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Nepal eye knock out berth in U-19 Asia Cup

Sandesh Chaudhary

Link Author

Title: Nepal eye knock out berth in U-19 Asia Cup
Author: Sandesh Chaudhary
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

source : The Himalayan Times Kathmandu, December 12 A 19-member squad is on Tuesday leaving for Sri Lanka to take part in the ACC U-19...

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source : <a href="http://thehimalayantimes.com/sports/nepal-u-19-cricket-team-eye-knock-berth-u-19-asia-cup/">The Himalayan Times</a><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Kathmandu, December 12</strong></div>
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A 19-member squad is on Tuesday leaving for Sri Lanka to take part in the ACC U-19 Asia Cup slated for December 13-24 with eyes firmly set on maiden berth in the knock out stage.</div>
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Nepal are pitted in Group A along with India, hosts Sri Lanka and Malaysia in the 50-over competition.</div>
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Similarly, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Singapore are pitted in Group B. Nepal will play their opening match against Sri Lanka on December 15 before facing defending champions India the following day.</div>
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Nepal will play their last group match against Malaysia on December 18. Top two teams after the league round will advance to the semi-finals slated for December 20 and 21. The final is scheduled for December 23.</div>
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Nepal have featured in both of the previous two editions of the competition but are yet to make it to the knock out stage. However, head coach Binod Das said that Nepal were capable of securing second round berth this time around. “We have set our target of reaching the second round but it is not going to be easy as we had short preparation period of 15 days,” said Das.</div>
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The former U-19 and national team skipper Das said the team tried hard for the best use of the available resources. “I don’t see any reason that we cannot not make it to the second round as we have been able to beat teams like South Africa and New Zealand in the U-19 level in the past.</div>
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I will be disappointed if we will not achieve our target,” he added.</div>
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In the first edition held in Malaysia in 2012, Nepal beat the host nation by 107 runs but faced an 81-run defeat against India and went down to Pakistan by eight wickets. Two years later, Nepal recorded an 80-run victory over hosts United Arab Emirates but suffered a nine-wicket defeat against India and faced a 132-run loss at the hands of Pakistan.</div>
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The players were also confident of achieving the target. “The players are on a high especially after their performance in practice matches and we are hoping for the best,” said skipper Sandeep Lamichhane, who recently played for former Australian skipper Michael Clarke’s club.</div>
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“We are capable of advancing to the knock out stage and we are even looking to make it to the final as well,” added Lamichhane, who lamented the lack of international exposure for the tournament. He has also taken the tournament as the preparation for the ICC U-19 World Cup to be held in New Zealand in 2018.</div>
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Coach Das termed the team as the best one and claimed bowling department as the strongest side. “Bowling as usual looks good as we have varieties in spinners Kamal Airee and Nandan Yadav. We are pinning hopes on them in Sri Lankan pitches where spinners can turn the matches.</div>
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In batting, Aasif Sheikh and Anil Kumar Sah are strong,” said Das. The coach said he focused on match practices during the training camp apart from physical fitness of the players. “We could not address technical aspects of the game due to lack of time,” added coach Das.</div>
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The players were picked through talent hunt programmes at six different centres of the country rather than following the traditional process of national games.</div>
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Playing against defending champions India and hosts Sri Lanka would not be easy for Nepal. While Sri Lanka will have home advantage, India are always a dominant force in the region. “We are not going to play looking at other teams, either it be India or Sri Lanka. We will focus on our own game and fight till last moment,” said Das.</div>
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Meanwhile, National Sports Council Member Secretary Keshab Kumar Bista and Chaudhary Group’s Assistant General Manager Lal Babu Prasad bade farewell to the team amidst a programme today.</div>
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“Our national team made cricket popular in the country with lots of success and the youth team needs to come up with even better results,” said Bista accepting the fact that the government was not able to provide the cricketers with proper facilities.</div>
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National team head coach Jagat Tamatta, who is also travelling to Sri Lanka with the team, said the event would be the best platform for youth cricketers. “We have selected the best players in the team and the only concern is the short training period for preparation,” he said. Physiotherapist Dinesh Bhatta and technical analyst Raman Shiwakoti will also accompany the team to Sri Lanka.</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">NEPAL TEAM</strong>: Sandeep Lamichhane (skipper), Md Aasif Sheikh, Rabindra Jung Shahi, Aadil Khan, Bhim Sharki, Anil Kumar Sah, Dipendra Singh Airee, Pawan Sarraf, Suwarnakar Uraw, Sandeep Sunar, Kamal Singh Airee, Nandan Yadav, Prakash KC, Avinash Karn and Rohit Kumar Paudel.</div>
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Nepal eye knock out berth in U-19 Asia Cup

source : The Himalayan Times Kathmandu, December 12 A 19-member squad is on Tuesday leaving for Sri Lanka to take part in the ACC U-19...

Weightlifters feted

Sandesh Chaudhary

Link Author

Title: Weightlifters feted
Author: Sandesh Chaudhary
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

source : The Himalayan Times KATHMANDU: Ministry of Youth and Sports on Monday felicitated two youth weightlifters with Rs 25,000 each ...

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source : <a href="http://thehimalayantimes.com/sports/prakash-kc-kamala-shrestha-felicitated-for-national-records-in-weightlifting/">The Himalayan Times</a><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">KATHMANDU:</strong> Ministry of Youth and Sports on Monday felicitated two youth weightlifters with Rs 25,000 each for setting new national records during the Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championship held in Japan last month.</div>
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Prakash KC lifted 100kg in snatch and 124kg weight in clean and jerk in the men’s 62kg category to better his own personal record.</div>
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Earlier, KC had lifted 93kg in snatch and 124 in clean and jerk during the Grand Prix Weightlifting Championship held in Kathmandu to set a national record.</div>
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Similarly, Kamala Shrestha had set a new record with a lift of 61kg in snatch and 78kg in clean and jerk in the women’s<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />58kg event.</div>
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Weightlifters feted

source : The Himalayan Times KATHMANDU: Ministry of Youth and Sports on Monday felicitated two youth weightlifters with Rs 25,000 each ...

