Currentaffairsnews (Headlines)

Iraq's prime minister said on Sunday that top security officials from Baghdad had met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, and hinted at a bigger Iraqi role fighting Islamic State militants as U.S. troops withdraw from Syria. "This issue has a lot of complications," Adel Abdul Mahdi told reporters, referring to U.S. President Donald Trump's surprise announcement this month that he will withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq's neighbor. "If any negative development takes place in Syria it will affect us.

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Graham, a South Carolina Republican who sits on the Senate Armed Forces Committee, has been a vocal critic of Trump’s plan to pull forces from the conflict. “I feel better about Syria than I felt before I had lunch,” Graham told reporters after leaving the White House. “I think the president is taking this really seriously, and the trip to Iraq was well timed.” Trump has forged a plan with his generals in the field that “makes sense,” Graham added.

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DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — As Bangladeshis get set to vote in Sunday's parliamentary elections, there are fears that violence and intimidation could keep many away from the polls, including two opposition candidates who said police had barricaded them inside their homes.

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A malware attack that appears to have originated outside the US delayed the hardcopy distribution of several major newspapers, according to a report. The LA Times said Saturday that the attack, which was first assumed to have been a server outage, hit a computer network at Tribune Publishing which is connected to the production and printing process of multiple newspapers around the country. As a result, the delivery of the Saturday editions of the LA Times and San Diego Union Tribune were delayed.

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In a New Year’s message to Erdogan published by the Kremlin on Sunday, Putin said that “Moscow and Ankara are making a decisive contribution to the fight against terrorism in Syria, as well as to the promotion of a political settlement in that country.”His comment came a day after the Russian and Turkish foreign and defense ministers, as well as the countries’ intelligence chiefs, held talks in Moscow on Syria as they move to fill the void left by U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to order a military pullout. “We reached an agreement on how Russian and Turkish military representatives on the ground will continue to coordinate their actions in these new conditions, with the goal of decisively defeating the terrorist threat in Syria,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters after the talks.

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Public health officials in Arizona say they aren't coordinating medical screenings of migrant children in federal custody.

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SAN QUENTIN, Calif. (AP) — California authorities on a nearly four-day manhunt for an inmate who walked away from San Quentin State Prison captured him Saturday.

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The announcement follows heavy criticism of October's chaotic parliamentary election, which saw problems ranging from roadside bomb attacks to malfunctioning biometric voter verification equipment, incomplete voter lists and huge delays at polling sites. The timing of the election has also been complicated by talks under way between U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and representatives of the Taliban aimed at launching a full peace process to end the war in Afghanistan. The election was originally scheduled for April 20 but Gula Jan Abdul Bade Sayad, chairman of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) said mounting problems had forced a delay.

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Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was declared the landslide winner Monday of an election marred by deadly violence that the opposition slammed as "farcical" and rigged. Hasina's ruling Awami League party and its allies won 288 seats in the 300-seat parliament, with the main opposition securing only six seats, Election Commission secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed said. Hasina's government had mounted a crackdown on the opposition, an alliance led by the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), which urged the country's election commission to void the results.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — The origins of a suspected computer attack that disrupted the Los Angeles Times and Tribune Publishing newspapers remained unclear Sunday after causing delivery delays and being brought to the attention of federal investigators.

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A third straight term for Hasina's Awami League was widely expected, but the main opposition led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) rejected the election and called for a fresh vote in the country of 165 million people. The Election Commission said it was investigating complaints of rigging, even as at least three voters in southeast Bangladesh, including a journalist, said they were barred from entering polling booths or were told their ballot papers had already been filled in. "If we get any confirmation from our own channels then measures will be taken as per rules." But as results started coming in showing the Awami League winning 48 seats and one for the BNP, Asaduzzaman declined to comment if its investigation would have any bearing on the final outcome.

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Here comes the YJ-12.

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Police fired tear gas at "yellow vest" demonstrators in Paris on Saturday but the turnout for round seven of the popular protests that have rocked France appeared low. Several hundred people wearing the symbolic hi-visibility vests had gathered near the offices of several state-run television stations and the BFM TV channel in the centre of the capital shouting "Fake news" and calling for the resignation of President Emmanuel Macron. Protesters spilled onto tram lines and lobbed projectiles at police who replied with tear gas grenades and detained several people.

