LIVE! Be vigilant on child sexual abuse: Maneka to parents, schools

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Sat, 09 September 2017

Be vigilant on child sexual abuse: Maneka to parents, schools

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20:46 Be vigilant on child sexual abuse: Maneka to parents, schools

Union minister Maneka Gandhi today said the murder of a 7-year-old student on the Ryan International School campus was "unfortunate" and urged parents and school authorities to be vigilant about child sexual abuse.

The Class 2 student was found with his throat slit in a washroom in the school building yesterday morning.

The police have arrested a school bus conductor for allegedly killing the child and attempting to sexually assault him.

"Yesterday's incident at Ryan School in Gurugram is highly unfortunate and my heart goes out to the bereaved parents. I urge all school authorities and parents to remain vigilant about any actual or suspected occurrences of child abuse," the women and child development minister said in a series of tweets.

She also said that the government was making "all out efforts" to deal with child sexual abuse and appealed to parents to report such occurances on the POCSO e-box -- an online complaint box for reporting child sexual abuse.

The e-box is an an initiative by the apex body for child rights, National Commission of Protection of Child Rights. It can be accessed on NCPCR's website.

20:05 Allow Rohingyas to stay, says Muslim outfit

Muslim organisation Jamat-e-Islami Hind today appealed the government to allow Rohingyas to stay in the country till their "constitutional and citizenship rights" are restored in Myanmar.

The Rohingyas Muslim minority from the Rakhine state of Myanmar have been fleeing to Bangladesh and India amid reports of alleged persecution.

"We appeal to the Indian government to continue allowing the Rohingya Muslims who have taken refuge in India to stay as refugees till the time their constitutional and citizenship rights are restored in Myanmar," the JIH president Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Umari said in a statement.

Some 16,500 Rohingyas from Myanmar are registered with the United Nations Human Rights Commission in India. About 40,000 are said to be staying illegally.

Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju had recently said the Rohingyas, whether they are registered under the UNHCR or not, are "illegal immigrants in India and hence they stand to be deported".

Umri also urged the government to talk to Myanmar and "pressurise" it for restoration of the constitutional and citizenship rights of the Rohingyas.

The organisation also appealed to the international community to supply food and other necessities to those who are living as refugees in India and Bangladesh.

The JIH vice president, while asking for intervention of India to stop violence against Rohingyas, alleged that the government was maintaining "silence" over the humanitarian "catastrophe".

"We feel that India should use its influence over Myanmar to stop the violence. India's silence on such a humanitarian catastrophe is quite puzzling," he said in the statement.

Central Reserve Police Force Director General R R Bhatnagar today said the investigation and raids being conducted by the National Investigation Agency into terror funding led to a decline in stone pelting in Kashmir Valley.

"There is an effect following the actions by all the agencies. There is also an effect because of what NIA is doing. The way stone pelting was happening in a coordinated manner, this (NIA raids) will definitely stop that," Bhatnagar told reporters.

He was asked whether stone pelting had reduced in the valley in the aftermath of the NIA investigation into terror funding.

The CRPF chief visited the District Police Lines in Pulwama in south Kashmir which was stormed by three terrorists on August 26.

While all the three terrorists, belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit, were killed, four CRPF jawans and four Jammu and Kashmir Police personnel also lost their lives in the nearly 24-hour gunbattle.

Bhatnagar paid tributes to the slain security forces personnel, saying "we will not let their sacrifices go waste".

Asked whether the killed militants were part of any bigger group of JeM, Bhatnagar, "They (three slain militants) have not been identified yet. They seem to be foreign. I will not go into numbers as they are not important. The important thing is that we are ready for every challenge."

"Whatever the numbers, you have seen that we have achieved success (in recent months). We have neutralised about 148 militants, including top commanders, this year. We will continue such actions in the future as well along with JK Police and the Army," he said.

He said the anti-militancy operations in the valley would continue.

"They are intelligence-based ongoing operations and these will continue," he said.

Terrorists today opened fire on a police party in south Kashmir's Anantnag district, killing a cop, police said.

