Political news

• Trump says for first time: I think Russia hacked Dems

  11-01-2017 23:41
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump speculated Wednesday that U.S. intelligence agencies might have leaked details about a classified briefing with him that included unsubstantiated allegations that Russia had collected compromising sexual and financial information about him.
  
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• Profligate Saints squander chances in 1-0 win over Liverpool

  11-01-2017 23:38
  (Reuters) - Nathan Redmond's fine first-half goal gave Southampton a 1-0 win over Liverpool in their League Cup semi-final first leg at St Mary's on Wednesday, but the tie remains in the balance after the hosts squandered a series of chances. The Saints were deserved winners against a disappointing Liverpool side, who did far less with the greater share of possession. Poor finishing from Southampton, however, and a rehabilitating performance in goal by Liverpool's Loris Karius left everything to
  
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• AP FACT CHECK: Exxon Mobil lobbying at odds with claim

  11-01-2017 23:34
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump's choice as secretary of state, former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson, denied Wednesday that he had pressed the U.S. to avoid sanctioning Russia over foreign-policy disputes. The record, though, is not so clear.
  
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• Combative Trump concedes Russia's role in election hacking

  11-01-2017 23:33
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — In a combative and freewheeling news conference, President-elect Donald Trump said for the first time Wednesday that he accepts Russia was behind the election year hacking of Democrats that roiled the White House race. Looking ahead, he urged Congress to move quickly to replace President Barack Obama's signature health care law and insisted anew that Mexico will pay the cost of a border wall.
  
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• Trump's Treasury pick boosted an investment with TV talk

  11-01-2017 23:31
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump's choice to become Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, will sell 43 assets to avoid conflicts of interest in office, according to new filings made public Wednesday by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Statements Mnuchin made in a November television interview may already have boosted the value of one of them.
  
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• Madigan re-elected Illinois speaker, nears US tenure record

  11-01-2017 23:31
  
  SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Michael Madigan was re-elected Wednesday to a 17th term leading the Illinois House, putting him on track to soon become the nation's longest-serving statehouse speaker in more than a century, but he faces an ongoing budget crisis and a shrinking Democratic majority.
  
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• Ivanka Trump shifting gears, heading to Washington

  11-01-2017 23:27
  
  DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Ivanka Trump plans to step aside from her executive roles at the Trump Organization and her lifestyle brand, but says she is confident both businesses will continue to "thrive."
  
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• U.S. must signal China's access to artificial islands will be denied -Tillerson

  11-01-2017 23:21
  The United States must send a clear signal to China that its island-building in the contested South China Sea must stop and that its access to those islands will not be allowed, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of state said on Wednesday. In comments certain to enrage Beijing, Rex Tillerson told his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee that China's building of islands and putting military assets on those islands was "akin to Russia&rsqu
  
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• Tillerson supports keeping Russia sanctions for now

  11-01-2017 23:21
  By Patricia Zengerle and Yeganeh Torbati WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, said on Wednesday he favored maintaining current U.S. sanctions against Russia for now and that NATO allies were right to be alarmed by Moscow's growing aggression. Tillerson's backing for a more assertive policy toward Russia than Trump has espoused was tempered, however, by his refusal to commit to support maintaining President Barack Obama's executive o
  
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• Murray makes career commitment to play at Queen's

  11-01-2017 23:19
  Britain's world number one Andy Murray has committed to compete in the Aegon Championships at The Queen’s Club for the rest of his career, officials said on Wednesday. The Wimbledon warm-up tournament has proved to be Murray's most successful hunting ground, as he has hoisted the super-sized silver cup a record five times. Last year his Queen's Club triumph sparked off a season to remember for the Scot, who won a second Wimbledon title and a second Olympic gold medal before finishing as wo
  
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• Tennis: Murray makes career commitment to play at Queen's

  11-01-2017 23:02
  The Wimbledon warm-up tournament has proved to be Murray's most successful hunting ground, as he has hoisted the super-sized silver cup a record five times
  
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• Ex-Barclays employee gets prison term for insider trading scheme

  11-01-2017 22:54
  By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former director at Barclays Plc was sentenced on Wednesday to five months in a U.S. prison for repeatedly passing tips about mergers under way at the bank to a plumber, who made thousands of dollars trading ahead of the deals' announcements. Steven McClatchey, 58, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla in Manhattan to pay a $10,000 fine and jointly with the plumber forfeit $76,000 after pleading guilty in July to conspiracy and securi
  
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• Redmond strike gives Saints 1-0 win over Liverpool

  11-01-2017 22:53
  (Reuters) - A fine goal by Southampton forward Nathan Redmond gave them a 1-0 win over Liverpool in the first leg of their League Cup semi-final at St Mary’s on Wednesday. Redmond managed to stay onside before darting onto Jay Rodriguez’s through pass to steer the ball right footed past the advancing Loris Karius in the 20th minute. The Saints, however, could rue missing further chances, including two more for Redmond, when they travel to defend their lead in the second leg at Anfiel
  
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• Trump's long-awaited news conference quickly turns combative

  11-01-2017 22:51
  
  A shouting match with a reporter. A long unexplained prop. An unexpected interlude from a lawyer. Donald Trump's raucous first news conference as president-elect bore little resemblance to the usually ...
  
