US Elections news

• Icahn tapped as Trump's special adviser on regulatory issues

  21-12-2016 23:47 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Billionaire Carl Icahn will advise Donald Trump on rescinding what the activist investor called "excessive regulation" on U.S. businesses, the president-elect's transition team announced on Wednesday. Icahn will serve as a special adviser, not a federal employee, and he will not have any specific duties, Trump's team said in a statement. Icahn has been helping the Trump team weigh candidates to be the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, people familiar with the issue said.
  
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• Trump team expands search pool for No. 2 at State

  21-12-2016 23:46 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Donald Trump's transition team has expanded its search for the second-in command at the State Department, several sources familiar with the deliberation told CNN, as one of the leading candidates is facing resistance.
  
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• Trump picks 'Death by China' author for trade advisory role

  21-12-2016 23:41 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. President-elect Donald Trump named Peter Navarro, an economist who has urged a hard line on trade with China, to head a newly formed White House National Trade Council, the transition team said on Wednesday. Navarro is an academic and one-time investment adviser who has authored a number of popular books and made a film describing China's threat to the U.S. economy as well as Beijing's desire to become the dominant economic and military power in Asia. Trump's team praised Navarro in a state
  
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• Trump vows to cut plane costs after meeting defense executives

  21-12-2016 23:38 via news.yahoo.com
  
  President-elect Donald Trump emerged from a meeting with the CEOs of Boeing and Lockheed Martin on Wednesday and said he was working to lower costs on planes sold to the government, including a new Air Force One fleet and the F-35 fighter jet. It's a program that's very very expensive," Trump told reporters after meeting with the aerospace executives and military advisers.
  
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• Trump taps Carl Icahn for regulations busting post

  21-12-2016 23:36 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Donald Trump once suggested he wanted Carl Icahn to be his Treasury secretary. But with that job gone, he instead has tapped Icahn to serve as a special adviser on regulatory reform.
  
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• Abolish NSEERS Muslim registry, NY attorney general tells Obama

  21-12-2016 22:42 via rss.cnn.com
  
  New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman called on President Barack Obama on Wednesday to dismantle a program once used to register and track mostly Arab and Muslim men.
  
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• Blackburn pushes ramped-up vetting of refugees

  21-12-2016 22:40 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Rep. Marsha Blackburn argued Wednesday for a more intense vetting system for incoming refugees, stating "there is no way to keep track of those that are coming in."
  
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• Poll: Democrats want someone new for 2020

  21-12-2016 22:24 via rss.cnn.com
  
  President-elect Donald Trump has yet to take office, but pollsters have already begun to dip their toes into the next presidential cycle.
  
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• Kushner looks for buyers for New York Observer: report

  21-12-2016 22:23 via news.yahoo.com
  
  President-elect Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is looking to sell his newspaper, The New York Observer, the trade newspaper Women's Wear Daily reported on Wednesday. Kushner bought the newspaper for $10 million in 2006, according to reports at the time. One possible suitor could be American Media Inc, owner of the National Enquirer, according to Women's Wear Daily.
  
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• Comey under fire again over Clinton emails

  21-12-2016 22:11 via rss.cnn.com
  
  James Comey is back under fire.
  
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• Boeing CEO says he assured Trump about Air Force One costs

  21-12-2016 21:58 via news.yahoo.com
  
  PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - Boeing Co Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg met with President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday to address concerns about the replacement costs for Air Force One, which Trump has complained would top $4 billion. "We're going to get it done for less than that," Muilenburg told reporters after the meeting, saying that he discussed a "range of topics" with Trump. (Reporting by Melissa Fares; Writing by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Leslie Adler)
  
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• Trump to meet with defense contractors Boeing, Lockheed Martin

