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WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump used his Twitter account on Wednesday to denounce reports of problems in his transition team, singling out the New York Times for saying world leaders have had trouble getting in touch with him. Trump, whose aggressive use of Twitter against rivals was a key element of his presidential campaign, tweeted a list of several world leaders he had spoken with since his upset victory in the  Australia, New Zealand, and more. I am always available to them. @nytimes is just upset that they looked like fools in their coverage of me," Trump continued. He focused on the Times, a frequent Twitter target for Trump, because it said U.S. allies were "scrambling to figure out how and when to contact Mr. Trump." "The failing @nytimes story is so totally wrong on transition," he tweeted. "It is going so smoothly. Also, I have spoken to many foreign leaders." On Tuesday night, Trump had defended his transition team amid reports ...

England have won all nine out of their test  since Australian became their coach Following the hosts' miserable first-round exit from last year's World Cup. South Africa, by contrast have lost four of their last five including a record 57-15 defeat by world champions New Zealand in Durban last month. Yet it is 10 years since England beat the Springboks, a run spanning 12 Tests. "South Africa are coming off the back of what for them has been a disappointing season but we know they will come to Twickenham all geared up and ready to go," said Jones at England's Bagshot training base, southwest of London, on Thursday after announcing his side. "We want to change the history of results between England and South Africa. "We want to be the number one team in the world, so this game against South Africa on Saturday is another step forward." - 'Back to the future' - Jones, who worked alongside current South Africa head coach Allister Coetzee when ...

Following the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States, president Obama’s paternal grand mother Sarah Obama has called on Donald Trump to learn from what she considers as Obama’s leadership skills. She has also advised Donald Trump to review his plans on the immigrants controversy. Sarah Obama said: “There has been a notion that immigrants should be deported, these are all children of God. Now that he wants to deport Kenyans back home then it means that Americans living in other countries should also be sent back home. That should not be the case.” Sarah Obama says the grand son, Barrack Obama whose mandate is coming to an end, should copy from his late father’s example and focus on helping others. Outgoing president Obama has been criticised within the party for leaving the Democratic Party in ruins. Obama met with Trump on Thursday to discuss modalities of a peaceful transfer of power.

Lionel Messi missed Argentina's last three qualifying matches and the results showed with draws against Peru and Venezuela, and 1-0 loss against Paraguay. Messi scored in a 1-0 victory over Uruguay in the only match he’s played under Argentina coach Edgardo Bauza. Lionel Messi is back from injury, just the tonic Argentina should need in Thursday’s World Cup qualifier against Brazil. Messi missed Argentina’s last three qualifying matches with an injured left knee, and the results showed with draws against Peru and Venezuela, and a 1-0 loss agains He (Messi) is extremely intelligent and has a great finishing skill, so we have to do double marking on him whenever we can,” Brazil midfielder Renato Augusto said. “We have to close the gaps for all Argentina players, and we have to remove Messi’s passing angle whenever he has the ball.” Thursday’s match takes place in the same stadium where Brazil was humiliated two years ago in a 7-1 loss to Germany in the World Cup semifinals. But this ...

The Police in Zamfara said several people were killed by gunmen suspected to be cattle rustlers at a mining site in Gidan Ardo Village of Bindin district of Maru Local Government Area. The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, Shehu Muhammad, disclosed this to journalists in Gusau on Tuesday. Mr. Muhammad, however, said the command had yet to ascertain the actual number of those killed during the mayhem; although residents said over 40 people were killed. He said investigation into the killing had just begun. The anti-terrorism squad of the command had already been deployed to the area to join the Army in trailing the gunmen. Muhammad assured that they would soon be arrested. Witnesses in the area said the gunmen, numbering over 70, rode into the mining site at around 3 p.m. on Monday and shot anyone on sight, killing over 40 persons and injuring several others. The gunmen were said to have carted away most of the mineral finds and also killed some of those that were...

