IGIHE

Tag: InternationalNews

  • Maryam Safdar named in Panama Papers as beneficiary

    {German daily publishes leaked documents to support claim that Maryam Safdar is beneficiary of an offshore company.}

    The daughter of Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, was involved in the Panama Papers scandal, a German newspaper said, as it backed up an earlier claim.

    German daily Suddeutsche Zeitung on Monday posted documents on Twitter confirming that Maryam Safdar is the beneficial owner of offshore companies named in Panama Papers.

    Al Jazeera searched the database of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) that includes 11.5 million documents leaked from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, and found Safdar’s details.

    Safdar was listed as the beneficiary of Nescoll Limited, an offshore company registered in British Virgin Islands. Her brother Hussain Nawaz Sharif was listed as the signatory.

    In all, Sharif’s daughter Maryam and sons Hasan and Hussain owned at least three off-shore holding companies registered in the British Virgin Islands, the leaked documents show.

    According to the ICIJ, a non-profit group in the United States, these firms were involved in the purchase and mortgage of at least $13.8m in UK properties. One of the holding companies also bought shares in another, Liberia-based, company for $11.2m in August 2007, the documents show.

    Owning off-shore companies is not illegal in Pakistan, but the Sharifs are being challenged on the source of the funds. Opposition politicians allege the funds were gained through corrupt practices during Sharif’s previous two stints as prime minister in the 1990s.

    Allegations of corruption against the Sharif family are being heard in Pakistan’s Supreme Court.

    Prime Minister Sharif told the court in a written submission last year that the leak was not the proof against him, as his children were not his dependents.

    He said he was not holding any offshore companies. Sharif also claimed that he had paid tax and declared all of his assets in 2013.

    The Panama Papers leak revealed how Mossack Fonseca allegedly helped current and former world leaders, as well as businessmen, criminals, celebrities and sports stars, evade or avoid tax via anonymously-owned shell companies and offshore accounts.

    The story garnered wall-to-wall coverage and dominated front pages of newspapers across the world.

    ICIJ coordinated the reporting, with 376 journalists from 109 news organisations and 76 countries poring over the files.

    Pakistan's Supreme Court is hearing the case of corruption allegations against the Sharif family

  • Palestinians bring anti-settlements rally to Knesset

    {Palestinian citizens of Israel rally against demolition of Palestinian homes as 566 settler permits are issued.}

    Palestinian citizens of Israel have gathered outside the Knesset in West Jerusalem to protest against the demolition of Palestinian homes.

    The rally at the Israeli parliament on Monday came a day after Israeli authorities approved building permits for 566 settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem, a move that has drawn condemnation from Palestinian leaders.

    The Jewish settlements are considered illegal under international law.

    Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting form West Jerusalem, said the demonstration, though small, reflected a change in tactics by the Palestinians.

    “Instead of mounting strikes in their local area against the demolitions they have come here to the Knesset, the heart of Israeli power, to make sure that the parliament and government hear their voice,” our correspondent said.

    “They say they are Israeli citizens and they deserve the same rights as everybody else, and are fed up with being treated as second-class citizens.”

    {{‘We can finally build’}}

    The approval of the building plan on Sunday came after the inauguration of President Donald Trump in the United States, with Israeli officials saying the permits had been held up until the end of Barack Obama’s administration, which had recently been critical of Israeli settlement activity.

    “The rules of the game have changed with Donald Trump’s arrival as president,” Meir Turgeman, Jerusalem’s deputy mayor, told AFP news agency.

    “We no longer have our hands tied as in the time of Barack Obama. Now we can finally build.”

    Turgeman said that city officials approved the plans that had been previously postponed at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request following a UN Security Council resolution in December against Israeli settlement building.

    The new permits are for homes in the settlement neighbourhoods of Pisgat Zeev, Ramot and Ramat Shlomo, according to Turgeman, who also heads the planning committee that approved them.

    Turgeman said plans for about 11,000 other homes were also in process in East Jerusalem, though he did not say when they could proceed.

