Political news

• Italian cabinet meets to discuss rescue plan for Monte dei Paschi

  22-12-2016 23:48
  ROME (Reuters) - The Italian cabinet met late on Thursday to discuss details of a widely anticipated government-led rescue of Monte dei Paschi di Siena after the bank failed to raise enough money from private investors to stay afloat. Parliament on Wednesday authorised the government to borrow up to an extra 20 billion euros ($20.9 billion) to prop up failing banks, starting with the Tuscan lender that for years has been at the forefront of Italy's banking woes. ...
  
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• Uber takes self-driving cars to Arizona after California demands permit

  22-12-2016 23:41
  By Heather Somerville and Alexandria Sage SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] on Thursday removed its self-driving test cars from California and put them on trucks bound for Arizona, shuttering the autonomous vehicle project in its home state after a week-long battle with regulators. The California Department of Motor Vehicles on Wednesday revoked the registration of 16 cars in Uber's self-driving fleet, which the regulator said lacked the proper permits. Arizona, however,
  
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• Obama administration intended to abstain from UN vote on settlements - Western officials

  22-12-2016 23:39
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration intended to abstain from a U.N. Security Council vote on a draft resolution critical of Israel settlement-building, Western officials told Reuters on Thursday. Egypt earlier postponed the vote and diplomats said Cairo had acted under pressure from Israel and to avoid alienating U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton and Arshad Mohammed; Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by James Dalgleish)
  
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• Monitoring group says Islamic State video shows two Turkish soldiers burned alive

  22-12-2016 23:25
  LONDON (Reuters) - Islamic State in Syria released a video on Thursday purporting to show two captured Turkish soldiers being burned to death, according to the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group which monitors militant groups online. Reuters was not able to verify the report and no comment was immediately available from Turkish officials. Late last month, Turkish military officials said they had lost contact with two soldiers in northern Syria, where the army is waging an offensive against Islam
  
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• Trump discussed Mideast peace in call with Egypt's Sisi

  22-12-2016 23:15
  (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump discussed laying the groundwork for peace in the Middle East in a phone call on Thursday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a Trump transition official said. The official did not know whether Trump and Sisi talked specifically about Egypt's decision to postpone a vote set for Thursday in the U.N. Security Council on a resolution demanding that Israel end settlement building. (Reporting by Emily Stephenson in Hawaii; Writing by Eric Beech;
  
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• French ex-PM and presidential hopeful Valls flour-bombed during campaign walkabout

  22-12-2016 23:14
  Manuel Valls, the ex-French Prime Minister and leading candidate in the Socialist presidential primary, was flour-bombed by a protester in the northeastern city of Strasbourg on Thursday during a campaign walkabout at a Christmas market. The man who aimed the flour at Valls, was protesting against a French parliamentary procedure known as "49.3" to force unpopular bills through parliament. Valls has said he would like to see the powers in the '49.3' clause limited to budget legislation only.
  
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• British Airways cabin crew call off Christmas strike

  22-12-2016 23:12
  (Reuters) - British Airways cabin crew have called off a planned Christmas strike, trade union Unite said on Thursday. Unite said the decision was made after it received a revised offer from British Airways. The planned cabin crew strike on Boxing Day has also been suspended, Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said in a statement.
  
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• Exclusive: Dashcam shows truck speed into Berlin Christmas market

  22-12-2016 23:11
  A video clip from a car-mounted dashcam appears to show the moment a truck drove into a Berlin Christmas market on Monday in an attack that killed 12 people. The video, obtained exclusively by Reuters, was taken by a taxi driver who was waiting for customers just outside the Christmas market at the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church. In the video, the truck is seen speeding from left to right into Breitscheidplatz, where the Christmas market is at the foot of the church.
  
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• North Carolina fails to repeal LGBT law as culture wars rage

  22-12-2016 23:07
  
  RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Repealing North Carolina's law limiting LGBT protections at the close of a bitter election year was supposed to heal blows to the economy and perhaps open a truce in the culture wars in at least one corner of the divided United States.
  
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• Aleppo evacuation is complete, Red Cross says

  22-12-2016 22:44
  GENEVA (Reuters) - A week-long operation to evacuate tens of thousands of people from east Aleppo as well as two Shi'ite villages in Syria's Idlib province is complete, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Thursday. "All civilians who wished to be evacuated have been, as well as wounded and fighters," ICRC spokeswoman Krista Armstrong said. The aid agency led the complex operation in snowy winter conditions with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. ...
  
