US Russia Probe Takes Dramatic Turn with Indictments, Plea Deal

The special counsel investigation into possible collusion between President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia took a dramatic turn Monday with criminal indictments of two former Trump campaign officials, Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. Special Counsel Robert Mueller also revealed that a former Trump campaign aide, George Papadopoulos, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in connection with the Russia probe. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has more from Washington.

Indictment Against Manafort, Gates Details Elaborate Scheme

The indictment against Donald Trump’s former campaign chief, Paul Manafort, and a longtime business associate alleged the two carried out an elaborate scheme that involved the use of a little-known outfit to mask years of lobbying on behalf of Ukraine’s former president, his pro-Russia political party, and the Ukrainian government. 

Manafort and his former business partner, Rick Gates, are charged in a 12-count indictment including conspiracy, money laundering, and making false statements. The two could faces decades in prison if convicted, and both have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The allegations do not include collusion with Russia during the presidential campaign.

The indictment was approved by a federal grand jury on Friday and unsealed after Manafort and his right-hand man and former Trump campaign adviser, Gates, turned themselves in to the FBI. It represents the first charges brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is looking into allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Manafort’s consulting work for Ukraine started in 2006 when the Republican political strategist was retained by Ukraine’s pro-Russian Party of Regions to “advance its interests” in Ukraine. In 2010, Viktor Yanukovych, the party’s candidate, was elected president. Four years later, he fled to Russia following popular protests.   

Eight-year lobbying campaign

The indictment alleges that during the eight-year period, Manafort and Gates “engaged in a multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign” in the U.S. on behalf of Yanukovych, the Party of Regions, and the Ukrainian government. The two hid their activities from U.S. authorities and used offshore accounts to launder millions of dollars in Ukrainian payments.  

As part of their effort to mask their lobbying from U.S. authorities, the pair used a little-known outfit called the European Center for Modern Ukraine. The Brussels-based outfit called itself “an advocate for enhancing EU-Ukrainian relations” but in reality served as “a mouthpiece” for Yanukovych and his Party of Regions, according to the indictment. Manafort and Gates used the nonprofit to carry out lobbying and public relations campaigns, according to court records.

Manafort and Gates then hired two Washington, D.C., firms to lobby members of Congress about Ukrainian sanctions, the “validity” of Ukraine elections, and the “propriety” of Yanukovych’s imprisonment of his political rival, former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko. 

“Manafort and Gates did so without registering and providing the disclosures required by law,” the indictment alleges.

The two lobbying firms are Podesta Group Inc. and Mercury LLC, the Associated Press reported last year.  The Podesta Group is headed by Tony Podesta, the brother of John Podesta, who was campaign chairman for Hillary Clinton. Politico reported on Monday that Tony Podesta was stepping down from the firm.

To conceal the lobbying effort, Manafort and Gates allegedly arranged for the two lobbying firms to be ostensibly working for the European Center for Modern Ukraine, which in fact was “under the ultimate direction” of Yanukovych, the Ukrainian government and the Party of the Regions, according to the indictment.

Manafort and Gates are also accused of using their offshore accounts to secretly pay $4 million for a report about Tymoshenko’s trial commissioned by the Ukrainian government.

Ties to Trump

Manafort and Gates joined the Trump campaign in March 2006. Gates was later promoted as deputy campaign manager and Manafort served as campaign chairman. He was fired in August after reports of his lobbying for pro-Russia interests in Ukraine.

The Department of Justice began looking into Manafort’s and Gates’ lobbying for Ukraine last year. The indictment says the two partners told investigators in 2016 that they merely “provided an introduction” between the Brussels center and the Washington lobbying firms, and that their efforts “did not include meetings and outreach within the United States.”

In fact, according to the indictment, Manafort and Gates were deeply involved in the scheme. They had weekly phone calls and email communications with officials of the two companies, directed them on “specific lobbying steps,” received regular reports from them, and updated Yanukovych about the lobbying activities. For their efforts between 2012 and 2014, the firms were paid $2 million. 

Charges

The charges against Manafort and Gates include conspiracy to defraud the United States, money laundering, failure to report foreign bank holdings to the U.S. Treasury Department, lobbying for a foreign government without registering with the Justice Department, and making false statements about their lobbying efforts.

