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Thursday, 15 September 2016

Hillary Clinton ‘healthy and fit’ – Doctor





Hillary Clinton is “healthy and fit to serve” as US president, says her doctor, as her campaign released updated medical information.
The statement said the Democratic presidential nominee “continues to improve” after a pneumonia diagnosis.
The disclosure came as her Republican rival Donald Trump released health data of his own on a medical chat show.

IMF gets $7.1m from Switzerland for global resource fund




Hopes may be rising for Nigeria and other natural resource endowed nations as the International Monetary gets the first contribution of $7.1 million into the dedicated fund for capacity development from Switzerland.
The planned pool to uplift management capacity of resource-endowed countries known as Managing Natural Resource Wealth Fund was launched in 2011, as a way to help countries manage their natural resource wealth.
According to a report from IMF, Switzerland has now become the first partner to contribute to the new six-year phase (2016–22).
The country has already contributed approximately $71 million since 2010, as supporter of IMF multi‑partner vehicles and used in regional centers of Africa and global funds focused on key topics like the Revenue Mobilization Fund, the Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism Fund, the Tax Administration Diagnostic Assessment Tool and the Managing Natural

What ever happened to Melania Trump?





At this stage in the US presidential race, the candidates’ spouses should be everywhere, smiling themselves to exhaustion as they do their bit for the campaign.
But for the past two months Donald Trump’s wife Melania has all but vanished.
The last big appearance of the 46-year-old former model born in Slovenia was at the Republican National Convention in July in Cleveland.
She gave a major speech designed to put a more human face on her husband, but which flopped miserably as it emerged her address plagiarized remarks by Michelle Obama from 2008 at the Democratic National Convention.
The ghostwriter of the speech took the fall and Melania Trump all but disappeared from the US political scene, where she was a rare presence anyway.
Last week she appeared briefly in New York as Trump gave a speech on national security, and accompanied her husband Saturday at the funeral of Phyllis Schlafly, a prominent American conservative.

‘I want Apple’: Myanmar abuzz over end of US sanctions





Myanmar cheered a US promise to end sanctions on Thursday, with residents in its commercial capital clamouring for American brands while politicians and business moguls heralded a new era of transparency and trade.
US President Barack Obama vowed to scrap the trade limits during Aung San Suu Kyi’s first visit to the White House since her party took power in March, ending decades of military domination.
The move marks a milestone in the country’s rapid transformation from an international pariah into Asia’s fastest-growing economy under the leadership of the Nobel laureate.
But Soe Naung Win, who owns a mobile phone shop in Myanmar’s bustling economic capital of Yangon, had more immediate concerns.
“I want Apple to officially come to Myanmar,” the 32-year-old told AFP. “I am crazy about the Apple brand and I want Apple to come here as an American brand.”
While iPhones are widely available in Myanmar, one of the world’s fastest-growing mobile phone markets, there are no official Apple stores in the country.
The US sanctions, imposed 20 years ago in a bid to put pressure on the former military regime, bar

Philippines President ‘ordered 1,000 killings’ while still mayor

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures as he delivers his speech during the 250th Presidential Airlift Wing Command anniversary celebrations at Villamor air base in Manila on September 13, 2016.(AFP)



Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the killings of around 1,000 criminals and political opponents while he was a city mayor – and shot one of them himself, a former assassin has claimed.
Edgar Matobato, 57, told the country’s Senate that he personally carried out about 50 abductions and deadly assaults.
“We’d remove their clothes, burn the bodies and chop them up,” he said.
One of the victims – a suspected kidnapper – was apparently fed alive to a crocodile in 2007 in southern Davao del Sur province.
Others were buried at a quarry owned by another member of the Davao Death Squad (DDS), which was made up of policemen and ex-communist rebels.
Speaking under oath, Mr Matobato said: “Our job was to kill drug pushers, rapists, snatchers.”
But he added that the targets were not always criminals.

Britain approves Hinkley Point nuclear deal





Britain’s government finally gave the green light to the controversial Chinese-backed Hinkley Point nuclear power plant Thursday — but with new conditions to address security concerns.
China has a one-third stake in the Hinkley Point project, and analysts have warned that Britain would have risked its relations with the world’s second-largest economy if it cancelled.
The announcement came two months after Prime Minister Theresa May ordered a review of the £18 billion (21 billion euro, $24 billion) deal brokered under her predecessor, David Cameron.
The board of French state-owned power company EDF had already approved its participation in the project in southwest England in July when May’s government said it wanted to review it.
“Having thoroughly reviewed the proposals for Hinkley Point C, we will introduce a series of measures to enhance security and will ensure Hinkley cannot change hands without the

Rights groups launch campaign for Snowden pardon

Edward Snowden speaks via video link at a news conference for the launch of a campaign calling for President Obama to pardon him on September 14, 2016 in New York City. The campaign, which includes representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and ACLU attorney Ben Wizner, looks to have the whistle blower pardoned from under the Espionage Act.(AFP)



Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union launched a campaign Wednesday to push President Barack Obama to pardon Edward Snowden, the fugitive intelligence whistleblower living in Russia.
High-profile lawyers and celebrities including writer Joyce Carol Oates and actor Martin Sheen have already signed the campaign’s main prod, a petition at pardonsnowden.org that urges Obama to grant Snowden clemency before the president leaves office in January.
But the White House quickly said it had no intention of pardoning Snowden, a former contractor for the National Security Agency who released thousands of classified documents in 2013 revealing the vast US surveillance put in place after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest disputed that Snowden was a whistleblower and said he would enjoy legal due process at a trial in the United States, where he faces up to 30 years in prison for espionage and theft of state secrets.
“His conduct put American lives at risk and it risked American national security. And that’s why

Free WiFi providers not liable for illegal downloads – EU




The European Union’s top court on Thursday ruled that businesses offering free wireless internet services cannot be held liable for illegal downloads, a media report said.
It reported that the ruling came up in a case pitting electronics giant Sony against a German shop owner.
Sony had taken the owner of a German sound and light system shop to court, after an internet