Terrorists attacked the police team near Anantnag bus stand.

They fired indiscriminately on the security personnel, killing a policeman, a police official said.

More details are awaited.

The Central Bureau of Investigation today searched the premises of former environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan in Chennai.

An FIR has also been lodged against the former minister under Section 120B PC Act for abuse of official position and criminal conspiracy.

The 63-year-old was environment minister from July 2011 to December 2013 in the UPA-2 government.

The CBI also filed an FIR against Electrosteel Casting Ltd and others under Section 120B PC Act.

The central agency is also conducting raids across Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Ranchi and Odhisha in connection to the case.

She quit the Congress in January 2015 with a scathing attack on party vice president Rahul Gandhi.

The Central Board of Secondary Education today formed a two-member fact finding committee to probe the killing of a 7-year- old student in Gurugram's Ryan International School and sought a report from its management within two days.

The move by the Central Board of Secondary Education comes following outrage among parents after the student was found with his throat slit in the school washroom yesterday.

"A two-member fact finding committee has been set up to enquire into the tragic murder of the student in the school premises. The school has also been asked to submit a report within two days along with the copy of the FIR," a senior board official said.

Earlier today, the acting principal of Ryan International School was suspended and all the security staff were removed.

Angry parents and locals gathered outside the school premises this morning and protested for over two hours demanding a CBI probe into the gruesome murder while expressing dissatisfaction over the investigation being

carried out by the Gurugram Police.

They also demanded that the school management be booked for the killing of the boy.

The police said the Class II student was allegedly killed by a bus conductor, Ashok Kumar, who tried to sexually abuse him. The accused was arrested hours after the gruesome murder.

IMAGE: Police team at the Ryan International School. Photograph: PTI Photo

A 22-year-old civilian was today injured in a ceasefire violation by the Pakistani Army along the Line of Control in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, the police said.

The Pakistani troops opened fire from heavy weapons and mortars from across the border in Debraj, Krishna Ghati and Ishapur in Mendhar sector starting at around 10.30 am, prompting retaliation by Indian troops guarding the border, a police official said.

The latest ceasefire violation coincides with Home Minister Rajnath Singh's four-day visit to the state.

The civilian, Mohammad Younis, was injured when a shell exploded in his village in Balnoi sector this morning. A buffalo was also killed and a house damaged in the shelling, the official said.

The exchange of fire was continuing between the two sides when the reports last came in, he said.

Today's firing comes barely two days after Pakistani troop targeted a forward post along the LoC in Poonch, injuring two Army porters.

The firing on September 7 lasted only for 10 minutes.

Over five million people, including thousands of Indian-Americans, have been asked to evacuate from parts of coastal Florida after Hurricane Irma, an extremely powerful Category 5 storm, barrelled towards the state after wrecking havoc on the Caribbean islands.

Irma is expected to landfall in Florida on Sunday, which at its current trend officials said, is likely to cause devastation across Florida and surrounding areas.

Authorities in Florida have ordered 5.6 million people -- a quarter of the state's population -- to evacuate, warning that those who do not leave cannot expect rescue services to reach them once Irma hits.

"It is not a question of if Florida is going to be impacted, it is a question of how bad Florida's going to be impacted," said Brock Long, head of Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Hurricane Irma continues to be a threat that is going to devastate the United States, and either Florida or some of the southeastern states. This is a complex forecast. Anybody from Alabama to North Carolina should be watching this storm very closely, Long said.

Florida is also home to thousands of Indian-Americans.

In addition to thousands of federal employees, several thousand-military personals have been deployed by the Department of Defence to meet any eventuality in the aftermath of Irma hitting the coast of Florida.

"We need the people to listen to their local officials. But when we see evacuations taking place, what we try to do is break down the number that are going to need mass care support, and some of those numbers are well over 100,000 people in shelters for this event," Long said.

US President Donald Trump received a briefing on Hurricane Irma today. He "was given an overview of the recent impact of the hurricane on the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and neighbouring islands and the ongoing response efforts of the Federal and territorial governments," the White House said. A State of emergency has been declared in Florida.

