News

Trump seeks $10 million from former aide in disclosure case Republican presidential candidate   Donald Trump   is seeking $10 million in damages from a former senior campaign consultant, Sam Nunberg, alleging that Nunberg leaked confidential information to reporters in violation of a nondisclosure agreement. In a court filing obtained by The Associated Press, Nunberg accuses Trump of trying to silence him "in a misguided attempt to cover up media coverage of an apparent affair" between senior campaign staffers. The document cited a New York Post story about a public quarrel between the staffers published last month. The legal dispute reflects Trump's efforts to aggressively protect the secrecy of his campaign's inner workings. The case is spelled out in court documents that sought to block private arbitration proceedings that Trump initiated in May.   Read More

Charges of anti-Semitism over tweet are 'ridiculous': Donald Trump Donald Trump says Hillary Clinton's campaign is "ridiculous" to portray an anti-Clinton tweet that appeared to depict the Star of David atop a pile of cash as   anti Semitism . In a statement issued by his Republican presidential campaign yesterday evening, Trump suggested Clinton and her allies were using the matter to distract from her own recent campaign troubles. Trump said the tweet portrayed "a basic star, often used by sheriffs who deal with criminals and criminal behaviour," as part of an effort to convey that "Crooked   Hillary Clinton   is the most corrupt candidate ever." It was the presumptive GOP nominee's most extensive comment since his official account tweeted then deleted the image Saturday, sparking uproar over its potentially anti-Semitic connotations. Trump's account later posted a new version with a circle in place of the six-point star. ...

ISIS may plan Istanbul like attack in US: CIA The Islamic State terror group may carry out a terror attack similar to the one at Istanbul's Ataturk airport,   CIA   Director   John Brennan   has said. The despicable attack at Istanbul's   international   airport that killed dozens and injured several certainly bears the "hallmarks" of the Islamic State's depravity, Brennan said here yesterday. "We've seen ISIL (Islamic State) carry out and incite an array of terrorist attacks in the region, directly, indirectly and I would be surprised that ISIL is not considering carrying out these attacks in the near abroad as well as the far abroad," he said. "And the United States, as we well know, is leading the coalition to try to destroy as much of this poison, inside of Syria and Iraq, as possible. So it would be surprising to me that ISIL is not trying to hit us, both in the region as well as in our homeland," Brennan said while to repl...

Favourability ratings of Clinton, Trump increased: Gallup survey The favourability ratings of   Donald Trump   and   Hillary Clinton   have increased since they clinched the   presidential nominations   of the respective Republican and Democratic parties, a Gallup survey said on Thursday. Since clinching nomination in early June, Clinton's favourable ratings among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents have gone up slightly to 71%, compared with 68% in April and May, the survey said. 68-year-old Clinton's image is now partly restored to what it was at the start of the year when 74% of   Democratic   viewed her favourably. Trump has also maintained higher favourable ratings among Republicans and the party leaders since he emerged as the sole   Republican   candidate in May compared with earlier in the year. Trump's favourable ratings among Republicans averages 64% so far in June, the same as in May but higher than the...

US accuses Russia of harassing diplomats Washington has delivered high-level complaints to Moscow about accusations of increasing intimidation of American diplomats in Russia, the State Department said. "We see an increase and we take it seriously," State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth   Trudeau   told reporters at a press briefing on Monday. Secretary of State   John Kerry   last discussed the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin   on March 24,   CNN reported citing Trudeau as saying. The spokeswoman said that harassment of diplomats by Russian security agents and traffic police had been an issue over the past two years but did not detail any incidents nor why Kerry brought up the matter with Putin. Other Western embassies had reported the same behaviour towards their diplomats stationed in Moscow, Trudeau added. Moscow, however, has charged that Washington has also engaged in problematic behaviour. Last week, the Russian Foreig...

Clinton never personally denied Benghazi security: Democrats Hillary Clinton   never personally denied any requests from diplomats for additional security at the US outpost in Benghazi, Libya, according to   Democrats on a select House panel who absolved the former secretary of state and the US military of wrongdoing in the deadly September 11, 2012 attacks. In a report pre-empting the Republicans, the panel's five Democrats said after a two-year investigation that the military could not have done anything differently that night to save the lives of four Americans killed in Libya. US Ambassador Chris Stevens died in one of the two assaults at the diplomatic facility and CIA annex. Democrats' release of their own report heightened the partisanship of the inquiry, which has been marked by finger-pointing on both sides. Republicans accuse the Obama administration of stonewalling important documents and witnesses, while Democrats say the panel's primary goal is to u...