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• 'Surreal' declared Merriam-Webster's 2016 word of the year

  22-12-2016 22:39
  By Renita D. Young CHICAGO (Reuters) - In a word, 2016 was “surreal.” Surreal, meaning “marked by the intense irrational reality of a dream” was looked up so much by online users that Merriam-Webster on Monday dubbed it the 2016 word of the year. Surreal joined the Oxford English Dictionary’s “post-truth” and Dictionary.com’s “xenophobia” as top words of the year. “Our word of the year is one that people came back to over and over
  
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• Looking beyond the holidays

  22-12-2016 22:32
  A news photo Dec. 21 shows a line of 25 buses packed with evacuees crawling away from embattled Aleppo, Syria, through heavy snow. About 3,000 people, both rebel fighters and civilians, were among the last to flee the advancing troops of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
  
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• Obama scraps registry for some immigrant men, mostly Muslims

  22-12-2016 22:25
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Thursday officially scrapped the last vestiges of a U.S. registration system for Muslim immigrants. If President-elect Donald Trump now wants to introduce an expanded version of the program, he will have to start from scratch.
  
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• Global stocks fall, dollar muted as Trump rally pauses for second day

  22-12-2016 22:16
  By Dion Rabouin NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock markets around the globe dipped and U.S. equities posted their first back-to-back daily declines of the month on Thursday as the rally that has sent Wall Street shares to record highs since Donald Trump's U.S. election victory paused ahead of the Christmas holiday weekend. U.S. Treasury yields rose after data showed the U.S. economy grew faster than initially thought in the third quarter, notching its best performance in two years, and as investors prep
  
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• Senate Dems press Trump's wealthy picks for financial data

  22-12-2016 22:11
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Senate Democrats are trying to put the brakes on President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet picks, insisting on extensive financial information on some of the wealthiest Americans before moving forward on nominations.
  
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• Inmates seize control of wing at Kent prison

  22-12-2016 22:11
  Incident at HMP Swaleside is fourth disturbance in system in less than two months
  
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• Monte dei Paschi says capital increase failed

  22-12-2016 22:07
  By Valentina Za and Giuseppe Fonte MILAN (Reuters) - Monte dei Paschi di Siena said on Thursday its plan to raise on the market 5 billion euros ($5.2 billion) in capital by the end of the year had failed, paving the way for a state bailout of Italy's third-largest bank. Political sources said new Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni is ready to call a cabinet meeting within hours to approve a decree authorising the bank's third bailout since 2009. Parliament on Wednesday had allowed the Rome governmen
  
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• Continuing battle with media, Trump avoids news conference

  22-12-2016 21:57
  WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Less than a month from taking office, President-elect Donald Trump has yet to hold the traditional news conference that most incoming presidents have held within days of their victory.
  
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• Release of emails by Chicago mayor doesn't end dispute

  22-12-2016 21:52
  CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's decision to release thousands of pages of private emails does not end a dispute in Illinois about public access to such emails from him and other officials when they deal with government business.
  
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• Odebrecht settlement spurs bribery inquiries across Latin America

  22-12-2016 21:51
  By Mitra Taj and Alexandra Valencia LIMA/QUITO (Reuters) - Politicians and investigators across Latin America demanded more information from Brazil-based construction giant Odebrecht on Thursday after it admitted to a decade of immense bribe payments in the region. In agreeing on Wednesday to pay at least $3.5 billion to Brazilian, U.S. and Swiss prosecutors, the largest penalty ever in a foreign bribery case, Odebrecht admitted to paying officials to help secure lucrative construction contracts
  
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• Brazil's Temer unveils plans to preserve jobs, cut credit card costs

  22-12-2016 21:51
  By Lisandra Paraguassu BRASILIA (Reuters) - President Michel Temer vowed on Thursday to slash credit card interest rates, offer subsidies to companies that retain employees and ease the hiring of workers on temporary contracts in his latest bid to lift Brazil out of a prolonged recession. Temer also said the government will allow some workers to draw on severance fund accounts, known as FGTS, a step which could inject up to 30 billion reais ($8.98 billion) into the economy. The president last we
  
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• Doping - Russia loses World Cup biathlon, speed skating events

  22-12-2016 21:47
  By Dmitriy Rogovitskiy MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has lost two World Cup sporting events it was due to host amid a growing concern at the extent of the country's doping programme, highlighted in the McLaren report. The International Biathlon Union (IBU) said on Thursday that Russia had pulled out of hosting a World Cup meeting in Tyumen in March, while the International Skating Union (ISU) said it had stripped Russia of a speed skating event scheduled for Chelyabinsk in the same month.
  