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It's a good time to make sure you start the new year off on the right foot – especially when it comes to your retirement accounts.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin told President Trump in a letter on Sunday that Moscow was ready for dialogue on a "wide-ranging agenda," the Kremlin said

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the partial government shutdown, now in its second week (all times local):

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With just an estimated 300 nuclear warheads compared to the approximately 7,000 fielded by both the U.S. and Russia, China’s nuclear arsenal is comparatively small. But even a few Chinese H-bombs could wreak tremendous damage to the United States.

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If Trump's decision is allowed to stand, the pay freeze would affect about 2.1 million federal employees. The military would not be affected.

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The cyberattack appeared to originate outside the United States, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing a source with knowledge of the situation. The attack led to distribution delays in the Saturday edition of The Times, Tribune, Sun and other newspapers that share a production platform in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reported. Tribune Publishing, whose newspapers also include the New York Daily News and Orlando Sentinel, said it first detected the malware on Friday.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — The origins of a suspected computer attack that disrupted the Los Angeles Times and Tribune Publishing newspapers remained unclear Sunday after causing delivery delays and being brought to the attention of federal investigators.

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President Donald Trump on Saturday blamed Democrats for the high-profile deaths of two children along the U.S.-Mexico border.

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UP FOR AUCTION: The Riverside County home dubbed a house of horrors is on the auction block.

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Bangladesh's main opposition called for a fresh vote on Sunday as the country's prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and her ruling Awami League were declared the winners of an election tainted by violence and vote-rigging allegations. At least 17 people were said to have been killed in election day clashes, while reports flowed in of alleged vote manipulation and people being blocked from entering polling stations by ruling party supporters. As Mrs Hasina's alliance sailed past the 151 seats needed to form a government and headed for a landslide third consecutive term, the country's main opposition leader called for the "farcical" election to be declared void.  Kamal Hossain, head of the Jatiya Oikya Front (JOF), the largest opposition alliance, told a press conference in Dhaka that votes had been "rigged on a massive scale across the country".  He urged Bangladesh's election commission to dismiss the result and call "fresh elections under a non-partisan caretaker government as soon as possible".  Salahuddin Ahmed, a candidate for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the largest single party in the opposition alliance, was stabbed in Dhaka as the election unfolded Credit: Reuters Election Commission Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed finished delivering the results of the voting early on Monday. Ahmed said the ruling Awami League-led alliance won 288 seats while the JOF, led by former president H.M.Ershad, had 20 seats. An opposition alliance led by Mr Hossain had only seven and others got three out of 300 seats. The poll followed a campaign that had been marred by violence and a crackdown on freedom of speech. Human Rights Watch and other international groups had decried repressive measures which they said had created a climate of fear. Some 600,000 security personnel had been deployed for the election, while authorities ordered the shutdown of high speed internet to prevent the spread of "rumours" that might spark unrest. Vehicles in Dhaka burn after an opposition rally which ended with police using tear gas and batons after the election was announced Credit: AFP On Sunday, polling agents alleged that they had stayed away out of fear. Others claimed they had been beaten up and forced out of voting centres. Rumana Mahmood, a JOF candidate in Sirajganj, 68 miles northwest of Dhaka, claimed that 90 percent of her supporters had been prevented from voting for her. "In most cases they were not allowed to enter the voting centres. Police and the ruling Awami League party cadres blocked them,” she alleged to the Telegraph, claiming that supporters of the ruling party had stuffed ballot boxes in favour of the government. Supporters of Bangladesh Awami League march along a street as they take part in a rally ahead of December 30 general election vote Credit:  MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP One 65-year-old woman in Ms Mahmood’s constituency claimed that the police had not allowed her to vote freely. "We were around 20 or 25 women from the same locality. The policemen at the gate of the centre said that he would allow us inside if we voted for the boat (symbol of the Awami League),” she said."In my locality there are hundreds of people who have not been allowed in any voting centre today."  Bangladesh has become increasingly authoritarian under Mrs Hasina’s rule, moving closer towards a de-facto one-party state while Begum Khaleda Zia, her arch-rival, and leader of the largest opposition party, the Bangladesh National Party, serves a lengthy prison sentence on corruption charges. 

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The year featured many memorable moments for the royal family- including the April birth of Prince William's third child- Prince Louis and the May royal wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan Merkle.

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The president's incoming chief of staff says Trump will be 'very heavily engaged' on federal shutdown negotiations instead.

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Liberal magazine says network pushed Trump.