A tiger and polar bear in a Siberian zoo made contrasting predictions of the outcome of Tuesday's US election when invited to choose between pumpkins representing Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.  Female tiger Yunona favoured a pumpkin carved with the image of Clinton, the Democratic nominee, while polar bear Felix opted after some deliberation for one bearing the name of Republican candidate Trump. The Royev Ruchey Zoo in Krasnoyarsk, which released a video of the two, said the animals faced a tough choice as the pumpkins had been filled with fresh meat and fish, both favourite treats with Yunona and Felix.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have cast their ballots in the US election, with the latter saying it will be a "tremendous waste of time" if he misses out on the White House. Millions of Americans are going to the polls to elect their 45th president at the end of an acrimonious and wildly unpredictable campaign that has divided the nation. America will either have its first female commander-in-chief in Mrs Clinton, or choose billionaire tycoon Mr Trump, a flamboyant former reality TV star who has rocked US politics. Mrs Clinton greeted supporters waiting outside her polling station as she and husband Bill cast their ballot in their home town of Chappaqua, New York. She said it was "the most humbling feeling" to vote "because so many people are counting on the outcome of this election." Mr Trump, who arrived at a New York City polling station earlier to cast his vote, expressed confidence he would "win lots of states". He told Fox News: ...

The presidents took office without winning the popular vote.  In other words, they did not receive a plurality in terms of the popular vote.  They were elected, instead, by the electoral college or in the case of John Quincy Adams by the House of Representatives after a tie in the electoral votes. They were: John Quincy Adams who lost by 44,804 votes to Andrew Jackson in 1824 Rutherford B. Hayes who lost by 264,292 votes to Samuel J. Tilden in 1876 Four presidents took office without winning the popular vote.  In other words, they did not receive a plurality in terms of the popular vote.  They were elected, instead, by the electoral college or in the case of John Quincy Adams by the House of Representatives after a tie in the electoral votes.  They were:John Quincy Adams who lost by 44,804 votes to Andrew Jackson in 1824 Rutherford B. Hayes who lost by 264,292 votes to Samuel J. Tilden in 1876 The Twenty-Third Amendment gave the District of Columbia three e...

A boy of 13 years old was hit and killed by pick up truck on Thursday, on Main Street in Lewiston. The teenager he was identified by mark cornelio. Police said Jayden was crossing Main Street at Frye Street in a crosswalk when he was hit by a truck driven by Laurie Young, 54, of South Paris. "She actually stopped. She knew she had hit someone, but then she stopped and didn’t know where he or she was. She didn’t know where they had gone until she walked around to the front of her truck and realized," Cornelio said. The accident was reported just after 7 a.m. "Heard this really horrifying screech and then we woke up and see everybody running," neighbor Richard Leet said. Lewiston School Department officials said Jayden attended Lewiston Middle School. Police said Jayden was in eighth grade. Principal Jake Langlais held and assembly to inform students of Jayden’s death, and said counseling will be offered to students and staff. "One of the most kind and friendl...

The wondeful dance that young chineese perfom.    Remember the famous dialogue from Sholay where Gabbar Singh says “Bahut nainsafi hain…goli ek aur aadmi teen”?  Yes, not in terms of bullets, but certainly it is not fair to pitch five against one.  But certainly this difficult situation was nothing to Cen Xiaolin, a 15-year-old high-school student from Guangzhou, south China’s Guangdong Province. Xiaolin completed an “impossible challenge”, jumping faster than a team of national rope-jumping champions. He alone against a five-person relay team left the audience mesmerised with a jaw-dropping performance as he attempted 1,000 jumps at lightning speed. just 2 minute 47 seconds, Xiaolin reached his target – having stopped only once when the rope was caught between his shoes at 966.  With elfin 34 jumps short of his victory feat, the audience and judges cheered him and encouraged him to reach his goal ahead of the entire team.  His energy and zeal was so captiv...

Fenerbahce v Manchester United: Europa League – as it happened United well beaten after dreadful start. Mourinho blaming the weekness of his prayers that they shown on this match, The last time Manchester United played Fenerbahce, everything appeared rosy for Jose Mourinho. Paul Pogba put in his most impressive showing in a red shirt, Eric Bailly looked imperious at the heart of the defence and Wayne Rooney looked sharp up front in place on Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Robin van Persie even got in on the act with a consolation goal at the death for the Turkish giants. But, just three days later, United were hammered 4-0 in an inglorious return to Stamford Bridge for Mourinho and it's not been a great two weeks since. Mourinho's been charged by the FA, Ibrahimovic is suffering an ironic crisis of confidence and confusion remains about the Henrikh Mkhitaryan situation. Let's not even mention Bastian Schweinsteiger. A result against Fenerbahce would be the perfect tonic in a chaoti...