Earlier in the day, Trump signed a legislation that provides an additional USD 15.25 billion in emergency appropriations for disaster relief and extends the authorisation of the National Flood Insurance Programme

through December 8.

Congress MP Sushmita Dev has been appointed as Mahila Congress chief, Congress' women wing.

Dev replaced Shobha Oza.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi also appointed Deepak Babaria as general secretary of Madhya Pradesh Congress, replacing Mohan Prakash

Cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur, who hit a stunning 171 not out in the recent women's cricket World Cup propelling India into the finals, has been promoted as Officer on Special Duty in the Western Railway.

Kaur was serving as the chief office superintendent of the Western Railway in Mumbai since May 2014 and has now been promoted as OSD-Sports.

"In recognition of her outstanding performance in the recently concluded ICC Women's World Cup, the railway ministry has granted Kaur an out-of-turn promotion in gazetted rank group-B as Officer on Special Duty-Sports in the Western Railway," a senior spokesperson of WR said.

She was given the promotion on September 7, he said, adding that whenever railway players excel at the international level, they are felicitated and promoted.

Western Railway's General Manager A K Gupta and Senior Deputy General Manager Raj Kumar Lal, who is also the president of Western Railway Sports Association, congratulated Kaur on her achievements and also on her promotion.

"She (Kaur) is an inspiration to all sports persons, especially women," Gupta said.

Kaur, with her big hitting abilities, made her India debut against Pakistan in 2009.

The 28-year-old right-handed batter hit an unbeaten 171 off just 115 balls in the semi-final match to knock out the then reigning champions Australia from the tournament which was played in England in July. However, India lost the finals to England.

After her excellent performance, the then railway minister Suresh Prabhu had on July 27 announced a cash reward of Rs 1.30 crore for 10 members of the Indian women's cricket team, employed with Indian Railways.

He also announced promotions for all members of the team, including for captain Mithali Raj to a gazetted officer rank.

Pakistan today violated ceasefire along the Line of Control in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, by resorting to firing on forward posts.

The firing from across the border in Debraj, Krishna Ghati and Ishapur in Mendhar sector started around 10.30 am, prompting retaliation by Indian troops guarding the border, a police official said.

He said the exchange of fire was continuing between the two sides when the last reports were received.

However, there was no immediate report of any casualty.

Two Army porters were injured in Pakistani firing, which lasted for ten minutes, on September 7.

Earlier, on September 1, Assistant Sub Inspector Kamaljit Singh of the Border Security Force sustained bullet injuries due to enemy fire from across the LoC at a forward post in Krishna Ghati Sector, an officer said.

He was provided first aid and evacuated from the post but unfortunately succumbed to the injuries, he said.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh-led policy planning group of the Congress will be arriving in Jammu on Sunday on a two-day visit to study the ground security situation in the state.

The Manmohan Singh-led Congress policy planning group, which also include former Union ministers P Chidambaram, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ambika Soni, will also meet senior party leaders, including MLAs and MLCs, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee chief spokesperson, Ravinder Sharma said.

Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Karan Singh, he said, is also expected to be the part of the delegation which would meeting representatives of various opposition parties, including the National Conference, the CPI(M) and the Akali Dal

The group was set by the Congress in April after the situation worsened in the valley due to widespread violence by protesters following the death of eight persons in firing by the security forces during bypolls to the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency.

The panel would visit Kashmir Valley on September 16 and 17 and Ladakh region on a later date.

The group, who also included several state leaders, will meet 25 delegations during their two-day stay in the winter capital.

They are also expected to meet the delegations of farmers, gujjars, paharis, schedule caste and schedule tribe, the spokesperson said.

As many as 16 people from different villages of Badaun district of Uttar Pradesh have been booked for allegedly "misusing" the public money by not constructing a toilet in their houses even after getting funds from the government, a senior official said today.

"Stringent action will be initiated against those who do not construct toilets under the Namami Ganga scheme. In this regard, FIR was registered against 16 people, living in various villages under Ujhani police station of the district," District Magistrate, Anita Srivastava said.

