Wednesday 12 October 2016

Dunya TV

Dunya TV

Pakistan delegation briefs UN Under Sect General on Kashmir

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NEW YORK (Dunya News) - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s special envoys on Kashmir, Mushahid Hussain Syed and Dr Shazra Mansab along with Pakistans permanent ambassador to the United Nations Dr Maleeha Lodhi on Wednesday met UN Under Secretary General, Dunya News reported.Prime Minister’s special envoys briefed the UN Under Secretary General over Kashmir situation. Pakistani delegation apprised him about the current situation in Kashmir and allegations of human rights violations in the Valley.The Pakistan delegation also handed over evidences of Indian atrocities against Kashmiris in Held Kashmir to UN Under Secretary General.

Football: Blockbuster budget forecast at Barcelona

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BARCELONA (AFP) - Heavyweight football power Barcelona are to table a record 695 million euros (627M, $766M) budget forecast for the 2016-2017 season at an upcoming annual General Assembly, the club revealed on Wednesday.On the basis of this the Socios, the fans who are the clubs stakeholders, would be asked to approve an operating expenses budget of EUR663 million at the meeting on October 29.Club president Josep Maria Bartomeu has said he wants to see the club become the first in history to have a turn over of a billion euros in one year, something he predicts could happen in 2021.They closed the 2015-2016 fiscal year, a season in which they won La Liga and the Copa Del Rey double, with a record income of EUR608 million and a profit of EUR15 million.The club has had a raise in television and marketing revenue since then and last month opened offices in New York as part of its global branding expansion.Arch rival La Liga outfit Real Madrid earned EUR620 million last year and has been the top earning club in world football for the past 11 seasons.

Haiti tops list of disaster deaths: United Nations

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GENEVA (AFP) - Hurricane-ravaged Haiti, still recovering from a devastating 2010 earthquake, has suffered the highest number of disaster deaths of any country in the past two decades, the UN said Thursday.Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, currently reeling from the impact of Hurricane Matthew which has left at least 473 people dead, registered nearly 230,000 disaster deaths over the past two decades, a new report by the United Nations agency for disaster risk reduction (UNISDR) found.The study analysed data from more than 7,000 disasters over the past 20 years.In a statement, UN chief Ban Ki-moon described the reports findings as a damning indictment of inequality, pointing out that high income countries suffer huge economic losses in disasters, but people in low income countries pay with their lives.The study determined that 90 percent of the 1.35 million people who had died in disasters between 1996 and 2015 lived in low- or middle-income countries, with Haiti alone accounting for about a sixth of the deaths.There is a clear connection between the socioeconomic status of a country and the loss of life associated with these hazards that strike these countries, UNISDR chief Robert Glasser told reporters.The Haiti toll was by far the highest of any country during the period -- followed by Indonesia with more than 182,000 deaths and Myanmar with 139,500 deaths, Thursdays report showed.Glasser said that in 2010, when Haiti saw 223,000 people perish in a massive earthquake, equally violent quakes caused far fewer casualties in Chile and no deaths at all in New Zealand.The links to poverty are absolutely clear in this example in Haiti, Glasser told reporters.He insisted it was outrageous and unacceptable that the country had once again suffered massive disaster losses that could have been avoided with better preparedness -- a lesson it should have learned after the earthquake.Of course it is challenging in a country like Haiti for reasons of governance and poverty, he acknowledged, but insisted the challenges were not insurmountable.Haiti, with the help of the international community, must take clear steps, including improving early warning systems and educating the community on how to follow disaster alerts, Glasser said.This is the last time we should have this sort of situation, he said.The report meanwhile showed that earthquakes and the tsunamis they trigger were been the biggest killers over the past two decades, together accounting for 748,621 deaths.But climate-related disasters like floods, landslides, heatwaves and severe storms have surged, with such events more than doubling in the past 20 years, Glasser said.