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MOSCOW (AP) — It's been a mixed year for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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Senator Lindsey Graham had warned that removing all U.S. forces from Syria would hurt national security by allowing Islamic State to rebuild, betraying U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters of the YPG militia battling remnants of the militant group, and enhancing Iran's ability to threaten Israel. During a morning television interview, Graham said he would ask Trump to slow down the troop withdrawal, which was announced earlier this month and drew widespread criticism. An ally of Trump, although he has opposed some of his foreign policy decisions, Graham was more upbeat after the meeting.

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DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — When the founding leader of Bangladesh, father of current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was assassinated in 1975 after helping achieve independence from Pakistan, then-Foreign Minister Kamal Hossain abandoned a state visit in Europe to rush to her side.

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Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was declared the landslide winner Monday of an election marred by deadly violence that the opposition slammed as "farcical" and rigged. Hasina's ruling Awami League party and its allies won 288 seats in the 300-seat parliament, with the main opposition securing only six seats, Election Commission secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed said. Hasina's government had mounted a crackdown on the opposition, an alliance led by the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), which urged the country's election commission to void the results.

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A malware attack that appears to have originated outside the US delayed the hardcopy distribution of several major newspapers, according to a report. The LA Times said Saturday that the attack, which was first assumed to have been a server outage, hit a computer network at Tribune Publishing which is connected to the production and printing process of multiple newspapers around the country. As a result, the delivery of the Saturday editions of the LA Times and San Diego Union Tribune were delayed.

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Egyptian police killed 40 suspects in a crackdown on Saturday after a roadside bomb hit a tour bus claiming the lives of three Vietnamese holidaymakers and an Egyptian guide. Thirty alleged "terrorists" were killed in separate raids in Giza governorate, home to Egypt's famed pyramids and the scene of Friday's deadly bombing, while 10 others were killed in the restive North Sinai, the interior ministry said without directly linking them to the attack. A security source said the raids took place early Saturday morning, hours after Friday evening's roadside bombing which officials said hit a tour bus in the Al-Haram district near the Giza pyramids killing the three Vietnamese holidaymakers and their Egyptian guide.

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At least 6 people were injured, according to a Tweet sent out by BWI airport. However, none of the injuries appear to be life-threatening.

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DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — As Bangladeshis get set to vote in Sunday's parliamentary elections, there are fears that violence and intimidation could keep many away from the polls, including two opposition candidates who said police had barricaded them inside their homes.

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Britain's trade minister Liam Fox said there is a "50-50" chance that Brexit may be stopped if parliament rejects the government's divorce deal with the European Union next month. "If we were not to vote for that, I'm not sure I would give it (Brexit) much more than 50-50," Fox, a leading supporter of leaving the EU, told the Sunday Times newspaper. With three months left until the United Kingdom is due to leave the EU on March 29, May's Brexit deal is floundering, opening up a range of possibilities from a Brexit without a trade deal to calling Brexit off.

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Graham, a South Carolina Republican who sits on the Senate Armed Forces Committee, has been a vocal critic of Trump’s plan to pull forces from the conflict. “I feel better about Syria than I felt before I had lunch,” Graham told reporters after leaving the White House. “I think the president is taking this really seriously, and the trip to Iraq was well timed.” Trump has forged a plan with his generals in the field that “makes sense,” Graham added.

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Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas on Saturday denied an allegation by Egypt's deposed president Hosni Mubarak that it infiltrated hundreds of men across the border during the 2011 uprising. Mubarak took to the witness stand in a Cairo court Wednesday to testify about jailbreaks allegedly orchestrated by his successor Mohamed Morsi and members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

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Here comes the YJ-12.

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ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey and Russia have the common aim of clearing Syria of all terror organizations, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Saturday following a meeting with Russian officials in Moscow, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported. Cavusoglu also said Turkey would continue to be in close cooperation with Iran and Russia on Syria and regional issues, according to Anadolu. U.S. President Donald Trump has said that Washington would withdraw the roughly 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria, upending a pillar of American policy in the Middle East and alarming U.S. allies. ...

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Aides to Trump and congressional lawmakers discussed blame for the partial government shutdown

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Officials say an inmate who walked away from San Quentin State Prison earlier this week was seen in the city of San Miguel on Friday, and investigators believe he is heading toward the Los Angeles area.

