Kamala Harris: First Indian-origin black woman to contest US presidential election

The governor of the <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/no-signed-agreement-with-us-on-asylum-seekers-mexico-185795">Mexican state </a>of Puebla and her husband, a senator and former governor, were killed on Monday in a helicopter crash, the country's president said.

"My deepest condolences to the relatives of Senator Rafael Moreno Valle and his wife, governor of Puebla Martha Erika Alonso," <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/mexico-president-lopez-obrador-wants-to-eliminate-presidential-immunity-181582">President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador </a>wrote on Twitter.

"I assume the commitment to investigate the causes" and &nbsp;"tell the truth about what happened," Lopez Obrador wrote.

Local media reported that the pilot and another person were also killed in the accident.

The aircraft crashed in the Santa Maria Coronango area of Puebla, and the cause of the crash is still unknown.

Alonso was sworn in as governor on December 14 after an electoral tribunal certified her victory in July polls.

She was the first woman to occupy the position in Puebla, where her husband was governor from 2011 to 2017.

According to the local constitution, the state legislature will have to appoint an interim governor and to call an extraordinary vote that must be held in three to five months.

The governor of the Mexican state of Puebla and her husband, a senator and former governor, were killed on Monday in a helicopter crash, the country's president said.

The governor of the Mexican state of Puebla and her husband, a senator and former governor, were killed on Monday in a helicopter crash, the country's president said. "My deepest condolences to the relatives of Senator Rafael Moreno Valle and his wife, governor of Puebla Martha Erika Alonso," President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wrote on Twitter. "I assume the commitment to investigate the causes" and "tell the truth about what happened," Lopez Obrador wrote. Local media reported that the pilot and another person were also killed in the accident. The aircraft crashed in the Santa Maria Coronango area of Puebla, and the cause of the crash is still unknown. Alonso was sworn in as governor on December 14 after an electoral tribunal certified her victory in July polls. She was the first woman to occupy the position in Puebla, where her husband was governor from 2011 to 2017. According to the local constitution, the state legislature will have to appoint an interim governor and to call an extraordinary vote that must be held in three to five months.

Helicopter crash kills Mexican governor, senator husband

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/pakistan-to-get-its-first-ever-dalit-woman-senator-33628">Krishna Kumari Kohli</a>, 39, is set to become the first ever&nbsp;&nbsp;Hindu woman Senator in the Muslim-majority country&nbsp;Pakistan People&#39;s Party said on Wednesday.

Born to a poor peasant, Jugno Kolhi, in February 1979, Kolhi and her family members spent nearly three years in a private jail owned by the landlord of Kunri of Umerkot district.&nbsp;She was a grade 3 student at the time when held captive.

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Krishna Kumari Kohli with her father. (Twitter)
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Kolhi belongs to a remote village in Nagarparkar district of Thar in Sindh province.&nbsp;

She is from the family of the valiant freedom fighter Rooplo Kolhi, who had waged a war against the invading British colonialist forces when they had attacked Sindh from Nagarparkar side in 1857. Subsequently, he was arrested and hanged by the Britishers on August 22, 1858.

She was married to Lalchand, a student of the Sindh Agriculture University, at the age of 16, when she was studying in 9th grade. However, she pursued her studies and in 2013 she did masters in sociology from the Sindh University.

Krishna, now a mother of four, has become a symbol of hope in Thar and its nearby districts where she has been fighting for human rights of the underprivileged people.

She stressed that education, particularly for girls in Sindh and her home region of Thar, will remain her top priority for the next six years if she is elected as a senator.

She participated in case-studies, focusing on women in bondage, organised seminars on bonded labour, sexual harassment and other human rights issues. In her community, she also met and convinced many parents to send their girl child to school.

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Krishna Kumari Kohli (Twitter)
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If elected, Kohli would become just the second Hindu woman to be elected to Pakistan&rsquo;s senate &mdash; after Ratna Bhagwandas Chawla, who sat from 2006 to 2012 &mdash; but the first from the scheduled Hindu caste.