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• Peru comptroller says Odebrecht irregularities cost country $283 million

  11-01-2017 22:47
  Irregularities detected in contracts awarded to Brazilian builder Odebrecht SA, a family-owned conglomerate at the center of a growing graft scandal in Latin American, have cost Peru at least $283 million, the comptroller said on Wednesday. Authorities in Peru have been scrambling to gauge damages that Odebrecht may have wrought in the Andean country since the company acknowledged bribing unnamed officials there and in other countries in the region in a record $3.5 billion global plea deal signe
  
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• Fury, forgiveness at condemned South Carolina church gunman's sentencing

  11-01-2017 22:42
  By Harriet McLeod CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - White supremacist Dylann Roof, condemned to death for a mass shooting at a Charleston, South Carolina, church, heard forgiveness and fury at his sentencing hearing on Wednesday from grieving loved ones of the nine slain black parishioners. Some victims' family members called the 22-year-old Roof evil and deserving of the death penalty for the June 17, 2015, attack at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the oldest African-American congregatio
  
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• U.S. yields, dollar fall; Trump offers little policy detail

  11-01-2017 22:41
  By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Treasuries rallied across the board on Wednesday, while the dollar fell to one-month lows after President-elect Donald Trump, in a widely-awaited press briefing, failed to provide clarity on future fiscal policies. U.S. stocks also weakened initially after Trump took aim at the pharmaceutical industry for charging high prices. Treasuries have since held gains despite U.S. stocks recovering from Trump-inspired losses.
  
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• World Series champion Cubs to visit White House on Monday

  11-01-2017 22:37
  
  CHICAGO (AP) — President Barack Obama will welcome the World Series champion Chicago Cubs at the White House on Monday, just five days before he leaves office.
  
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• The Latest: Tillerson differs with Trump on Asia nukes

  11-01-2017 22:34
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on activities in Congress (all times EST):
  
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• The Big Apple’s big drop in crime

  11-01-2017 22:34
  Last year, New York saw the fewest shootings since it started tracking them. Police Commissioner James O’Neill accounts for this success by simply saying New York is becoming better at “deeper problem-solving.” The city has indeed tried many criminal-justice reforms in recent decades. If police view gang leaders, for example, as capable of a life without crime, then the gang leaders might not see themselves as criminals.
  
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• Black lawmakers say Sessions unfit to be attorney general

  11-01-2017 22:32
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Black lawmakers said Wednesday that Sen. Jeff Sessions at times has shown hostility toward civil rights, making him unfit to be attorney general, as a 1986 letter from the widow of Martin Luther King Jr. surfaced strongly expressing opposition to the Alabama senator.
  
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• Deficits and debt seem not atop GOP priorities these days

  11-01-2017 22:30
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — For decades, congressional Republicans have pushed to slash the budget and reduce the size of the federal government, especially during the eight years Democratic President Barack Obama was in office.
  
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• The Latest: Ethics office chief pans Trump on businesses

  11-01-2017 22:24
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President-elect Donald Trump (all times EST):
  
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• 'You are fake news!' Trump presides over turbulent news conference

  11-01-2017 22:23
  By Ayesha Rascoe NEW YORK (Reuters) - The drama started early at Donald Trump's first news conference as president-elect. Trump, who spent much of his U.S. presidential campaign bashing the news media for what he called unfair coverage, kicked off with uncharacteristic praise for the New York Times and other media organizations. The Times, and others, had held back on reporting salacious and unsubstantiated allegations that suggested Trump could be blackmailed by Russia.
  
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• EU says U.S. explanation of Yahoo email scanning not enough

  11-01-2017 22:22
  By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States has not satisfied the European Union's concerns about Yahoo's scanning of all customers' incoming emails for U.S. intelligence purposes, the bloc's justice chief told Reuters in an interview. The European Commission, the EU executive, asked the United States in November for clarifications on the secret court order served to Yahoo as part of its monitoring of a new transatlantic pact facilitating the exchange of personal data by businesses.
  
