Donald Trump suggests more 'inappropriate' tapes may emerge

Donald Trump has hinted there may be more recordings of him making lewd remarks which could surface before election day.

It follows rumours there are further examples of the Republican presidential hopeful using sexist or inappropriate language while filming reality TV shows.

At a rally in Pennsylvania, the embattled candidate said: "If they want to release more tapes saying inappropriate things, we'll continue to talk about Bill and Hillary Clinton doing inappropriate things. There are so many of them."

Cast and crew on the US version of The Apprentice have claimed Mr Trump frequently made offensive remarks while shooting the show.

Mark Burnett, the executive producer of the series, has said he does not have the right to release any behind-the-scenes footage from the programme.

The latest crisis to engulf Mr Trump's campaign was sparked by a 2005 recording where he was heard boasting about his ability to grab women by the crotch with impunity.

:: Do increasing gaps in polls spell end for Donald Trump?

During Sunday's presidential debate, Mr Trump described his remarks as "locker room talk".

Nancy O'Dell, the TV host he was talking about in the controversial recording, addressed his comments on her show, saying: "There is no room for objectification of women, or anyone for that matter. Not even in the locker room."

:: 'You'd be in jail': Key points from TV debate

Senior Republicans have been distancing themselves from Mr Trump as the scandal rumbles on, with the Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan saying he could no longer "defend" his party's nominee.

Mr Ryan told fellow Republicans on a conference call that he would not campaign with the real estate mogul for the rest of the race.

He did not respond directly when asked whether he would still vote for Mr Trump, but later clarified that he was not rescinding his endorsement of the GOP nominee.

:: US election - polling and battlegrounds

An angry Mr Trump hit back on Twitter, writing: "Paul Ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting the Republican nominee."

His poll numbers have dropped further since the damning footage began to circulate.

There are fears among Republican members of Congress that his chaotic campaign could inflict long-term damage on the party - and ruin their chances of holding on to majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate next month. 

Do increasing gaps in polls spell end for Donald Trump?

Donald Trump seemed to lose Sunday night's debate with Hillary Clinton and early polls indicate that he stands to fall even further behind in the race for the White House.

A new poll from NBC and the Wall Street Journal shows Mrs Clinton leading Mr Trump 46% to 35% - an 11-point lead. Libertarian Gary Johnson got 9% of the vote and Jilly Stein of the Green Party received 2%.

When asked to choose between Mrs Clinton and Mr Trump head-to-head, 52% chose Clinton and 38% chose Trump.

This is one of the first polls in which fieldwork was undertaken entirely after the release of tapes in which Mr Trump brags about being able to grope women because of his fame.

A Morning Consult poll also showed Mrs Clinton with a healthy - though little-changed - lead after the video emerged.

Since the tapes were released, more than 50 prominent Republicans have withdrawn their support from Mr Trump and on Monday House Speaker Paul Ryan said he would no longer defend or campaign for the Republican presidential candidate.

The survey was also conducted before the debate between Mr Trump and Mrs Clinton on Sunday night.

Mrs Clinton was deemed to have won by 57% of viewers in a CNN poll, compared with 34% for Mr Trump, while a YouGov poll called it 47% to 42% in Mrs Clinton's favour.

Still, the debate was a closer affair than their first meeting, in which a CNN poll showed 62% of viewers declared Mrs Clinton the victor over 27% for Trump - the third widest margin ever in a CNN or Gallup post-debate poll dating back to 1984. 

:: US elections - latest polls and battleground states

So how much should you read into these polls?

Firstly, the usual disclaimer - a single poll can only tell you so much. It is worth waiting for more polls to come out before jumping to any strong conclusions.

The NBC/WSJ polls also usually show more favourable results for Mrs Clinton than other polls.

This is not to say that they are incorrect - but it would be more noteworthy if a poll which usually is more favourable to Mr Trump showed a similar gap.

However, a new poll from Rasmussen - whose results are generally more favourable to Mr Trump - also showed Mrs Clinton up by seven percentage points even with the majority of interviews undertaken before the tapes were released.

There is a correlation between scores in post-debate polls and shifts in the polls further down the line, albeit with some considerable noise.

On average, the size of Mrs Clinton's victory in the CNN debate poll would suggest that, all else being equal, she may expect to gain a point or two in the polls.

In this race, however, all else is very rarely equal.

Given the tapes and - relatedly - the dissipating support for Mr Trump from the establishment within his own party, this was a debate that he really needed to win.