Ronaldo’s golden year rewarded with fourth Ballon d’Or

Sandesh Chaudhary

Link Author

Title: Ronaldo’s golden year rewarded with fourth Ballon d’Or
Author: Sandesh Chaudhary
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

source : The Himalayan Times PARIS: Cristiano Ronaldo capped a remarkable year by claiming a fourth Ballon d’Or award on Monday after l...

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source : <a href="http://thehimalayantimes.com/sports/cristiano-ronaldo-golden-year-rewarded-fourth-ballon-dor/">The Himalayan Times</a><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">PARIS:</strong> Cristiano Ronaldo capped a remarkable year by claiming a fourth Ballon d’Or award on Monday after leading Portugal to an emotional European Championship title and Real Madrid to a record-extending Champions League crown in 2016.</div>
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Ronaldo is one short of the record tally of five awards won by Barcelona’s Argentina forward Lionel Messi, who was second with the pair having taken the first two spots since 2011.</div>
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“For me it’s a great honour to receive my fourth golden ball. The emotion is like for the first one, it’s a dream come true again. I never thought in my mind to win four times. I’m so happy,” said Ronaldo, who won the award in 2008, 2013 and 2014.</div>
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“It’s probably the best year of my career collectively, with Real Madrid and Portugal.</div>
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“Real are used to winning titles while Portugal had never won a major title so this (Euro 2016) title is special. I don’t want to lack respect to the Champions League but the title with Portugal is a level above.”</div>
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The Ballon d’Or, which merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year award from 2010-15 to create the FIFA Ballon d’Or, returned to France Football magazine this year.</div>
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A total of 173 journalists voted but not national team coaches and captains who were also polled for the FIFA award.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: teal;">CUT ABOVE</span></h4>
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France and Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann, who lost to Ronaldo’s Portugal and Real in the Euro 2016 and Champions League finals respectively, took third place.</div>
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Uruguay forward Luis Suarez was fourth and Brazil’s Neymar fifth, giving Barcelona three players in the top five.</div>
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Ronaldo was a cut above the competition, though.</div>
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He scored 51 goals in 54 games for club and country, albeit his lowest tally since 2008, claimed another Champions League winners’ medal and lifted the European Championship trophy.</div>
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Ronaldo limped off midway through the first half of July’s Euro 2016 final, which Portugal won 1-0 after extra time against hosts France, but he hobbled back onto the pitch to celebrate his country’s first major soccer title.</div>
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Six weeks earlier, after a fairly anonymous performance against local rivals Atletico in the Champions League final, he scored the decisive penalty in the shootout to hand Real their 11th European Cup.</div>
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It was, therefore, hard to see past 31-year-old Ronaldo for the winner of the Ballon d’Or, even if the trophy is designed to reward individual performance rather than team results.</div>
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Ronaldo’s golden year rewarded with fourth Ballon d’Or

source : The Himalayan Times PARIS: Cristiano Ronaldo capped a remarkable year by claiming a fourth Ballon d’Or award on Monday after l...

Three Star Club seeks Rs 60 mln compensation from ANFA after missing AFC Cup appearance

Sandesh Chaudhary

Link Author

Title: Three Star Club seeks Rs 60 mln compensation from ANFA after missing AFC Cup appearance
Author: Sandesh Chaudhary
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

source : The Himalayan Times KATHMANDU: Nepal league leader Three Star Club on Tuesday demanded Rs 60 million compensation from the All ...

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source : <a href="http://thehimalayantimes.com/sports/three-star-club-seeks-rs-60-mln-compensation-anfa-missing-afc-cup-appearance/">The Himalayan Times</a><br />
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KATHMANDU: Nepal league leader Three Star Club on Tuesday demanded Rs 60 million compensation from the All Nepal Football Association, claiming the national football governing body robbed it of the appearance in the AFC Cup 2017.</div>
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Organising a press conference in Kathmandu today, the Club also informed it decided to write to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the National Sports Council, the Nepal Olympic Committee, the AFC as well as FIFA about the issue.</div>
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Issuing a press statement during the meeting, TSC Executive Chairman Arun Man Joshi and General Secretary Sanjeev Shilpakar also demanded that the concerned government authorities investigate into the case.</div>
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Three Star Club seeks Rs 60 mln compensation from ANFA after missing AFC Cup appearance

source : The Himalayan Times KATHMANDU: Nepal league leader Three Star Club on Tuesday demanded Rs 60 million compensation from the All ...

Scores sagging for high school grads taking ACT college test

Sandesh Chaudhary

Link Author

Title: Scores sagging for high school grads taking ACT college test
Author: Sandesh Chaudhary
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

source : The Himalayan Times WASHINGTON: Nearly two-thirds of this year’s high school graduates took the ACT college entrance exam, and...