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Krishna Kumari Kohli (Twitter)
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Kolhi belongs to a remote village in Nagarparkar district of Thar in Sindh province

Krishna Kumari Kohli, 39, is set to become the first ever Hindu woman Senator in the Muslim-majority country Pakistan People's Party said on Wednesday. Born to a poor peasant, Jugno Kolhi, in February 1979, Kolhi and her family members spent nearly three years in a private jail owned by the landlord of Kunri of Umerkot district. She was a grade 3 student at the time when held captive. Krishna Kumari Kohli with her father. (Twitter) × Kolhi belongs to a remote village in Nagarparkar district of Thar in Sindh province. She is from the family of the valiant freedom fighter Rooplo Kolhi, who had waged a war against the invading British colonialist forces when they had attacked Sindh from Nagarparkar side in 1857. Subsequently, he was arrested and hanged by the Britishers on August 22, 1858. She was married to Lalchand, a student of the Sindh Agriculture University, at the age of 16, when she was studying in 9th grade. However, she pursued her studies and in 2013 she did masters in sociology from the Sindh University. Krishna, now a mother of four, has become a symbol of hope in Thar and its nearby districts where she has been fighting for human rights of the underprivileged people. She stressed that education, particularly for girls in Sindh and her home region of Thar, will remain her top priority for the next six years if she is elected as a senator. She participated in case-studies, focusing on women in bondage, organised seminars on bonded labour, sexual harassment and other human rights issues. In her community, she also met and convinced many parents to send their girl child to school. Krishna Kumari Kohli (Twitter) × If elected, Kohli would become just the second Hindu woman to be elected to Pakistan’s senate — after Ratna Bhagwandas Chawla, who sat from 2006 to 2012 — but the first from the scheduled Hindu caste. Krishna Kumari Kohli (Twitter) ×

Krishna Kumari set to be first-ever Hindu woman senator in Pakistan

John Glenn, who became one of the 20th century&#39;s greatest explorers as the first American to orbit Earth and later as the world&#39;s oldest astronaut, in addition to a long career as a US senator, died on Thursday at age of 95.

Glenn, the last surviving member of the original seven American &quot;Right Stuff&quot; Mercury astronauts, died at the James Cancer Hospital at Ohio State University, said Hank Wilson, a spokesman at the university&#39;s John Glenn College of Public Affairs, which Glenn helped found.

Glenn was credited with reviving US pride after the Soviet Union&#39;s early domination of manned space exploration. His three laps around the world in the Friendship 7 capsule on Feb. 20, 1962, forged a powerful link between the former fighter pilot and the Kennedy-era quest to explore outer space as a &quot;New Frontier.&quot;

President Barack Obama said that &quot;with John&#39;s passing, our nation has lost an icon.&quot;

&quot;When John Glenn blasted off from Cape Canaveral atop an Atlas rocket in 1962, he lifted the hopes of a nation,&quot; Obama said in a statement. &quot;And when his Friendship 7 spacecraft splashed down a few hours later, the first American to orbit the Earth reminded us that with courage and a spirit of discovery there&#39;s no limit to the heights we can reach together.&quot;

President-elect Donald Trump said in a tweet that the nation had lost &quot;a great pioneer of air and space in John Glenn. He was a hero and inspired generations of future explorers.&quot;

As the third of seven astronauts in NASA&#39;s solo-flight Mercury program to venture into space, Glenn became more of a media fixture than any of the others and was known for his composure and willingness to promote the program.

Glenn&#39;s astronaut career, as well as his record as a fighter pilot in World War Two and the Korean War, helped propel him to the US Senate in 1974, where he represented his home state of Ohio for 24 years as a moderate Democrat.

But his star was dimmed somewhat by a Senate investigation of several senators on whether special favours were done for a major campaign contributor.

He was cleared of wrongdoing.Glenn&#39;s entry into history came in early 1961 when fellow astronaut Scott Carpenter bade him &quot;Godspeed, John Glenn&quot; just before the Ohio native was rocketed into space for a record-breaking trip that would last just under five hours.

