Hillary Clinton launches new political action group to fight Trump

'Onward Together' to encourage people to organise and run for office, writes Hillary

Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has launched a new political action organisation to fight against US President Donald Trump's agenda and raise funds for five prominent progressive groups.

"I believe more fiercely than ever that citizen engagement at every level is central to a strong and vibrant democracy," Clinton said announcing the launch of her group 'Onward Together'.

"More than ever, I believe citizen engagement is vital to our democracy. I'm so inspired by everyone stepping up to organise and lead," the former Secretary of State, said to her supporters as she urged them to contribute to the "remarkable" spirit of political activism.

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The announcement comes as Clinton, 69, works to find a new role in an evolving political landscape.

The new group's website said it aimed to advance progressive values and reminded visitors that Clinton had won nearly 66 million votes in November's showdown with Trump.

"Onward Together will work to build a brighter future for generations to come by supporting groups that encourage people to organise and run for office," wrote the former Secretary of State.

Clinton becomes the latest high-profile Democrat to launch an independent group. Former President Barack Obama, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and 2004 Democratic nominee Howard Dean all helped create political organisations. Read more

TCS announces share buyback; Infosys and Wipro may follow

Investors eye a piece of the large cash kitty as growth slows

Barely a week after the US-based software services player Cognizant Technology Solutions, which has several delivery centres in India, announced plans to return $3.4 billion to its shareholders through buyback of shares and dividends, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), too, said its board would be meeting on Monday to consider a buyback plan.

In a statement to stock exchanges on Thursday, TCS said, “We would like to inform you that the board of directors will consider a proposal for buyback of equity shares of the company at its meeting to be held on February 20, 2017.” If approved, this will be TCS’ first buyback since its listing in 2004.

The Street took the news positively, as stocks of domestic information technology (IT) majors - TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and HCL Technologies - were up 1.4-3 per cent on Thursday.

When asked about the company’s capital allocation plans, Rishad Premji, whole-time director and chief strategy officer, Wipro, said, “We did a buyback last year worth Rs 2,500 crore. We have a stated dividend payout ratio policy, which is 40-45 per cent, which we have maintained. We have said that on an annual basis, we actively discuss this within the company and evaluate what makes sense with the cash that the company generates. We are open to evaluating options like buyback, special dividends. It makes sense for the organisation, as we move forward.”

Buybacks are seen as the preferred route over dividends, as they are more tax-efficient. Besides dividend distribution tax at an effective rate of over 20 per cent, dividend income in the hands of all residents, except domestic companies, trusts or funds, also attracts an additional dividend tax of 10 per cent on dividend income over Rs 10 lakh a year. Read more

Trump appoints Indian-American Raj Shah to key White House position

Shah played a leading role in the Republican party's anti-Clinton campaign during polls

Latest News : US President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday appointed young Indian-American Raj Shah, who played a leading role in the Republican party's anti-Clinton campaign during polls, to a key White House position.

Shah, whose parents immigrated to the US from Gujarat, has been appointed as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Communication Director and Research Director, according to an announcement made by the Presidential Transition Team.

Shah, who is in his early 30s, is currently head of Opposition Research in the Republican National Committee.

In this position, he led a team of experts to carry out research against Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate. Shah was behind all the anti-Clinton campaign during the presidential elections.

The announcement of Shah's appointment to this key White House position was made by incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus along with other appointments.

"These individuals will be key leaders in helping to implement the President elect's agenda and bring real change to Washington," Priebus said.Read more.

The Black Friday Heist: Financial phishing increases during holiday season

The number of financial phishing attacks is expected to rise during the Holiday season which starts unofficially on so-called Black Friday and continues through Cyber Monday and Christmas.

Retrospective research by Kaspersky Lab specialists shows that, over the last few years, the holiday period was marked by an increase in phishing and other types of attacks, which suggests that the pattern will be repeated this year.

A peak season for sales is obviously also a peak hunting season for criminals: retailers offer lots of hard-to-resist deals and people plan on spending money on gifts for themselves, their friends and relatives. So, while e-commerce customers are making wishes for the upcoming sales, the retailers themselves are preparing their stores for a massive rise in the number of visitors, and financial infrastructure owners - banks and payment systems - are getting ready for a huge increase in the number and value of transactions; cybercriminals are preparing too.

At least, that was the case in previous years.

As Kaspersky Lab threat statistics shows, in 2014 and 2015 the proportion of phishing pages that hunt financial data (credit cards details) detected by the company during Q4 (which covers the holiday period) was around 9 percentage points higher than the average for the year. In particular, the result for financial phishing in all of 2014 was 28.73%, while the result for Q4 was 38.49%. In 2015, 34.33% of all phishing attacks was financial phishing, while in Q4, that type of phishing was responsible for 43.38% of all attacks.

Holidays influence the type of financial targets that criminals are after. Both in 2014 and 2015 Kaspersky Lab researchers witnessed a significant (several percentage points) increase in phishing attacks against payment systems and online stores. Attacks against banks also grew, but at a lower rate.Read more

Donald Trump vows to immediately deport up to 3 million undocumented immigrants

Donald Trump vows to immediately deport up to 3 million undocumented immigrants

In line with his hardline immigration stance, President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to immediately deport up to three million undocumented immigrants, saying "we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate".

"What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate," Trump told CBS News.

"But we're getting them out of our country, they're here illegally," the 70-year-old business tycoon-turned politician said in an excerpt released ahead of broadcast of the interview.

During the election campaign, Trump had warned that those countries which do not accept these illegal immigrants, he would enforce the legal provision of stopping of issuing of visas to people of those countries.

There are an estimated 11 million documented immigrants in the country. Several hundred thousand are believed to be Indian-Americans.