    {{US embassy}}

    In a separate development, the US said that it is in the early stages of talks to fulfil President Donald Trump’s pledge to move the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move opposed by the Palestinian leadership.

    “We are at the very beginning stages of even discussing this subject,” said White House spokesman Sean Spicer.

    Hundreds of Palestinians protested against the plans in cities across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, on Sunday.

    Trump reportedly spoke to Netanyahu earlier on Sunday.

    Jerusalem mayor, Nir Barkat, welcomed the Trump administration’s announcement.

    “This evening’s announcement has sent a clear message to the world that the US recognises Jerusalem as the indivisible capital of the State of Israel,” Barkat said in a statement.

  • Yemen army claims control of port city of Mokha

    {Army forces enter southwestern port city of Mokha, as dozens of families flee ongoing clashes and bombardments.}

    The Yemeni army said it has taken full control of Mokha, a port city southwest of the capital Sanaa which had been taken by Houthi rebels in November 2014.

    Brigade General Ahmed Seif al-Yafai said in press remarks on Monday that his forces entered Mokha, where dozens of families were seen fleeing days of clashes and bombardment.

    Government forces were combing the port, an AFP news agency journalist accompanying the troops said.

    A military coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen’s civil war nearly two years ago to back President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after he was overthrown from the capital Sanaa by Houthi forces.

    The latest development came almost three weeks after the Hadi loyalists launched an offensive against the rebels and their allies on Yemen’s southwestern coast.

    Warplanes and Apache attack helicopters from a Saudi-led Arab coalition have been pounding the rebels in support of pro-Hadi forces, military sources told AFP.

    {{‘Weapons smuggling’}}

    Government forces said the rebels were using the port in Mokha to smuggle weapons into Yemen.

    At least 10,000 people have died in the mostly stalemated Yemeni conflict, which has unleashed a humanitarian crisis in the already poor Arabian Peninsula country.

  • Dozens killed after train derails in southern India

    {At least 36 dead and many others injured after seven coaches are thrown off tracks in southern state.}

    At least 36 people have been killed and 50 injured after an overnight passenger train derailed in southern India, according to railway officials, in the latest accident to hit the country’s gigantic but poorly maintained rail network.

    Seven coaches of the Hirakhand Express were thrown off the tracks late on Saturday, with some landing on a goods train that was on a parallel track, Chandralekha Mukherji, divisional railway manager, told the Associated Press news agency.

    Rescue workers were trying to cut open the mangled coaches on Sunday morning near the Kuneru railway station, in the Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh state. The train was travelling between Jagdalpur, in Chhattisgarh state, and Bhuvanesawar, in Orissa.

    “Thirty-six people have been killed so far and 19 bodies have been identified,” said JP Mishra, a spokesman for East Coast Railway, adding that the toll could rise further as many people were still trapped.

    Officials were investigating whether Maoist rebels had tampered with the track, after eight coaches and the engine of the Jagdalpur-Bhubaneswar express were derailed at around 11:00 pm (1730 GMT) on Saturday.

    Anil Kumar Saxena, a national railway spokesman, said investigators were considering possible sabotage of the tracks by Maoist rebels, who he said were active in the area.

    “It is being looked into, it is one of the many angles we are looking into,” he told AFP.

    “There is some suspicion [of sabotage] because two other trains had crossed over smoothly using the same tracks earlier in the night.”

    Police in Odisha, where the train was headed, dismissed any involvement by Maoist rebels known as Naxals in the derailment.

    “We totally reject any possibility of Maoist involvement in the derailment. Kuneru is not a Naxal-hit area,” an unidentified senior intelligence officer was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.

    {{Poor safety record}}

    India’s railway system is the world’s third largest but is severely hampered by a lack of modern signalling and communication systems, as well as poor maintenance of tracks and equipment. Manual signalling is still used at several places, raising the risk of human error.

    In November, 146 people were killed when a packed passenger train derailed near the town of Kanpur, in Uttar Pradesh, in the deadliest rail accident in the country in at least five years.

    According to a government report in 2012, about 15,000 people are killed each year in train accidents. The worst occurred in 1981, when a train fell into the Bagmati River in northern India, killing nearly 800 people.

    Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, pledged last year to invest $137bn over the next five years to modernise the railway network, which is used by about 23 million passengers a day.

    In a message on Twitter on Sunday, Modi expressed his condolences for those killed in the latest accident and said that the railway ministry was monitoring the situation closely.

  • Israel approves permits for 566 settler homes

    {Building plan in East Jerusalem approved by local council after being held up until Donald Trump took office in the US.}

    Israeli authorities have approved building permits for 566 settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem, according to local officials, a move that has drawn condemnation from Palestinian leaders.

    The approval of the building plan on Sunday came two days after the inauguration of Donald Trump in the United States, with Israeli official saying the permits had been held up until the end of Barack Obama’s administration, which had been critical of Israeli settlement activity.

    “The rules of the game have changed with Donald Trump’s arrival as president,” Meir Turgeman, Jerusalem’s deputy mayor, told AFP news agency.

    “We no longer have our hands tied as in the time of Barack Obama. Now we can finally build.”

    Turgeman said that city officials approved the plans that had been previously postponed at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request following a UN Security Council resolution in December against Israeli settlement building.

    The new permits are for homes in the settlement neighbourhoods of Pisgat Zeev, Ramot and Ramat Shlomo, according to Turgeman, who also heads the planning committee that approved them.

    Turgeman said plans for about 11,000 other homes were also in process in East Jerusalem, though he did not say when they could proceed.

    {{‘State above law’}}

    Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under international law and have been major stumbling blocks in negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis.

    Between 2009 and 2014, Israeli settlements expanded by 23 percent in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

    Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the building plans and called on the United Nations to take action, particularly given the recent Security Council resolution.

    “It is time to stop dealing with Israel as a state above the law,” he said.

    Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from West Jerusalem, said that with Trump now in the White House the Israeli government feels it can build illegal settlements on Palestinian land without facing much criticism.

    “They think that this is a retooling of the relationship with the US,” Khan said. “Under President Trump the Israelis feel that they will have a lot more leeway to build on Palestinian land,” he added.

    “And this is a message to the world that they can build wherever they want, including on the land of a future Palestinian state.”

    {{Netanyahu-Trump talks}}

    Netanyahu said on Sunday that he was to speak with Trump later in the day, their first conversation since the billionaire businessman took office.

    Trump has pledged strong support for Israel and vowed during his campaign to recognise Jerusalem as the country’s capital despite the city’s contested status.

    Israel clashed frequently with Obama over construction in areas it conquered in 1967.

    But Trump’s appointed ambassador to Israel has close ties to Jewish West Bank settlements, as does the foundation run by the family of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

  • France: Socialists cast votes for presidential hopeful

    {Primary sees leftist voters split as analysts predict general election will see conservatives battle the far right.}

    French left-wing voters cast their ballots in a presidential primary aimed at producing a socialist candidate strong enough to confront formidable conservative and far-right rivals in the coming general election.

    The preliminary rounds include seven potential presidential candidates, who left-wing voters hoped to strengthen on Sunday to confront right-wing opponents in the May 2017 general election.

    Manuel Valls, the centre-left former prime minister, was among the candidates.

    France’s left has decreased in popularity in recent years after President Francois Hollande’s economic reforms caused his socialist party to split.

    As a result, the elections have brought about several candidates whose programmes are reflective of leftist ideals.

    Some candidates criticised Valls’ lack of socialist principles as they associated him with Hollande.

    {{Leftist ideals re-emerge}}

    The former economy minister who quit Hollande’s government amid feuding, Arnaud Montebourg pledged his own economic policies. One policy would be to force business owners to raise employees’ wages if they raised their own.

    As he cast his ballot, Montebourg said he hoped to “bring together the other components of the left-wing and win this presidential election”.

    Former government minister Benoit Hamon promised to tax robots, legalise cannabis and grant a “universal income” of more than $600 a month to all French adults, including the poor.

    “I voted for Benoit Hamon because to me he is the one best placed to redress the Socialist party,” said Jean Claude, from the small town of Millau.