Manafort and Gates are accused of serving as unregistered foreign agents of Ukrainian interests in violation of Department of Justice registration requirements.

Between them, Manafort and Gates controlled 17 domestic entities, 12 Cyprus-based entities and 3 other foreign entities, according to the indictment. In all, $75 million passed through the offshore accounts. Manafort is alleged to have laundered more than $18 million. Gates is accused of laundering more than $3 million from offshore accounts.

Trump Expected to Nominate Powell for Fed Chair

U.S. President is expected to nominate Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell as the next chairman of the central bank, senior administration officials said Monday.

Powell is a Republican centrist who appears inclined to continue the Fed’s strategy of gradual interest rate hikes.

But officials say Trump hasn’t made up his mind and could change it.

Powell would represent a middle-ground pick for Trump, who is also considering current Democratic Fed Chair Janet Yellen as well as Stanford University economist John Taylor and former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh.

Powell could, however, relax some of the stricter financial rules that were enacted after the 2008 financial crisis. Trump has complained that those rules have been too restrictive.

The decision over the Fed’s next leader is overshadowing this week’s meeting of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting.

Trump said Friday he has “someone very specific in mind” for the Fed. “It will be a person who, hopefully, will do a fantastic job,” Trump said in a short video message posted on Instagram and Twitter.

Many conservative members of Congress had been pushing Trump to select Taylor, rather than Powell, for Fed chairman. Taylor, one of the country’s leading academics in the area of Fed policy, would likely embrace a more “hawkish” approach — more inclined to raise rates to fight inflation than to keep rates low to support the job market. Taylor is the author of a widely cited policy rule that provides a mathematical formula for guiding rate decisions. By one version of that rule, rates would be at least double what they are now.

 

Yellen, who was selected as Fed chair by President Barack Obama, has been an outspoken advocate for the stricter financial regulations that took effect in 2010 to prevent another crisis.

Blockchain Technology Could Unblock Southeast Asia

Imagine you could swipe your phone over a piece of fish in the supermarket and instantly see secure records of its entire path through the supply chain, from the technique used by the fisherman who caught it in Indonesia to when it was shipped and how it was processed at a factory in your home country —  all at the tap of a smartphone.

Trial projects such as that one are testing the potential of Blockchain technology to bring transparency to all sorts of notoriously inefficient or shadowy industries in Southeast Asia.

Blockchain, the technology that powers bitcoin, is an essentially unchangeable form of bookkeeping. It creates cryptographically chained signatures between blocks of information that are authenticated by users over a peer-to-peer distributed ledger — a public record that can be applied to any type of bookkeeping, not just cryptocurrencies.

“It removes the requirement for a centralized authority, and in a lot of the products that it’s being launched in, this centralized authority tends to be the government,” said Alisa DiCaprio, head of research at R3 — an enterprise banking software firm that uses distributed ledger technology.

In a region where the most important records — identity and ownership for instance — are often subjected to little or no external oversight, blockchain offers enormous potential benefits.

Erin Murphy, Founder and Principal of Inle Advisory Group, a Myanmar and emerging business advisory firm, said major Asian business hubs are looking to blockchain to clean up and simplify transactions.

“Ideally, we would want to see adoption of blockchain at an official level all across the region,” she said in an email. “But perhaps not surprisingly, the governments that are leading blockchain adoption are those that are already low-corruption.”

One of those governments, she said, is Singapore, which is working with major banks on a blockchain-based system to streamline and qualitatively improve their customer (KYC) processes.

In other countries, it is being used for completely different purposes. In the Philippines, a remittance market worth billions of dollars per month has been invaded by firms offering cheaper services built on blockchain, which people can access without a bank account..

“Any steps that get taken at first may not be viewed through an anti-corruption lens and may inadvertently tackle that issue; it will likely be viewed through a development lens to kickstart poverty alleviation and bringing sectors up to international standards that attract foreign investment,” Murphy said.

More than money

There are many trials with clear utility in Southeast Asia underway, including systems for land titling under development in Sweden and Japan.

In June, the United Nations unveiled a blockchain-based system built in partnership with Microsoft and Accenture that gives stateless refugees a permanent identity based on biometric data.

It’s also being explored for secure voting systems.