. NEW DELHI:  The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Thursday successfully landed a C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft at the Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) in Arunachal Pradesh. The move is aimed at calibrating India's response capabilities at the border with China. ALGs are airstrips close to the international border. They play a critical role in the defense of the border in remote areas, by enabling the armed forces to either quickly deliver troops to a particular region or supply rations to troops already stationed in remote areas. This is part of a larger efforts of the Air Force to test and increase its capabilities at the ALGs. The C-17 Globemaster - inducted into the IAF in 2013 - is among the largest military transport planes in service and the fact that the Air Force can land it at any ALGs signifies an expansion of the overall military capability in that region. So far, a vast majority of the ALGs have been served by smaller transport aircraft like the AN-32. To put that ...

Just a few months at Old Trafford, Jose Mourinho has been dismissed from the touchline and fined for his conduct as his side endured a poor start to the season – yet the Portuguese is still enjoying being Manchester United manager. With 15 points from 10 Premier League games, the former Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid coach has made a worse start to the league campaign than David Moyes did in his only season in charge. Mourinho endured a torrid homecoming at Chelsea last month as United were beaten 4-0 while Saturday’s 0-0 draw at home to Burnley marked a fourth league game without a win. Mourinho’s dismissal from the dugout against Burnley and his refusal to fulfill his post-match media duties added to speculation that the Portuguese was not enjoying his time at United. “Of course I’m still excited, I’m not happy with the results but I’m happy with performances,” Mourinho said on Wednesday ahead of their Europa League group game at Fenerbahce. “The worst feeling is no...

In its biggest-ever drug seizure, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized a huge haul of banned narcotic substance worth over Rs 3,000 crore from a factory in Udaipur and also arrested Bollywood producer Subash Dudhani in this connection. On October 28, DRI officials raided the premises of Udaipur-based Marudhar Drinks and detected a room filled with cartons of banned Mandrax tablets. "The total number of tablets are estimated to be about 2 crore in numbers with a weight of about 23.5 metric tonnes. The international market value of seized tablets is estimated to be over Rs 3,000 crore," CBEC chairperson Najib Shah said.  This is the biggest ever drug seizure done by DRI, the investigative arm of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). "We have arrested the mastermind and efforts are underway to nab others involved with the drug syndicate," he said. Mr Shah said that Subhas Dudhani, who has produced Bollywood films, also had businesses a...

October, a month just prior to the November presidential elections in the US, is known for springing surprises.  On October 7, American citizens saw a video, released by The Washington Post, in which Donald Trump boasted of his capacity to sexually force himself on women. In the US, the sexual conduct of politicians tends to matter much more than in Europe. Given the monumental lewdness of Trump’s boast, his campaign began to disintegrate. Then, on October 28, barely 11 days before the elections, surfaced a note by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) sent to the US Congress. The FBI, it said, had uncovered emails that appeared “to be pertinent” to its earlier investigation of Hillary Clinton for having used a private email server for official communication during her years as secretary of state (2008-2013), though the Bureau could “not yet assess” whether the material was “significant”. The FBI jolted the campaign, which was going strongly in favour of Clinton. The key iss...

According to The Washington Post and ABC News tracking poll, Trump has the support of 46 per cent of voters compared with 45 per cent for Clinton. The survey, conducted by telephone on October 27-30 among 1,128 likely voters, also found that Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson has three per cent support, while the Green Party's Jill Stein has two per cent. This is the first time since May that the real estate tycoon has beaten the former secretary of state in the periodic polling performed by the two media outlets. In a similar survey last week, Clinton was leading Trump by 46 per cent to 45 per cent, and a little more than a week ago, the former first lady was enjoying a 12-point lead (50 per cent to 38 per cent) over the controversial billionaire. One relevant finding in the survey was that 53 per cent of those consulted said that they were "very enthusiastic" in their support of Trump, while 45 per cent said the same about Clinton. The study also f...