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• Syrian army announces victory in Aleppo in boost for Assad

  22-12-2016 21:45
  By Ellen Francis BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian army said it had retaken complete control of Aleppo on Thursday after the last rebel fighters were evacuated from the city, handing President Bashar al-Assad his biggest victory of the war. The military said it had brought "the return of safety and security to the city of Aleppo", ending four years of rebel resistance in the northern Syrian city. The recapture of Aleppo is Assad's most important gain so far in a nearly six-year-old war that has clai
  
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• U.S. sues Barclays for mortgage securities fraud

  22-12-2016 21:41
  By Karen Freifeld NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday sued Barclays Plc for fraud in the sale of mortgage securities in the run-up to the financial crisis. The British bank deceived investors about the quality of loans underlying tens of billions of dollars of mortgage securities between 2005 and 2007, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. district court in Brooklyn, New York. Barclays did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
  
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• The Latest: Breaking tradition, Trump shuns news conferences

  22-12-2016 21:40
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President-elect Donald Trump (all times local):
  
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• Oil prices up in quiet session as year-end approaches

  22-12-2016 21:38
  By David Gaffen NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose in subdued trading on Thursday, supported by strong U.S. economic data and optimism that crude producers would abide by an agreement to limit output. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled up 46 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $52.95 a barrel. Overall volume for front-month crude futures was about 350,000 contracts, less than two-thirds of the total daily average over the last 200 days, according to Thomson Reuters data.
  
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• U.S. says it killed 28 al Qaeda militants in strikes in Yemen

  22-12-2016 21:31
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Thursday it killed 28 members of the militant group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in nine strikes in Yemen since September. The statement from U.S. Central Command did not say how the strikes, which occurred between Sept. 23 and Dec. 13, were carried out. (Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
  
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• Trump tweet referred to preventing nuclear proliferation - spokesman

  22-12-2016 21:28
  President-elect Donald Trump's statement Thursday that the United States needs to strengthen its nuclear capabilities referred to the need to prevent nuclear weapons from spreading to unstable countries or terrorist groups, a spokesman said. "President-elect Trump was referring to the threat of nuclear proliferation and the critical need to prevent it - particularly to and among terrorist organizations and unstable and rogue regimes," spokesman Jason Miller said.
  
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• Home of Trump golf course seeks money for security costs

  22-12-2016 21:05
  BEDMINSTER TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey township that's home to one of Donald Trump's golf courses is asking the federal government to help cover security costs for the president-elect.
  
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• Syrian army retakes full control of Aleppo -statement

  22-12-2016 21:00
  The Syrian army said it had retaken Aleppo completely and brought "security and safety" back to the city, as the last group of rebel fighters were evacuated on Thursday. The evacuation of the rebels, who had been holed up in a small, battered enclave in Aleppo, puts the city entirely under the control of the army and its allies after years of fighting, state television said. Broadcasting live, state media showed footage of a convoy crossing from the Ramousah highway junction in south Aleppo to a
  
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• Peru's president says he took no bribes from Brazil's Odebrecht

  22-12-2016 20:50
  Peru President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski on Thursday denied any involvement in $20 million in bribes that Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht SA said it paid to an unnamed official to win a public works contract in 2005, when he was prime minister. In a massive plea deal signed in the United States on Wednesday, Odebrecht said it distributed a total of $29 million in bribes to unnamed officials in Peru during the terms of three presidencies from about 2005 to 2014. Kuczynski, a 78-year-old former
  
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• 'Surreal' declared Merriam-Webster’s 2016 word of the year

