flexible spending request a Pentagon “slush fund,” and many lawmakers were expected to be reluctant to loosen oversight over how the Pentagon spends money. What Trump’s additional funding might mean for America’s evolving war strategy against Islamic State in the coming months was not immediately clear.  But the request comes as U.S.-backed forces in Iraq and Syria are entering a critical phase in their campaign to retake Islamic State’s two biggest cities of Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria. Trump’s administration is weighing deployment of more U.S. troops. The heads of the top U.S. congressional committees that oversee the Pentagon have criticized Trump’s 2018 budget request, saying even more money was needed. “It is clear to virtually everyone that we have cut our military too much and that it has suffered enormous damage,” said Republican Representative Mac Thornberry, chairman of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee.  Todd Harrison at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington questioned whether Trump’s budget wish list could muster enough support among Democrats,  whose votes would be needed to sign off on the spending bills given the slim Republican hold on the Senate.        Trump said during the election campaign that he not only wanted to keep the Guantanamo Bay detention center open but “load it up with some bad dudes.” Trump’s $5.1 billion “overseas contingency operations” request included a provision for $1.1 billion in additional funds for a range of Pentagon projects, including “planning and design of construction projects in support of Detention Operations at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.” The prison, which was opened by Republican President George W. Bush to hold terrorism suspects captured overseas after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks came to symbolize harsh detention practices that opened the United States to accusations of torture. Obama reduced the inmate population to 41, but fell short of fulfilling his promise to close the jail. The 2017 request would also hike spending for the broader Defense Department over the next six months, with $24.9 billion more sought to “readiness needs” after years of complaints over congressionally imposed spending caps. Lockheed Martin would be one of the biggest beneficiaries of that proposal. Some $13.5 billion would be spent on more military hardware, including five F-35 warplanes as well as Army Blackhawk helicopters made by Sikorsky Aircraft, a Lockheed subsidiary.  Trump also wants 12 interceptors for the THAAD missile defense system. The United States is now deploying THAAD in South Korea in response to North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear tests. Boeing would also gain with $2.4 billion for an additional 24 of its F/A-18 E/F jet fighters.  A further $7.2 billion would pay for things like military training, cyber and intelligence capabilities and support for  weapons systems.

Summary: ट्रंप की नजर इस्लामिक स्टेट के 'लचीले' युद्ध कोष, ग्वांतानामो के उन्नयन पर


PARIS (Reuters) - Hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists on Saturday staged a protest in Paris against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu s planned visit to France on Sunday.  Protestors carried Palestinian flags and photos of French President Emmanuel Macron marked  accomplice  for hosting Netanyahu following the U.S. President Donald Trump s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Netanyahu, who has welcomed Trump s move, will meet with Macron on Sunday ahead of a meeting with European Union foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.  France said on Friday the United States had sidelined itself in the Middle East by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel s capital. Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on French TV that the U.S. move went  against international law .   Trump says he has a project. Let him present it, so that this intervention can be wiped out by the restart of the peace process,  he said. Macron and Turkey s President Tayyip Erdogan will work together to try to persuade the United States to reconsider the decision, a Turkish presidential source said on Saturday. France has been a supporter of the Palestinian cause. In 2014, the French National Assembly passed a non-binding motion calling on the government to recognize Palestine, but the government has not officially done so.

Summary: नेतन्याहू की यात्रा से पहले पेरिस में फिलिस्तीन समर्थक मार्च


BEIJING (Reuters) - The North Korean nuclear issue must be resolved peacefully, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Russian counterpart during a meeting at the United Nations, China s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. The United States and South Korea, and separately Russia together with China, started military drills on Wednesday in a show of force against North Korea, which has repeatedly defied the United Nations to conduct nuclear and ballistic missile tests. Wang said in a meeting with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Monday that China would strictly implement U.N. Security council sanctions and stressed that  parties directly involved  must also take action and responsibility.  The current deepening vicious cycle must be broken. Resuming peace talks is an equally important step in implementing security council resolutions,  Wang said, according to a statement on the foreign ministry website. Russia has supported China s  suspension-for-suspension  proposal, where the United States and South Korea would agree to halt joint military drills while North Korea halted missile and nuclear tests. Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump spoke about keeping pressure on North Korea using economic sanctions imposed through the United Nations, the White House said on Monday. Trump and Xi spoke on the phone days after Trump and his aides publicly discussed potential military action against North Korea. Trump said on Friday he was  more confident than ever that our options in addressing this threat are both effective and overwhelming . Pyongyang carried out the latest in a rapid series of missile launches by firing another mid-range ballistic missile over Japan on Friday, soon after its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3, in defiance of United Nations sanctions and other international pressure.