Palestine Football association asks FIFA to take action against Israel

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RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) - The Palestinian Football Association on Wednesday reiterated a call for FIFA to act against Israeli clubs based in settlements in the occupied West Bank, a day ahead of a key meeting.Six Israeli teams are based in settlements, which are considered illegal under international law, and FIFA is expected to discuss the issue during its executive committee on Thursday and Friday.Palestinian FA head Jibril Rajoub called on FIFA to force Israel to either expel the clubs or relocate them inside Israels recognised borders.We are sending a message to the international community and the executive committee of FIFA that the time has come to solve this matter, he said.FIFA president Gianni Infantino last week told AFP the settlement clubs were a priority for him.Asked by AFP what they would do if FIFA didnt rule in their favour this week, Rajoub said they could take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.We will take it to (CAS) and demand FIFA respect international law, he said.The Israel Football Association has accused the Palestinians of dragging sport from the football field into a political one, saying it wants to develop the game as a bridge connecting people and not as a wall that divides them.Wilfried Lemke, special adviser to the UN secretary-general on sport for development and peace, last week wrote to FIFA in support of the Palestinians case.All teams playing in recognised FIFA competitions should abide by the laws of the game, he said in a letter.A FIFA committee headed by South Africas Tokyo Sexwale was established last year to consider complaints against the Israeli FA.

Two rounds of Syria talks set for weekend

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - Despite repeated setbacks on the path to peace in war-wracked Syria, world and regional powers will give diplomacy another chance in weekend talks in Europe, organized by the US and Russia, to try to secure a ceasefire that sticks.Washington and Moscow, which officially cut off bilateral contact on the issue last week after a truce deal unraveled, on Wednesday announced two days of talks -- in Lausanne on Saturday, and in London on Sunday.The meetings come after Syria was plunged into some of the worst violence it has seen, as government forces backed by Russian airpower push a brutal assault on rebel-held eastern Aleppo.Fresh air strikes and artillery fire in Aleppo on Wednesday left at least seven people dead, an international monitor said, a day after Russia was accused of stepping up its raids on the city. In the Swiss city, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov should be joined by their counterparts from Turkey and Gulf countries. Lavrov named Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar -- all backers of Syrian opposition forces -- as possible participants. But neither side confirmed an invitation to Iran, a key player in the conflict and an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.Then in London, Kerry will likely meet up with his European counterparts -- Britain, France and Germany.Both meetings will focus on a multilateral approach to resolving the crisis in Syria, including a sustained cessation of violence and the resumption of humanitarian aid deliveries, the State Department said Wednesday.In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed the hope that the meeting set for October 15 in Lausanne... will be productive and contribute in a concrete way to a resolution of the conflict, the Kremlin said.French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Putin to push for a ceasefire, despite the repeated setbacks.Lavrov, meanwhile, told CNN in an interview Wednesday that he hoped the weekend talks in Switzerland could help launch a serious dialogue based on the now-defunct US-Russian pact.We would like to have a meeting in this narrow format, to have a businesslike discussion, not another General Assembly-like debate, Lavrov said. The United Nations said that Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura had been invited to take part in the talks but it was not clear he would attend.Hopes were low of a breakthrough to end the five-year conflict that has claimed some 300,000 lives.The West has accused Russia of potential war crimes over its bombing campaign in Aleppo and some have even called for punitive measures against Moscow. Russia has responded by bolstering its forces in the war-torn country. Putin on Wednesday warned Western countries against imposing sanctions against Moscow over Syria, stressing that Russia would not let itself be isolated.We should not go down the path of pressure and blackmail but search for compromise, Putin said at an investment forum in Moscow.I have said one hundred times that we are ready to search for these compromises. We would very much like that our partners treat us this way.Putin earlier this week cancelled a long-planned visit to France after Hollande insisted they discuss Syria, and on Wednesday slammed Paris for presenting a UN proposal on Aleppo at the weekend that Russia vetoed.They put forward the resolution knowing that it would not pass... in order to incite a veto, Putin said. Why? It was aimed at inflaming the situation and fanning hysteria around Russia.The Lausanne talks will mark the first meeting between Kerry and Lavrov since the two countries froze their ceasefire talks on October 3, after the ceasefire they brokered quickly crumbled.Washington and Moscow have traded blame for the failure of their talks, but in fact, the negotiations never really stopped, with Kerry and Lavrov speaking by telephone.The United Nations has warned of the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe taking place in Aleppo, saying that the rebel-held territory could be destroyed entirely by the end of the year.Pope Francis appealed on Wednesday for an immediate ceasefire in Syria, calling for at least a truce enabling civilians, especially children, to be evacuated, after Aleppo came under fierce air assault. It is with a sense of urgency that I renew my appeal, begging those responsible, with all my strength, for an immediate ceasefire to be imposed and respected, the pontiff told his weekly audience in Saint Peters Square at the Vatican.