If the early indications prove accurate, he could be facing even more of an uphill battle.

But, as pundits have found time and again over the last year, you write Donald Trump off at your peril.

'Hard Brexit' may cost £66bn a year, leaked papers warn

A "hard Brexit" would see the Treasury lose up to £66bn in tax revenues a year, leaked government papers have suggested.

According to The Times, the document contains a warning for Cabinet ministers that leaving the single market and switching to World Trade Organisation rules would cause GDP to fall anywhere between 5.4% and 9.5% within 15 years.

The forecast is based on a study which was controversially commissioned by then chancellor George Osborne in the run up to the EU referendum.

Assuming no contributions to the EU are made, the annual loss would be at least £38bn - with "the smaller size of the economy" to blame, the Treasury's analysis added.

Politicians who are pushing for a "soft Brexit", which would involve keeping the UK in the single market, said the papers reveal the "horrific damage" of leaving the trading bloc without negotiating a deal with the EU first.

Anna Soubry of the Open Britain campaign said: "Less tax revenue means less to invest in schools and hospitals, lower trade and investment means businesses and jobs are at risk.

"This danger is precisely why Parliament must be involved in the principles to guide the Brexit negotiations. Britain will leave the EU, but we must do so in a way that protects our prosperity and reduces risk."

According to The Times, senior Brexit supporters believe the Treasury is continuing to use the "scare tactics" deployed before June's vote - and allege that the figures are both unrealistic and designed to make a departure from the single market look bad.

However, Lib Dem leader Tim Farron described the forecast as "yet more proof that hard Brexit would be an act of sheer economic vandalism".

Theresa May and her Brexit Secretary David Davis are facing growing pressure to allow MPs to vote ahead of triggering Article 50, the formal process for leaving the EU.

On Monday Mr Davis told Parliament the Government would reject any attempts to undo the referendum result, adding: "We have a duty to carry out the people's instructions."

A Government spokesman said: "We want the best outcome for Britain. That means pursuing a bespoke arrangement which gives British companies the maximum freedom to trade with and operate in the single market, and enables us to decide for ourselves how we control immigration."

Samsung tells Note 7 owners to switch off phones over fire risk

Samsung has told all customers who own an original or a replaced Galaxy Note 7 phone to stop using and switch off their device immediately over safety concerns.

The company announced it was halting sales of its Note 7 around the world following fresh reports of fire damage in some devices.

Samsung had formally recalled 2.5 million devices after dozens exploded or caught fire, and was in the process of replacing them.

But there have been multiple reports that the "safe" replacements provided have also overheated, emitted smoke or caught fire.

Images of charred Note 7 phones have been posted by users on social media sites.

One user's replacement device caught fire on his nightstand in Richmond, Virginia, on Sunday.

Shawn Minter said it "sounded like a spaceship about to take-off", adding the phone was unplugged and had 71% battery charge at the time.

One replacement Note 7 reportedly ignited inside a Southwest Airline flight in the United States last Wednesday.

Growing concern about the device has prompted airlines to warn passengers not to switch on or charge their phones during flights, or stow them in checked baggage.

Samsung had blamed the spate of fires which sparked the first recall on batteries provided by a particular supplier, and assured customers it was using a different supplier for its replacement phones.

But the latest reports have raised questions about the real cause of the problem.

Pre-flight announcement just now:

“…If you have a Samsung Galaxy 7, don't even think about it! It must be powered off and unplugged." 📲💥

— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) October 10, 2016

The cabin crew on my flight today made a special announcement: “any passengers with a Galaxy Note 7, please keep it powered off”.

— Tom Scott (@tomscott) October 10, 2016

Authorities in South Korea also say they have discovered a new product defect in the Note 7, but they stopped short of confirming what that safety issue is.

All global partners of Samsung are now being asked to pull the Note 7, which was released in August, from their shelves for the second time in two months while Samsung and regulators investigate the claims and cause.

Affected phone users can request a refund or swap their Note 7 for a different Samsung model.

Reacting to the news, investors wiped $13.2bn (£10.7bn) off Samsung Electronics' market value as trading opened in the Far East.

The Korean technology giant's share price tumbled 7% in trading in Seoul on Tuesday.

Prior to the announcement, several British phone networks had already suspended the sale of new Galaxy Note 7 handsets - adding that customer safety was of the "utmost importance".

The deepening recall crisis is raising fresh doubts about Samsung's quality control measures, which had long been touted as one of the South Korean manufacturer's unique selling points.

