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London mayor asks for donations to combat digital exclusion

The mayor of London is urging London businesses to help "digitally excluded" Londoners get online by donating unwanted mobile phones, laptops and other IT equipment.

Sir Sadiq Khan said he needed help to fix the digital divide and ensure access for all, and called for devices to be donated that are no longer needed.

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@SpencerAlexander

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China begins building nuclear reactor with 52 billion kWh annual output

China has officially begun construction on its first nuclear reactor unit of the year with the pouring of first concrete at the Lufeng Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong province.
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@SpencerAlexander

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Vladimir Putin Dumps Cold Water on Trump’s Bragging About Ukraine

Despite Donald Trump’s boasting about peace talks, the Russian president just showed who’s really in control.
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@Ryder91

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US aligns with Russia in UN vote on Ukraine

US support for Moscow resolution, rejection of EU’s, illustrates deepening division between Washington and allies.

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@Ryder91

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One killed and several injured in suspected car ramming in Mannheim, Germany

An 83-year-old woman and a 54-year-old man were killed and several more people were injured Monday in a suspected car ramming in the west German city of Mannheim, officials said.

A suspect was identified and arrested, Mannheim police said in a statement. A spokesperson for the state interior ministry in Stuttgart said the suspect is a 40-year-old German man who lives in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Police said at this time "it is not assumed that there is a political background."

The attack happened around 12:15 p.m local time. Five people were seriously injured, police said in a news release. Five others suffered minor injuries. They were all taken to different hospitals.

A major police operation was underway and people were urged to avoid the city center, which has been busy due to an ongoing carnival season. The Mannheimer Morgan newspaper spoke to an eyewitness who saw a car drive into several pedestrians.

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@QuinnErickson

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Japan battles largest wildfire in decades

More than a thousand people have been evacuated as Japan battles its largest wildfire in more than three decades.

The flames are estimated to have spread over about 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) in the forest of Ofunato in the northern region of Iwate since a fire broke out on Wednesday, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

“We’re still examining the size of the affected area, but it is the biggest since the 1992 wildfire [in Kushiro, Hokkaido],” an agency spokeperson said.

That fire burned 1,030 hectares, the previous record. About 1,700 firefighters were being mobilised from across the country, the agency said.

Aerial footage from the public broadcaster NHK showed white smoke billowing up and covering an entire mountain.

Local police found the body of one person who had been burned, while more than 1,000 nearby residents have been evacuated and more than 80 buildings had been damaged as of Friday, according to the Ofunato authorities.

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@Jason91

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How Trump is laying the groundwork for rejecting the election result if he loses

Mr Trump has repeatedly told his supporters to make sure the Democrats don't cheat in this year's election - just one example of how he is trying to undermine confidence in the legitimacy of the very democratic process in which he is competing.

Next week's Democratic National Convention in Chicago will be characterised by a mood of relief among delegates.

The switch of candidate from the aged Joe Biden to his vice president Kamala Harris has put the party back in contention in this year's general election, when it seemed set to be flattened by Donald Trump's re-election bid for the presidency.

It still looks like a close race. And even if Ms Harris wins the vote she may not become president.

Much may also hang on how strongly Democratic candidates lower down the ticket perform. It may fall to the US Congress to uphold the constitution.

If Mr Trump "loses" to Ms Harris there are still arguably legitimate ways in which he could end up back in the White House.

Trump loyalists are already preparing for this fight - egged on with carefully unspecific rhetorical encouragement in rambling comments of the man himself.

Whether Mr Trump's protests against his defeat in 2020 amounted to a "Big Lie" or evidence of a "Big Steal", as a majority of Republicans now claim, he is preparing to do it again, if he loses.

At the very least America would be plunged into political and legal chaos, again, for months after the approaching election on 5 November.

It could be much worse. This month President Biden told CBS he is "not confident at all" that there will be a peaceful transition if Ms Harris is elected president.

"Now if I don't get elected it's gonna be a bloodbath," Mr Trump told an audience in March, leaving it ambiguous whether he was only talking about the prospects for the car industry there in Dayton, Ohio.

Lesser politicians are clumsier.

Republican Ohio state senator George Lang apologised after declaring: "I'm afraid if we lose, it's going to take a civil war to save this country."

He did not withdraw his praise for "Bikers for Trump" or the slogan "Fight! Fight! Fight!", also mouthed by Mr Trump, fist aloft, after the assassination attempt on his life.

How Trump could win with the least votes - again

To win the presidency the successful candidate does not necessarily have to get the most votes from the people.

The victor needs the support of a majority of the electoral college - at least 270 out of 538.

Technically the election votes decide the make-up of the college, state by state. Membership does not directly reflect the views of the overall US population.

Republican nominees defeated in the popular vote, including Mr Trump and George W Bush, have become US president in three of the last seven elections.

In 2000, the dispute over Florida went to the US Supreme Court, which ruled in Mr Bush's favour. Since then Mr Trump has made three appointments which have tilted the court in his favour. The justices are likely to back him if there are any legal disputes.

Former president trying to sow seeds of chaos

Mr Trump repeatedly tells his rallies that they have to do two things - they have to vote and they have to make sure that the Democrats don't cheat.

This is just one example of how he is trying to undermine confidence in the legitimacy of the very democratic process in which he is competing. He is laying the ground in advance to challenge the results if they do not go in his favour.

The strategy is a familiar one in modern US campaigns, first formulated by the Republican strategist Roger Stone as "Stop the Steal" back in 2016, in case things did not go Mr Trump's way.

They did and at the end of his presidency, Mr Trump commuted Stone's prison sentence for lying to Congress. As shown in the recent TV documentary, A Storm Foretold, Stone was bitterly disappointed that he did not get a full pardon but he has endorsed Mr Trump again in this campaign.

If Mr Trump loses the vote he may still have successfully spread chaos and confusion which calls the results into question.

There are then potential legal routes at state level and subsequently in Congress, which could even overturn the result in his favour.

This year, election officials have until 11 December to certify the results in their state.

#news #USElections
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@GlobalNewsDaily

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US pauses military aid to Ukraine, media reports

WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) - The United States is pausing military aid to Ukraine days after U.S. President Donald Trump clashed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the Oval Office, a White House official confirmed on Monday.
The official said the U.S. is pausing and reviewing aid to ensure it is contributing to a solution.
The pause will last until Trump determines the country's leaders demonstrate a good-faith commitment to peace, according to Bloomberg and Fox News reports.
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@Levi_Ross