She said that these people, despite significant passage of time and repeated notices, failed to begin building of toilet in their homes, "which is a misuse of public money".

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who arrived in Srinagar today on a four-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, said he has come with an open mind and willing to meet anyone who helps government find solutions to the problems faced by the state.

Singh met Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.

The official Twitter handle of the home minister said Singh will chair a review meeting of Prime Minister's Development Package.

"I am going there with an open mind and I am willing to meet anyone who will help us in finding solutions to problems facing J&K," Singh said in a tweet before taking off from the capital.

Singh said he will be interacting with delegations of civil society in the state during his stay.

The home minister arrived at the Srinagar airport where he was received by deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh and senior officials of the state government, officials said.

During his stay in the state, the home minister is likely to meet Governor N N Vohra, besides meeting top civil administration and security officials, the officials said.

The officials said the home minister is scheduled to visit Khanabal in south Kashmir's Anantnag district where he will interact with CRPF and police officials.

South Kashmir has been on the boil over the past one and a half year and has witnessed several encounters between security forces and militants.

Singh will also visit Naushera in Rajouri district and Jammu district during the four-day visit, they added.

IMAGE: Home Minister Rajnath Singh meets Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. Photograph: HMO India

The Goa tourism department is planning to enact a law to ban swimming in the sea post sunset and after consumption of alcohol, in the wake of some recent incidents of drowning along the state's beaches.

In the last one week, three incidents of drowning while swimming in the sea were reported, triggering concerns over the safety of tourists at the beaches.

On Thursday, two Ahmedabad-based students drowned in the Arabian Sea at Candolim beach in North Goa during the wee hours. A couple of days prior to it, two persons drowned in separate incidents while swimming in the sea along the Candolim-Calangute beach stretch near Panaj.

After the mishaps, a private lifeguard agency manning the beaches in the state issued an advisory against swimming in rough waters.

Notably, all these recent incidents occurred after sunset when the beaches were not manned by lifeguards, according to sources.

"The government has taken cognisance of the recent incidents of death of tourists who ventured into the sea after sunset and under the influence of alcohol," a spokesperson of the state tourism department said in a release issued here.

As per the release, the department has initiated a process to bring about a stringent law to ban swimming in the sea after sunset.

"The law would be enacted to prohibit swimming in the sea after sunset or after consumption of alcohol," the spokesperson said.

The state government has asked the stakeholders -- hotels, guest houses, restaurants, taxi and tour operators, shack operators and water sports operators -- to warn the tourists against venturing into the water bodies during

darkness as the beaches were unguarded after dusk.

It has also appealed the stakeholders to sensitise the visitors against swimming in the sea in unsafe conditions, the spokesperson said.

All the beaches in Goa are constantly manned by trained lifeguards for the safety of tourists from sunrise to sunset, he said.

The external affairs ministry said today that it was monitoring the situation and communicating with the Indian diaspora in the United States, Venezuela, France and the Netherlands in the wake of deadly Hurricane Irma.

The ministry's spokesman Raveesh Kumar said the Indian missions in the four countries were in touch with local government officials to provide assistance to the affected Indians.

"Our missions in Venezuela, the Netherlands, France and the US are constantly monitoring the situation following destruction due to hurricane Irma. They are in constant touch with the Indian diaspora affected by Irma and with local government officials to provide all possible assistance," Kumar said in a series of tweets.

Irma, a category 5 hurricane with winds swirling at 260 kilometres per hour, barrelled towards Florida after making landfall in Cuba's Camaguey Archipelago. It killed at least 19 people and damaged thousands of homes on the Caribbean islands.

France said at least 10 people have been killed across its Caribbean territories with seven more missing. Two people died on the Dutch side of the Saint Martin island.

The external affairs ministry spokesman tweeted telephone numbers for Indians to contact in case of emergency: Embassy of India, Venezuela (+58 4241951854/4142214721); Netherlands (+31247247247); France (0800000971).

The Indian embassy in the Netherlands tweeted that they were in touch with the Dutch government.

The Indian embassy in Caracas in Venezuela was also monitoring the situation in Saint Martin and "coordinating the welfare of all Indians living there."