&#39;View is tremendous&rsquo;

&quot;Zero-G (gravity) and I feel fine,&quot; was Glenn&#39;s succinct assessment of weightlessness several minutes into his mission. &quot;... Oh, and that view is tremendous.&rdquo;

After splashdown and recovery in the Atlantic, Glenn was treated as a hero, addressing a joint session of Congress and being feted in a New York ticker-tape parade.

The US space agency said on Twitter, &quot;We are saddened by the loss of Sen. John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth. A true American hero. Godspeed, John Glenn. Ad Astra.&quot; Ad Astra is Latin for &quot;To the stars.&quot;

US Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, who orbited Earth aboard space shuttle Columbia in 1986, said, &quot;On top of paving the way for the rest of us, he was also a first-class gentleman and an unabashed patriot.&quot;

Glenn&#39;s experiences as a pioneer astronaut were chronicled in the book and movie &quot;The Right Stuff,&quot; along with the other Mercury pilots. The book&#39;s author, Tom Wolfe, called Glenn &quot;the last true national hero America has ever had.&quot;

&quot;I don&rsquo;t think of myself that way,&quot; Glenn told the New York Times in 2012 to mark the 50th anniversary of his flight.

&quot;I get up each day and have the same problems others have at my age. As far as trying to analyse all the attention I received, I will leave that to others.&quot;

Glenn&#39;s historic flight made him a favourite of President John Kennedy and his brother Robert, who encouraged him to launch a political career that finally took off after a period as a businessman made him a millionaire.

Hero status

Even before his Mercury flight, Glenn qualified for hero status, earning six Distinguished Flying Crosses and flying more than 150 missions in World War Two and the Korean War.

After Korea, Glenn became a test pilot, setting a transcontinental speed record from Los Angeles to New York in 1957.

The determination and single-mindedness that marked Glenn&#39;s military and space career did not save him from misjudgments and defeat in politics. He lost his first bid for the Senate from Ohio in 1970, after abandoning a race in 1964 because of a head injury suffered in a fall.

He was elected in 1974 and was briefly considered as a running mate for Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter in 1980. But a ponderous address at the Democratic National Convention - people walked out - caused Carter to remark that Glenn was &quot;the most boring man I ever met.&quot;

Glenn sought the Democratic presidential nomination himself in 1984 but was quickly eliminated by eventual nominee Walter Mondale, Carter&#39;s vice president.

His failure was all the more stinging because he had been touted as an early front-runner.

In the Senate, Glenn was respected as a thoughtful moderate with expertise in defence and foreign policy. But his career&#39;s lustre was dulled by a Senate investigation of the &quot;Keating Five&quot; - five senators suspected of doing favours for campaign contributor Charles Keating Jr. The panel eventually found Glenn did nothing improper or illegal.

Back to space

He took a leading role in seeking to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, especially to Pakistan.

He was the author of a law that forced the United States to impose sanctions on India and Pakistan in 1998 after both countries conducted nuclear tests.

He also was a staunch advocate of a strong military and took a keen interest in strategic issues. He retired from the Senate in 1999.

Thirty-six years after his maiden space voyage, Glenn became America&#39;s first geriatric astronaut on Oct. 29, 1998. He was 77 years old when he blasted off as a mission specialist aboard the shuttle Discovery. He saw it as a blow to stereotyping of the elderly.

&quot;Maybe prior to this flight, we were looked at as old geezers who ought to get out of the way,&quot; Glenn said after his nine-day shuttle mission. &quot;Just because you&#39;re up in years some doesn&#39;t mean you don&#39;t have hopes and dreams and aspirations just as much as younger people do.&quot;

John Herschel Glenn Jr. was born on July 18, 1921, in Cambridge, Ohio.

In his latter years he was an adjunct professor at the John Glenn College of Public Affairs.

He had a knee replacement operation in 2011 and underwent heart surgery in 2014.

Glenn is survived by his wife of 73 years, his childhood sweetheart, Annie Castor. They had two children, David and Lyn.