The blockchain-based app developed to track the supply chain of fish from Indonesia — Provenance — is now the basis of many other trials, including a project to create a similar system for the garment industry.

Online you can view the results of a pilot released in May this year that follows a piece of clothing — an Alpaca Mirror Jumper from London-based designer Martine Jarlgaard, from a farm in Dulverton, Britain, through every step of production into London with location, content and timestamps.

It is a long way, though, from realizing that something can be done to actually making it happen, DiCaprio of R3 said.

“The technical capability to do this exists in most developing countries,” she said. “You have engineers who can code on the blockchain. But the understanding of how to actually implement this from a business point of view is very poor.”

DiCaprio estimates it will take about five years before we actually see large-scale functioning applications and believes the most impactful will occur at the macro economic level.

“So for example one area that it’s moving very quickly is trade finance,” she said. “And trade finance, you’re generally talking about fairly large companies, generally in Asia mostly exporting or importing from or to the US or EU,.”

Faster, cheaper and more transparent transactions combined with reductions in the risks of lending and borrowing would flow to down to the village level, she added.

Subversion vs centralization

Blockchain proponents are divided by some sharply divergent values. Some see blockchain — whose slogan is “be your own bank,” as technology that can fundamentally upend a global financial system they believe is intractably corrupt.

“There is a serious opportunity for us here to remove money out of government,” said a Southeast Asia based bitcoin trader who would only give his alias FlippingABitCoin, fearing he could expose himself to physical theft.

Billions of people currently excluded from the formal banking system will be able to access global cryptocurrencies with no middle man using nothing more than a phone, he said.

“It will level out the playing field of power,” he said.

Another group of enthusiasts are encouraging the absorption of this technology by states, as demonstrated by Canada, Singapore, China and Germany, all of which are either exploring or conducting trials of their own central bank digital currencies using blockchain.

“In the long run, we believe if there is any threat at all to governments, it is that other governments will lead the way in adopting blockchain technologies in producing low-corruption, high-transparency, highly-secure digitized economic infrastructures that will attract business, investment and stakeholder confidence,” wrote Michael Hsieh, a non-resident affiliate at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, in an email.

“The societies who lead in the great fintech [financial technology] innovation race of the 21st century will siphon all the capital and productivity from those that lag,” he wrote.

США: Манафорта звинуватили у відмиванні грошей, отриманих в Україні від «регіоналів»

Пол Манафорт і його колега Річард Ґейтс, звинувачений разом із ним, заробили в результаті їхньої роботи в Україні десятки мільйонів доларів

Спостерігачі: законодавство про місцеві вибори в Україні треба вдосконалити

Комітет виборців України і громадянська мережа «Опора» вказують на недосконалість законодавства про місцеві вибори в Україні. Про це йдеться в їхніх попередніх висновках за результатами спостереження за першими місцевими виборами в об’єднаних територіальних громадах 29 жовтня 2017 року.

«Перші місцеві вибори у об’єднаних територіальних громадах підтвердили необхідність комплексного удосконалення законодавства про місцеві вибори, забезпечуючи належну правову визначеність виборчих процедур. Виборчий процес у 201 громаді супроводжувався неоднаковим застосуванням законодавства виборчими комісіями та іншими суб’єктами виборчого процесу», – заявляють спостерігачі «Опори».

У КВУ наголосили, що проведення виборів в умовах «неякісного законодавства» ускладнило належну організацію виборчого процесу.

«У першу чергу це стосується виборів в об’єднаних громадах з різних районів. Це питання досі залишається невирішеним, попри те, що Верховна Рада внесла відповідні зміни до законодавства. Зокрема, на рівні закону не врегульовано, які саме місцеві організації партій мають право висування кандидатів до ОТГ. Законодавча невизначеність створила суперечності в роботі виборчих комісій, які по-різному розглядали такі випадки. Також проблемою стали застарілі норми закону «Про місцеві вибори», що вимагають від кандидатів подавати декларацій в паперовій, а не електронній формі», – мовиться в заяві.

КВУ закликає Верховну Раду врегулювати ці й інші законодавчі прогалини до проведення наступних перших виборів у об’єднаних громадах.

29 жовтня в Україні в 201 об’єднаній територіальній громаді відбувалися перші вибори депутатів сільських, селищних, міських рад ОТГ і відповідних сільських, селищних, міських голів. Правом проголосувати на цих виборах могли скористатися понад 1,3 мільйона людей.

