Moon Jae-in 'very generous' for suggesting my name for Nobel Prize: Trump

United States President Donald Trump, who is apparently in high spirits amid all the Nobel Peace Prize chatter, has said that South Korean President Moon Jae-in was "very generous" to suggest that the former should be bestowed with the prestigious award over his efforts to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.

"I just think that President Moon [Jae-in] was very nice when he suggested it. I want to get peace. The main thing, we want to get peace. It was a big problem, and I think it's going to work out well," the Hill reported, Trump as saying, on Tuesday, when asked about his Nobel prospects.

"We'll see. . But I thought it was very generous of President Moon of South Korea to make that statement, and I appreciate it, but the main thing is to get it done. I want to get it done."

The remarks came a day after South Korean President Moon Jae-in lauded the U.S. leader for leading multilateral discussions with North Korea.

"President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize," Moon had remarked.

It is highly likely that Trump could have been nominated for this year's peace prize, which former President Obama won in 2009, according to the report.

Egypt Presidential election: Sisi re-elected for second term with 92% votes

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been re-elected for a second term with a sweeping majority, garnering nearly 92 per cent of the total votes, media reports said today.

According to early estimates, more than 23 million Egyptians voted for the 63-year-old Field Marshal in the three-day presidential election.

His sole challenger, the little-known centrist politician and al Ghad party chief Moussa Mostafa Moussa, is estimated to have obtained 3 per cent of the vote.

Vote counting started after polling stations closed on Wednesday.

According to non-official figures, 21,088,295 people voted for Sisi in polling stations across Egypt.

The official results will be announced on April 2.

Sisi posted photos of voters participating in the polls and praised them on facebook for the huge turnout on late Wednesday.

PM Modi woos Varanasi with pro-poor schemes, projects worth Rs 8 bn

With Lok Sabha elections just in a year's time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched a slew of schemes for poor and emphasised on harnessing solar energy for cooking.
The PM also flagged off a new train -- Kanshi-Patna Jan Shatabdi Express -- between Varanasi and Patna on the demand of the people from the area.

Overwhlemed by the massive response from the people of his Lok Sabha constituency during his visit, during which he was accompanied by French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte, Modi said people have given them a wonderful welcome and thanked them for it.
"Seeing this, every household in France will enquire where is Varanasi which gave such a rousing welcome to our President," he said.

He was addressing a public meeting at the DLW Grounds here after winding up his visit to adjoining Mirzapur, where Modi and Macron dedicated a 75-MW solar power plant. Modi also inaugurated or laid the foundation stone of various development projects worth over Rs 8 billion.

Modi's 'TOP' priority draws Congress' ridicule, BJP retorts 'classy' INC

Congress social media head and Karnataka leader Divya Spandana Ramya on Monday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi wondering if he was on "pot", a put-down which invited a sharp response from the BJP by calling it atrocious and "insult" to the masses.

Ramya's swipe came following Modi's comment in a rally in Karnataka during which he said farmers are his top priority and described 'TOP' as tomato, onion, and potato.

She tweeted, "Is this what happens when you're on POT?"
Modi was at a public rally to mark the culmination of Karnataka BJP's 'Parivarthana Yatra' that crisscrossed the entire state covering all the 224 assembly constituencies.

Gujarat poll dates likely to be out today, to be conducted in 2 phases

Amid the row over the "delay" in declaring the Gujarat Assembly elections, the Election Commission is likely to announce the schedule for a two-phase poll in the state on Wednesday, officials said on Tuesday.

The term of the 182-member Gujarat assembly gets over on January 23 next year.

The Commission has been under attack from opposition parties for not having announced the dates for Gujarat Assembly elections along with Himachal Pradesh.

The opposition has been alleging that by "delaying" the announcement of the Gujarat polls, the EC was giving time to the BJP government in the state and at the Centre to sidestep the provisions of the model code and offer sops to the electorate to swing votes in favour of the saffron party.

After the EC did not announce the election schedule for Gujarat, the Congress had alleged it was done to enable Prime Minister Narendra Modi to play a "false Santa Claus" and announce freebies for voters before the model code of conduct kicked in.

Chief Election Commissioner A K Joti had defended the decision of announcing Himachal Pradesh's poll schedule before that of Gujarat, saying that multiple factors including the weather, flood relief work and festivities were considered before taking a call on election dates.
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Regret dismissing fake news' influence: Zuckerberg after Trump attacks FB

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has responded to United States President Donald Trump after he claimed that "Facebook was always anti-Trump."

"Trump says Facebook is against him. Liberals say we helped Trump," Zuckerberg said in a statement posted on Facebook.
"Both sides are upset about ideas and content they don't like. That's what running a platform for all ideas looks like," he added.

Zuckerberg added that he regrets his earlier comments dismissing the idea that "fake news on Facebook" shaped the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.