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• Trump accuses U.S. spy agencies of Nazi practices over 'phony' Russia dossier

  11-01-2017 22:18
  By Ayesha Rascoe NEW YORK (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump escalated a fight with U.S. spy agencies on Wednesday, just nine days before he takes over their command as president, and accused them of practices reminiscent of Nazi Germany. The Republican said leaks from the intelligence community led to some U.S. media outlets reporting unsubstantiated claims that he was caught in a compromising position in Russia. "I think it was disgraceful, disgraceful that the intelligence agencies allo
  
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• Newly leaked dossier on Trump circulated in DC for months

  11-01-2017 22:17
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — It was a bombshell story, emerging on the eve of Donald Trump's first news conference as president-elect: U.S. intelligence officials had presented Trump with unsubstantiated claims that Russia had amassed compromising personal and financial allegations about him.
  
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• Labour’s Lewis claims ‘public good, private bad’

  11-01-2017 22:13 via ft.com
  Tories and own MPs criticise comments on Green Investment Bank privatisation
  
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• MLS all grown up, not waiting for another Beckham

  11-01-2017 22:11
  There will never be another David Beckham and those involved in perhaps the most significant signing in sport history say Major League Soccer does not need one having now established their own credentials and in no need of grandstanding. Ten years ago on Wednesday Beckham sent shockwaves through the football world when he said goodbye to Real Madrid, football's most glamorous club, to sign with Los Angeles Galaxy, giving upstart MLS a jolt of instant legitimacy and recognition. "That was a stero
  
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• Energy chief: Bid to revive Nevada nuclear waste dump doomed

  11-01-2017 22:01
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Any effort to revive the long-dormant nuclear waste dump at Nevada's Yucca Mountain is doomed to fail because the project lacks support from elected officials in the state, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Wednesday.
  
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• U.S. blacklists North Korean officials over rights abuses

  11-01-2017 21:57
  The U.S. Treasury Department has added seven senior North Korean officials, including leader Kim Jong Un's sister, to its sanctions list because of human rights abuses and censorship by the communist nation. The department said in a statement on Wednesday that its Office of Foreign Assets Control added six men and one woman, all officials of the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, along with the Ministry of Labor and the State Planning C
  
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• Trump picks Veterans Affairs insider to lead troubled agency

  11-01-2017 21:55
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday tapped the Department of Veterans Affairs' top health official to lead a beleaguered agency struggling to meet the health needs of millions of veterans.
  
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• The Latest: Tillerson says Islam is a 'great faith'

  11-01-2017 21:54
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on activities in Congress (all times EST):
  
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• Canada's PM picks foreign minister for Trump, Russia challenges

  11-01-2017 21:54
  By David Ljunggren and Andrea Hopkins OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau picked a Russia critic as the country's new top diplomat on Tuesday to work with the incoming U.S. Trump administration and handle potentially fraught trade challenges. Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland was appointed foreign affairs minister but also retained responsibility for the Canada-U.S. relations portfolio, including the trading relationship. The change is part of a wider shuffle of Trudeau's in
  
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• Canada's choice of Russia critic as top diplomat seen as a bold move

  11-01-2017 21:54
  By Andrea Hopkins OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's appointment of an outspoken Russia critic currently under sanctions from Moscow is a bold move by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as he seeks to improve strained relations between the two countries. Chrystia Freeland, who is of Ukrainian descent and fluent in Russian, was made Canada's top diplomat on Tuesday as part of the first major cabinet shuffle of Trudeau's 14-month-old Liberal government.
  
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• The Latest: Ivanka Trump to step away from businesses

  11-01-2017 21:45
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President-elect Donald Trump (all times EST):
  
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• Republican-led Senate to move forward on 'Obamacare' repeal

  11-01-2017 21:37
  
  The Republican-led Senate is poised to take a step forward on dismantling President Barack Obama's health care law despite anxiety among GOP lawmakers over the lack of an alternative. Senate approval — ...
  
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• Presidential hopeful Fillon says France needs immigration quotas

  11-01-2017 21:37
  By Matthias Galante NICE, France (Reuters) - France's presidential election frontrunner Francois Fillon vowed on Wednesday to take back control of immigration including by imposing quotas on non-European Union nationals as he looks to win votes from the far-right National Front party. Immigration and security are key issues in the campaign for this year's vote with the leader of the National Front, Marine Le Pen, promising to be tough on immigration, radical Islam and to exit the EU's border-fre
  
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• Ruling conservatives reconvene Polish parliament despite opposition blockade

  11-01-2017 21:34
  By Pawel Sobczak and Agnieszka Barteczko WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's parliament resumed proceedings after the winter recess on Wednesday in defiance of an opposition blockade of the plenary hall, escalating a stand-off that has raised fears for democracy in the European Union state. The centrist opposition Civic Platform had sought to delay the reopening of the assembly after the Christmas and New Year holidays, vowing to continue a nearly month-long sit-in unless the ruling conservatives agreed
  
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• NAACP head calls Sessions 'unfit' for attorney general

  11-01-2017 21:30
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of one of the largest African-American civil rights organization told Congress on Wednesday that Sen. Jeff Sessions is "unfit to serve" as attorney general, as a 1986 letter from the widow of Martin Luther King Jr. surfaced strongly expressing opposition to the Alabama senator.
  
