US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has jokingly asked a TV host to check her pulse and “make sure if I’m alive,” in an attempt to dismiss a series of rumors about her declining health. Recently, a series of unsubstantiated reports have questioned Clinton’s well-being, claiming that she never fully recovered from a blood clot that she suffered in her brain in late 2012.The rumors gained more momentum after Republican nominee Donald Trump questioned the former first lady’s well-being.

Clinton, 68, addressed the issue during an appearance on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel” on Monday night, saying the allegations were part of a “wacky strategy” by the GOP to gain more votes. “Back in October, the National Enquirer said I’d be dead in six months. So with every breath I take, I feel like it’s a new lease on life,” the former secretary of state joked.

She also took a jab at Trump by calling the 70-year-old “as healthy as a horse.” The New York businessman had said in Ohio on Monday that Clinton “lacks the mental and physical stamina” to run the country. Also on Monday, Trump’s close adviser, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, raised doubts about Clinton’s health by claiming that she was “tired” and recently “looked sick.”

Clinton’s campaign fired back by advising people to read about the former mayor withdrawal from the 2000 Senate race which, ironically, was directly related to his health. Dr. Drew Pinsky, a famous addiction medicine specialist; Sean Hannity, Fox News host and a senior Trump adviser; and the notorious pharma executive Martin Shkreli are among a long list of celebrities who have contributed to the conspiracy.

A viral video on Youtube, which has more than 3 million views, claims that Clinton is suffering from a plethora of diseases such as autism and a brain tumor. In response, Clinton’s campaign has published a medical note from her physician that concludes that she is healthy.

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US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has taken an 8-percentage point lead over her Republican rival, Donald Trump, in the run-up to the 2016 US presidential race, according to a new poll. The Reuters/Ipsos poll, released on Friday evening, shows the former secretary of state has 42 percent of the votes as compared to the New York billionaire having only a 34-percent support. Another 23 percent wouldn’t pick either candidate.

However, Clinton’s lead over Trump slimmed slightly in a four-way match-up that included Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein. She received 41 percent to his 34 percent. In that scenario, Johnson earned 7 percent, while Stein bagged 2 percent. The poll was conducted from August 14 to 18 among a national sample of 1,118 of adults and 1,119 likely voters. The margin of error for both samples is 3 points. Reuters noted that at this point of the race four years ago, President Barack Obama was leading his Republican challenger Mitt Romney by less than 2 points.

According to Pew Research Center poll, released on Thursday, a majority of Americans hold an unfavorable view of Trump, with 55 percent saying he would make a poor or terrible president, while 45 percent saying the same about Clinton. Thirty-one percent say Clinton would make a good or great president, while 27 percent say the same of Trump. Those who back Trump say, 81 percent to 11 percent, that life is worse now for US citizens than it was 50 years ago. However, Clinton supporters — 59 percent — say life is better than five decades ago and 19 percent say it is worse.

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US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has shaken up his election campaign staff for the second time in two months. Trump is adding two officials to top posts supervising his campaign, with less than three months to the Election Day in November.

The business mogul named Steve Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart News and a former investment banker, to the post of chief executive. He also promoted Kellyanne Conway, a senior adviser and pollster to the position of his campaign manager, CNN reported on Wednesday. Paul Manafort, Trump campaign’s chairman and chief strategist, will continue to serve as campaign chairman, Conway said. “I look at it as an expansion of the team. Paul remains as Chairman,” Conway stated.

This comes in the wake of an increase in tensions inside Trump’s campaign in recent weeks as well as warnings by several people close to the campaign to have a shakeup as Trump’s relationship with Manafort soured. The negative headlines and alarming polls for Trump have influenced Trump’s decision. “I want to win,” Trump told the Wall Street Journal. “That’s why I’m bringing on fantastic people who know how to win and love to win.”

Two months ago, Trump fired his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski following weeks of internal disputes between Lewandowski and Manafort, who was initially named to oversee his campaign. “Mr. Trump doesn’t trust him anymore. That’s it. Pure and simple,” a source familiar with the tensions told CNN. “When Mr. Trump doesn’t feel comfortable with the way things are managed or the way things are, he has a tendency to try to do everything, thus his exasperation becomes apparent. It manifests itself,” the source said.

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The United Nations Security Council has authorized the deployment of a 4,000-strong protection force to the conflict-hit South Sudan despite Juba’s strong opposition to the move. On Friday, the Security Council approved the US-drafted resolution with 11 votes in favor, while Russia, China, Egypt and Venezuela abstained, granting extended powers to the peacekeepers present in the African country and authorizing them to exert “all necessary means” to protect UN personnel and installations there.

There will be a total of 17,500 soldiers in South Sudan after the new deployment from a number of African nations. The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has been under fire during the past few weeks both for its inability to fully protect civilians when UN sites came under attack in the capital Juba last month, and for allegedly failing to intervene in cases that government forces reportedly committed sexual assaults outside UN camps in the city.