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source : <a href="http://thehimalayantimes.com/education/scores-sagging-high-school-grads-taking-act-college-test/">The Himalayan Times</a><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">WASHINGTON:</strong> Nearly two-thirds of this year’s high school graduates took the ACT college entrance exam, and their scores suggest that many remain unprepared for the rigors of college-level coursework.</div>
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The testing company said Wednesday that only 38 percent of graduating seniors who took the exam hit the college-prepared benchmark in at least three of the four core subjects tested — reading, English, math and science — down from 40 percent last year. The benchmark is designed to measure a strong readiness for college.</div>
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The average composite score also declined a bit, down from 21 to 20.8 this year. The four tests are scored on a scale of 1 to 36. The composite is the average of the four scores. The vast majority of colleges use the composite in admissions.</div>
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ACT’s Paul Weeks says a decline in scores was expected, given the changing demographic of the testing population.</div>
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“Almost 2 out 3 students are taking the ACT and what’s happened is the testing cohort has become increasingly representative of students at large,” said Weeks, senior vice president for client relations, in an interview.</div>
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A number of additional states also are giving the ACT to all of their 11th-grade students. “That group of new states showed up in this year’s grad class report so we would have expected it to have an impact” on scores, Weeks said.</div>
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Nearly 2.1 million graduating seniors took the ACT, up from 1.9 million in the last school year.</div>
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By comparison, 1.7 million graduating seniors in 2015 took the SAT, the other major college entrance exam. The College Board expects to release updated 2016 numbers for the SAT later this fall.</div>
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Of the ACT-tested high school graduates this year, 61 percent met the English benchmark of 18 points, which indicates a student is likely ready for a college composition course and would earn a “C” or better grade.</div>
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In reading, 44 percent met the 22-point mark that suggests readiness for a college-level social-sciences course. For math, 41 percent met the 22-point threshold that predicts success in an algebra course. And in science, 36 percent hit the 22-point score that predicts success in an entry-level biology course.</div>
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In contrast, 34 percent of 2016 grads did not meet any of the four benchmarks. Weeks called that number alarming, an indication that those students are likely to struggle with first-year courses and end up in remedial classes that will delay degree completion and increase college costs.</div>
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The report showed a relatively wide gulf, by race, in the percentages of graduates hitting three or more of the college-ready benchmarks. Forty-nine percent of white test-takers met the three-or-more benchmark, compared to 11 percent of African Americans and 23 percent of Hispanic test-takers. But the gaps between the groups haven’t shifted that much, for better or worse, in the last four years.</div>
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When students register for the ACT, they can designate a college major. For 2016 grads, the most popular major selected was nursing, followed by pre-medicine, business administration and management and mechanical engineering.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: navy;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Other findings in the annual score report:</strong></span></div>
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<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Massachusetts had the highest average composite score, at 24.8. It was followed by Connecticut and New Hampshire, both with a 24.5 average composite score.</em></span></li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">In the last four years, the proportion of students saying they would like to pursue vocational/technical and two-year degrees increased by 2 percent. The proportion aspiring to higher levels of education dropped by 6 percent.</em></span></li>
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The testing company says 20 states funded ACT testing for all public school students in the 2016 graduating class. Those states are: Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming.</div>
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Scores sagging for high school grads taking ACT college test

source : The Himalayan Times WASHINGTON: Nearly two-thirds of this year’s high school graduates took the ACT college entrance exam, and...

Oxford ranked as world’s top university: Times Higher Education

Sandesh Chaudhary

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Title: Oxford ranked as world’s top university: Times Higher Education
Author: Sandesh Chaudhary
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

source : The Himalayan Times The University of Oxford has become the first British university to top the Times Higher Education’s global...

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source : <a href="http://thehimalayantimes.com/education/oxford-ranked-worlds-top-university-times-higher-education/">The Himalayan Times</a><br />
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The University of Oxford has become the first British university to top the Times Higher Education’s global league table, knocking the California Institute of Technology into second place.</div>
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Oxford topped the list because it improved across the four main indicators that influence the rankings – teaching, research, citations and international outlook, Times Higher Education said.</div>
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But Britain’s vote to leave the European Union could threaten the oldest university in the English-speaking world, locking academics out of research projects, said Phil Baty, the editor of the rankings.</div>
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“As well as some top academics reporting they have been frozen out of collaborative research projects with EU colleagues, many are admitting that they might look to relocate to a university outside the country,” Baty told the BBC.</div>
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While Oxford, the University of Cambridge and London’s Imperial College make the top 10 along with ETH Zurich, the list is dominated by U.S. universities.</div>
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Stanford University is ranked third, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology fifth, Harvard sixth, Princeton seventh and the University of California, Berkeley and University of Chicago at tenth equal.</div>
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Cambridge was ranked fourth, Imperial eighth and ETH Zurich ninth.</div>
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More broadly, the rankings showed institutions in Asia had made progress with two new Asian universities now in the 100 and another four joining the top 200.</div>
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Oxford ranked as world’s top university: Times Higher Education

source : The Himalayan Times The University of Oxford has become the first British university to top the Times Higher Education’s global...

At least 10 killed by collapse of church in southern Nigeria: resident

Sandesh Chaudhary

Link Author

Title: At least 10 killed by collapse of church in southern Nigeria: resident
Author: Sandesh Chaudhary
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

source : The Himalayan Times At least ten people were killed and some 15 wounded when a church collapsed during a service in southern Ni...

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source : <a href="http://thehimalayantimes.com/world/least-10-killed-collapse-church-southern-nigeria-resident/">The Himalayan Times</a><br />
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At least ten people were killed and some 15 wounded when a church collapsed during a service in southern Nigeria on Saturday, a resident and police said.</div>
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State news agency NAN said on its website there had been 60 “victims” of the collapse in the southern city of Uyo in Akwa Ibom state without clarifying whether they had been killed or wounded.</div>
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“I visited the scene of the incident today and saw people being taken out,” said Monday Akpan, a resident. “More than ten people were killed from my calculation and what I heard others say there.”</div>
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Local media put the death toll even higher. The Premium Times said on its website at least 50 people had been killed or seriously injured.</div>
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Police and civil service officials said some worshippers had been killed but refused to give a figure as the rescue operation was still ongoing.</div>
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The church collapsed during a service when a pastor was to be consecrated as bishop and local officials in attendance escaped unhurt, police spokeswomen Cordelia Nwawe said.</div>
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“Ten to 15 people were injured and have been taken to a hospital,” Nwawe said.</div>
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At least 10 killed by collapse of church in southern Nigeria: resident

source : The Himalayan Times At least ten people were killed and some 15 wounded when a church collapsed during a service in southern Ni...