Summary: चीन का कहना है कि उत्तर कोरिया के परमाणु मुद्दे को शांतिपूर्ण तरीके से हल किया जाना चाहिए


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As a candidate, U.S. President Donald Trump promised to close the “carried interest” tax break that benefits some of Wall Street’s wealthiest financiers - but the Republican tax bill released on Thursday makes no mention of it. Carried interest is a share of an investment fund’s profits - typically about 20 percent beyond the return guaranteed to investors - that is paid out to the general partners of private equity, venture capital, real estate and hedge funds. Under current law, carried interest income is taxed at the capital gains rate of 20 percent. That is well below the 39.6 percent rate that high earners pay on ordinary wages and salary.  Trump pledged during his populist presidential campaign to close the carried-interest loophole, saying hedge fund managers were “paper pushers” who were “getting away with murder.” Carried interest represents a large portion of many fund managers’ incomes. For years they have employed Washington lobbyists to help defend the lucrative tax break. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in August that the Trump administration still planned to close the loophole for hedge funds, but there might be an exemption to allow financial firms that “create jobs” to continue taking advantage of the tax break. The 429-page tax bill released by Republicans in the House of Representatives on Thursday has no language changing how financial firms can take advantage of the lower carried-interest rate. “The introduced text does not modify current policy related to carried interest,” a spokesman for the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee said. The bill is expected to undergo revisions before it is brought up for a vote in the House. Trump has said he would like to see the House and the Senate pass tax legislation before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 23. “We fully expected months ago that the one thing that they would do to close loopholes would be the one thing that Trump talked about during the campaign,” said Seth Hanlon, a senior fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress and a former economic adviser to Democratic President Barack Obama. Obama targeted the carried interest loophole but never closed it. Government estimates show it will cost the federal budget at least $20 billion over the next decade.

Summary: वॉल सेंट टैक्स ब्रेक एक बार ट्रम्प द्वारा रिपब्लिकन बिल में संरक्षित किया गया था


