Trump Drops Campaign Manager Lewandowski

Donald Trump has dropped his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.

Campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in a statement: "The Donald J Trump Campaign for President, which has set a historic record in the Republican primary having received almost 14 million votes, has today announced that Corey Lewandowski will no longer be working with the campaign.

"The campaign is grateful to Corey for his hard work and dedication and we wish him the best in the future."

Lewandowski was accused of manhandling a female reporter at one event

Mr Lewandowski, who had been with the billionaire real estate tycoon since he launched his White House bid, had been accused of manhandling a female reporter in Florida during the primary campaign.

He was cleared over the alleged assault.

He travelled with the presumptive Republican nominee on his private plane to nearly every campaign stop, granting him more direct access to the businessman than virtually any other campaign staffer.

Mr Lewandowski dismissed the idea that Mr Trump needed to hire more experienced political figures for his campaign, spend on polling and data operations or moderate his statements.

But he had been under pressure in recent months with more traditional party strategists hired by Mr Trump to reshape his campaign operation.

Led by Paul Manafort, the team had been urging Mr Trump to hire more staff and to tone down his fiery rallies.

The tycoon has seen his numbers slide in recent national polls against presumptive Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton.

His call for Muslims to be banned from entering the US drew heavy criticism from Republican officials and led to sponsors including Apple and JPMorgan withholding funding for the party's national convention in Cleveland next month.

Campaign sources told the newspaper that Mr Trump was looking to make changes ahead of the convention.

Mr Lewandowski did not respond to requests for comment. He is still scheduled to attend the Cleveland convention as chairman of New Hampshire's delegation.

A campaign insider told the Reuters news agency that some staffers had not yet been informed of his departure.

Trump Drops Campaign Manager Lewandowski

Donald Trump has dropped his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.

Campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in a statement: "The Donald J Trump Campaign for President, which has set a historic record in the Republican primary having received almost 14 million votes, has today announced that Corey Lewandowski will no longer be working with the campaign.

"The campaign is grateful to Corey for his hard work and dedication and we wish him the best in the future."

Lewandowski was accused of manhandling a female reporter at one event

Mr Lewandowski, who had been with the billionaire real estate tycoon since he launched his White House bid, had been accused of manhandling a female reporter in Florida during the primary campaign.

He was cleared over the alleged assault.

He travelled with the presumptive Republican nominee on his private plane to nearly every campaign stop, granting him more direct access to the businessman than virtually any other campaign staffer.

Mr Lewandowski dismissed the idea that Mr Trump needed to hire more experienced political figures for his campaign, spend on polling and data operations or moderate his statements.

But he had been under pressure in recent months with more traditional party strategists hired by Mr Trump to reshape his campaign operation.

Led by Paul Manafort, the team had been urging Mr Trump to hire more staff and to tone down his fiery rallies.

The tycoon has seen his numbers slide in recent national polls against presumptive Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton.

His call for Muslims to be banned from entering the US drew heavy criticism from Republican officials and led to sponsors including Apple and JPMorgan withholding funding for the party's national convention in Cleveland next month.

Campaign sources told the newspaper that Mr Trump was looking to make changes ahead of the convention.

Mr Lewandowski did not respond to requests for comment. He is still scheduled to attend the Cleveland convention as chairman of New Hampshire's delegation.

A campaign insider told the Reuters news agency that some staffers had not yet been informed of his departure.

Record Number Of People Displaced In 2015 - UN

refugees, asylum seekers and forcibly displaced people reached 65.3 million by the end of 2015, the highest-ever recorded level, according to a new report.

The new figures mean that one person in every 113 worldwide is now forcibly displaced, with the UN's refugee agency saying that conflict, persecution and a lack of political solutions has caused the sharp escalation in numbers.

It is the first time that the 60-million threshold has ever been crossed, meaning that there are now people who have been forced to flee their homes than the entire UK population.

Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, said: "I hope that the message carried by those forcibly displaced reaches the leaderships: We need action, political action, to stop conflicts.

"The message that they have carried is: 'If you don't solve problems, problems will come to you'."

Just over half of refugees in 2015 were children, according to UNHCR data, with 98,400 asylum requests coming from children who had been separated from their parents or were travelling unaccompanied.

The UNHCR recorded 3.2 million people in industrialised countries who were awaiting asylum decisions, 21.3 million refugees worldwide and 40.8 million people who were displaced in their country of origin.

Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia accounted for more than half of the world's refugees, with displacement figures rising 50% since 2011, the year the Syrian conflict began.

The year 2014 had already seen the highest number of displaced people, but that was topped by nearly 10%, according to the new Global Trends Report, released to mark World Refugee Day.

Turkey took in the most people, with 2.5 million people hosted in the country, nearly all from neighbouring Syria.

Afghan neighbour Pakistan took in 1.6 million refugees, while Lebanon - also next to Syria - hosted 1.1 million.

More than a million people fled to Europe in 2015.

Germany received the highest number of asylum requests (441,900), increasing its refugee population by 46% from 2014.

The refugee agency has called on European leaders to do more to end the conflicts that have forced people from their homelands.

Mr Grandi said: "There is no plan B for Europe in the long run.

"Europe will continue to receive people seeking asylum. Their numbers may vary ... but it is inevitable."

MPs: MPs: Fine Firms For Cyber Security Failures

Companies should be fined if they fail to guard against cyber attacks, MPs have recommended in the wake of last year's TalkTalk hack.

The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee inquiry made a number of recommendations, but stopped short of suggesting that criminal proceedings should apply to employees who fail to protect people’s data.

The committee also recommended that CEOs' pay should be linked to effective cyber security; that it should be easier for consumers to get compensation if they are the victim of a hack; and that the Government should conduct a public awareness campaign about online and telephone scams or phishing.  

Companies should also be fined for delays in reporting breaches into their systems.

Committee chair Jesse Norman told Sky News: "Our report today I think is a giant wake up call for industry generally because what that showed (the TalkTalk hack) is that even very sophisticated companies in the telecoms area were not invulnerable to attacks." 

In the USA, the Securities and Exchange Commission has required publicly traded companies to inform regulators about cyber attacks since 2012. 

The internet service provider TalkTalk, which has around 4 million customers, was hacked in October last year.

The company initially described the attack as "significant", but later said only 157,000 people’s details had been compromised.

The financial information – banking sort codes and account numbers – of 15,000 people were stolen.

28,000 people had obscured versions of their debit and credit card details taken.

Six arrests have been made, of people all younger than 21. 

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is conducting its own investigation into the specifics of the TalkTalk attack and data breach.

The select committee complained about the eight-month wait for this report and suggested the ICO was understaffed.

Conservative MP Mr Norman added: "We don't know the full detail of the attack even now and we've asked TalkTalk to publish as much of the current report that they've done on the attack as possible but it may have been a very simple one." 

Naira plummets against dollar

Nigeria's currency, the naira, has fallen 23% against the US dollar in the first morning of trading after the removal of the currency peg, Reuters News reports.

Bloomberg's Africa reporter has tweeted a graph of the naira's fall this morning: 

So Just How Do You Divorce The EU Then?

So it's 24 June and the results of the referendum have said that the UK and the EU just don't want the same things any more.

It's time to go our separate ways, but just how are we going to divide the spoils? 

Your questions answered:

What it actually says is: "Any member state may decide to withdraw from the union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements."

:: Has anyone done it before?

No. Britain is the first country to hold a referendum on leaving the EU and will therefore would be the first country to do so.

However, before you all start shouting "what about Greenland?"; yes it did leave the EU's forerunner the EEC in 1985 - mainly because it wanted its fishing rights back.

It did cede some fishing rights to the EU in return for cash and it's still signed up to the single market so freedom of movement still applies – ie it must take EU immigrants.

:: How long will the divorce take to come through?

Longer than the average 33 weeks it takes to get a divorce in the UK.

Article 50 states the UK will continue to be subject to EU rules for two years after giving its notice to quit. Only after that will those rules cease to apply.

However, it's up to David Cameron as to when he wants to give notice. He's said he will do it straight away. Others have urged him to wait.

It took the Greenlanders three years to thrash out their post-EU deal - but that was mainly all about fish.

Remainers say it will take at least a decade. Certainly, Mr Cameron has said it will take that long to renegotiate the 52 trade deals the UK currently benefits from through its membership of the EU.

:: What actually happens then?

The UK tells the European Council (the body made up of leaders of the 28 member states) that it's off.

The remaining 27 country heads will then thrash out a deal and decide what the UK should get and the arrangements for departure.

The European Parliament has to vote on it and can veto the agreement if MEPs don't like what's on the table.

:: Couldn't we just go, walk out the door, no turning around now?

Yes. Article 50 only applies to what the EU does.

The UK could just repeal the 1972 European Communities Act, slam the door and stomp off.