    However, some struggled to make a decision at the polls.

    Parisian Francoise Danzon said: “I think Montebourg’s and Hamon’s programmes are really on the left side, and they are interesting.”

    He added: “But I don’t really believe in it, totally, because to me it doesn’t seem really realistic.”

    {{The socialist vote is evaporating}}

    The socialists’ primary is viewed as a crucial test of the party’s ability to survive and even reinvent itself in upcoming rounds.

    “Turnout is much lower than the last socialist primary five years ago. By midday, some 400,000 had voted. That is very disappointing,” said Al Jazeera’s David Chater, reporting from Paris.

    “Last year, at the republican, conservative primaries, they got four million votes. It’s a real indication that the socialist vote is evaporating here,” he added.

    Polls, however, show majority support for conservative candidate Francois Fillon, and National Front leader Marine Le Pen.

    Overshadowing the left-wing voting is the nationalist sentiment that helped drive Donald Trump’s successful campaign for the US presidency and in several countries around Europe.

    Le Pen, along with other European far-right parties gathered for a conference in Germany’s Koblenz on Saturday, in a show of strength ahead multiple upcoming European elections this year.

    At the conference, Le Pen claimed recent anti-establishment victories by President Donald Trump and the Brexit campaign, as those of a rising populist right in Europe, adding that Europe was about to “wake up”.

    Al Jazeera’s Chater said France’s next leader would “bear the burden of Francois Hollande’s legacy – the most unpopular president in French modern history”.

    Socialist Party leaders expect up to two million voters to cast ballots in the upcoming primary round on January 29, out of the more than 40 million citizens registered on electoral rolls.

    With voters across Europe moving to the right, most polls currently show a Fillon-Le Pen win is the most likely scenario in May.

    Chater added that the socialists “don’t have much of a chance … they don’t have a fight in this election against Marine Le Pen”.

    The preliminary rounds include former socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls

  • Pope Francis warns against populism, citing Hitler

    {Declining to directly pass judgement on US President Trump, the pope condemned border walls being built.}

    Pope Francis on Saturday warned against populism, saying it could lead to the election of “saviours” like Adolf Hitler.

    In an hour-long interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais, conducted as Donald Trump was being sworn in as US president, the pontiff also condemned the idea of using walls and barbed wire to keep out foreigners, among them refugees and migrants.

    “Of course, crises provoke fears and worries,” he said, but added that for him “the example of populism in the European sense of the word is Germany in 1933”.

    The pope added: “Germany … was looking for a leader, someone who would give her back her identity and there was a little man named Adolf Hitler who said ‘I can do it’.”

    “Hitler did not steal power,” the pope said. “He was elected by his people and then he destroyed his people.”

    The Germans at that time also wanted to protect themselves with “walls and barbed wire so that others cannot take away their identity”, he said.

    “The case of Germany is classic,” he said, adding that Hitler gave them a “deformed identity and we know what it produced”.

    Pope Francis, however, underscored that it was too early to pass judgement on Trump.

    “Let’s see. Let’s see what he does and then we will evaluate,” he said.

    In February, the pontiff, in another apparent warning to Trump, said: “A person who thinks only about building walls – wherever they may be – and not building bridges, is not Christian … I’d just say that this man is not Christian, if he said it this way.”

    {{Populist surge}}

    Populist parties are on the rise across Europe.

    Unemployment and austerity, the arrival of record numbers of refugees and migrants in France, Belgium and Germany have left voters disillusioned with conventional parties and led to a rise of Islamophobic sentiment and anti-refugee views.

    In Germany, far-right leaders met at a conference amid protests a day earlier.

    French far-right leader, Marine Le Pen, told several hundred supporters in the German city of Koblenz that Britain’s vote last year to leave the European Union would create a “domino effect”.

    A day after Trump took office in the US, Le Pen said his inauguration speech included “accents in common” with the message of reclaiming national sovereignty by the far-right leaders.

    “2016 was the year the Anglo-Saxon world woke up. I am sure 2017 will be the year the people of continental Europe wake up,” she said to loud applause.