The President-elect said he would take a call on the fate of the rest of the illegal immigrants, after the border is secured.

"After the border is secure and after everything gets normalised, we're going to make a determination on the people that they're talking about who are terrific people, they're terrific people but we are gonna make a determination at that," Trump said. Read more

Final US Presidential Debate: As it happened

Final US Presidential Debate: As it happened

08:11 AM

Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump do not shake hands after final debate

08:07 AM

I'm reaching out to all Americans...because we need everybody to make our country what it should be: Hillary Clinton

08:06 AM

We are going to make America strong again, we are going to make America great again. We can't wait for four more years: Trump

08:03 AM

Hillary Clinton accuses Trump of being 'most dangerous' White House candidate in modern history

  

08:03 AM

Will repeal ObamaCare. It is a bad healthcare and it has to go: Trump

08:01 AM

I am going to create tremendous jobs. The GDP will grow from 1% to 4% . I am going to create a country that we were: Trump

08:01 AM

He has been criticising our government for decades. In 1997 he brought out an advertisement that said we were laughing stock of the world: Hillary Clinton. Read 

07:52 AM

Hillary Clinton should have never been allowed to run for presidency: Donald Trump referring to email row

07:51 AM

We will go after Baghdadi like we went after Bin Laden when you (Trump) were doing celebrity apprentice: Hillary Clinton

07:50 AM

Hillary: Once again Donald is denying he supported invasion of Iraq. Trump says : Wrong. Hillary says Google it. Trump: Wrong

07:50 AM

We had Mosul. But when she left, she took everybody out, we lost Mosul: Trump

07:49 AM

Onslaught on Mosul is only happening because Clinton is running for president: Trump

Want to debate 'very badly' with Hillary Clinton: Donald Trump

Want to debate 'very badly' with Hillary Clinton: Donald Trump

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said he wants to "debate very badly" with his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton but will first see terms and conditions of the three presidential debates scheduled for September and October.

"I will absolutely do three debates. I want to debate very badly. But I have to see the conditions," Trump told TheTime magazine.

Debate is considered the most significant part of the US presidential elections, which very often decides the fate of a candidate.

The three presidential debates scheduled this time are September 26 (Hempstead, New York), October 9 (St Louis) and October 19 in Las Vegas.

The one vice-presidential debate is scheduled for October 4 in Farmville, Virginia.

The non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which conducts the debate, had last September announced the dates, venue and terms and conditions for the debate. The format of each 90-minute debate has already been set.

Trump said that he had haggled with television networks over the terms of debates held during the GOP primary and might do so again.(more)

50 killed, 53 injured in Orlando

50 killed, 53 injured in Orlando

A gunman killed 50 people at a packed nightclub in Orlando, Florida on Sunday and wounded 53 others before being killed by police in the worst mass shooting in US history.

The shooter was identified as Omar S Mateen, a Florida resident who a senior FBI official said might have had leanings towards Islamic State militants. Officials called the rampage a "terrorism incident," but cautioned that the suspected Islamist connection required further investigation.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said the attack was the deadliest single US shooting incident, eclipsing the 32 people killed in the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech university.

"Today we're dealing with something that we never imagined and is unimaginable," Dyer said, more than doubling an earlier estimate that about 20 bodies were found in the Pulse nightclub. A police officer working as a security guard inside the club, which has operated in downtown Orlando since 2004 and was a popular hangout for homosexuals, exchanged fire with the suspect at about 2 am (0600 GMT), police officials said.

A hostage situation quickly developed, and three hours later SWAT team officers used armored cars to storm the club before shooting dead the gunman. It was unclear when the gunman killed the victims.

One officer was injured after he was hit in his helmet while exchanging fire with the gunman, police said. Read more.

China to block India's NSG bid if Pakistan not included

China to block India's NSG bid if Pakistan not included

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Thursday assured Prime MinisterNarendra Modi of his country’s support to India’s bid for the membership of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), even as China led five other countries at a meeting of the export control group in Vienna to stall the proposal.

According to sources, China will approve of India’s membership only ifPakistan is also included in the elite group.

Modi, meanwhile, is likely to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on June 23-24, where India and Pakistan are likely to be admitted to the six-member group. China had objected to India’s entry to the SCO as well. However, it had relented once Pakistan’s request to join the group was accepted.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Thursday assured Prime Minister Narendra Modi of his country’s support to India’s bid for the membership of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), even as China led five other countries at a meeting of the export control group in Vienna to stall the proposal.

According to sources, China will approve of India’s membership only if Pakistan is also included in the elite group.

Read more.

Terror being 'incubated' in India's neighbourhood

Terror being 'incubated' in India's neighbourhood

With Pakistan obviously in mind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said terrorism was being “incubated in India’s neighbourhood” and pressed for action without making any distinction against groups like Lashkar-e-Toiba, Taliban and ISIS who share the “same philosophy of hate, murder and killings”.

In his address to the joint sitting of US Congress here, he said terrorism has to be fought with “one voice” as he commended the American Parliament for sending out a clear message by refusing to “reward” those who preach and practice terrorism for political gains, an apparent reference to the blocking of sale of 8 F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan.

In the course of his 45-minute speech, he covered all major aspects of the growing relationship between India and the US, particularly strategic ties and civil nuclear cooperation, and emphasised that the two countries should leave “constraints of the past” behind as the “foundations of the future are firmly in place”.

“India lives as one; India grows as one and India celebrates as one,” Modi said. “For my government, the Constitution is its real holy book. And, in that holy book, freedom of faith, speech and franchise, and equality of all citizens, regardless of background, are enshrined as fundamental rights.”

Read more.