BEIJING (Reuters) - Hu Jia, a well-known Chinese dissident who lives in Beijing, says he had hoped to go to the southeastern city of Xiamen for his government-sponsored holiday, but state security officials said no.   They told me I had to go to a more isolated place this time,  he told Reuters by phone from Yunnan province in far southwestern China, a popular destination renowned for its scenery and the culture of its ethnic minority groups. Rights groups say that Hu is one dozens of activists and dissidents detained, placed under tighter monitoring or  vacationed  by authorities,  during the week-long congress of the ruling Communist Party which began on Wednesday in Beijing. President Xi Jinping is expected to tighten his grip on power at the gathering, which is only held once every five years. For his enforced holiday, Hu and his two government minders jointly decided on the destinations. Hu suggested the ancient town of Dali in Yunnan for the first stop, and the public security agents accompanying him chose the second and third stops in the southwest region, Guiyang   the capital of the mountainous province of Guizhou, and the coastal city of Beihai in Guangxi province.  Hu estimated the whole trip for the three of them will cost close to 10,000 yuan ($1,510), all paid for by the authorities. He said that his minders tried to save money by choosing basic hotels and traveling between the three cities by bus. He will fly back to Beijing on Oct 28, just after the congress ends.  You can go see the sights, but state security goes with you everywhere,  Hu said. Reuters was unable to independently verify the accounts of Hu and other dissidents interviewed for this story. China s public security ministry did not respond to a faxed request for comment on the detention of activists, and the use of  vacations.  China rarely explains its treatment of dissidents other than to say that those charged are criminals who harmed social stability and that all people in China are treated equally before the law. It is not unusual for Chinese authorities to heighten monitoring and detention of dissidents before important political events, especially people with high profiles who are  known to speak out against the party and state. In addition to the enforced vacations, some activists have also been detained, placed under supervision at home, or warned about posting critical messages online in the weeks ahead of congress, according to the Hong Kong-based group Chinese Human Rights Defenders.  The group also said it had documented 14 cases of detention of activists in recent weeks. In one case, Wu Kemu, a truck driver from Xuancheng city in the central province of Anhui, was called in by the police for a talk on October 11 and has not been released since, his wife Fang Liangxiang told Reuters by phone on Sunday.  They will not say when he will be released. They just told me to wait at home for him,  she said, adding that she expected the detention was related to critical things Wu had said about the government on the popular instant messaging platform WeChat. No one answered the phone on Saturday at the Xuancheng city detention center where Fang says Wu is being held. It is unclear if the total number of detentions, arrests or  vacations  this year is greater than at the time of previous major events or how many of the cases are directly related to the congress. Some activists say that the authorities prefer enforced vacations rather than detentions as they can make dissidents both inactive and inaccessible to foreign journalists over sensitive periods. Locking people up can attract more attention. Hu, a pro-democracy activist and campaigner for those with HIV/AIDS, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail for subversion in 2008, and said he has been under regular state surveillance since his release.  The first thing I did was go for a run up in the mountains by Dali, because I knew the state security agents could not run with me,  he said, adding that the agents were  not the running type.   It felt like being briefly free from prison,  he said. Hu said that state security agents had shown him a list of people who would not be allowed to stay in Beijing over the 19th Party Congress, including Liu Xia, the widow of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo.   Liu Xia has been under effective house arrest in Beijing since her husband won the Nobel Prize in 2010. After his death in July, even the sporadic communications she s had with friends have been nearly entirely severed, two of them told Reuters. The public security ministry did not respond to a request for comment on Liu Xia s situation. Some activists make their own travel plans to avoid the authorities. Wu Lihong, an activist from Wuxi city in Jiangsu province who for over a decade has been protesting pollution in Lake Tai in eastern China, told Reuters that Chinese state security had called him last week saying they were coming to take him for a forced vacation. Wu, though, had already gone to visit a friend in Zhejiang province, on the east coast and far away from Beijing, to avoid them.  At the 16th, 17th and 18th Congresses I was vacationed, imprisoned, held at home and forbidden to speak,  Wu said.   This time, I chose to go on holiday without them,  he said. He said that state security officials had asked him to return to Wuxi so they could take him on  vacation  themselves, but he declined saying he would stay with his friend till after the congress ends. He is now avoiding their calls. Reuters could not independently confirm Wu s comments. Chinese state security does not have a public phone number, fax number or website.     Xi has overseen a sweeping crackdown on rights lawyers and activists since coming to power in 2012, jailing dozens, in what rights groups say is a coordinated attempt to quash dissent in China. New internet measures include rules that hold users accountable for critical posts even in private group chats and a renewed crackdown on technologies to circumvent restrictions.  Kit Chan, director of the Hong Kong-based China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group, said that some recent detentions of activists represent a new direction in the crackdown as it shows the authorities are targeting smaller groups that draw attention to specific rights issues as much as their traditional focus on pro-democracy activists. Zhen Jianghua, for example, the founder of Human Rights Campaign in China, a grassroots organization based in the southern province of Guangzhou, was detained on Sept 1 in Zhuhai, a source close to Zhen who declined to be named told Reuters. The ministry of public security did not respond to a faxed request for comment about the targeting of grassroots organizations. A person who answered the phone at the Zhuhai public security bureau said she was not aware of Zhen s case.

Summary: कुछ चीनी असंतुष्टों के लिए, पार्टी कांग्रेस का मतलब एक सशुल्क 'छुट्टी' है।


NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge blocked the deportation on Saturday of dozens of travelers and refugees from seven Muslim-majority nations, stranded at U.S. airports under an order from President Donald Trump, after a lawsuit filed on behalf of two Iraqis with ties to U.S. security forces. In the lawsuit filed in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, the two men challenged Trump’s directive on constitutional grounds. The suit said their connections to U.S. forces made them targets in their home country and that the pair had valid visas to enter the United States. The lawsuit highlights some of the legal obstacles facing Trump’s new administration as it tries to carry out the directive, which the president signed late on Friday to impose a four-month ban on refugees entering the United States and a 90-day hold on travelers from Syria, Iran and five other Muslim-majority countries. In an emergency ruling on Saturday, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly ordered U.S. authorities to refrain from deporting previously approved refugees as well as “approved holders of valid immigrant and non-immigrant visas and other individuals ... legally authorized to enter the United States” from the countries targeted in Trump’s order. The American Civil Liberties Union, which sought the temporary stay, said it would help about 100 to 200 people who found themselves detained in transit or at U.S. airports after Trump signed the order. “I am directing the government to stop removal if there is someone right now in danger of being removed,” Donnelly said in the court hearing. “No one is to be removed in this class.” U.S. Department of Justice attorney Susan Riley during the hearing said, “This has unfolded with such speed that we haven’t had an opportunity to address all the legal issues.”  Many of the people in a huge crowd that had gathered outside the Brooklyn courthouse broke out into cheers after word of the judge’s ruling filtered out. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security in a statement hours later said only a small fraction of airline passengers arriving in the United States on Saturday were “inconvenienced while enhanced security measures were implemented.” “These individuals went through enhanced security screenings and are being processed for entry to the United States, consistent with our immigration laws and judicial orders,” the statement said.  The department said Trump’s executive order remained in place and that its officers would enforce it.  Separately, a group of state attorneys general were discussing whether to file their own court challenge against Trump’s order, officials in three states told Reuters. The plight of one of the men who brought the lawsuit, a former U.S. Army interpreter who was detained at John F. Kennedy International Airport, is especially compelling, said David Leopold, a former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, who is not involved in the suit. “Here is a guy who was a translator who worked for the U.S. military for years, who himself was targeted by terrorists,” he said. “It is clear that if he is sent back, he is facing a direct threat to his life.” That man, Hameed Khalid Darweesh, was released later on Saturday and told a crowd of reporters at JFK Airport that he did not have ill feelings about his detention. “America is the greatest nation, the greatest people in the world,” he said.  Darweesh, 53, worked for the U.S. Army and for a U.S. contractor in Iraq from 2003 to 2013 as an interpreter and engineer, the lawsuit said. The second plaintiff, Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi, 33, was also detained at JFK Airport but has since been released. He is the husband of an Iraqi woman who worked for a U.S. contractor in Iraq. She already lives in Houston, the suit said.  Trump, a Republican, has said his order would help protect Americans from terrorist attacks. The lawsuit on behalf of the Iraqis challenges Trump’s order on several grounds. It says the order violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of due process by taking away their ability to apply for asylum, and violates the guarantee of equal protection by discriminating against them on the basis of their country of origin without sufficient justification.  It also says the order violates procedural requirements of federal rulemaking. The next hearing in the case was set for Feb. 10. Supporters of the order say the president has wide authority to limit the entry of foreign nationals from specific countries when it is in the national interest. “Even if they do and they win, my answer is so what?” said Mark Krikorian, the director of the conservative Center for Immigration Studies. “We are talking a few dozen people – that is just a last-ditch effort to get the last few people in. It doesn’t really change the policy,” he said. Trump’s order does not mention specific religions but Trump said in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network on Friday he was acting to help Christians in Syria who were “horribly treated.”  Comments like that could come back to haunt the president in litigation over his order, said Hiroshi Motomura, an immigration expert at UCLA School of Law. “There were comments during the campaign that focused very much on religion as the target,” Motomura said. “If the record showed that the origins of a particular measure were based on targeting a particular group, that could be challenged in court.”

Summary: दो इराकियों ने प्रवेश रोकने के ट्रम्प के आदेश के खिलाफ कानूनी लड़ाई का नेतृत्व किया


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that there was no alternative to a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians and that Jerusalem was a final-status issue that should be resolved through direct talks.  I have consistently spoken out against any unilateral measures that would jeopardize the prospect of peace for Israelis and Palestinians,  Guterres said after U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.  In this moment of great anxiety, I want to make it clear: There is no alternative to the two-state solution. There is no Plan B,  he told reporters.  I will do everything in my power to support the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to return to meaningful negotiations.

Summary: संयुक्त राष्ट्र प्रमुख ने कहा कि मध्य पूर्व में दो राज्य समाधान का कोई विकल्प नहीं है