Officials from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission say they are investigating five incidents of fire and overheating at present.

Elliot Kaye, who chairs the commission, said Samsung's decision to halt all sales was "the right move" in light of the ongoing safety issues.

"No one should have to be concerned their phone will endanger them, their family or their property," he added.

Migrant killed by British driver near Calais on A16

A migrant from Eritrea has died after being hit by a car driven by a Briton near Calais.

The person was one of a group of migrants trying to put obstacles in the road to slow down vehicles and climb aboard them, police said.

They added the driver had reported the incident on the A16 road near the port city late on Sunday, where thousands of people from the Middle East and Africa are camped trying to reach Britain.

It is the 14th such death this year.

Local officials are treating it as an accident and said another migrant was slightly hurt.

France said on Monday Britain has a "moral duty" to take in hundreds of migrant children from the so-called "Jungle" camp.

"I am solemnly asking Britain to assume its moral duty," interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve told RTL radio ahead of a trip to London to meet Home Secretary Amber Rudd.

"There are several hundred unaccompanied minors in Calais who have family in Britain. We are in the process of drawing up a precise list and the British need to live up to their responsibilities.

"We have lived up to ours," stressed Mr Cazeneuve.

French officials have said work to dismantle the sprawling migrant camp could begin as early as this month, with residents moved to reception centres across France.

Mr Cazeneuve said last week there were up to 950 children living in the camp, many of them unaccompanied.

Campaigners say many of them have family in Britain and should be allowed to travel there.

At a previous meeting Paris, the two ministers urged a united front over the camp and the wider issue of cross-Channel security.

"We are committed to working together to strengthen the security of our shared border (and) to strongly diminish the migratory pressure in Calais," they said in a joint statement.

Missiles fired from Yemen land near warship USS Mason in Red Sea

Two missiles fired from Yemen landed near a US warship in the Red Sea, the US Navy has said.

They were fired towards the USS Mason - a guided-missile destroyer - on Sunday from territory in Yemen under the control of Iran-aligned Houthi rebels.

Ian McConnaughey, spokesman for US Navy Forces Central Command, said it was unclear if the vessel was specifically targeted, though the two missiles were fired in its direction over a period of an hour.

No American sailors were injured and there was no damage to the USS Mason.

The destroyer was positioned north of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which serves as a gateway for oil tankers travelling to Europe through the Suez Canal.

Last week, an Emirati-leased boat was seriously damaged when it came under rocket fire near the same area.

The United Arab Emirates described the vessel as carrying humanitarian aid and having a crew of civilians, while the Houthis called the boat a warship.

Sunday's attack came as a ballistic missile fired from Yemen apparently targeted a Saudi air base near Mecca, the deepest strike yet into the kingdom by the Houthi rebels.

It also followed a strike on Saturday on a funeral in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, that killed more than 140 people and injured 525.

Hundreds had gathered at the community hall to mourn the death of the father of rebel interior minister Jalal al Rowaishan.

The Houthi rebels blamed the Saudi-led coalition, but it denied responsibility for the "regrettable and painful" attack and launched an investigation.

The US, which has become increasingly vocal about civilian casualties in the civil war, said it was "deeply disturbed" and would review support for the coalition.

US-Saudi ties are already strained over the kingdom's military intervention in Yemen.

The United Nations and human rights groups estimate the conflict has killed at least 9,000 people and displaced nearly three million.

Since March last year, the country has been the target of an air campaign launched by an Arab coalition, led by Saudi Arabia.

It was requested by Yemen President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi's government, which is waging a war against the Houthi movement - which is aligned to Iran.

The Houthis recognise former president Ali Abdullah Saleh as Yemen's legitimate leader.

Multiple building collapses in China kill at least 8

Eight people have been killed after a series of unexplained building collapses in eastern China and there are fears the death toll could rise as rescuers searched through the rubble. 

Four buildings caved in during the early hours on Monday in the Wenzhou region of Zhejiang province, the Lucheng district government said in a social media post.

Eight people were found dead and five rescued by midday, it said, without giving indications of the number of missing.

The official Xinhua news agency said rescuers were still verifying the number of people trapped under the debris. It reported an "initial estimate" that more than 20 people had been buried.

The cause of the collapse is under investigation.

Pictures from the scene showed workers in orange suits sifting through a mountain of debris.

Rescue operation

Al Jazeera's Adrian Smith, reporting from the Chinese capital Beijing, said hundreds of police and soldiers were involved in the rescue operation.