Taliban demands for cash stir fears of comeback in Pakistan’s Swat Valley

Sandesh Chaudhary

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Title: Taliban demands for cash stir fears of comeback in Pakistan’s Swat Valley
Author: Sandesh Chaudhary
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

source : The Himalayan Times MINGORA: When Pakistani shopkeeper Abdur Rahim’s phone rang in mid-October, he was shocked to hear the voi...

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source : <a href="http://thehimalayantimes.com/world/taliban-demands-cash-stir-fears-comeback-pakistans-swat-valley/">The Himalayan Times</a><br />
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<span class="location" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">MINGORA: </strong></span>When Pakistani shopkeeper Abdur Rahim’s phone rang in mid-October, he was shocked to hear the voice of a senior militant commander demanding protection money from him and his fellow traders in the Swat Valley.</div>
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The menacing call was taken seriously in a northern pocket of the country where Pakistani Taliban insurgents took partial control in 2007, before being ousted two years later in a major military operation hailed as a telling blow against Islamist violence.</div>
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Locals fear that recent threats of extortion and a spate of targeted killings earlier this year mark an attempt by the Taliban to regain a foothold in the picturesque, mountainous area they once ruled with an iron fist.</div>
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Western powers, including the United States which has thousands of troops fighting other militant groups across the nearby border in Afghanistan, want to see jihadi networks along the frontier crushed.</div>
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During the Oct. 19 conversation, Mullah Akhtar, a commander close to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Mullah Fazlullah, ordered Rahim to collect money from 15,000 members of the Swat Traders’ Federation, of which he is president.</div>
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But in a tense exchange, Rahim refused to cooperate, and told Akhtar militants were not welcome in Swat.</div>
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According to Rahim, Akhtar boiled over with rage: “I will blow you up, so that even the doctors won’t be able to find the pieces.”</div>
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Since the call, Rahim’s life has changed.</div>
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Speaking to Reuters in Swat’s main town of Mingora, he stood flanked by two armed policemen, while plainclothed officers keep a watchful eye in the background. CCTV cameras monitor his home.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: navy;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">MOTIVES UNCLEAR</strong></span></div>
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Representatives of the militant movement could not be reached for comment on their tactics in Swat Valley; some residents believe demands for money and a rise in attacks in the first half of the year are signs of desperation.</div>
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Attacks have been a part of life there since 2010, including the attempted assassination of Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai in 2012, but in recent months the murders have stopped after a series of arrests by police.</div>
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The Taliban have also struggled to build ideological support after their bloody two-year rule that saw them impose a harsh version of Islamic law on the valley’s 2 million residents.</div>
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The group remains active elsewhere, however, particularly in southern Baluchistan province, where a faction of the Taliban and Islamic State have claimed responsibility for a series of bomb and gun attacks that have killed more than 180 people.</div>
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The Pakistani military will be desperate to keep the Taliban out of Swat, the first sizeable region outside lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan to fall to the militants.</div>
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The army’s publicity wing did not respond to requests for comment on the situation in the area.</div>
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The military has been on alert for signs of a Taliban resurgence as it seeks to rebuild civilian institutions and win over the local population as a bulwark against radical ideology.</div>
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A force of more than 4,000 Pakistani soldiers is stationed in Swat, and last month the army began constructing a permanent garrison.</div>
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“It (Swat) was always shown as the example of a successful military operation,” said Zahid Hussain, a security analyst. “But the main challenge is to hold that area, and to now establish a civilian authority.”</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: navy;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">NEUTRALIZING SUPPORT NETWORKS</strong></span></div>
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While officials tout the recent drop in assassinations by the Taliban as progress, locals on the group’s hit-list are less sanguine.</div>
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Powerful tribal leaders, especially those who worked with anti-Taliban peace committees, say they are in danger.</div>
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Fazal Wahab, for example, walks through Mingora’s bustling market hiding a pistol under his coat and wearing a black anti-pollution face mask to hide his identity.</div>
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“I have received no support of any kind from the army,” said Wahab, who has faced Taliban death threats for years due to his work.</div>
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But local officials say security has improved.</div>
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More than 2,000 Taliban fighters from Swat have been driven into mountainous areas on the Afghan side of the border nearby, according to officials.</div>
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Police in Swat said TTP assassins used little-trodden mountain passes between Afghanistan’s Nuristan and Pakistan’s Chitral regions to sneak into the valley.</div>
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“It’s not difficult for one or two people to slip through,” said Akhtar Hayat Khan, Swat’s police chief.</div>
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Khan said several intelligence-led swoops on local facilitators had disrupted the Taliban’s support network and limited the threat. In July, police arrested at least 12 people across the valley suspected of aiding attacks.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: navy;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">“DOG EAT DOG”</strong></span></div>
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Local traders applauded Rahim’s stand against the Taliban, but some were not sure if they would follow his example if faced with demands for protection money themselves.</div>
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“If we get a call, then what can we do? We will bear the decision like a stone on our hearts, but we have no choice,” said Nisar Ahmed.</div>
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Rahim is steadfast in his resistance. Recently he started breeding dogs, widely considered unclean in Islam, for his own protection.</div>
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“I used to hate keeping dogs. But you need to keep a dog to fight a dog,” he said. “They (the Taliban) are hungry now. And like a dog bites a man out of hunger, they’re biting, too.”</div>
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Taliban demands for cash stir fears of comeback in Pakistan’s Swat Valley

source : The Himalayan Times MINGORA: When Pakistani shopkeeper Abdur Rahim’s phone rang in mid-October, he was shocked to hear the voi...