  21-12-2016 21:56 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Melissa Fares PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump was scheduled to meet on Wednesday at his Florida resort with the chief executives of two defense contractors he has criticized over project costs. Dennis Muilenburg, of Boeing Co, and Marillyn Hewson, from Lockheed Martin Corp, arrived at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort where he is spending Christmas. Since winning the Nov. 8 election, Trump has complained about the companies in Twitter broadsides and speeches for costs h
  
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• Trump after Berlin, Turkey attacks: 'I've been proven to be right'

  21-12-2016 21:49 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Melissa Fares PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump called the attacks this week in Berlin and Ankara "terrible" on Wednesday and said he has been proven to be correct about his plans to impose curbs on Muslims immigrating to the United States. "What’s going on is terrible, terrible," Trump told reporters, when asked about the truck attack that killed 12 people at a Christmas market in Berlin and the killing of Russia's ambassador to Turkey by a gunman in Ankara
  
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• Trump picks China hawk for trade advisory role

  21-12-2016 21:40 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday named Peter Navarro, an economist who has urged a hard line on China, to head a newly formed White House National Trade Council, the transition team said in a statement. "The formation of the National Trade Council further demonstrates the President-elect's determination to make American manufacturing great again and to provide every American the opportunity to work in a decent job at a decent wage," the statement said. Trump made trade
  
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• Trump win ignites hope for stalled Alaska copper, gold mine

  21-12-2016 21:37 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Nicole Mordant VANCOUVER (Reuters) - A small Canadian miner is confident Donald Trump's U.S. presidential win will let it proceed with an application for a copper and gold mine in Alaska that has been stalled almost three years by environmental regulators aiming to protect the world's biggest sockeye salmon fishery. Ronald Thiessen, chief executive officer and president of Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd, said he expected the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to announce in the first quarter
  
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• Trump sons removed as directors of nonprofit

  21-12-2016 21:28 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are no longer listed as directors of a nonprofit that appeared to advertise a meeting with the incoming president in exchange for a $1 million donation.
  
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• What If We Changed the Electoral College?

  21-12-2016 20:23
  
  “The fat lady has sung.” That’s an old expression about how to tell if an opera is over—“It ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings.” In the age of Donald Trump, such language seems an appropriate way to say that all the crazy, desperate, convoluted things his opponents tried have failed, and Trump will become […]
  
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• Almost 300 arrested as anti-president protests subside in Congo

  21-12-2016 19:37 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Aaron Ross and Tim Cocks KINSHASA (Reuters) - Police said they had arrested 275 people across Democratic Republic of Congo as two days of protests against President Joseph Kabila appeared to subside on Wednesday. Sporadic gunfire rang out over the capital and witnesses reported clashes in the southeastern mining hub of Lubumbashi, but nothing on the scale of the violence when youths took to the streets on Tuesday accusing Kabila of trying to cling to power. Police said 21 civilians and one of
  
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• Trump transportation secretary hedges on massive new infrastructure injection

  21-12-2016 18:38 via rss.cnn.com
  
  President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Department of Transportation doesn't seem to be gung-ho on Trump's idea of a massive infrastructure investment.
  
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• Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski starts DC consulting firm

  21-12-2016 18:33 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Donald Trump's former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski is opening up a political consulting firm with another former Trump adviser -- a move that places him outside but very close to the White House next year.
  
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• Clashes between police, militia in northwest Congo kill 18

  21-12-2016 18:22 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Clashes between police and a militia led by a Christian pastor in northwestern Congo's Mongala province killed 15 militiamen and three policemen, the former deputy commissioner of Mongala said on Wednesday. Police battled the militia loyal to the pastor from the Kimbanguist church, an offshoot of Christianity in Democratic Republic of Congo, on Tuesday, after he kidnapped numerous local residents, Michael Sakombi told Reuters.
  