South Sudan has witnessed a new wave of conflict since early July, when gunfire erupted near the state house in Juba, where President Salva Kiir and then Vice President Riek Machar were meeting. The gunfire turned into a much heavier fighting, which involved tanks and helicopters, between the two sides during the next several days. More than 300 people were killed in the clashes. The UN resolution also calls for an arms embargo on South Sudan if the government blocks the regional force.

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US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is enjoying financial support from a growing list of American billionaires who oppose Republican nominee Donald Trump.

According to a recent report by Fox News, the former secretary of state’s presidential campaign has so far received more than $42.5 million in donations from a total of 24 billionaires.

So far, movie producers Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, financiers Warren Buffett and George Soros, and Walmart heiress Alice Walton have all made contributions to the former first lady’s campaign.

Media mogul Oprah Winfrey (pictured below) has also thrown her weight behind Clinton. Haim Saban is another media magnate that will support Clinton in the battle against Trump.

Billionaire environmentalist Thomas Steyer joined the list and endorsed Clinton in early June. Some of the multimillionaires have donated millions to a top Clinton superPAC named Priorities USA Action.Saban ($10 million), Soros ($7 million), hedge fund billionaire James Simons ($7 million), Hyatt Hotel heir J.B. Pritzker and his wife Mary Kathryn Pritzker ($6.5 million), Slim-Fast founder S. Daniel Abraham ($3 million), Hedge fund billionaire David Shaw ($2.25 million), investors Jon and Pat Stryker ($1.5 million each), Spielberg ($1 million), Legendary Entertainment founder and CEO Thomas Tull ($1 million), and the list goes on.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg are some of the other major figures who are siding with Clinton.

In addition to the pro-Clinton billionaires, some of the Republican-leaning tycoons have announced that that they will not support Trump as the party nominee.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman, for instance, has joined industrial power-brokers Charles and David Koch in withdrawing support from fellow GOP billionaire Trump.

Whitman has pushed the envelope even further by stating that she will endorse and help fund Clinton.

In addition to Priorities USA Action, million have been paid to other Clinton funds Hillary for America and Hillary Victory Fun. Pro-Clinton such as PACs American Bridge 21st Century, Priorities USA Action 2016 and Correct the Record have also received huge donations.

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US President Barack Obama has strongly endorsed Hillary Clinton as his successor, saying she is more qualified to be president of the United States than Bill Clinton or himself. The former secretary of state is a “leader with real plans to break down barriers, blast through glass ceilings, and widen the circle of opportunity to every single American, the next president of the United States, Hillary Clinton,” Obama said in a speech at the packed Democratic National Convention center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Wednesday night.

“That’s the Hillary I know. That’s the Hillary I’ve come to admire. And that’s why I can say with confidence there has never been a man or a woman — not me, not Bill, nobody — more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as president of the United States of America,” he added. He said “nothing truly prepares you for the demands of the Oval Office, but Hillary’s been in the room.”

“I know Hillary won’t relent until ISIL is destroyed. She’ll finish the job – and she’ll do it without resorting to torture, or banning entire religions from entering our country. She is fit to be the next commander in chief,” he said, referring to the Daesh terrorist group in Iraq and Syria.

Obama went on to say that “we’re going to carry Hillary to victory this fall, because that’s what the moment demands.” “This year, in this election, I’m asking you to join me — to reject cynicism, reject fear, to summon what’s best in us, to elect Hillary Clinton as the next president of the United States,” Obama said in his concluding remarks.

Earlier commenting on Clinton’s choice for vice president, Tim Kaine, Obama said, “He will be a great vice president. And he’ll make Hillary a better president, just like my dear friend and brother Joe Biden has made me a better president.”

Obama also denounced Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, saying “America is already great. America is already strong. And I promise you, our strength, our greatness, does not depend on Donald Trump.”

“Our power doesn’t come from some self-declared savior promising that he alone can restore order as long as we do things his way. We don’t look to be ruled,” he stated.

“Ronald Reagan called America a shining city on a hill,” Obama recalled. “Donald Trump calls it a divided crime scene that only he can fix.”

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US Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren has denounced Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump “for fanning the flames of fear and hatred” to win the November election. Speaking at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Monday night, the senator from Massachusetts made a spirited case for Hillary Clinton’s candidacy for the White House, and blasted Trump’s “hate-filled America.”

“That’s Donald Trump’s America,” said Warren. “An America of fear and hate. An America where we all break apart. Whites against blacks and Latinos. Christians against Muslims and Jews. Straight against gay. Everyone against immigrants. Race, religion, heritage, gender — the more factions the better.”

Warren, a former Harvard Law School professor, accused Trump of using the strategy of “divide and conquer” in order to further his agenda. “Dr. Martin Luther King knew it,” she said. “After his march from Selma to Montgomery, he spoke of how segregation was created to keep people divided… Racial hatred was part of keeping the powerful on top.”