The  thousands of citizens of south Africa want Zuma to realise the power.      The protests in the administrative capital of Pretoria on Wednesday came as opposition lawyers argued in court for the release of a state watchdog report about allegations that a business family linked to Zuma sought to influence some Cabinet post selections. Business executives, religious leaders and others have gathered in a Pretoria cathedral to demand that Zuma quit, while separate rallies are also being held by South Africa's two biggest opposition parties. Zuma has not commented this week on growing calls for his ouster. He is scheduled to chair a forum in Harare on Thursday with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

Sunderland boss David Moyes will serve an immediate one-match touchline ban after accepting an FA charge for misconduct. Moyes admitted using abusive and/or insulting words towards a match official and accepted the standard penalty, which includes an £8,000 fine. The incident happened around the 90th minute of Sunderland's EFL Cup fixture at Southampton on October 26. Champions League,Today, 22:45pm Tottenham v Bayer Leverkuse  Moyes was ordered from the dugout in the final moments of the 1-0 defeat for protesting referee Chris Kavanagh's decision not to award his side a penalty. Sunderland were beaten 4-1 by Arsenal in front of more than 44,000 supporters at the Stadium of Light on Saturday and they have failed to win a game so far this season. The Black Cats are bottom of the table, with just two points from their 10 fixtures to date, and have recorded the worst-ever start to a Premier League campaign. Moyes is the second Premier League manager to be charged with misconduct...

South Sudan: Since the beginning of that new nation the citizens of that nation have not enjoyed with the creation of the nation. United Nations peacekeepers known as UNMISS failed to respond to an attack on civilians by South Sudanese government troops at the Hotel Terrain in the capital Juba in July, less than a mile from a U.N. compound, a U.N. inquiry found on Tuesday. It found a “lack of preparedness, ineffective command and control and a risk-averse or ‘inward-looking’ posture resulted in a loss of trust and confidence – particularly by the local population and humanitarian agencies – in the will and skill ofUNMISS military, (and) police to be proactive and show a determined posture to protect civilians under threat.” Several aid workers were raped, most robbed or beaten, and some terrorised with mock executions by scores of South Sudanese government troops in Juba, the capital, on 11 July. A local journalist was executed by the troops during the attack, which la...

Two of China's secretive J-20 warplanes swept over a gasping crowd at the Zhuhai air show on Tuesday, potent symbols of Beijing's aspirations to military might. While the J-20 has been extensively filmed since it made its first flight in 2011, this is the first time that it has appeared in an airshow, an indicator that the aircraft is fully developed and in the process of being inducted into the Chinese Air Force. The fighters were not announced on the schedule and appeared in the sky just after a colourful aerobatics show by the People's Liberation Army Air Force. With no fanfare but an abrupt announcement by the master of ceremonies, the dark, powerful jets rumbled side by side over the sun-baked spectators. Two minutes later one blasted vertically into the sky and the jets were gone.  Swift and heavily armed, the warplanes represent a leap forward in China's ability to project power in Asia and compete in capabilities with the United States. Beijing is seeking to ...

A large space rock came fairly close to Earth on Sunday night. Astronomers knew it wasn't going to hit Earth, thanks in part to a new tool NASA is developing for detecting potentially dangerous asteroids. The tool is a computer program called Scout, and it's being tested at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.  Think of Scout as a celestial intruder alert system.  It's constantly scanning data from telescopes to see if there are any reports of so-called Near Earth Objects.  If it finds one, it makes a quick calculation of whether Earth is at risk, and instructs other telescopes to make follow-up observations to see if any risk is real. NASA pays for several telescopes around the planet to scan the skies on a nightly basis, looking for these objects. "The NASA surveys are finding something like at least five asteroids every night," says astronomer Paul Chodas of JPL. But then the trick is to figure out which new objects might hit Earth. "When ...

WASHINGTON :― The White House delivered an arm’s-length rebuke to FBI Director James Comey on Monday, declining to either stand behind or fully condemn his decision to enter the presidential-election fray but noting that he had opened the door to a partisan fracas.  The Department of Justice has great power that comes with great responsibility, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. He was addressing Comey sending a vaguely worded letter to Congress last week in which he announced the FBI had potentially discovered emails that could be related to a prior investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private account.  “I will neither defend nor criticize what Director Comey has decided to communicate to the public about the investigation,” Earnest said, before framing the decision as Comey’s alone and potentially damaging to “our democracy.”  What I will say is the Department of Justice in our democracy is given expansive a...