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• Congo government says arrested 275 in anti-Kabila protests

  21-12-2016 17:52 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Aaron Ross and Tim Cocks KINSHASA (Reuters) - Security forces arrested 275 people and 21 died during protests demanding that President Joseph Kabila step down, police said on Wednesday, although counts by rights groups suggested a higher death toll. Earlier in the day sporadic gunfire echoed across the capital Kinshasa, and security forces repressed a protest in the southeastern mining hub of Lubumbashi, leaving 10 dead and 47 wounded in two days of clashes, King Kasongo, a lawyer and activis
  
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• North Carolina: Lawmakers could repeal 'bathroom bill'

  21-12-2016 17:44 via rss.cnn.com
  
  North Carolina's controversial "bathroom bill" could be repealed Wednesday after months of intense criticism and economic losses.
  
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• Gambian court to hear Jammeh legal challenge on January 10

  21-12-2016 17:41 via news.yahoo.com
  
  BANJUL (Reuters) - Gambia's Chief Justice said on Wednesday that the Supreme Court would hear a legal challenge on Jan. 10 from President Yahya Jammeh's ruling party which seeks to overturn the result of an election he lost this month. Gambia has no sitting Supreme Court but Emmanuel O. Fagbenle said that judges from Nigeria and Sierra Leone had been appointed to hear the case. (Reporting by Lamin Jahateh; Writing by Emma Farge; Editing by Catherine Evans)
  
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• Trump to receive intel briefing, meet Flynn

  21-12-2016 17:16 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Donald Trump is receiving the President's Daily Brief on Wednesday even as his practice for frequently skipping the PDB is coming under fire amid heightened global tensions and terror attacks.
  
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• Trump weighs 'half-blind' trust option for businesses: Politico

  21-12-2016 17:04 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's transition team is considering the use of discretionary trusts to avoid conflicts of interest for Trump family members or administration officials, Politico reported on Wednesday. Such an arrangement would provide individuals with an alternative to selling off assets or placing wealth in blind trusts, which president-elects traditionally do. Trump aides have discussed the idea of discretionary trusts with the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), but it was uncle
  
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• Obama's Arctic Drilling Ban Is Reversible, But The GOP And Big Oil Are Likely In No Rush To Fight It - Forbes

  21-12-2016 16:32 via forbes.com
  
  Forbes
  Obama's Arctic Drilling Ban Is Reversible, But The GOP And Big Oil Are Likely In No Rush To Fight It
  Forbes
  On Wednesday, Mr. Obama took one more of many parting shots at the domestic oil and gas industry at the behest of his supporters in the anti-development lobby, setting aside much of the northeastern Atlantic coast, all U.S. waters off the North Slope ...
  Obama makes final push on key legacy areasCNN
  Obama Bans Drilling in Parts of the Atlantic and the ArcticNew York Times
  Obama Pla
  
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• Israel ambassador to US: Move embassy to Jerusalem

  21-12-2016 16:26 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Israeli ambassador to the US Ron Dermer called on the US to move its embassy to Jerusalem, a campaign pledge President-elect Donald Trump has promised to make good on.
  
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• Trump just can't get over Election Day

  21-12-2016 16:07 via rss.cnn.com
  
  The new year is quickly approaching, and with it, a new administration that must face terror and other challenges around the world. But on Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump was looking back to his upset victory in the 2016 campaign, still eager to rebut naysayers who've criticized him for losing the popular vote.
  
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• Gambia's Jammeh defies African leaders, says he will not step down

  21-12-2016 15:36 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Lamin Jahateh BANJUL (Reuters) - Gambian President Yahya Jammeh vowed to stay in power when his mandate ends in January, defying calls from West African leaders to hand over to the winner of a Dec. 1 election. Regional bloc ECOWAS hopes diplomacy can persuade Jammeh to step down but has also warned it would take "all necessary actions" to resolve the impasse. Neighbouring Senegal indicated, however, that military action would be a last resort.
  