Trump targets to raise $10 million The campaign of Donald Trump, presumptive presidential nominee of the Republican party, has set a target of raising another $10 million by the month end, according to an email sent on Monday. Over the last few days, the Trump campaign raised $11 million, it said adding it is working to "shatter records" by raising another $10 million in the remaining four days of June. The mass email seeking funds was sent by his son Eric Trump, who described it as the most ambitious   fund raising   campaign yet. " Hillary Clinton 's campaign machine and her liberal media allies are desperate. First, they claimed we raised too little. Then, when donors like you helped us to raise $11 million in just a few days, they claimed we were lying," the junior Trump wrote in his first fund raising email. A real estate tycoon from New York,   Donald Trump   had self-funded his campaign during the primary elections. He started raising money ...

Smoking puts your sperm at risk Do you smoke? You could be unwittingly lowering your   sperm   quality, a new study warns. The research that included 20 nonsmoking men and 20 men who smoked found that that sperm of smokers has a greater extent of DNA damage than that of non-smokers. Researchers also assessed 422 proteins in participants' sperm. One protein was absent, 27 proteins were underrepresented, and 6 proteins were over-represented in smokers. Analyses of these proteins suggest that cigarette   smoking   may promote an inflammatory response in the male reproductive tract. "More and more studies are demonstrating a harmful effect of smoking on male fertility. Our results point in the direction of important semen alterations: semen of smokers presents an inflammatory nature, associated with decreased capacity of sperm to achieve fertilization and generate a healthy pregnancy," said senior author Dr Ricardo Pimenta Bertolla. Bertolla added that in t...

US opens up skies for commercial drone operators The   Federal Aviation Administration   has unveiled long-awaited new rules that clear the way for small, commercial   drones   to operate across   US   airspace – but don't expect an aerial delivery from Amazon just yet. Under the FAA's rules, drone operators will be allowed to fly commercial craft weighing less than 25 kilograms during daylight hours, provided they can maintain a clear view of the drone at all times. While that effectively precludes the sort of robo-delivery services being developed by Amazon and other major vendors, the new rules will nonetheless ensure drones become increasingly commonplace in the skies. Drone operators no longer need a full pilot's license. Now, they must only be 16 years old, vetted by the Transportation Security Administration and able to pass an FAA test for a two-year certification. Previously, commercial drone users had to apply for waivers to operate ...

Donald Trump questions Hillary Clinton's commitment to her Christian faith Presumptive Republican presidential nominee   Donald Trump   has questioned his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's commitment to her Christian faith, saying that little is known about her spiritual life even though she has been in the public eye for decades. "We don't know anything about Hillary in terms of religion," Trump told a group of evangelical leaders. A video of the meeting was posted on social media. "Now, she's been in the public eye for years and years, and yet there's no - there's nothing out there," he said. "There's like nothing out there. It's going to be an extension of Obama but it's going to be worse, because with Obama you had your guard up. With Hillary you don't, and it's going to be worse," 70-year-old Trump said. In response to Trump's remarks, the Clinton campaign released a statement by evangel...

America is the only superpower, says Russian President Vladimir Putin Accepting the United States is probably the world's sole superpower, Russian President   Vladimir Putin   has said that Moscow was ready to work with Washington. Speaking at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday, Putin said: "America is a great power. Today, probably, the only superpower. We accept that." "We want to and are ready to work with the United States," Putin added. Hinting to the US-EU sanctions on   Russia   in response to its military actions in Ukraine, Putin said: "The world needs such strong nations, like the US. And we need them. But we don't need them constantly getting mixed up in our affairs, instructing us how to live, preventing Europe from building a relationship with us." When asked about presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, Putin called him as a "flamboyant" or "colorful" man. Putin also spoke...

Bernie Sanders to stay in presidential race until Democratic convention The democratic socialist   Bernie Sanders   will not abandon the US presidential race and will participate at the Democratic Party convention in July to get his message across, trying to influence the presumptive party candidate   Hillary Clinton   as well as the party. In a video, the Vermont senator, who no longer has a mathematical chance to win the nomination, pushes the party and his rival Hillary Clinton to adopt his progressive agenda,   Efe   reported. He also promised to take his agenda to the   Democratic National convention   in Philadelphia in July. Sanders, who met Clinton at a Washington DC hotel recently, vowed to "work" with each other in the coming weeks. He said defeating the presumptive Republican candidate   Donald Trump   "cannot be our only goal", but the Democrats must continue "our grassroots efforts to create the America that we k...