In the US, Hillary Clinton has launched a blistering attack on Donald Trump, assailing his foreign policy proposals in a speech that she made in San Diego.
Mrs. Clinton accused her Republican rival of lacking the temperament to make make critical decisions about if-and-when to lead the United States into war.
She said electing Donald Trump would be an "historic mistake" that could lead America into a nuclear war.
Her aides say the speech is the start of a new strategy that will see the Democratic Party Presidential contender relentlessly attack Mr. Trump as too dangerous to elect.
Our Washington Correspondent Simon Marks reports.
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Hillary Clinton chose San Diego - home to the 46 Naval vessels that constitute America's Pacific Fleet - as the place to launch her new broadside against Donald Trump.
Flanked by no fewer than 19 American flags, she assailed the man she expects to be battling this November….calling Donald Trump too reactionary, too divisive and too dangerous to lead the United States.
AXX: "Donald Trump's ideas aren't just different, they are dangerously incoherent. They aren't really ideas, just a series of bizarre rants, personal feuds and outright lies. He is not just unprepared, he is temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability and immense responsibility".
She said Mr. Trump should never be trusted with America's nuclear codes….said as President he could commit "war crimes"…argued he has no understanding of the complexity of global statesmanship….and would preside over a global economic crisis.
And she mocked what she called Mr. Trump's "fascination" with totalitarian leaders around the world.
AXX "He praised China for the Tiananmen Square massacre. He said it showed strength. He said you've got to give Kim Jon Un credit for taking over North Korea, something he did by murder everyone he saw as a threat including his own uncle, which Donald described gleefully like he was recapping an action movie. And he said if he were grading Vladimir Putin he would give him an A. Now I will leave it to the psychiatrists to explain his affection for tyrants".
And lest there were any doubts about about her critique, her campaign released a new video using the presumed Republican candidate's own words to demolish what it called "The Trump Doctrine".
AXX
Mrs. Clinton's attack comes at a time when many Americans are beginning to weigh up whether either of two presumed Presidential candidates has the credentials to move in at the White House.
And at a time when some voices are urging Americans to be very careful when deciding whom to endow Presidential power.
AXX:
"When Presidents have acted in the name of national security, Congress has generally gotten out of the way".
Chris Edelson is the author of a new book called "Power Without Constraint".
It looks at just how much power the two most recent American Presidents have exercised in the arena of national security.
His finding: that Congress can no longer be relied upon to act as a brake on the country's executive.
AXX
"The Constitution is only as good as we are. It's not self enforcing. Members of Congress have to take an active role, the courts have to take an active role. The press has to take an active role. and Americans have to take an active role. What I mean by that when it comes to Trump for example, they should look at what he's saying. Are they comfortable with somebody who is running on a kind of a strong-man platform. 'Trust me to do the right thing'. 'ISIS beheads people so we will water board people and do worse than that'. Are they ok with that? And the framers of the constitution…James Madison said the first check on government is the people themselves. I think that will tested now".
On at least one issue in her speech, Hillary Clinton was unequivocally correct.
AXX: "We all know the tools Donald Trump brings to the table: bragging, mocking, composing nasty Tweets. I'm willing to bet that he's writing a few right now"
He was….telling the world it was a "bad performance" by the woman he always now calls "Crooked Hillary".
Mr. Trump's own Presidential hopes were slightly boosted even while Mrs. Clinton was still on her feet.
He won the endorsement of Congressman Paul Ryan, the most powerful elected Republican in Washington….which takes him at least one step closer down the path of unifying the party around his candidacy.
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