(Reuters)

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Former astronaut and senator John Glenn was also the first American to orbit Earth

John Glenn, who became one of the 20th century's greatest explorers as the first American to orbit Earth and later as the world's oldest astronaut, in addition to a long career as a US senator, died on Thursday at age of 95. Glenn, the last surviving member of the original seven American "Right Stuff" Mercury astronauts, died at the James Cancer Hospital at Ohio State University, said Hank Wilson, a spokesman at the university's John Glenn College of Public Affairs, which Glenn helped found. Glenn was credited with reviving US pride after the Soviet Union's early domination of manned space exploration. His three laps around the world in the Friendship 7 capsule on Feb. 20, 1962, forged a powerful link between the former fighter pilot and the Kennedy-era quest to explore outer space as a "New Frontier." President Barack Obama said that "with John's passing, our nation has lost an icon." "When John Glenn blasted off from Cape Canaveral atop an Atlas rocket in 1962, he lifted the hopes of a nation," Obama said in a statement. "And when his Friendship 7 spacecraft splashed down a few hours later, the first American to orbit the Earth reminded us that with courage and a spirit of discovery there's no limit to the heights we can reach together." President-elect Donald Trump said in a tweet that the nation had lost "a great pioneer of air and space in John Glenn. He was a hero and inspired generations of future explorers." As the third of seven astronauts in NASA's solo-flight Mercury program to venture into space, Glenn became more of a media fixture than any of the others and was known for his composure and willingness to promote the program. Glenn's astronaut career, as well as his record as a fighter pilot in World War Two and the Korean War, helped propel him to the US Senate in 1974, where he represented his home state of Ohio for 24 years as a moderate Democrat. But his star was dimmed somewhat by a Senate investigation of several senators on whether special favours were done for a major campaign contributor. He was cleared of wrongdoing.Glenn's entry into history came in early 1961 when fellow astronaut Scott Carpenter bade him "Godspeed, John Glenn" just before the Ohio native was rocketed into space for a record-breaking trip that would last just under five hours. 'View is tremendous’ "Zero-G (gravity) and I feel fine," was Glenn's succinct assessment of weightlessness several minutes into his mission. "... Oh, and that view is tremendous.” After splashdown and recovery in the Atlantic, Glenn was treated as a hero, addressing a joint session of Congress and being feted in a New York ticker-tape parade. The US space agency said on Twitter, "We are saddened by the loss of Sen. John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth. A true American hero. Godspeed, John Glenn. Ad Astra." Ad Astra is Latin for "To the stars." US Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, who orbited Earth aboard space shuttle Columbia in 1986, said, "On top of paving the way for the rest of us, he was also a first-class gentleman and an unabashed patriot." Glenn's experiences as a pioneer astronaut were chronicled in the book and movie "The Right Stuff," along with the other Mercury pilots. The book's author, Tom Wolfe, called Glenn "the last true national hero America has ever had." "I don’t think of myself that way," Glenn told the New York Times in 2012 to mark the 50th anniversary of his flight. "I get up each day and have the same problems others have at my age. As far as trying to analyse all the attention I received, I will leave that to others." Glenn's historic flight made him a favourite of President John Kennedy and his brother Robert, who encouraged him to launch a political career that finally took off after a period as a businessman made him a millionaire. Hero status Even before his Mercury flight, Glenn qualified for hero status, earning six Distinguished Flying Crosses and flying more than 150 missions in World War Two and the Korean War. After Korea, Glenn became a test pilot, setting a transcontinental speed record from Los Angeles to New York in 1957. The determination and single-mindedness that marked Glenn's military and space career did not save him from misjudgments and defeat in politics. He lost his first bid for the Senate from Ohio in 1970, after abandoning a race in 1964 because of a head injury suffered in a fall. He was elected in 1974 and was briefly considered as a running mate for Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter in 1980. But a ponderous address at the Democratic National Convention - people walked out - caused Carter to remark that Glenn was "the most boring man I ever met." Glenn sought the Democratic presidential nomination himself in 1984 but was quickly eliminated by eventual nominee Walter Mondale, Carter's vice president. His failure was all the more stinging because he had been touted as an early front-runner. In the Senate, Glenn was respected as a thoughtful moderate with expertise in defence and foreign policy. But his career's lustre was dulled by a Senate investigation of the "Keating Five" - five senators suspected of doing favours for campaign contributor Charles Keating Jr. The panel eventually found Glenn did nothing improper or illegal. Back to space He took a leading role in seeking to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, especially to Pakistan. He was the author of a law that forced the United States to impose sanctions on India and Pakistan in 1998 after both countries conducted nuclear tests. He also was a staunch advocate of a strong military and took a keen interest in strategic issues. He retired from the Senate in 1999. Thirty-six years after his maiden space voyage, Glenn became America's first geriatric astronaut on Oct. 29, 1998. He was 77 years old when he blasted off as a mission specialist aboard the shuttle Discovery. He saw it as a blow to stereotyping of the elderly. "Maybe prior to this flight, we were looked at as old geezers who ought to get out of the way," Glenn said after his nine-day shuttle mission. "Just because you're up in years some doesn't mean you don't have hopes and dreams and aspirations just as much as younger people do." John Herschel Glenn Jr. was born on July 18, 1921, in Cambridge, Ohio. In his latter years he was an adjunct professor at the John Glenn College of Public Affairs. He had a knee replacement operation in 2011 and underwent heart surgery in 2014. Glenn is survived by his wife of 73 years, his childhood sweetheart, Annie Castor. They had two children, David and Lyn. (Reuters)