She argued that when Americans turn on each other, they lose, and powerful people like Trump continue to have their way in Washington. “When we turn on each other, we can’t unite to fight back against a rigged system,” she said. “Well, I’ve got news for Donald Trump: The American people are not falling for it. … We’ve seen this ugliness before, and we are not going to be Donald Trump’s hate-filled America. Not now, not ever.”

Warren has emerged as one of Trump’s most prominent critics and joined a group of Democrats demanding the businessman publicly release his tax returns, implying that he is lying about his true business value. On Monday night, she described Mr. Trump as “a man who cares only for himself every minute of every day.”

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US President Barack Obama’s half-brother, Malik Obama, says he is deeply disappointed in America’s current Democratic administration and will vote for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the upcoming election. “I like Donald Trump because he speaks from the heart,” Malik Obama told The New York Post in an interview from his home in the rural village of Kogelo, Kenya. “’Make America Great Again’ is a great slogan. I would like to meet him.”

Obama is reportedly still registered to vote in the US state of Maryland, where he once resided. The 58-year-old, who identifies himself as a longtime Democrat, said he has switched to “the party of [former US president Abraham] Lincoln” because of his “deep disappointment” in the Obama administration.

“Honestly, I’ll be happy when my brother is out of office, and I will finally be out of the limelight and be able to live like a human being,” Malik said. The administration’s handling of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s email fiasco was what severed him from the Democratic Party, Obama said.

“She should have known better as the custodian of classified information,” said Obama. FBI Director James Comey said earlier this month that the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee was “extremely careless” over her use of a private email server as secretary of state but would not face criminal charges.

Obama officially endorsed Clinton in early June, saying she is the most qualified for the top job. He had on several occasions hinted at backing Clinton’s White House bid, with his administration going so far as blocking the release of significant documents in her email case.

Malik also said he was annoyed by Obama and Clinton’s way of handling Libya’s former leader, Muammar al-Gaddafi. Obama has described Washington’s failure to control the situation in Libya after Gaddafi’s fall as his “worst mistake.” The Republican Party’s refusal to promote same-sex marriage was another reason that Malik Obama said “appeals” to him.

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US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will win the November presidential election, according to American documentary filmmaker and author Michael Moore. Moore made the prediction at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, during a special edition of HBO’s program “Real Time with Bill Maher.”

“I’m sorry to have to be the buzzkill here so early on, but I think Trump is going to win,” he declared to gasps and boos from the progressive live audience. “Boo if you want.” The 62-year-old liberal filmmaker said Trump would exploit angry white voters in his favor, and Americans are likely to support him like British citizens voted in June to leave the European Union — known as Brexit.

 “I live in Michigan. Let me tell you, it’s going to be the Brexit strategy,” Moore said. “The middle of England is Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania,” he said. “And Mitt Romney lost by 64 electoral votes. The total number of electoral votes in those states in the Rust Belt: 64. All [Trump] has to do is win those four states.”

Earlier in the day, Moore told a press conference that Trump “knows how to manipulate a dumbed-down population.” “The population of schools has been wrecked, and the news media is just insipid and stupid and doesn’t give the people the facts about what’s going on,” he stated, adding that American voters are “easily manipulated.” He added that Trump is “not as stupid as he looks. You should take [him] very seriously.”

“He knows the manipulation that’s going on here, and the use of propaganda and the way he’s doing it is just brilliant in the way that he is succeeding and has succeeded,” he continued. A new poll shows that Trump is only trailing his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, with one percentage point in the run-up to the November vote.

According to the NBC News/Survey Monkey Weekly Election Tracking poll released on Tuesday, the former secretary of state has 46 percent of the votes as compared to Trump’s 45 percent, down from last week’s version of the poll that showed Clinton on the lead by 3 percentage points.

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A Donald Trump campaign staffer has apologized after the US Republican presidential nominee’s wife was accused of using remarks by First Lady Michelle Obama in a speech broadcast live to millions of people.

Melania Trump’s Monday address to the Republican National Convention contained similarities to a 2008 convention speech by US President Barack Obama’s wife, Michelle. In a written statement on Wednesday evening, Meredith McIver admitted she made a mistake by not checking Michelle Obama’s former speeches.

The statement said McIver offered to resign but the Republican presidential nominee had rejected the offer. McIver explained that she included the parts from Michelle Obama’s speech after listening to Melania read passages from the First Lady’s 2008 speech.

“Over the phone, she read me some passages from Mrs. Obama’s speech as examples. I wrote them down and later included some of the phrasing in the draft that ultimately became the final speech,” she said.

“I did not check Mrs. Obama’s speeches. This was my mistake, and I feel terrible for the chaos I have caused Melania and the Trumps, as well as to Mrs. Obama. No harm was meant,” she stated.

Donald Trump did not accept McIver’s resignation, calling her error “an innocent mistake.” “She made a mistake … we all make mistakes,” Trump told ABC News. In tweets, Trump said he was proud of the fact that his wife’s address “got more attention than any in the history of politics.” Melania Trump had claimed she wrote her speech “with as little help as possible.”

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