Conflict over Russia is rocky start for Trump and intelligence agencies

Sandesh Chaudhary

Link Author

Title: Conflict over Russia is rocky start for Trump and intelligence agencies
Author: Sandesh Chaudhary
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

source : The Himalayan Times WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump’s rejection this weekend of US intelligence analysts’ conclusion ...

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source : <a href="http://thehimalayantimes.com/world/conflict-russia-rocky-start-trump-intelligence-agencies/">The Himalayan Times</a><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">WASHINGTON: </strong>President-elect Donald Trump’s rejection this weekend of US intelligence analysts’ conclusion that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help him win the White House is the latest in a string of conflicts between Trump and the intelligence community he will command.</div>
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Most of them involve Russia, which has grown increasingly aggressive – according to what US intelligence agencies have told Congress and the administration of President Barack Obama – in Syria and Ukraine. The agencies also reported that Russia has ratcheted up activities in cyberspace including meddling, sometimes covertly, in European and US elections.</div>
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The intelligence agencies have concluded with “high confidence” that not only did their Russian counterparts direct the hacking of Democratic Party organizations and leaders, but they did so to undermine Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton,</div>
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not just to shake confidence in the US electoral system, a senior US official said on Friday.</div>
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The president-elect’s transition office responded by releasing a statement that exaggerated his margin of victory and attacked the US intelligence community’s work on Iraq, but did not address the analysts’ conclusion about Russia.</div>
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“These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction,” the statement said. “The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It’s now time to move on and ‘Make America Great Again.'”</div>
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In a statement issued on Saturday, California Democrat Adam Schiff, a member of the House intelligence committee, called the Russian hacking of the US election “spectacularly successful.”</div>
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“One would also have to be willfully blind not to see that these Russian actions were uniformly damaging to Secretary (of State Hillary) Clinton and helpful to Donald Trump,” Schiff said. “I do not believe this was coincidental or unintended.”</div>
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Trump has rejected the intelligence agencies’ finding.</div>
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“I don’t believe they interfered,” he told Time magazine about Russia in an interview published this week. “That became a laughing point, not a talking point, a laughing point. Any time I do something, they say, ‘Oh, Russia interfered.'”</div>
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Russian officials have denied all accusations of interference in the US election.</div>
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The president-elect has been receiving the President’s Daily Brief (PDB), one of the most highly classified documents in the US government and which can include details of US and allied covert operations, only once a week. That is far less often than most of his predecessors.So far, intelligence officials said, Trump has not requested a special briefing on Russia, despite the agencies’ warnings that Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to undermine trans-Atlantic unity and test US and allied resolve.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: navy;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">‘INCIDENTAL CONTACT’</strong></span></div>
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In fact, two officials with knowledge of the situation said on Saturday that Trump’s transition team has made only “incidental contact” with the Central Intelligence Agency. This is despite the fact that Trump’s choice to head the CIA, US Representative Mike Pompeo, has limited experience working with the agency. The Kansas Republican served on the House Intelligence Committee and the select committee investigating the 2012 attack on US diplomatic and intelligence facilities in Benghazi, Libya.</div>
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Democrats and some Republicans in Congress who have been briefed on the Russian activities share the intelligence agencies’ alarm about Trump’s plans for the 17-agency intelligence community, which includes the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Counterterrorism Center.</div>
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Privately, some members of the clandestine service, the CIA’s body of spies, said they would resign rather than obey any order to resume waterboarding or other “enhanced interrogation techniques” that Trump endorsed during his campaign.Elsewhere in the $70 billion-a-year intelligence community officials on Saturday said they fear that Trump might invite legal trouble by trying to vastly expand electronic and physical surveillance of suspected terrorists based on their religion or national origin.</div>
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None of that may come to pass, of course, and campaign rhetoric and tweets do not always predict policies, the officials conceded.However, Trump’s statements about Russia and business dealings there, as well as those of retired Army Lieutenant Michael Flynn, his choice for national security adviser, are worrisome to many of the officials tracking Putin’s growing aggressiveness from seas to skies to cyberspace.</div>
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Obama has ordered the intelligence agencies to review cyber attacks and foreign intervention into the 2016 election and deliver a report before he leaves office on Jan. 20, the White House said on Friday.</div>
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Obama’s homeland security adviser, Lisa Monaco, told reporters on Friday the report’s results would be shared with lawmakers and others.</div>
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“The president has directed the intelligence community to conduct a full review of what happened during the 2016 election process … and to capture lessons learned from that and to report to a range of stakeholders, to include the Congress,” she said during an event hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.</div>
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Conflict over Russia is rocky start for Trump and intelligence agencies

source : The Himalayan Times WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump’s rejection this weekend of US intelligence analysts’ conclusion ...

Blast inside Cairo’s Coptic cathedral kills at least 20, injures 35

Sandesh Chaudhary

Link Author

Title: Blast inside Cairo’s Coptic cathedral kills at least 20, injures 35
Author: Sandesh Chaudhary
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

source : The Himalayan Times CAIRO: An explosion inside Cairo’s Coptic cathedral killed at least 20 people and injured 35, Egypt’s stat...