World's oldest astronaut dies at 95

Susan Collins, US Senator from Maine, said on Monday that she will not vote for fellow Republican Donald Trump for president. 
 
&quot;This is not a decision I make lightly, for I am a lifelong Republican. But Donald Trump does not reflect historical Republican values nor the inclusive approach to governing that is critical to healing the divisions in our country,&quot; Collins said in an opinion piece in the Washington Post. 
 
(Reuters)

Says Donald Trump 'does not reflect historical Republican values'

Susan Collins, US Senator from Maine, said on Monday that she will not vote for fellow Republican Donald Trump for president. "This is not a decision I make lightly, for I am a lifelong Republican. But Donald Trump does not reflect historical Republican values nor the inclusive approach to governing that is critical to healing the divisions in our country," Collins said in an opinion piece in the Washington Post. (Reuters)

US Republican Senator Collins will not vote for Trump

Republican Donald Trump took steps to steer his White House campaign back into favour with his party establishment yesterday by endorsing US house of representatives speaker Paul Ryan and two Republican senators seeking re-election, after expressing coolness towards them earlier this week. 
 
&quot;I need a Republican senate and a house to accomplish all of the changes that we have to make,&quot; Trump said during a rally in Green Bay, in northern Wisconsin, Ryan&#39;s home state. He also endorsed senators John McCain of Arizona and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, whom he called a &quot;rising star&quot;. 
 
&quot;We will have disagreements, but we will disagree as friends,&quot; Trump said. 
 
Ryan, the top US elected Republican, had no plans to attend the event, in a sign of lingering frictions between the pair. His Republican primary challenger, businessman Paul Nehlen, did attend, according to a spokesman. 
 
Trump earlier this week refused to endorse Ryan when he told The Washington Post he was &quot;not quite there yet&quot;, using the same phrase Ryan had used about Trump before finally endorsing him. He said in the same interview that McCain had not done enough for veterans and criticised Ayotte for distancing herself from him during the campaign. 
 
Ryan, who was earlier endorsed by Trump&#39;s vice presidential running mate, Mike Pence, is viewed by establishment Republicans as a possible presidential candidate in the future. He is expected to win a challenge for his House seat in next week&#39;s Republican primary. 
 
Trump&#39;s endorsement emerged as he took other steps to get his campaign back on track after days of controversy and falling poll numbers that have given Democrat Hillary Clinton the advantage in the race to the November 8 election. 
 
In the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll released yesterday, Clinton&#39;s lead over Trump narrowed to less than three percentage points, down from nearly eight points on Monday. 
 