Turkish currency hits record low after slew of bad data

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ANKARA (AFP) - The Turkish currency struck a record low on Wednesday after data showed a larger-than-expected widening of the countrys current account deficit.The lira hit 3.0974 to the US dollar at one point in the afternoon, losing more than 0.3 percent of its value against a rising greenback. It edged back to 3.0868 in the evening.The lira has recently been losing value, after having rallied following a 5 percent crash on the July 15 attempted coup.The Turkish currency has come under pressure after a slew of data showing the impact of the failed coup, including Wednesdays current account deficit numbers showing it was wider than expected.The current account account balance in August produced a deficit of $1.78 billion on a month-by-month basis, according to the Turkish Central Bank.The shortfall was worse than the consensus of $1.5 billion and worse than our forecast of $1.1 billion, chief economist Ozgur Altug at BGC Partners in Istanbul said in a note.Altug blamed the decline in tourism revenues and rise in energy prices for the deterioration, adding that the pace was also slightly faster than what everybody assumed.Earlier this month Turkeys government cut its 2016 growth forecast from 4.5 percent to 3.2 percent.Investors have been rattled over the political instability in Turkey despite initial unity between the government and the main opposition party, Republican Peoples Party (CHP) in the weeks after the attempted putsch.This month the government extended the state of emergency for another 12 weeks -- which the CHP opposed.The pressure on the lira comes as the dollar has been rising against most currencies as investors speculate about the US Federal Reserve raising interest rates by the end of the year.

Blast kills 14 in northern Afghanistan

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MAZAR-I-SHARIF (AFP) - At least 14 persons were killed Wednesday in a powerful blast at a mosque in northern Afghanistan, the second deadly attack on the minority in as many days during the major festival of Ashura.The explosion happened at the gate of the Shiite mosque in the centre of Balkh district (in Balkh province), said the provincial governors spokesman Munir Ahmad Farhad, adding that 14 people were killed and 28 injured.His account was confirmed by the provincial deputy police chief.The blast came as the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for twin attacks in Kabul Tuesday that also targeted Shiites, killing up to 18 people and wounding dozens.Witnesses said gunmen entered the Karte Sakhi shrine near Kabul University late Tuesday, firing indiscriminately on men, women and children as they tried to flee. The interior ministry said one was wearing a suicide vest.At the same time, another attacker entered a nearby mosque and took an unspecified number of people hostage as they were commemorating Ashura, the ministry said.The UN called the attack an atrocity and put the toll at 18, though the interior ministry later said it was 16. White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said the attacks were cowardly and clearly designed to stoke sectarian tension in the country. State Department spokesman John Kirby also condemned the violence.We commend the government and security forces of Afghanistan for their response to these attacks and their commitment to the peace, security, and prosperity of their country and a future for Afghanistan free of sectarian violence, he said.Sectarian attacks have been relatively rare in Afghanistan, unlike neighbouring Pakistan where violence -- particularly by Sunni hardliners against the Shiite minority -- has claimed thousands of lives over the past decade.However, the threat of attacks on Shiites was considered particularly serious during Ashura, and many foreign embassies in Kabul had restricted staff movements until the end of the week. Ashura, marked on Wednesday, commemorates the death of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, who was assassinated in the year 680 and whose tragic end laid the foundation for the faith practised by the Shiite community. For Shiites around the world, Ashura is a symbol of the struggle against oppression. In 2011 about 80 people were killed and more than 100 wounded when a suicide bomber struck a gathering of Shiites during Ashura in the heart of Kabul. Grieving worshippers Wednesday described desperately trying to shelter their children against a hail of gunfire during the Kabul attacks.One mother who gave her name as Saleha told AFP of a gunman who was killing everyone.She was shot in the leg as she tried to protect her child. While I was hugging my little son I begged him not to kill my child, she said at a Kabul hospital.The child survived, but she angrily denounced the Afghan government for failing to protect them. The families of the president, CEO Dr. Abdullah and other rich ones live abroad. Here, only poor people are killed every day. Another witness, Ali Hussain, said attackers indiscriminately shot everyone they faced. They wouldnt even spare women and children.On Wednesday the Islamic State groups affiliate in Afghanistan and Pakistan claimed the Kabul attack, which President Ashraf Ghani condemned as a clear sign of a crime against humanity.Until recent months the group had been confined to its stronghold in eastern Nangarhar, but in July it claimed twin bombings that tore through minority Shiite Hazara protesters in Kabul, killing 84 people in the deadliest attack in the capital since 2001.Its leader Hafiz Saeed was killed in a US airstrike in Nangarhar that same month, and officials have denied the July attack marked a turning point for IS in Afghanistan, saying the group has been under heavy pressure from US strikes and Afghan forces on the ground.