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• Turkish, Greek Cypriots exchange maps in symbolic breakthrough

  11-01-2017 21:28
  By Michele Kambas and Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - Leaders of Cyprus's ethnic Greek and Turkish communities exchanged maps outlining rival proposals for territorial boundaries on Wednesday in a groundbreaking move diplomats hope could form part of a deal ending decades of division. Presented, submitted and then sealed in a United Nations vault, territorial adjustments form an integral part of solving the decades-old Cyprus conflict which has kept Greece and Turkey at loggerheads and obstructs Tu
  
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• U.S. indicts six as Volkswagen agrees to $4.3 billion diesel settlement

  11-01-2017 21:19
  By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Volkswagen AG has agreed to plead guilty to U.S. charges it cheated on diesel emissions tests for a decade, accepting the largest fine on an automaker ever, while a federal grand jury indicted six former VW executives for involvement in the conspiracy. Five of the six former Volkswagen executives are in Germany and it is unclear if they will come to the United States to face charges. One of the six, Oliver Schmidt, who was a manager in charge of VW's en
  
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• Trump leaving his global business _ to be run by his sons

  11-01-2017 21:19
  
  Breaking with presidential precedent, Donald Trump said Wednesday he will continue to profit from his global business empire after he enters the White House this month. The Trump Organization, which will ...
  
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• Russia's Chechnya chief says dozens of militants captured - reports

  11-01-2017 21:14
  Dozens of militants were detained and four of them killed in a security operation in Russia's southern region of Chechnya on Wednesday, the provincial head was quoted by local news agencies as saying. The province is now governed by Ramzan Kadyrov, a former rebel fighter now loyal to President Vladimir Putin. The security situation in the North Caucasus region remains volatile as unemployment and corruption is rife, pushing some young men to embrace radical versions of Islam.
  
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• AP FACT CHECK: Trump understates Russia ties

  11-01-2017 21:07
  WASHINGTON (AP) — On the defensive over connections being made between himself and Russia, President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday repeatedly stated that he has no business ties with that country.
  
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• Fury, forgiveness at South Carolina church gunman's sentencing

  11-01-2017 21:04
  By Harriet McLeod CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - White supremacist Dylann Roof, condemned to death for the brutal mass shooting at a Charleston, South Carolina, church, heard forgiveness and fury at his sentencing hearing on Wednesday from grieving loved ones of the nine slain black parishioners. Some victims' family members called Roof, 22, evil and deserving of the death penalty for the June 17, 2015, attack at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the oldest African-American congregation
  
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• France to buy out Areva shareholders in bid for nuclear fix

  11-01-2017 21:03
  By Geert De Clercq PARIS (Reuters) - France will buy out minority shareholders in Areva and delist the troubled nuclear group, the government said on Wednesday as talks with potential investors in a new nuclear fuel company being spun out of Areva neared a conclusion. The state, which owns 87 percent of Areva, said it would offer 4.5 euros per Areva SA share to minority investors which include Kuwait's investment fund, French utility EDF and French energy group Total . Areva's shares have fallen
  
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• Polish parliament reconvenes despite opposition blockade

  11-01-2017 21:02
  (Reuters) - Poland's parliament resumed proceedings after the winter recess on Wednesday in defiance of an opposition blockade of the plenary hall, a move that could escalate a crisis posing a risk to stability in the European Union state. The centrist opposition Civic Platform had sought to delay the reopening of the assembly after the Christmas and New Year holidays, vowing to continue a nearly month-long sit-in unless the ruling conservatives agreed to a re-run of a budget vote. (Reporting by
  
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• Trump says pharma 'getting away with murder,' stocks slide

  11-01-2017 20:54
  By Caroline Humer and Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday said pharmaceutical companies are "getting away with murder" in what they charge the government for medicines, and promised that would change, sending drugs stocks sharply lower. The benchmark S&P 500 index slipped into negative territory after his remarks at a news conference spooked investors. The Ishares Nasdaq Biotech ETF dropped 4 percent at its session low and was on track for its l
  
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• Amazon halts sales of Indian flag doormat after visa threat

  11-01-2017 20:42
  By Sankalp Phartiyal MUMBAI (Reuters) - Amazon.com removed doormats resembling the Indian tri-colour flag from its Canadian website on Wednesday, after an Indian government threat to rescind visas of the U.S. company's employees if they did not stop selling the product. "Amazon must tender unconditional apology," external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said on Twitter. "They must withdraw all products insulting our national flag immediately." "If this is not done forthwith, we will not grant Ind
  
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