    Le Pen – head of the anti-European Union, anti-immigrant National Front (FN) and seen by pollsters as highly likely to make a two-person runoff vote for the French presidency in May – has marked out Europe as a major plank in her programme.

    More than 3,000 demonstrators gathered to protest the Koblenz conference, while some staged a sit-in outside the hall.

    Also in attendance was Dutch hardliner Geert Wilders, who used the platform to repeat Islamophobic rhetoric, the central theme of policies that have pushed his Party for Freedom to the front in the polls in the run-up to elections in March.

    The leaders of Europe’s established parties were “promoting our Islamisation”, Wilders said in a speech.

    European women were now “frightened of showing their blonde hair”, the Dutch politician said, addressing the enthusiastic audience in German.

    Pope Francis has warned against rising populism citing the example of Germany's Adolf Hitler

  • Deadly bomb blast hits Rakban refugee camp near Jordan

    {Deaths reported as camp near Jordan border is attacked days ahead of peace talks in Kazakhstan.}

    A bomb blast struck the Rakban camp for displaced people in Syria near the border with Jordan on Saturday, causing injuries and deaths, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor.

    The camp is home to displaced civilians and to rebel groups that fight both President Bashar al-Assad and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) armed group, and was targeted by bombings last year.

    Jordan’s official Petra news agency, citing a military source, confirmed that an explosion went off inside the camp.

    Syrian local media said the blast was caused by a car bomb and caused deaths and injuries.

    There was no claim of responsibility for the bombing.

    Home to more than 85,000 displaced people, the Rakban camp was also targeted by a bomb blast last month.

    On Saturday, the Russian defence ministry said six Russian warplanes carried out air strikes on ISIL targets in the Deir Az Zor province, according to Russian media outlet RIA.

    The ministry added that the planes flew from Russian territory and returned after the strikes, RIA said.

    {{Peace talks}}

    The attacks come as the Syrian government and rebel groups prepare for upcoming peace talks in Kazakhstan.

    A ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey last month excluded the main hardline group in northwestern Syria, former al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Fateh al-Sham. Meanwhile a spate of air strikes targeting its leaders have increased mistrust among rebels.

    All this plays further to Assad’s advantage, as his Russian and Iranian allies want to lead diplomacy over Syria, with new US President Donald Trump indicating he will cut backing for the moderate Syrian opposition.

    The rebels going to Kazakhstan’s Astana say the meeting must focus on shoring up the ceasefire and that they will resist political discussions. Assad has said he is open to such talks.

    Syria’s conflict started as a largely unarmed uprising against Assad’s rule in March 2011, but it quickly morphed into a full-scale civil war.

    Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed throughout the five years of fighting, while more than half of the country’s prewar population have been internally displaced or fled the country.

    The Rukban camp has been targeted several times throughout Syria's war

  • Suicide bombers blow themselves up in Saudi Arabia

    {Security forces engaged ‘terrorists’ in a firefight with suspects who later detonated explosives in the city of Jeddah.}

    Two suicide bombers have blown themselves up in a confrontation with security forces in Saudi Arabia’s second city of Jeddah, local media reported.

    Sabq, a news website affiliated with the kingdom’s interior ministry, reported on Saturday that security officers surrounded a house in Jeddah and exchanged fire with two men, who then detonated explosives that images showed completely destroyed the home.

    There was no immediate comment from the interior ministry.

    Since 2014, Saudi security forces have grappled with sporadic attacks by followers of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, which is based in Syria and Iraq, and say they have arrested hundreds of its members.

    Local ISIL affiliates have carried out several deadly shootings and bombings in the kingdom. Many of the attacks have targeted security personnel and Shia mosques.

    Last year, a suicide bomber was killed and two people were wounded in a blast near the US consulate in Jeddah, the first bombing in years to target foreigners in the country.

    ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has called for attacks against Saudi Arabia, which is a member of a US-led coalition bombing his fighters in Syria and Iraq.