Результати виборів депутатів у одномандатних виборчих округах, а також виборів сільських, селищних і міських голів мають бути встановлені не пізніше як на пʼятий день з дня голосування, тобто до 3 листопада включно, результати ж виборів депутатів у багатомандатному виборчому окрузі – до 8 листопада.

У громадянській мережі «Опора» ввечері 29 жовтня повідомили, що явка виборців під час місцевих виборів в низці об’єднаних територіальних громад склала 48,2%, а суттєвих порушень, які можуть вплинути на результати виборів, не було.

India’s New Afghan Trade Route Via Iran, Bypasses Pakistan

Opening a new trade route to Afghanistan that bypasses Pakistan, India has dispatched its first consignment of wheat to the war torn country via the Iranian port of Chabahar.

The strategic sea route is a significant step in bolstering trade with Kabul that has been hampered because rival Pakistan does not allow India to transport goods to Afghanistan through its territory.

After the shipment was seen off by Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Afghan counterpart Salahuddin Rabbani via a joint video conference Sunday, the Indian government called it a “landmark moment.”

In the coming months, six more consignments of wheat totaling 1.1. million tons will be sent from India’s western port of Kandla to Chabahar. From the Iranian port it will be taken by road to Kabul.

The shipment comes days after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, on a visit to New Delhi, allayed concerns that the Trump administration’s tough stand on Iran could pose a fresh stumbling block to India’s plans to develop the strategic Iranian port as a regional transit hub.

Easier connectivity to Afghanistan is key for India to step up its economic engagement with Kabul, which Washington has called for as part of its new policy to stabilize the war torn country.

And Chabahar port, in which India is investing $500 million to build new terminals, cargo berths and connecting road and rail lines, is the centerpiece of the strategy to improve linkages not just with Afghanistan, but also to resource-rich Central Asian republics.

“This is the first time that we are getting into Afghanistan through a route different than what traditional routes have been,” said South Asia expert Sukh Deo Muni at New Delhi’s Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses.

Indian leaders expressed optimism about the project, which is still a work in progress. Minister Swaraj called it the starting point of a journey that would spur the unhindered flow of commerce and trade throughout the region. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted the launch of the trade route, “marks a new chapter in regional cooperation & connectivity.”

The sea route via the Iranian port is the second step taken by India to increase connectivity with Kabul. In June it opened an air freight corridor to provide greater access for Afghan goods to the Indian market.

The Chabahar port is seen as India’s answer to the Gwadar port in Pakistan being developed by China.

The project was conceived almost 15 years ago, but the plans were stalled for years due to U.S. led international sanctions on Iran. Their easing prompted India to sign a trilateral pact with Iran and Afghanistan last year to develop the port.

U.S. Secretary of State Tillerson indicated in New Delhi last week that fresh sanctions on Iran by the Trump administration would not pose a stumbling block to those plans.

“It is not our objective to harm the Iranian people, nor is it our objective to interfere with legitimate business activities that are going on with other businesses, whether they be from Europe, India or agreements that are in place that promote economic development and activity to the benefit of our friends and allies as well. We think there is no contradiction within that policy,” he told reporters in India.

Those words have been welcomed in New Delhi said analyst Muni. “I think there is a far more reassuring feeling in India vis-a-vis the Trump administration than what the initial thought was,” he said.

The shortest and most cost effective land routes between India and Afghanistan lie through Pakistan. However, due to longstanding rivalries between the two countries, India is not allowed to send any exports through Pakistani territory and Afghanistan is only allowed to send a limited amount of perishable goods through Pakistani territory to India.

 

Washington Waits for Criminal Charges in Probe of Russia Links to US Election

Washington braced Monday for the potential unsealing of the first criminal charges linked to Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as President Donald Trump reiterated his stance that the underlying investigations are a “witch hunt.”

A federal grand jury on Friday approved charges in the probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to several major news outlets that reported the indictment could be made public as soon as Monday.

There was no public indication of who is facing charges or what crimes are being alleged. Legal experts say the first charges could be against a peripheral figure in the case, with prosecutors using a common strategy to first build their case against lower level officials before focusing on more prominent people.