Trump yesterday announced he was setting up an advisory team to help guide him on economic policy. The group relies heavily on hedge fund managers and investment bankers, a group Trump has railed against in the past, and includes no women. 
 
In addition, Trump plans to release his framework for boosting the US economy in a speech in Detroit on Monday, an event that will offer him a chance to avoid theatrics and detail how he would handle economic issues if elected. 
 
Trump economic adviser Stephen Moore told Reuters that the candidate&#39;s plan would focus on four areas: tax, deregulation, energy policy and trade. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be an all-encompassing look at how we reform the economy,&rdquo; Moore said. 
 
At a rally in Des Moines, Trump showed newfound discipline, mostly sticking to his central charge that Clinton is the &quot;queen of corruption&quot;. He defended himself against her charge that he is temperamentally unfit for the White House. 
 
&quot;All my life I&#39;ve been told, &#39;You have the greatest temperament,&#39;&quot; he said.&nbsp;He urged voters to also consider his vice presidential running mate, who appeared with him at the event.&nbsp;&quot;If you don&#39;t like me, that&#39;s okay, vote for Pence, because it&#39;s the same thing,&quot; he said. 
 
Trump also defended himself against what he called the news media&#39;s claim that he kicked a baby out of an event earlier this week in Virginia. &quot;I love babies,&quot; he said. 
 
&quot;Short-circuited&quot; 
 
Clinton sought to take advantage of Trump&#39;s dip in the polls at a conference of minority journalists in Washington, where she pledged an all-out fight for comprehensive immigration reform if she wins the November 8 election. 
 
At the event, Clinton did what she has rarely done during the presidential campaign: take questions from reporters. 
 
She addressed two of the largest issues that continue to dog her campaign: the controversy over her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state during the Obama administration, and continuing scepticism among voters about her trustworthiness. 
 
Clinton conceded that she had &ldquo;short-circuited&rdquo; earlier in the week in interviews when she had asserted that FBI director James Comey had concluded that she had been truthful in her statements about the&nbsp;use of the private server. 
 
Clinton had repeatedly said publicly that she never sent emails containing classified material, a finding that Comey contradicted at the conclusion of the FBI&rsquo;s probe in July, when he rebuked her for &quot;extremely careless&quot; handling of classified information while recommending that no criminal charges be filed. 
 
Yesterday, Clinton maintained that &ldquo;I never sent or received anything marked classified&rdquo;, while acknowledging that some material she sent may retroactively have been considered classified by other government agencies.&nbsp;Republicans have repeatedly charged that Clinton endangered national security with her handling of classified material. 
 
The email controversy has fuelled a perception among a majority of voters that Clinton is untrustworthy. &ldquo;I take it seriously,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t make me feel good when people say those things. And I recognise that I have work to do.&rdquo; 
 
Still, as she has often done during her career, Clinton attributed much of her low standing on this issue to attacks from Republicans. &ldquo;Maybe just maybe when I&rsquo;m actually running for a job, there is a real benefit to those on the other side to try and stir up as much concern as possible,&rdquo; she said. 
 
Finance and industry leaders 
 
Trump&#39;s campaign said his economic advisory panel included former steel executive Dan DiMicco, Howard Lorber, CEO of tobacco company Vector Group Ltd, and Trump campaign finance chairman and investment manager Steven Mnuchin. 
 
Hedge fund managers John Paulson and Steve Feinberg, anti-tax advocacy group Club for Growth&#39;s Stephen Moore, and David Malpass, who has served under previous Republican administrations in the Treasury and State Departments, were also named. 
 
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn turned down an invitation to join the group because he is considering funding a Super PAC focussed on regulatory reform, Icahn&#39;s general counsel told Reuters yesterday. 
 
Trump&#39;s moves came after many Republicans urged the candidate to correct course following a tumultuous week. 
 
The real estate mogul and former reality television star was caught up for days in a public spat with the parents of a Muslim American soldier killed in Iraq. The parents had spoken out against Trump at last week&#39;s Democratic National Convention. Many Republicans, including Ryan, McCain and Ayotte, were critical of Trump&#39;s insistent attacks on the parents. 
 