"After the election, I made a comment that I thought the idea misinformation on Facebook changed the outcome of the election was a crazy idea. Calling that crazy was dismissive and I regret it," he said.
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73% turnout in Nepal's final phase of crucial local polls

Nepal on Monday saw a high turnout of nearly 73 per cent polling in the final phase of the local- level elections in a Madhesi-dominated province, close to the border with India, as the nation took a crucial step towards cementing democracy amid political turmoil.

Barring some sporadic incidents, the third phase which was postponed twice due to opposition by Madhesi parties, passed off by-and-large peacefully in 136 local units of eight districts under the province.

Polling for the elections, being held for the first time in two decades, began at 7 AM and continued until 5 PM.

The turnouts were around 73 per cent, according to the election commission.

This phase would elect 6,627 representatives. Eight candidates have been elected unopposed.

There are one metropolitan city, three sub-metropolis, 73 municipalities and 59 rural municipalities in the eight districts of the province in southern Nepal.

There were 37,236 candidates in the fray, authorities said.

More than 60,000 security personnel were deployed to ensure security. The Election Commission said border points with India had been closed as a precautionary measure.
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Merkel challenger Martin Schulz remains confident of unseating chancellor

Angela Merkel's main challenger in the country's upcoming general election said on Sunday he remains confident he can unseat the chancellor despite her wide lead in the polls.

Martin Schulz, who was president of the European Parliament until January, said on Germany's ZDF television's "Berlin Direkt" program that there are still six weeks of campaigning to go before the September 24 vote.

"I think that I still have a good chance to lead the next government," he said.

Still, with Germany enjoying record-low unemployment, a balanced budget and a strong economy, the 61-year-old Schulz faces an uphill battle to defeat Merkel and was challenged in the 15-minute interview to say why people should vote for his party over her Christian Democrats.

"Germany is doing well... But the statement that Germany is doing well doesn't mean that all Germans are doing well," he said. "We must be much better in many areas."

Schulz also noted that his Social Democrats are currently Merkel's junior coalition partner in government, and that credit for successes should not be hers alone. He said he'd be happy to form another so-called grand coalition after the election, but "under my leadership."

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French President Emmanuel Macron marches to parliamentary majority

“Bien joué” – or “well played” – was sprawled across a picture of Emmanuel Macron on the cover of the newspaper Libération the day after he won the French presidential election.

And more congratulations are in order after the first round of the legislative elections. Today’s Libération cover shows Macron resting his chin on what looks like his fist – with the letters OPA, the French acronym for “corporate takeover” sprawled across the picture.

Since Macron founded his party, En Marche!, in April 2016, he has wiped out the French political establishment and captured the imagination of a large segment of the voting public despite a historic abstention rate of 51 percent in the legislative elections.

So what is the basis of Macron’s political allure?

A presidency of the future

At the end of round one of the legislative elections, Macron and his party are on pace to win more than 400 seats out of 577 in the French Parliament. This number of seats is likely to hold, or even increase, in the June 18 second round that French election law mandates in electoral districts where no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote.

The populist National Front came in third place – and they will get three to five seats, which is well below what party leader Marine Le Pen had hoped for, but more than the two seats that the National Front currently occupies. Le Pen herself seems on track to win a seat in the northern city of Henin-Beaumont during the second round. The National Front’s momentum has slowed, but it is far from gone, and Marine Le Pen is not abdicating her role as a political figure any time soon.

The far left party La France insoumise, or “France Unbowed,” led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, came in fourth place, and the French Socialists dropped to fifth. The Socialists, the party of the last president, Francois Hollande, imploded during this election cycle and may end up with as few as 15 seats. The centre right Republicans are the only former establishment party that is still a plausible political force. They came in second and trailed Macron’s party by 15 percentage points.
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UK general elections 2017: All you need to know as Britain goes to polls

It’s going to be a long night as the UK goes to the polls for its snap 2017 general election. So should you stay up all night or take a democracy nap? Here are the key moments to look out for and the seats which might indicate early on whether Theresa May has secured the thumping majority she originally envisaged.

The polls close at 10pm

The doors will shut and ballot boxes will be sealed up and transported to one of the counting centres across the UK. In some places, this involves travelling a significant distance, so delays can occur. In Scotland, helicopters have been used to transfer boxes from remote islands to the mainland.

Counting clerks will then work through the night to count the votes in most cases. If you’re feeling tired by this point, remember that many of these officials will have begun work at 6.30am (or earlier) setting up the poll.

Will there be an exit poll and will it be reliable?

IPSOS-Mori’s exit poll will be reported on the BBC and Sky News at 10pm as soon as polls close.

At the last election, the exit poll caused quite a stir. Announced on the BBC at 10pm, it forecast that the Conservatives would be the largest party. It took an immediate bashing with Paddy Ashdown infamously stating that he would “eat his hat” if it was correct. He had to eat his hat.

As it turned out, that poll was much closer to the eventual reality than polls that took place before the election. The exit poll is therefore a crucial clue as to how things will unfold.

We should nevertheless take exit polls with a pinch of salt. They’ve been wrong before, as they were in 1992. They are based on samples which may not be representative of the whole population, but exit polls do have the advantage of asking people what they really did, rather than what they intend to do at some point in the future.
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