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• Congo forces kill eight in mining hub during anti-govt protests, NGO says

  21-12-2016 15:33 via news.yahoo.com
  
  KINSHASA (Reuters) - Congolese security forces killed eight civilians and wounded 35 others in the southeastern mining hub of Lubumbashi on Tuesday and Wednesday during protests against President Joseph Kabila, a local NGO said. King Kasongo, a lawyer and activist for Humanism and Human Rights (HDH), said the killings took place in the Katuba district of the city. Several local government offices, health centers and gas stations were also attacked by demonstrators, he said, and one policeman was
  
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• President-elect Trump's still going wrong on Twitter

  21-12-2016 15:24 via rss.cnn.com
  
  When the President-elect speaks, people listen -- and governments, businesses and ordinary citizens scramble to parse, interpret and, given his power, make snap decisions about how to act and respond.
  
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• Gingrich: Trump dropping 'drain the swamp'

  21-12-2016 15:24 via rss.cnn.com
  
  "Drain the swamp" was a refrain of Donald Trump during the presidential campaign, but Newt Gingrich says the president-elect "doesn't want to use it anymore" now that he's knee-deep in alligators.
  
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• Gingrich: Trump dropping 'drain the swamp' - CNN

  21-12-2016 15:14 via cnn.com
  
  CNN
  Gingrich: Trump dropping 'drain the swamp'
  CNN
  Gingrich explained away the gap between Trump's rhetoric and actions, saying that "he's in a different role now, and maybe he feels that as president, as the next president of the United States, that he should be marginally more dignified than talking ...
  Gingrich Says Trump Must Address Business Conflicts Soon, Urges MonitoringNPR
  Gingrich: Trump backing away from 'drain the swamp'Politico
  Newt Gingrich says Trump is done with 'drain the swamp
  
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• Sources: Russia tests anti-satellite weapon

  21-12-2016 14:40 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Russia has recently tested what is believed to be an anti-satellite weapon, US sources with knowledge of the test told CNN.
  
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• Copeland by-election: when is it and why has Jamie Reed quit? - Telegraph.co.uk

  21-12-2016 14:33 via telegraph.co.uk
  
  Telegraph.co.uk
  Copeland by-election: when is it and why has Jamie Reed quit?
  Telegraph.co.uk
  Copeland by-election: when is it and why has Jamie Reed quit? Labour MP Jamie Reed has quit his Copeland constituency. Michael Wilkinson, Political Correspondent. 21 December 2016 • 3:03pm. A by-election will be held in the Copeland constituency ...
  Corbyn critic Labour MP Jamie Reed quits Parliament, triggering Copeland by-electionThe Independent
  Corbyn critic quits as Labour MP, triggering
  
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• Germany suspends aid talks with Congo after Kabila overstays

  21-12-2016 14:17 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Germany has indefinitely postponed talks on development assistance to Congo after President Joseph Kabila stayed in power despite his mandate expiring this week, the German foreign office said on Wednesday. "The negotiations on development cooperation scheduled to take place next year will be postponed indefinitely.
  
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• Congress: Obama admin fired top scientist to advance climate change plans - Fox News

  21-12-2016 14:17 via foxnews.com
  
  Fox News
  Congress: Obama admin fired top scientist to advance climate change plans
  Fox News
  A new congressional investigation has determined that the Obama administration fired a top scientist and intimidated staff at the Department of Energy in order to further its climate change agenda, according to a new report that alleges the ...and more »
  
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• At least 19 Congolese dead, 45 wounded by gunshot in anti-Kabila protests: U.N.

  21-12-2016 14:15 via news.yahoo.com
  
  KINSHASA (Reuters) - The U.N. mission in Democratic Republic of Congo has confirmed 19 deaths and 45 injuries from gunshots during protests on Tuesday against President Joseph Kabila for overstaying his mandate, the human rights director said on Wednesday. "We are very concerned by the excessive use of force by state agents, notably the (police), the Republican Guard, the military police and the National Agency of Intelligence," Jose Maria Aranaz, head of the U.N. human rights office in Congo, t
  
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• Obama makes final push on legacy

  21-12-2016 13:30 via rss.cnn.com
  
  President Barack Obama, as his tenure draws to a close, is deploying his legal authority in a last-minute bid to cement the areas of his legacy threatened by Donald Trump's incoming administration.
  