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Bangladesh's main opposition called for a fresh vote on Sunday as the country's prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and her ruling Awami League were declared the winners of an election tainted by violence and vote-rigging allegations. At least 17 people were said to have been killed in election day clashes, while reports flowed in of alleged vote manipulation and people being blocked from entering polling stations by ruling party supporters. As Mrs Hasina's alliance sailed past the 151 seats needed to form a government and headed for a landslide third consecutive term, the country's main opposition leader called for the "farcical" election to be declared void.  Kamal Hossain, head of the Jatiya Oikya Front (JOF), the largest opposition alliance, told a press conference in Dhaka that votes had been "rigged on a massive scale across the country".  He urged Bangladesh's election commission to dismiss the result and call "fresh elections under a non-partisan caretaker government as soon as possible".  Salahuddin Ahmed, a candidate for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the largest single party in the opposition alliance, was stabbed in Dhaka as the election unfolded Credit: Reuters Election Commission Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed finished delivering the results of the voting early on Monday. Ahmed said the ruling Awami League-led alliance won 288 seats while the JOF, led by former president H.M.Ershad, had 20 seats. An opposition alliance led by Mr Hossain had only seven and others got three out of 300 seats. The poll followed a campaign that had been marred by violence and a crackdown on freedom of speech. Human Rights Watch and other international groups had decried repressive measures which they said had created a climate of fear. Some 600,000 security personnel had been deployed for the election, while authorities ordered the shutdown of high speed internet to prevent the spread of "rumours" that might spark unrest. Vehicles in Dhaka burn after an opposition rally which ended with police using tear gas and batons after the election was announced Credit: AFP On Sunday, polling agents alleged that they had stayed away out of fear. Others claimed they had been beaten up and forced out of voting centres. Rumana Mahmood, a JOF candidate in Sirajganj, 68 miles northwest of Dhaka, claimed that 90 percent of her supporters had been prevented from voting for her. "In most cases they were not allowed to enter the voting centres. Police and the ruling Awami League party cadres blocked them,” she alleged to the Telegraph, claiming that supporters of the ruling party had stuffed ballot boxes in favour of the government. Supporters of Bangladesh Awami League march along a street as they take part in a rally ahead of December 30 general election vote Credit:  MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP One 65-year-old woman in Ms Mahmood’s constituency claimed that the police had not allowed her to vote freely. "We were around 20 or 25 women from the same locality. The policemen at the gate of the centre said that he would allow us inside if we voted for the boat (symbol of the Awami League),” she said."In my locality there are hundreds of people who have not been allowed in any voting centre today."  Bangladesh has become increasingly authoritarian under Mrs Hasina’s rule, moving closer towards a de-facto one-party state while Begum Khaleda Zia, her arch-rival, and leader of the largest opposition party, the Bangladesh National Party, serves a lengthy prison sentence on corruption charges. 

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the partial government shutdown, now in its second week (all times local):

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Liberal magazine says network pushed Trump.

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A St. Louis-area man shot to death his girlfriend, her two young children and her mother in the home they all shared, authorities said Saturday. He exchanged gunfire with officers as he fled and was captured several hours later in a convenience store, covered in blood and wounded.

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SAN QUENTIN, Calif. (AP) — California authorities on a nearly four-day manhunt for an inmate who walked away from San Quentin State Prison captured him Saturday.

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DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad authorized Iraqi forces on Sunday to attack the Islamic State group inside Syria without waiting for permission from authorities in Damascus, the state news agency SANA said, as the two allies coordinate their fight against extremists ahead of a planned U.S. withdrawal from Syria.

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Afghanistan's presidential election will be postponed until July 20, an official said Sunday, as US-led efforts to end the 17-year war with the Taliban gather steam. The three-month delay, announced by the Independent Election Commission (IEC), comes after weeks of speculation that the vote would be put off to create more space for peace talks with Afghanistan's largest militant group. The presidential ballot was originally scheduled for April 20, which many observers had considered unrealistic given the IEC was still finalising results of October's shambolic and bloody parliamentary elections.

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LODI, Calif. (AP) — The father of a 2-year-old boy who was separated from his Yemeni mother until she successfully fought the Trump administration's travel ban to see him in the United States laid his body to rest Saturday, a day after the child was taken off life support at a hospital.

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Police fired tear gas at "yellow vest" demonstrators in Paris on Saturday but the turnout for round seven of the popular protests that have rocked France appeared low. Several hundred people wearing the symbolic hi-visibility vests had gathered near the offices of several state-run television stations and the BFM TV channel in the centre of the capital shouting "Fake news" and calling for the resignation of President Emmanuel Macron. Protesters spilled onto tram lines and lobbed projectiles at police who replied with tear gas grenades and detained several people.

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