(Reuters)

Paul Ryan, the top US elected Republican who the establishment sees as a possible future presidential candidate, skipped the rally

Republican Donald Trump took steps to steer his White House campaign back into favour with his party establishment yesterday by endorsing US house of representatives speaker Paul Ryan and two Republican senators seeking re-election, after expressing coolness towards them earlier this week. "I need a Republican senate and a house to accomplish all of the changes that we have to make," Trump said during a rally in Green Bay, in northern Wisconsin, Ryan's home state. He also endorsed senators John McCain of Arizona and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, whom he called a "rising star". "We will have disagreements, but we will disagree as friends," Trump said. Ryan, the top US elected Republican, had no plans to attend the event, in a sign of lingering frictions between the pair. His Republican primary challenger, businessman Paul Nehlen, did attend, according to a spokesman. Trump earlier this week refused to endorse Ryan when he told The Washington Post he was "not quite there yet", using the same phrase Ryan had used about Trump before finally endorsing him. He said in the same interview that McCain had not done enough for veterans and criticised Ayotte for distancing herself from him during the campaign. Ryan, who was earlier endorsed by Trump's vice presidential running mate, Mike Pence, is viewed by establishment Republicans as a possible presidential candidate in the future. He is expected to win a challenge for his House seat in next week's Republican primary. Trump's endorsement emerged as he took other steps to get his campaign back on track after days of controversy and falling poll numbers that have given Democrat Hillary Clinton the advantage in the race to the November 8 election. In the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll released yesterday, Clinton's lead over Trump narrowed to less than three percentage points, down from nearly eight points on Monday. Trump yesterday announced he was setting up an advisory team to help guide him on economic policy. The group relies heavily on hedge fund managers and investment bankers, a group Trump has railed against in the past, and includes no women. In addition, Trump plans to release his framework for boosting the US economy in a speech in Detroit on Monday, an event that will offer him a chance to avoid theatrics and detail how he would handle economic issues if elected. Trump economic adviser Stephen Moore told Reuters that the candidate's plan would focus on four areas: tax, deregulation, energy policy and trade. “It’s going to be an all-encompassing look at how we reform the economy,” Moore said. At a rally in Des Moines, Trump showed newfound discipline, mostly sticking to his central charge that Clinton is the "queen of corruption". He defended himself against her charge that he is temperamentally unfit for the White House. "All my life I've been told, 'You have the greatest temperament,'" he said. He urged voters to also consider his vice presidential running mate, who appeared with him at the event. "If you don't like me, that's okay, vote for Pence, because it's the same thing," he said. Trump also defended himself against what he called the news media's claim that he kicked a baby out of an event earlier this week in Virginia. "I love babies," he said. "Short-circuited" Clinton sought to take advantage of Trump's dip in the polls at a conference of minority journalists in Washington, where she pledged an all-out fight for comprehensive immigration reform if she wins the November 8 election. At the event, Clinton did what she has rarely done during the presidential campaign: take questions from reporters. She addressed two of the largest issues that continue to dog her campaign: the controversy over her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state during the Obama administration, and continuing scepticism among voters about her trustworthiness. Clinton conceded that she had “short-circuited” earlier in the week in interviews when she had asserted that FBI director James Comey had concluded that she had been truthful in her statements about the use of the private server. Clinton had repeatedly said publicly that she never sent emails containing classified material, a finding that Comey contradicted at the conclusion of the FBI’s probe in July, when he rebuked her for "extremely careless" handling of classified information while recommending that no criminal charges be filed. Yesterday, Clinton maintained that “I never sent or received anything marked classified”, while acknowledging that some material she sent may retroactively have been considered classified by other government agencies. Republicans have repeatedly charged that Clinton endangered national security with her handling of classified material. The email controversy has fuelled a perception among a majority of voters that Clinton is untrustworthy. “I take it seriously,” she said. “It doesn’t make me feel good when people say those things. And I recognise that I have work to do.” Still, as she has often done during her career, Clinton attributed much of her low standing on this issue to attacks from Republicans. “Maybe just maybe when I’m actually running for a job, there is a real benefit to those on the other side to try and stir up as much concern as possible,” she said. Finance and industry leaders Trump's campaign said his economic advisory panel included former steel executive Dan DiMicco, Howard Lorber, CEO of tobacco company Vector Group Ltd, and Trump campaign finance chairman and investment manager Steven Mnuchin. Hedge fund managers John Paulson and Steve Feinberg, anti-tax advocacy group Club for Growth's Stephen Moore, and David Malpass, who has served under previous Republican administrations in the Treasury and State Departments, were also named. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn turned down an invitation to join the group because he is considering funding a Super PAC focussed on regulatory reform, Icahn's general counsel told Reuters yesterday. Trump's moves came after many Republicans urged the candidate to correct course following a tumultuous week. The real estate mogul and former reality television star was caught up for days in a public spat with the parents of a Muslim American soldier killed in Iraq. The parents had spoken out against Trump at last week's Democratic National Convention. Many Republicans, including Ryan, McCain and Ayotte, were critical of Trump's insistent attacks on the parents. (Reuters)