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• Obama Blocks Offshore Drilling In Atlantic, Arctic Areas - NPR

  21-12-2016 13:18 via npr.org
  
  Obama Blocks Offshore Drilling In Atlantic, Arctic Areas
  NPR
  President Obama has placed large sections of the Arctic and the Atlantic Oceans off limits to oil drilling. The oil industry wants President-elect Trump to overturn the order when he takes office. Facebook; Twitter. Google+. Email ...
  
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• Obama makes final push on legacy areas

  21-12-2016 12:52 via rss.cnn.com
  
  President Barack Obama, as his tenure draws to a close, is deploying his legal authority in a last-minute bid to cement the areas of his legacy threatened by Donald Trump's incoming administration.
  
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• Trump's still going wrong on Twitter

  21-12-2016 12:38 via rss.cnn.com
  
  When the President-elect speaks, people listen -- and governments, businesses and ordinary citizens scramble to parse, interpret and, given his power, make snap decisions about how to act and respond.
  
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• Dear Obama: progressives share what they want done before president leaves - The Guardian

  21-12-2016 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  New York Times
  Dear Obama: progressives share what they want done before president leaves
  The Guardian
  Barack Obama has less than one month left in the White House, and progressive activists are hoping he makes the most of it. While Donald Trump and his cabinet nominees have threatened to undo many of Obama's signature achievements, advocates ...
  A Creative Plea From Immigrants, and a Ticking Clock for ObamaNew York Times
  Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) | USC
  
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• The strange serenity of Barack Obama - The Week Magazine

  21-12-2016 11:59 via theweek.com
  
  The Week Magazine
  The strange serenity of Barack Obama
  The Week Magazine
  President Obama disappointed liberal detractors and admirers alike last week when, in his last press conference of the year, he did not go ballistic about Russian efforts to tip the presidential election to an unqualified and bigoted clown, but instead ...
  
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• Sporadic gunfire in Congo capital after 26 killed in anti-Kabila protests

  21-12-2016 09:55 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Aaron Ross KINSHASA (Reuters) - Sporadic gunfire echoed across Democratic Republic of Congo's capital on Wednesday, the day after security forces killed at least 26 protesters demanding President Joseph Kabila step down after his mandate as elected leader expired. A government spokesman could not be reached to comment on the nationwide death toll, compiled by New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), which said it was yet to give a final tally. The United Nations human rights director for the
  
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• Ex-US ambassador on killing in Turkey: 'I think this can escalate'

  21-12-2016 04:19 via rss.cnn.com
  
  One day after the assassination of Andrey Karlov -- Russia's ambassador to Turkey -- Christopher Hill says the deadly incident may be a symptom of a disease running rampant throughout the Asian nation.
  
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• Manchin on WV opioid abuse: 'We need to declare a war on drugs'

  21-12-2016 03:02 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin called for a new "war on drugs" Tuesday to combat the opiate crisis striking his state of West Virginia, eagerly adopting the language of the now much-criticized Nixon-era push to curb illicit substance use.
  
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• Obama's 'safe space' hypocrisy - New York Post

  21-12-2016 02:19 via nypost.com
  
  Obama's 'safe space' hypocrisy
  New York Post
  I've never understood the excitement many Americans feel when President Obama speaks. When it's Presidential Lecture Time, I usually flip the channel to “Cops” reruns or daydream about Hawaiian Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. There is, however, one ...
  
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• Gambian President Jammeh says he will not step down

  21-12-2016 02:02 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Gambian President Yahya Jammeh said he would not step down and condemned mediation by West African regional bloc ECOWAS that aims to get him to leave power after he lost a Dec. 1 election to challenger Adama Barrow. Nobody can deprive me of that victory except the Almighty Allah," Jammeh said. "Already the ECOWAS meeting was a formality.
  
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