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source : <a href="http://thehimalayantimes.com/world/blast-inside-cairos-coptic-cathedral-kills-least-20-injures-35/">The Himalayan Times</a><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">CAIRO:</strong> An explosion inside Cairo’s Coptic cathedral killed at least 20 people and injured 35, Egypt’s state television said.</div>
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There was no immediate claim of responsibility.</div>
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On Friday, two roadside bombs – one in Cairo and one north of the capital – killed six policemen and wounded six others.</div>
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Egyptian security forces are fighting an Islamist insurgency led by Islamic State’s branch in North Sinai, where hundreds of soldiers and police have been killed. The insurgents have also launched deadly attacks Cairo and other cities.</div>
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Blast inside Cairo’s Coptic cathedral kills at least 20, injures 35

source : The Himalayan Times CAIRO: An explosion inside Cairo’s Coptic cathedral killed at least 20 people and injured 35, Egypt’s stat...

Trump says US not necessarily bound by ‘one China’ policy

Sandesh Chaudhary

Link Author

Title: Trump says US not necessarily bound by ‘one China’ policy
Author: Sandesh Chaudhary
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

source : The Himalayan Times WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump said the United States did not necessarily have to stick to it...

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source : <a href="http://thehimalayantimes.com/world/cairo-church-bombing-kills-25-raises-fears-among-christians/">The Himalayan Times</a><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">WASHINGTON: </strong>US President-elect Donald Trump said the United States did not necessarily have to stick to its long-standing position that Taiwan is part of “one China,” questioning nearly four decades of policy in a move likely to antagonize Beijing.</div>
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Trump’s comments on “Fox News Sunday” came after he prompted a diplomatic protest from China over his decision to accept a telephone call on Dec. 2 from Taiwan’s president.</div>
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“I fully understand the ‘one China’ policy, but I don’t know why we have to be bound by a ‘one China’ policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade,” Trump told Fox.</div>
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Trump’s call with President Tsai Ing-wen was the first such contact with Taiwan by a US president-elect or president since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, acknowledging Taiwan as part of “one China.”</div>
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Beijing considers Taiwan a renegade province and the subject is a sensitive one for China.</div>
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Chinese officials had no immediate reaction to Trump’s remarks.</div>
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After Trump’s phone conversation with Taiwan’s president, the Obama administration said senior White House aides had spoken with Chinese officials to insist that Washington’s “one China” policy remained intact. The administration also warned that progress made in the US relationship with China could be undermined by a “flaring up” of the Taiwan issue.</div>
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Following Trump’s latest comments, a White House aide said the Obama administration had no reaction beyond its previously stated policy positions.</div>
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In the Fox interview, Trump criticized China over its currency policies, its activities in the South China Sea and its stance toward North Korea. He said it was not up to Beijing to decide whether he should take a call from Taiwan’s leader.</div>
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“I don’t want China dictating to me and this was a call put in to me,” Trump said. “It was a very nice call. Short. And why should some other nation be able to say I can’t take a call?”</div>
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“I think it actually would’ve been very disrespectful, to be honest with you, not taking it,” Trump added.</div>
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Trump plans to nominate a long-standing friend of Beijing, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, as the next US ambassador to China.</div>
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But Trump is considering John Bolton, a former Bush administration official who has urged a tougher line on Beijing, for a senior role at the US State Department, according to a source familiar with the matter.</div>
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The source said Bolton was a leading candidate for the No. 2 job at the State Department.</div>
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In a Wall Street Journal article last January, Bolton said the next US president should take bolder steps to halt China’ military aggressiveness in the South and East China seas.</div>
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Bolton said Washington should consider using a “diplomatic ladder of escalation” that could start with receiving Taiwanese diplomats officially at the State Department and lead to restoring full diplomatic recognition.</div>
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In the Fox interview, Trump brought up a litany of complaints about China that he emphasized during his presidential campaign.</div>
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“We’re being hurt very badly by China with devaluation, with taxing us heavy at the borders when we don’t tax them, with building a massive fortress in the middle of the South China Sea, which they shouldn’t be doing, and frankly with not helping us at all with North Korea,” Trump said. “You have North Korea. You have nuclear weapons and China could solve that problem and they’re not helping us at all.”</div>
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Economists, including those at the International Monetary Fund, have widely viewed China’s efforts to prop up the yuan’s value over the past year as evidence that Beijing is no longer keeping its currency artificially low to make Chinese exports cheap.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: navy;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">RAISING ‘LIKELIHOOD OF MISUNDERSTANDING’</strong></span></div>
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Some US analysts warned that Trump could provoke a military confrontation if he presses the Taiwan issue too far.</div>
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“China is more likely to let the whole relationship with the United States deteriorate in order to show its resolve on the Taiwan issue,” said Jessica Chen Weiss, an associate professor of government at Cornell University and an expert in Chinese nationalism.</div>
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“When the decision to end a decades-long practice is made with so little warning and clear communication, it raises the likelihood of misunderstanding and miscalculation and sets the stage for a crisis between the United States and China over Taiwan,” Chen Weiss said.</div>
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Mike Green, a former top adviser on Asia to former President George W. Bush, said ending the “one China” policy would be a mistake because it would throw the US-China relationship into turmoil and jeopardize Beijing’s cooperation on issues such as North Korea.</div>
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But Green, who is now with the CSIS think tank, said he did not believe that Trump intended to go that far and there was “logic to serving Beijing notice that he will not be dictated to on issues like Taiwan.”</div>
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“President Obama was too accommodating to Beijing early on and it reduced his leverage as China asserted itself on issues like the East and South China Seas later,” Green said.</div>
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On Sunday, China’s top diplomat, State Councilor Yang Jiechi was traveling to US neighbor Mexico, according to the official news agency Xinhua, but Mexican officials could not offer details.</div>
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Mexico has been deepening ties with China, which is partly funding a multi-billion dollar wholesale mobile network while China Offshore Oil Corporation took two of the eight blocks of deep water oil fields offered in a historic auction this month.</div>
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Trump says US not necessarily bound by ‘one China’ policy

source : The Himalayan Times WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump said the United States did not necessarily have to stick to it...