  22-12-2016 20:44
  By Renita D. Young CHICAGO (Reuters) - In a word, 2016 was “surreal.” Surreal, meaning “marked by the intense irrational reality of a dream” was looked up so much by online users that Merriam-Webster on Monday dubbed it the 2016 word of the year. Surreal joined the Oxford English Dictionary’s “post-truth” and Dictionary.com’s “xenophobia” as top words of the year. “Our word of the year is one that people came back to over and over
  
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• Germany says Tunisian's fingerprints found in Christmas market crash truck

  22-12-2016 20:31
  By Paul Carrel and Joseph Nasr BERLIN (Reuters) - Fingerprints from a Tunisian suspect have been found inside the truck that smashed through a Berlin Christmas market on Monday in an attack that killed 12 people, and investigators assume the migrant was at the wheel, officials said. A hunt is under way across Europe for Anis Amri, 24, as Germany reels from its worst attack in decades. Frauke Koehler, a spokeswoman for the federal prosecutor's office, told reporters: "At this point in the investi
  
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• London court says Turkish trustees have no claim on alleged Gulen-linked firm's UK asset

  22-12-2016 20:30
  By Barbara Lewis and Dasha Afanasieva LONDON (Reuters) - London's high court ruled Turkey had no rights over British assets that are part of the Koza Ipek media and mining conglomerate, in a victory for exiled Turkish businessman Akin Ipek, whose businesses have been seized by the state. Turkish authorities have taken control of hundreds of companies, including Istanbul-listed gold mining company Koza Altin which was placed in receivership in October 2015, for alleged links to Islamic cleric Fet
  
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• Tuition fee rise 'sneaked out' on website

  22-12-2016 20:29 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The increase in university tuition fees in England to £9,250 has been launched - with accusations that ministers tried to hide it from scrutiny.
  
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• Sheffield region’s bid to absorb Chesterfield faces legal setback after ruling

  22-12-2016 20:27
  
  Judge says town’s residents not consulted in custody battle between Derbyshire council and city region it calls ‘predatory’ Best known for its surreal crooked church spire, the 800-year-old market town of Chesterfield is not used to being the centre of attention. But the unassuming Derbyshire town has found itself the subject of a fierce custody battle between the county council and a new devolved authority.Local politicians have been accused of making a predatory land grab for
  
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• Trump taps Conway for West Wing role, picks press secretary

  22-12-2016 20:25
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has named close adviser Kellyanne Conway as his White House counselor, elevating the woman who led his campaign to victory to a senior West Wing position.
  
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• The Guardian view on Prince Charles: a cheer for tolerance | Editorial

  22-12-2016 20:21
  
  A series of small moves add up to another advance by the royal media managersPrince Charles’s Thought for the Day in this morning’s Today programme was well received far beyond his normal circle of support. After all the reverses that have marked out 2016 as the average liberal’s annus horribilis, a plea for tolerance from the heir to the throne was an unexpectedly welcome intervention. With a public debate soured after Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, it held a hint of
  
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• Global stocks slip, dollar pauses as Trump rally stumbles a second day

  22-12-2016 20:19
  By Dion Rabouin NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock markets around the globe edged lower and U.S. equities headed for their first back-to-back daily declines of the month on Thursday as the rally that has sent Wall Street shares to record highs since Donald Trump's U.S. election victory paused ahead of the Christmas holiday weekend. The Dow was on track for its first two-day decline since Nov. 4. "We can barely see any significant moves in equities, fixed income or even currency markets today, suggesting
  
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• U.S. government cancels 9/11-era registry for foreigners

  22-12-2016 20:15
  By Doina Chiacu WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government is cancelling an inactive registry programme for visitors from countries where extremist groups are operating, a plan similar to a Muslim registry considered by President-elect Donald Trump. The Department of Homeland Security is formally ending the National Security Entry-Exit Registration Systems programme, known as NSEERS, by removing outdated regulations, spokesman Neema Hakim said on Thursday. "The intervening years have shown that
  
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• Aubameyang among finalists for African Footballer of the Year

  22-12-2016 20:00
  African Footballer of the Year Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is in the running to win the award for a second successive season after being named on Thursday among the three finalists for the 2016 title. The Gabon and Borussia Dortmund striker is up against favourite Riyad Mahrez of Algeria and Senegal's Sadio Mane for the accolade, which will be to be handed out in Nigeria on Jan. 5, when the Confederation of African Football holds their annual awards ceremony. Mahrez was the creative linchpin of Le
  