US destroyer again targeted by missile off Yemen

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US destroyer has for the second time in four days been targeted by a missile fired from rebel-held territory in Yemen, the Pentagon said Wednesday.The USS Mason detected at least one incoming missile around 6:00 pm local time (1500 GMT) and deployed unspecified countermeasures before the missile crashed into the ocean, though it was unclear if these actions caused the missile to hit the water, or if it would have gone down anyway.There was no damage to the ship or its crew. USS Mason will continue its operations, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said.The Mason was conducting routine operations in international waters off the Red Sea coast of Yemen, meaning it was at least 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers) out to sea.The attack saw a coastal defense cruise missile fired from a Huthi-controlled area south of Al-Hudaydah, a US defense official said. On Sunday, two missiles fired from rebel-held territory in Yemen again fell short of the Mason, and the Pentagon has said it is willing to retaliate for the attacks.We will respond to this threat at the appropriate time and in the appropriate manner, Cook said.US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson added the attacks were serious but would not hamper operations.We are trained and ready to defend ourselves and to respond quickly and decisively, he said.The United States is backing a Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iran-backed Huthi rebels and the forces of former Yemeni president Ali Abdallah Saleh.The US military provides intelligence and air-refueling for Arab coalition aircraft conducting air strikes against the rebels. It also supplies advanced munitions and logistics support to the Saudi-led war effort, and is the kingdoms biggest arms supplier.But US air forces are not directly involved in strikes in Yemen, which are increasingly criticized by the international community for their devastating impact on civilians.After a deadly air strike by the Saudi-led coalition Saturday on a funeral in Yemen killed more than 140 people, the US administration announced an immediate review of its cooperation.The Riyadh-led coalition fighting the Huthis has accused rebels of firing a ballistic missile towards the southwestern Saudi city of Taif, hundreds of kilometers (miles) from the Yemeni border.The incidents come after the United Arab Emirates, a key member of a Saudi-led coalition, said last Wednesday that Yemeni rebels struck a civilian vessel in the strategic Bab al-Mandab waterway, wounding crewmen.That attack, conducted October 1, was claimed by the Shiite rebels.Coalition warships have imposed a naval blockade on rebel-held ports along Yemens Red Sea coast allowing in only UN-approved aid shipments.The Huthis swept into Sanaa in September 2014 and advanced across much of Yemen, forcing the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to flee. The conflict has killed more than 6,700 people -- almost two-thirds of them civilians -- and displaced at least three million since the coalition launched military operations, according to the United Nations.

Palestinian child killed along Gaza border: ministry

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GAZA CITY (AFP) - A 10-year-old Palestinian boy was killed along the Gazan border late Wednesday, with a Palestinian official and an eyewitness accusing Israel but the army denying any exchange of fire.Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesman for the health ministry in the Gaza Strip, which is run by Islamist movement Hamas, said the boy died when Israeli troops fired across the border east of Khan Yunes in eastern Gaza.Abdullah al-Naseef, 10, was killed by (Israeli) occupation fire close to his house in the Qarara municipality, near Khan Yunes, he said.An eyewitness said the Israeli army opened fire from a military base near Kissufim along the border.An Israeli army spokeswoman denied there had been any firing across the border. We are not aware of any incident, she told AFP. It is unusual for Israel to deny confirmed exchanges of fire outright.