But there is no getting away from the fact the UK and the EU countries do need to do business together – and both will want some kind of deal.

:: Will we get the record collection and half the house?

What we will get really depends on what the other 27 countries in the EU are prepared to give us.

We might have really hurt their feelings so they could be feeling protective of their stuff – many have indicated as much.

Or they might decide they want to give us quite a bit because being in a relationship with the fifth biggest economy in the world is a good thing.

:: No but seriously, what will the settlement be?

There's a number of things that could happen. It could be this whole referendum turns out to be a giant calling of the EU's bluff.

The EU could be so worried Brexit will trigger exit for other EU countries and cause huge damage to the euro that they offer the UK a much, much better deal than they did in February and beg us to stay.

It would have to offer some serious concessions on freedom of movement, aka immigration, which is the key issue for most Out voters.

Boris Johnson and Michael Gove could then scuttle off to help the PM negotiate this, there will be a second referendum, Boris will be anointed King, the UK will stay in, and the Tories will win in 2020, delivering Johnson victorious to number 10.

Or not.

We could get a deal that means the UK can retain membership of the single market (tariff-free trade with the EU countries).

What strings the EU would attach to this is unclear but the UK could be required to abide by freedom of movement, abide by some existing regulations and maybe pay some cash into the EU pot. Like Norway does.

Or it could be something completely different.

In short, we don't know what the settlement will be.

:: What will happen to all the EU laws?

Some of them – called directives – are implemented through UK law and they will stay but the regulations will fall away.

It means the UK is going to have to make an awful lot of new law. Estimates are that there are around 5,000 pieces of secondary legislation affected.

Although the Government has not shared plans for Brexit, it’s reasonable to hope there is a team of lawyers reviewing areas where new laws will be needed or existing laws can just be copied over.

:: But more MPs want to stay In than Brexit so can't they just veto the public?

Yes. They could do this by simply voting down the Brexit legislation.

But this would mean they were overruling the public and effectively telling them: "You don't know what’s best for the country".

And there's a General Election in 2020 at which, it's fair to guess, MPs would like to keep their seats.

:: Is anyone actually prepared for this divorce?

The Brexit camp has given it quite some thought.

They would immediately enact six laws, allowing them to deport foreign criminals, scrap VAT on energy bills, give £100m of saved EU cash to the NHS, introduce an Australian-style points system on immigration, regain power over UK law and start negotiating trade deals.

:: What if we realise we still love them and want them back?

Tough.

The UK cannot just take a look at the settlement on offer, say "oh, I don't like that, I made a big mistake, please take me back".

Well it could but the EU would likely say "no, we've moved on".

The only way to get back in is to reapply and funnily enough - as with all things EU - that could take a while.

Unless of course the EU wants us back, in which case see above.

:: Time To Decide: A special programme on the eve of the EU Referendum with Dermot Murnaghan on Wednesday from 10pm

:: In or Out: Get all the results and reaction from the EU Referendum from 9.30pm on Thursday

Trump Says US Should Consider Racial Profiling

Republican White House candidate Donald Trump has said the US should consider more racial profiling in law enforcement, after last week's mass shooting in Florida.

"I think profiling is something that we're going to have to start thinking about as a country," Mr Trump said when asked on CBS whether he supported more profiling of Muslims in America.

"You look at Israel and you look at others, and they do it and they do it successfully. And you know, I hate the concept of profiling, but we have to start using common sense," he added.

Following the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Mr Trump has been criticised by leaders of his own party after repeating his calls for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the US.

He has also called for a suspension of immigration from countries with "a proven history of terrorism".

On Sunday he reiterated his support for more scrutiny of mosques, citing a controversial New York City surveillance programme that has been shut down.

"If you go to France right now, they're doing it in France," Mr Trump told CBS' Face the Nation programme.

"In fact, in some instances they're closing down mosques."

Police in France shut some mosques after Islamic State-aligned gunmen killed 130 people in Paris on 13 November.

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic White House candidate, has said Mr Trump's comments show he is unfit to be president.

America's most powerful elected Republican, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, has said a Muslim ban is not in US interests.

In excerpts of an NBC interview released on Friday, Mr Ryan - who has endorsed Mr Trump - said Republicans must follow their "conscience" in deciding whether to vote for the tycoon.

Mr Trump said on Saturday that an "insurgent group" of key Republicans is plotting a last-ditch bid to stop him from becoming the party's presidential nominee.