The acting principal of Ryan International School in Gurugram, Neerja Batra, has been suspended a day after a Class 2 student was killed in the school premises.

A conductor on one of the school buses has reportedly confessed to murdering the seven-year-old after a failed sexual assault attempt.

Angry parents have been protesting outside school premises demanding that its management be booked as well.

Meanwhile, the parents association has slapped Rs 100 crore fine against Ryan International and have demanded a shutdown of the school.

12:14

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh arrives in Jammu and Kashmir to hold talks with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and Governor NN Vohra.

Rajnath will be in Kashmir from September 9-11.

An unidentified terrorist was today killed in an encounter with security forces in Sopore township of north Kashmir's Baramulla district, police said.

Acting on specific intelligence input about the presence of terrorists in Reban area of Sopore, security forces launched a "cordon and search operation" this morning, a police official said.

When the forces were conducting the search operation, terrorists opened fire upon them following which the security personnel retaliated, triggering an encounter in which one terrorist was killed, the officer said.

The identity of the slain terrorist was being ascertained, he added.

The operation was still going on, he said.

An illegal explosive factory was found inside the jailed guru Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's sprawling base in Haryana's Sirsa on the second day of a search operation being carried out by security forces and district authorities.

Over 80 cartons of explosives were recovered from the premises, which the officials of Dera Sacha Sauda, the sect headed by the officials say was used to make crackers. The factory has been sealed and a forensic team is examining the nature of the explosive.

The search operation to sanitize the Dera premises began on Friday morning amid tight security and curfew in the area.

In the first two hours of search yesterday, a large amount of cash including plastic money, banned currency, hard discs and computers were seized and two rooms were sealed at the Dera Sacha Sauda sect's headquarters covering around 800 acres.

Ram Rahim, the flamboyant "Guru of Bling", was jailed for 20 years last week after he was convicted of raping two followers inside the Dera base.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Jammu and Kashmir today to hold talks with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and Governor NN Vohra.

Rajnath will be in Kashmir from September 9-11. He will meet all the stakeholders and also hold a press conference.

In his three-day visit, the Home Minister is scheduled to hold talks with the officials of the state and discuss the current situation.

The home minister will also discuss the roadmap to ensure long term solutions to the problems people are facing in the valley.

The Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, last month, met Rajnath, reportedly, to drum up support for preventing attempts to remove special status to the state under the Constitution.

At least one person has died and 12 are injured in violent clashes between the locals and policemen in Rajasthan capital Jaipur late last night. Curfew has been imposed in some parts of the city and mobile internet services have also been suspended in the walled city.

According to eyewitnesses, the incident occurred after a policeman tried to stop a man on motorbike during a routine checking in Ramganj area. The man, according to the police, tried to run away and was hit by the cop.

Situation turned violent after hundreds of people gathered at a police station in the area in protest and started throwing stones on the cops. The police were forced to use tear gas to disperse the mob that went on rampage setting on fire a power house, a few vehicles including an ambulance. They attacked journalists too, police said.

Hurricane Irma lashed Cuba and the Bahamas as it drove toward Florida on Saturday after hitting the eastern Caribbean with its devastatingly high winds, killing 21 people and leaving catastrophic destruction in its wake.

As many as 5.6 million people were told to evacuate from Florida -- more than a quarter of the state's population. At least 540,000 people in parts of Georgia were also told to flee as the storm headed towards the American mainland.

"This is a storm that will kill you if you don't get out of the way," said National Hurricane Center meteorologist and spokesman Dennis Feltgen.

Feltgen said the storm has a really wide eye, with hurricane-force winds that cover the entire Florida peninsula and potentially deadly storm surges on both coasts.

Tom Bossert, US homeland security adviser, said: "Please listen to your local authorities.

"You need to evacuate from south to north -- that is a staggered and carefully thought-out process.

"There will come a point where you are on your own."

In West Palm Beach, police are going door to door, urging people to obey the mandatory evacuation order.

Rick Scott, the governor of Florida, said they were working to ensure that fuel was available for cars to get to shelters. He told people they should not wait, and should leave now.