Putin calls Syria war crimes allegations 'rhetoric'

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PARIS (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed as political rhetoric accusations that war crimes had been committed in Syrias Aleppo, speaking in an interview broadcast on Wednesday.Its political rhetoric that does not mean much and does not take into account the realities in Syria, Putin told Frances TF1 televisionI am deeply convinced that it is our Western partners, first and foremost of course the United States, who are responsible for the situation, he added.On Sunday French President Francois Hollande described as a war crime the campaign in Aleppo, where a barrage of air strikes in the rebel-held east in the last month has left hundreds dead, including dozens of children.Putin said the bombardments were aimed at the Al-Nusra Front, an organisation that has always been considered a branch of Al-Qaeda and is on the United Nations list of terrorist organisations.We cannot allow terrorists to take advantage of civilians and use them as human shields, he said. We cannot allow them to blackmail the entire world by taking hostages, killing prisoners by cutting their throats.Russia has been waging a punishing aerial bombing campaign in Syria for more than a year in support of President Bashar al-Assads forces, part of a multi-front war that has claimed some 300,000 lives and seen Moscow further estranged from the West.If we want to go through with the fight against terrorism, we have to fight the terrorists and... not bend or retreat, Putin added.

Nawaz Sharif to leave for Azerbaijan today

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ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will leave for a three-day visit to Azerbaijan today (Thursday) at the invitation of Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, Dunya News reported. This will be the first visit of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to Azerbaijan.PM Nawaz will have meetings with Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister ArturTahir Rasizade during his visit.Prime Minister would discuss with Azerbaijan leadership the bilateral relations, economic cooperation besides exchanging views on regional and international issues.The leaders both countries would also exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual interest, with particular attention to the situation in South Asia.

Pillion riding ban lifted in Lahore, Karachi, other cities

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LAHORE (Dunya News) – Five-day ban imposed on pillion riding in Lahore, Karachi and several other cities across the country has been lifted after Ashura on late Wednesday night, Dunya News reported.The ban on pillion riding was imposed on October 8 in several cities across the country over security concerns during Muharram-ul-Harram.

OPEC invites Russia to meeting, eyeing higher oil price

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ISTANBUL (AFP) - OPEC said Wednesday it was inviting Russia and other key non-members to a meeting later this month as the oil cartel and Moscow seek to tighten cooperation to boost historically low crude prices.The announcement came after a meeting in Istanbul between several top OPEC energy ministers with their Russian counterpart Alexander Novak aimed at advancing joint efforts to bolster oil prices whose lows have hurt the highly-dependent economies of crude producers.The meeting took place on the sidelines of the World Energy Congress in Istanbul, which on Monday saw a vow by Russian President Vladimir Putin for Moscow to impose curbs on energy output to match OPEC cuts that caused a spurt in oil prices.We agreed to have a technical meeting of OPEC... on 28-29 of this month (October). An invitation is going to be sent to some key non-OPEC countries, Qatar Energy Minister Mohammed Saleh al-Sada said after the talks.This meeting is meant to give a better understanding of the best way of how to move towards the rebalancing of the market to the interest of all, added the Qatari minister.Other than Russia, he did not elaborate on what other non-OPEC countries were being invited to the meeting but indicated he wanted a wide turnout.We have a list of non-OPEC countries and we are yet to refine it further. We intend to expand it get the feelings of as many non-OPEC countries as possible.He gave no indication however the meeting would be attended by the United States, the worlds number three oil producer.The US attending is something we cannot assure you of, he said.The prospect of Russia, one of the worlds top two oil producers alongside Saudi Arabia, coordinating policy with OPEC has boosted global oil markets in the last few days and briefly brought crude to its highest levels for a year.The cartel had last month at a meeting in Algiers agreed its first production cut in eight years, although it remains to be seen how this will be complied with and implemented.Novak confirmed that Russia had been invited to the October meeting in Vienna which would try and work out a roadmap for the cooperation of our countries in the rebalancing of prices.The upcoming talks will be a technical meeting, with the next general meeting of OPEC ministers planned for November 30 in Vienna.Novak had on Tuesday evoked a possible six month freeze of production levels by Russia to match OPECs own output curbs.He said that no concrete figures were discussed at the meeting. As for figures, that is in the future and and I think (at the October meeting) we will discuss more or less concrete parameters.Putin said Wednesday in Russia that a freeze of production at current levels was in the interest of the Russian economy. If OPEC countries agree a production freeze we will join that decision, he said, adding the key obstacle was to find agreement between Saudi Arabia and its regional foe Iran.The energy ministers of OPEC members including United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazroui, Qatar Energy Minister Mohammed Saleh al-Sada and Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio del Pino all attended the talks at an Istanbul hotel chaired by OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo.Of non-OPEC countries, Mexico was also represented.However there were notable absentees from the talks, with the energy minister of the cartels kingpin Saudi Arabia, Khalid al-Falih, having already departed from Istanbul and Iraq and Iran also not attending.Al-Falih had also made clear at the congress earlier in the week that Saudi Arabia was against any drastic output cuts by OPEC, warning the cartel not to crimp too tightly.Oil prices had plunged to historic lows over the last two years with an excess of supply partly due to new and cheaper technologies coming at a time of a global economic slowdown.We are doing our very best now to rebalance the market, said the Qatari minister al-Sada, adding that the current overhang in excess supply was holding back much-needed investment.