Cairo church bombing kills 25, raises fears among Christians

Sandesh Chaudhary

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Title: Cairo church bombing kills 25, raises fears among Christians
Author: Sandesh Chaudhary
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

source : The Himalayan Times CAIRO: A bombing at Cairo’s largest Coptic cathedral killed at least 25 people and wounded 49, many of th...

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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">source :<a href="http://thehimalayantimes.com/world/cairo-church-bombing-kills-25-raises-fears-among-christians/"> The Himalayan Times</a></strong></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">CAIRO: </strong>A bombing at Cairo’s largest Coptic cathedral killed at least 25 people and wounded 49, many of them women and children attending Sunday mass, in the deadliest attack on Egypt’s Christian minority in years.</div>
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The attack comes as President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi fights battles on several fronts. His economic reforms have angered the poor, a bloody crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood has seen thousands jailed, whilst an insurgency rages in Northern Sinai, led by the Egyptian branch of Islamic State.</div>
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The militant group has also carried out deadly attacks in Cairo and has urged its supporters to launch attacks around the world in recent weeks as it goes on the defensive in its Iraqi and Syrian strongholds.</div>
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There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but exiled Brotherhood officials and home-grown militant groups condemned the attack. Islamic State supporters celebrated on social media.</div>
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“God bless the person who did this blessed act,” wrote one supporter on Telegram.</div>
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The explosion took place in a chapel, which adjoins St Mark’s, Cairo’s main cathedral and the seat of Coptic Pope Tawadros II, where security is normally tight.</div>
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The United States said it “will continue to work with its partners to defeat such terrorist acts” and that it was committed to Egypt’s security, according to a White House statement on Sunday.</div>
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The UN Security Council urged “all States, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with all relevant authorities” to hold those responsible accountable.</div>
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At the Vatican, Pope Francis condemned what he called the latest in a series of “brutal terrorist attacks” and said he was praying for the dead and wounded.</div>
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The chapel’s floor was covered in debris from shattered windows, its wooden pews blasted apart, its pillars blackened. Here and there lay abandoned shoes and sticky patches of blood.</div>
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“As soon as the priest called us to prepare for prayer, the explosion happened,” Emad Shoukry, who was inside when the blast took place, told Reuters.</div>
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“The explosion shook the place … the dust covered the hall and I was looking for the door, although I couldn’t see anything … I managed to leave in the middle of screams and there were a lot of people thrown on the ground.”</div>
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Security sources told Reuters at least six children were among the dead, with the blast detonating on the side of the church normally used by women.</div>
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They said the explosion was caused by a device containing at least 12 kg (26 pounds) of TNT.</div>
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Police and armored vehicles rushed to the area, as hundreds of protesters gathered outside the compound demanding revenge for the attack that took place on a Muslim holiday marking the Prophet Mohammad’s birthday and weeks before Christmas. Scuffles broke out with police.</div>
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A woman sitting near the cathedral in traditional long robes shouted, “kill them, kill the terrorists, what are you waiting for? … Why are you leaving them to bomb our homes?”</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: navy;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">“EGYPTIAN BLOOD IS CHEAP”</strong></span></div>
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Though Egypt’s Coptic Christians have traditionally been supporters of the government, angry crowds turned their ire against Sisi, saying his government had failed to protect them.</div>
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“As long as Egyptian blood is cheap, down, down with any president,” they chanted. Others chanted “the people demand the fall of the regime”, the rallying cry of the 2011 uprising that helped end Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule.</div>
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Sisi’s office condemned what it described as a terrorist attack, declaring three days of mourning and promising justice. Al-Azhar, Egypt’s main Islamic center of learning, also denounced the attacks.</div>
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Orthodox Copts, who comprise about 10 percent of Egypt’s 90 million people, are the Middle East’s biggest Christian community.</div>
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Copts face regular attack by Muslim neighbors, who burn their homes and churches in poor rural areas, usually in anger over an inter-faith romance or the construction of church.</div>
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The last major attack on a church took place as worshippers left a New Year’s service in Alexandria weeks before the start of the 2011 uprising. At least 21 people were killed.</div>
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Egypt’s Christian community has felt increasingly insecure since Islamic State spread through Iraq and Syria in 2014, ruthlessly targeting religious minorities. In 2015, 21 Egyptian Christians working in Libya were killed by Islamic State.</div>
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The attack came two days after six police were killed in two bomb attacks, one of them claimed by Hasm, a recently-emerged group the government says is linked to the Brotherhood, which has been banned under Sisi as a terrorist organization.</div>
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The Brotherhood says it is peaceful. Several exiled Brotherhood officials condemned the bombing, as did Hasm and Liwaa’ al-Thawra, another local militant group.</div>
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Coptic Pope Tawadros II cut short a visit to Greece after learning of the attack. In a speech aired on state television, he said “the whole situation needs us all to be disciplined as much as possible … strong unity is the most important thing.”</div>
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Church officials said earlier on Sunday they would not allow the bombing to create sectarian differences.</div>
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But Christians, convinced attacks on them are not seriously investigated, say this time they want justice.</div>
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“Where was the security? There were five or six security cars stationed outside so where were they when 12 kg of TNT was carried inside?” said Mena Samir, 25, standing at the church’s metal gate. “They keep telling us national unity, the crescent with the cross … This time we will not shut up.”</div>
</div>

Cairo church bombing kills 25, raises fears among Christians

source : The Himalayan Times CAIRO: A bombing at Cairo’s largest Coptic cathedral killed at least 25 people and wounded 49, many of th...