Irma claimed its first victim in Florida, even before making landfall, when a 57-year-old man fell from a ladder while fitting storm shutters at his home.

08:59 Protect the dissenter

One critical test to adjudge the claim of any country of being democratic is its tolerance of dissent and the protection afforded to the dissenter.

The recent premeditated murder of Gauri Lankesh, apparently not for any personal enmity or monetary gain, was most deplorable.

Equally deplorable is the consequent murder of democracy '" because dissent is the soul of democracy.

Read Soli J Sorabjee's full piece HERE

08:46

JUST IN: Hurricane Irma makes landfall in Cuba as massive Category Five storm: US forecasters

08:37 After Jinping, Modi to host Japan's Abe in Gandhinagar next week

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold bilateral talks with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Gandhinagar, instead of Delhi, on September 14, sources told The Indian Express.

This will mark the second time that Modi will be hosting a visiting leader and holding bilateral talks in Gandhinagar -- the last time was his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in September 2014.

Three years ago, when Xi was hosted on the banks of the Sabarmati river, the standoff at Chumar was ongoing. This time, almost three weeks after the disengagement of Indian and Chinese troops at Doklam, Abe is the first foreign leader to visit the country.

Japan was the only major country which conveyed its unequivocal support to India and Bhutan through diplomatic channels during the Doklam standoff.

Sources said Modi and Abe would hold talks in Gandhinagar and take part in the ground-breaking ceremony (bhoomi pujan) for the ambitious Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Project, commonly referred to as the bullet train project, which is estimated to cost Rs 98,000 crore. The ceremony will be held at a site near the Sabarmati railway station in the city.

When Modi visited Japan in November last year, Abe travelled with him to Kobe in a bullet train. During Modis earlier visit in September 2014, Abe flew down to Kyoto to receive him, and the two leaders then went to Tokyo for a bilateral meeting.

During Abes last visit to India in 2015, he and Modi travelled to Varanasi and witnessed the Ganga Aarti at the Dashashwamedh Ghat. Sources said Abe has visited Delhi at least a dozen times in the past, and the PM wanted to take him out of Delhi.

Driven out of their villages and forced to live in squalid conditions, around 200 families affected in the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013 are yet to receive

the promised compensation of Rs 50,000, an Amnesty International report has said.

The report documents the "broken promises" made to the families belonging to villages in western Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar and Shamli, which were torn asunder by communal violence. The riots had left at least 60 dead.

The Uttar Pradesh government had promised to extend an assistance of Rs 50,000 to the families from nine 'worst-affected' villages of these two districts. Amnesty, with Shamli-based NGO AKFAR India, surveyed these familes between August 2016 and April 2017.

"According to government records, 980 families in Muzaffarnagar and 820 families in Shamli have received compensation so far from the nine identified villages.

However, about 200 families from these villages are still waiting to receive relocation compensation.

"In several cases, authorities have inconsistently applied their definition of a family to deny compensation. In others, families have had to face clerical errors and corruption. Many of these families live in horrific conditions in so-called relief colonies, with little access to water,

sanitation, electricity and adequate housing," the report said.

Over 50,000 people were displaced in the violence.

The special investigative team, probing the riots, has completed its probe in all but one case, with chargesheets being filed in 175 out of 511 cases, an official said recently. A total of 1,478 people were arrested in connection with the riots. Most of the accused had got bail.

00:13 Bernie Sanders jabs back at Clinton's new book

US Senator Bernie Sanders brushed off Hillary Clintons criticism of him in her new book about the 2016 presidential election, saying hes not interested in playing the blame game.

The senator from Vermont suggested that his former rival is simply venting her emotions.

Look, you know, Secretary Clinton ran against the most unpopular candidate in the history of this country, and she lost.

And she was upset by that. I understand that.

"But our job now is really not to go backwards. It is to go forwards. It is to create the nation we know we can become. We have enormous problems facing us, and I think its a little bit silly to keep talking about 2016," said the senator.

'What Happened' is Hillary Clinton's attempt to explain how she lost to Trump.

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