Trump loss would be colossal 'waste of time' for him

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - Donald Trump cast the US presidential race in stark personal terms Wednesday, telling voters that if he loses against Hillary Clinton it will be the single greatest waste of his time and money.The provocative billionaire, in a disjointed speech in Ocala, Florida with just 27 days before the election, reminded supporters that he will have spent some $100 million of his own fortune on his campaign.If I dont win on November 8th, I will consider this the single greatest waste of time, of energy and money, the Republican nominee told the crowd.Well not be able to reduce your taxes, or save your Second Amendment and appoint Supreme Court justices, and take care of your vets and fix up your very depleted military, he said.Trump trails his Democratic opponent Clinton in national polls, and his campaign is limping after last weeks release of a 2005 tape in which he is caught bragging about groping women.He has since apologized for the comments, saying they were just locker-room banter.Several fellow Republicans have abandoned him, and the nations top elected Republican is refusing to defend or campaign with Trump.In Florida, Trump bashed Clinton as a criminal who has skirted punishment for her use of private email while secretary of state, which he said put Americas national security at risk.Other peoples lives have been ruined, destroyed for doing a tiny fraction of what Clinton has done.I am ashamed of what has happened to our country and so are you, he said.With the race boiling down to three final weeks and Clinton in the drivers seat, Trump appeared to be savaging his rival to keep her supporters or undecided voters away from the polls on Election Day.She pledged to dissolve the borders of the United States of America, Trump fumed, referring to a hacked email, allegedly to a Clinton aide, that included quotes from her closed-door speeches to Wall Street banks and other corporations.Clinton apparently told a Brazilian bank in 2013: My dream is a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders, sometime in the future with energy thats as green and sustainable as we can get it.The Democratic nominee was in Colorado on Wednesday, where her communications director criticized Trumps scorched-earth policy aimed at driving down Democratic turnout.Obviously Hillary Clinton is very concerned about how divisive this race has been, and all that Donald Trump has done to try to divide Americans, Jennifer Palmieri told reporters.We feel energy is growing on the Democratic side, she said, citing growing Democratic voter registration in some key swing states.

Former World No.1 Jelena Jankovic reaches third round of Hong Kong Open

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HONG KONG (AFP) - Defending champion Jelena Jankovic of Serbia beat compatriot Aleksandra Krunic in straight sets Wednesday to reach the third round of the Hong Kong Open.The number seven seed dispatched Krunic, who is ranked 141 in the world, 6-4, 6-3 in under 90 minutes. Jankovic will now face either Venus Williams or Alize Cornet of France in the next stage.Top seed Angelique Kerber of Germany, who was defeated by Jankovic in the final last year, was leading Americas Louisa Chirico 2-1 in the third set when rain stopped play for the evening.Kerber had dominated the first set 6-2 but her opponent, with a singles ranking of 60, fought back to take the second 6-3. The American faces a break point when play resumes tomorrow.Also on court Thursday are Denmarks Caroline Wozniacki and Britains Heather Watson, while Qiang Wang of China takes on Britains Johanna Konta in the second round.
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