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• Exclusive - How India lobbied Moody's for ratings upgrade, but failed

  22-12-2016 19:58
  By Aditya Kalra and Rajesh Kumar Singh NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India criticised Moody's ratings methods and pushed aggressively for an upgrade, documents reviewed by Reuters show, but the U.S.-based agency declined to budge citing concerns over the country's debt levels and fragile banks. Winning a better credit rating on India's sovereign debt would have been a much-needed endorsement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's economic stewardship, helping to attract foreign investment and accelerate grow
  
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• Death toll in Mexico fireworks market blast rises to 35

  22-12-2016 19:49
  The death toll from a chain of explosions at a popular fireworks market on Mexico City's outskirts rose to at least 35 after two more people were added to the list, the local government said on Thursday. The cause of the blast on Tuesday that struck the San Pablito open-air market in Tultepec, about 20 miles (30 km) north of Mexico City, several days before Christmas, remained unknown. The number of people killed has increased to 35, the State of Mexico's government said in a statement.
  
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• Egypt, pressured by Israel, delays U.N. vote on settlements - diplomats

  22-12-2016 19:10
  By Michelle Nichols and Jeffrey Heller UNITED NATIONS/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Egypt postponed a U.N. Security Council vote on Thursday on a resolution it proposed demanding an end to Israeli settlement building, diplomats said, saying Cairo acted under pressure from Israel. A vote would have forced U.S. President Barack Obama to decide in his last month in office whether to shield Israel with a veto, or, by abstaining, to register criticism of the building on occupied land that the Palestinians wa
  
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• Aleppo evacuation nears its end, pro-Assad media says

  22-12-2016 19:02
  By Angus McDowall and Stephanie Nebehay BEIRUT/GENEVA (Reuters) - The evacuation of rebels from their last enclave in Aleppo will soon be complete when the last four buses leave the city, a media unit run by the Syrian government's ally Hezbollah said on Thursday. State media showed footage of a convoy waiting to cross from the Ramousah highway junction in south Aleppo to rebel-held al-Rashideen in the countryside just southwest of the city. The end to the evacuation of rebel-held eastern Aleppo
  
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• Trump calls for expanded U.S. nuclear weapons capability

  22-12-2016 19:00
  PALM BEACH, Fla./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump called on Thursday for the country to expand its nuclear weapons capabilities until the world "comes to its senses" - a signal he may support costly efforts to modernize the ageing U.S. nuclear arsenal. "The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes," Trump said in a post on Twitter. Trump, who is at his Florida resort for the Ch
  
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• Snowden still has contacts with Russian intelligence - U.S. House report

  22-12-2016 18:58
  By Mark Hosenball and Jonathan Landay WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden "has had and continues to have contact" with Russian intelligence services, according to a newly declassified U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee report released on Thursday. The Pentagon found 13 undisclosed "high risk" security issues caused by Snowden's release to media outlets of tens of thousands of the U.S. eavesdropping agency's most sensitive documents,
  
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• Peru vows to back graft probes as Odebrecht plea shakes country

  22-12-2016 18:52
  The government of Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said it was helping the attorney general's office obtain information from prosecutors abroad after Brazil-based Odebrecht said in a global plea deal that it doled out $29 million in bribes to local officials over three presidencies. Kuczynski has not been implicated in any act of corruption, Prime Minister Fernando Zavala stressed on Wednesday after engineering conglomerate Odebrecht acknowledged paying $20 million to benefit a high-rank
  
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• Morocco searching for authors of posts praising Russian ambassador's assassination

  22-12-2016 18:49
  Morocco's government said on Thursday it was working to identify the authors of social media posts praising the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey this week. Ambassador Andrei Karlov was gunned down by an assassin while giving a speech in an art gallery in Ankara on Monday. Morocco has been trying to develop ties with Moscow as it seeks new business partners and builds support on the United Nations Security Council for its proposal to offer the disputed Western Sahara region auton
  
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• Clinton wins popular vote by nearly 2.9 million

  22-12-2016 18:48
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Clinton received nearly 2.9 million more votes than President-elect Donald Trump, giving her the largest popular vote margin of any losing presidential candidate.
  
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