Trump, looking to right campaign ship, endorses house speaker, senators

Democrats gathered in Philadelphia formally selected Tim Kaine as their US vice presidential candidate yesterday, completing the party&#39;s ticket for the November election. 
 
Kaine, a 58-year-old senator from the battleground state of Virginia, was nominated by voice vote, setting the stage for his address to the convention later in the evening. 
 
Congresswoman and acting convention chair Marcia Fudge motioned to dispense with the roll call vote and nominate Kaine by acclamation, which led to a chorus of &quot;Ayes.&quot; 
 
&quot;The motion to suspend the rules and nominate by acclamation is adopted,&quot; declared Fudge to loud cheers. 
 
The tickets are now set for both parties: Hillary Clinton and running mate Kaine for the Democrats, with Republicans Donald Trump and running mate Mike Pence, both of whom were nominated last week and their party&#39;s convention in Cleveland. 
 
With working-class roots and a spotless record both as Virginia governor and senator, he is seen as helping Clinton garner support among reluctant independent male voters - although at the risk of alienating the party&#39;s progressive left wing. 
 
Supporters of Clinton&#39;s main adversary in the Democratic primary race, Bernie Sanders, had argued that she should choose a more liberal running mate such as the feisty leftist Elizabeth Warren. 
 
But Clinton, at a Florida rally last weekend introducing her vice presidential pick, said Kaine was a can-do progressive who is ready to &quot;step into this job and lead from Day One.&quot; 
 
Kaine, she said, is &quot;everything Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not.&quot; 
 
(AFP)

The 58-year-old senator was nominated by voice vote. Kaine is 'everything Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not', Clinton said last week

Democrats gathered in Philadelphia formally selected Tim Kaine as their US vice presidential candidate yesterday, completing the party's ticket for the November election. Kaine, a 58-year-old senator from the battleground state of Virginia, was nominated by voice vote, setting the stage for his address to the convention later in the evening. Congresswoman and acting convention chair Marcia Fudge motioned to dispense with the roll call vote and nominate Kaine by acclamation, which led to a chorus of "Ayes." "The motion to suspend the rules and nominate by acclamation is adopted," declared Fudge to loud cheers. The tickets are now set for both parties: Hillary Clinton and running mate Kaine for the Democrats, with Republicans Donald Trump and running mate Mike Pence, both of whom were nominated last week and their party's convention in Cleveland. With working-class roots and a spotless record both as Virginia governor and senator, he is seen as helping Clinton garner support among reluctant independent male voters - although at the risk of alienating the party's progressive left wing. Supporters of Clinton's main adversary in the Democratic primary race, Bernie Sanders, had argued that she should choose a more liberal running mate such as the feisty leftist Elizabeth Warren. But Clinton, at a Florida rally last weekend introducing her vice presidential pick, said Kaine was a can-do progressive who is ready to "step into this job and lead from Day One." Kaine, she said, is "everything Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not." (AFP)

Democrats nominate Tim Kaine as vice-president pick

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