    A security officer stands guard in front of the logo of the Saudi-led Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition

  • Donald Trump sworn in as 45th US president

    {Donald Trump becomes 45th president as protests against his inauguration turn violent in Washington, DC.}

    Donald Trump has been officially sworn in as the 45th president of the United States, ushering in a new political era.

    The inauguration took place outside US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Friday, as protesters clashed with police nearby.

    “Together, we will determine the course of America and the world for many, many years to come,” Trump said in his inaugural speech.

    “We will face challenges, we will confront hardships, but we will get the job done.”

    The Republican president added: “For too long, a small group in our nation’s capital has reaped the rewards of government. Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth.”

    He also pledged to unite the world against “radical Islam”.

    Taking aim at immigration and international trade, he said: “We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies, and destroying our jobs. Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength.”

    After finishing his inaugural speech, Barack Obama, the outgoing president, told him: “Good job, good job”.

    Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane, reporting from Washington, DC, said: “Donald Trump focused on really saying ‘everything is broken, but we’re going to make it better’.”

    “It is shocking. I was here for both of Barack Obama’s inaugurations and the crowd here is remarkably small compared to then. Another observation I have to share is that it is an incredibly white crowd.”

    About 28,000 security personnel, kilometres of fencing, street barricades, and trucks laden with sand were part of the security cordon around eight square kilometres of central Washington for the ceremony.

    Thousands of protesters still converged on the capital. While the vast majority of the demonstrations passed peacefully, some protesters resorted to violence to express their dislike for the new president and his policies.

    At least 217 people were arrested in a series of clashes, police said.

    Police in riot gear used pepper spray and stun grenades to prevent the chaos from spilling into Trump’s formal procession and evening balls.

    Less than two kilometres from the inauguration ceremony, police gave chase to a group of about 100 protesters who smashed the windows downtown businesses including a Starbucks, a Bank of America and a McDonald’s as they denounced capitalism and Trump.

    The crowd, which carried at least one sign that read “Make Racists Afraid Again”, also vandalised several cars and hurled rubbish bins and newspaper vending boxes into the streets before being dispersed by police.

    Earlier, liberal activists with a separate group called Disrupt J20 intermittently blocked multiple security checkpoints leading to the largest public viewing area for the ceremony. Several were led away by police.

    Disrupt J20 protest organiser Alli McCracken, 28, of Washington, said the group was voicing opposition to Trump’s discriminatory comments about women, undocumented immigrants and Muslims.

    “We have a lot of people of diverse backgrounds who are against US imperialism and we feel Trump will continue that legacy,” McCracken said on a grey morning with light rain.

    Trump supporters also flooded into the capital, many sporting shirts and hats bearing his “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.

    Other protests and demonstrations took place across the country, and in the rest of the world.

    Heading into the Oval Office shortly after the conclusion of his inaugural parade, Trump made good on a campaign promise to start dismantling his predecessor’s healthcare law.

    He signed an order on the Affordable Care Act that urged government departments to “waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay the implementation” of provisions that imposed fiscal burdens on states, companies or individuals.

    Trump, a 70-year old businessman, has no previous political experience. He is a former reality TV star whose campaign dominated headlines with his shocking comments on minorities, women and rival politicians.

    During the run-up to the November 8 election, he promised to ban Muslims from entering the US. He also promised to build a wall along the Mexican border to deter Mexicans from travelling to America. Later, a recording was leaked of him saying that he grabs women’s genitals when the mood takes him. He called his main Democratic rival Hillary Clinton a “nasty woman” during a debate.

    Speaking at the inauguration, Chuck Schumer, a senator from New York, said that America is now living in a “challenging and tumultuous time” in the run-up to the oaths.

    “Faith in our government, our institutions and even our country can erode,” he said. “Today, we celebrate one of democracy’s core attributes: the peaceful transfer of power.”

    Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath of office, which was witnessed by Trump’s wife, the First Lady Melania Trump.

    Mike Pence, vice president, was also sworn in front of a crowd of hundreds of thousands.

    Donald Trump, a 70-year-old former reality TV star, pledged to protect US borders and create jobs