Finance Minister English named as New Zealand prime minister

Sandesh Chaudhary

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Title: Finance Minister English named as New Zealand prime minister
Author: Sandesh Chaudhary
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

source : The Himalayan Times WELLINGTON: New Zealand Finance Minister Bill English was confirmed as the country’s new prime minister on...

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source : <a href="http://thehimalayantimes.com/world/finance-minister-bill-english-named-new-zealand-prime-minister/">The Himalayan Times</a><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">WELLINGTON: </strong>New Zealand Finance Minister Bill English was confirmed as the country’s new prime minister on Monday, as expected, a week after John Key announced his surprise resignation after eight years in the role.</div>
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English, who was the sole contender for the job, announced Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett as the deputy leader, following a special caucus meeting of the ruling center-right National Party.</div>
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English, who will be sworn in later in the day, has already lined up senior cabinet minister Steven Joyce, the minister for economic development, to replace him in the finance ministry.</div>
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He is expected to announce further cabinet changes in the coming weeks and has also signaled a “stocktake” on policy.</div>
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“I am both excited and humbled by this opportunity,” English, who comes from a conservative, Catholic family in New Zealand’s south, told reporters after the meeting.</div>
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English, who 13 years ago oversaw a disastrous election loss for the National Party to the center-left Labour Party, takes the reins of a country in good economic shape compared to much of the developed world.</div>
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On Monday, Moody’s said it expects New Zealand to remain among the fastest growing of triple-A rated economies.</div>
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English has held several ministerial posts across education, health and finance since he joined parliament in 1990.</div>
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As finance minister, his key policies included moves to partly privatize several state-owned energy firms and Air New Zealand, cutting personal tax and corporate tax rates and increasing the goods and services tax.</div>
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Finance Minister English named as New Zealand prime minister

source : The Himalayan Times WELLINGTON: New Zealand Finance Minister Bill English was confirmed as the country’s new prime minister on...

Deuba, Oli to continue bid to end deadlock

Sandesh Chaudhary

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Title: Deuba, Oli to continue bid to end deadlock
Author: Sandesh Chaudhary
Rating 5 of 5 Des:

source : The Himalayan Times Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and leader of the main opposition CPN-UML KP Sharma Oli today a...

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source : <a href="http://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/sher-bahadur-deuba-kp-sharma-oli-continue-bid-end-deadlock/">The Himalayan Times</a><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and leader of the main opposition CPN-UML KP Sharma Oli today agreed to hold further talks to forge consensus on the second amendment to the new constitution.</span><br />
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The leaders reached understanding after they met at the UML’s parliamentary party office in Singha Durbar today.</div>
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The UML has been obstructing House meetings since the government registered the bill on November 29 and pressing the government to withdraw it. The government, on the other hand, wants to table the bill in the next meeting of the House on December 15.</div>
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“Talks were held to end the deadlock. We have decided to find a solution by holding another round of talks,” Deuba said after the 50-minute meeting which was also attended by UML deputy parliamentary party leader Subas Chandra Nembang. The talks were held to end the crisis of confidence among the political parties, Deuba said.</div>
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The two leaders have agreed to sit again and try to forge consensus before tabling the bill, according to Deuba’s Personal Secretary Keshav Joshi.</div>
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Oli had urged Deuba to withdraw the bill and create atmosphere for holding civic polls. Oli had hinted that the UML would be ready to clear the House obstruction if the government put the constitution amendment bill on hold and tabled election-related bills, said Oli’s Press Coordinator Chetan Adhikari.</div>
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“UML wants the government to announce dates for holding civic polls and the party is flexible about clearing the way for this. However, the party is not ready to clear the House obstruction for tabling the constitution amendment bill without forging consensus on it,” Adhikari said.</div>
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The seven-point amendment bill proposes to amend constitutional provisions related to redrawing provincial boundaries, recognition of languages, citizenship and representation in the National Assembly.</div>
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The bill proposes revision of boundaries of provinces 4 and 5 by keeping the region east of Bardaghat in Nawalparasi district and the eastern part of Rukum district in Province 4 and the region west of Bardaghat in Nawalparasi, Rupandehi, Kapilvastu, Dang, Banke and Bardia districts in Province 5.</div>
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Deuba, Oli to continue bid to end deadlock

source : The Himalayan Times Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and leader of the main opposition CPN-UML KP Sharma Oli today a...

Apple urges organ donation via new iPhone software

Sandesh Chaudhary

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Title: Apple urges organ donation via new iPhone software
Author: Sandesh Chaudhary
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source : The Himalayan Times SAN FRANCISCO: Apple wants to encourage millions of iPhone owners to register as organ donors through a so...

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source : <a href="http://thehimalayantimes.com/mobile-apps/apple-urges-organ-donation-via-new-iphone-software/">The Himalayan Times</a><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">SAN FRANCISCO:</strong> Apple wants to encourage millions of iPhone owners to register as organ donors through a software update that will add an easy sign-up button to the health information app that comes installed on every smartphone the company makes.</div>
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CEO Tim Cook says he hopes the new software will help ease a longstanding donor shortage. He told The Associated Press that the problem hit home when Apple co-founder Steve Jobs endured an “excruciating” wait for a liver transplant in 2009.</div>
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Apple is adding the option to enroll in a national donor registry by clicking a button within the iPhone’s Health app, which can be used manage a variety of health and fitness data. The software will come to all US-based iPhones when the company updates its mobile operating system this fall.</div>
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Apple urges organ donation via new iPhone software

source : The Himalayan Times SAN FRANCISCO: Apple wants to encourage millions of iPhone owners to register as organ donors through a so...

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