In addition to Mueller’s investigation, there are separate congressional probes into Russian meddling and possible links between Trump’s campaign and Russia.

The U.S. intelligence community concluded in early 2017 that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally directed a campaign to undermine U.S. democracy and help Trump win

Trump has insisted there was no collusion, including in a series of tweets Sunday in which he said Democrats and his election opponent Hillary Clinton are the ones who are guilty.

“The Dems are using this terrible (and bad for our country) Witch Hunt for evil politics, but the R’s [Republicans] are now fighting back like never before,” Trump wrote. “There is so much GUILT by Democrats/Clinton, and now the facts are pouring out. DO SOMETHING!”

He further blamed the Russia investigations for taking attention away from Republican efforts on tax reform.

“Is this coincidental? NOT!” Trump said.

Ty Cobb, a member of Trump’s legal team, said in a statement that Trump’s comments were not related to the developments in Mueller’s investigation.

“Contrary to what many have suggested, the President’s comments today are unrelated to the activities of the Special Counsel, with whom he continues to cooperate,” Cobb said.

Mueller is believed to be examining activities of two key Trump campaign officials, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was fired by Trump less than a month after he took office for lying to Vice President Mike Pence and other officials about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador to Washington, and Paul Manafort, who for a short time last year was Trump’s campaign manager and also had wide lobbying interests in Ukraine and links to Russia.

10 кримінальних проваджень були відкриті у день місцевих виборів в Україні – поліція

У Національній поліції України повідомили про відкриття 10 кримінальних проваджень через правопорушення в ході місцевих виборів, що відбулися 29 жовтня.

«Усього в рамках цього виборчого процесу до органів Національної поліції надійшло 207 повідомлень про різні події, з яких 136 – у день проведення виборів. Переважна більшість повідомлень була пов’язана з порушенням ведення передвиборної агітації та підкупом виборців (4 факти – ред.). За кожним із цих фактів поліцією проводиться детальна перевірка», – повідомили у поліції.

За даними правоохоронців, серед зафіксованих правопорушень були також 2 – за фактами незаконного використання виборчих бюлетенів, умисного знищення або пошкодження майна, по одному факту спричинення легких тілесних ушкоджень і перешкоджання законній професійній діяльності журналіста.

Найбільш резонансним інцидентом став напад на одну з виборчих дільниць на Дніпропетровщині, де були травмовані 2 поліцейських, повідомили в поліції.

«Правоохоронці затримали групу осіб зі зброєю, ймовірно, причетних до нападу на виборчу дільницю. Затриманих доставлено до відділу поліції для з’ясування усіх обставин», – додали в поліції, вказавши про можливу кримінальну справу за трьома статтями – хуліганство, перешкоджання здійсненню виборчого права та щодо погрози або насильства стосовно працівника правоохоронного органу.

У громадянській мережі «Опора» у неділю ввечері повідомили, що явка виборців під час місцевих виборів в низці об’єднаних територіальних громад склала 48,2%, а суттєвих порушень, які можуть вплинути на результати виборів, не було.

29 жовтня в Україні в 201-й об’єднаній територіальній громаді відбувалися перші вибори депутатів сільських, селищних, міських рад ОТГ і відповідних сільських, селищних, міських голів. Правом проголосувати на цих виборах могли скористатися понад 1,3 мільйона людей.

Результати виборів депутатів у одномандатних виборчих округах, а також виборів сільських, селищних і міських голів мають бути встановлені не пізніше як на пʼятий день з дня голосування, тобто до 3 листопада включно. Результати ж виборів депутатів у багатомандатному виборчому окрузі – до 8 листопада.

US, ROK, Japan Call on North Korea to Refrain From Irresponsible Provocations

Senior defense officials from the United States, South Korea and Japan met to discuss North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.

The Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, hosted his counterparts – General Kyeong-doo Jeong of South Korea and Japanese Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano – at the U.S. Pacific Command headquarters in Hawaii Sunday.

“Together they called upon North Korea to refrain from irresponsible provocations that aggravate regional tensions, and to walk away from its destructive and reckless path of development,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Public Affairs Office said in a statement.

The three leaders also discussed multilateral and trilateral initiatives to promote long-term peace and stability in northeast Asia and to improve interoperability and readiness on a number of issues including mutual security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and cyber warfare.

Monday South Korea’s foreign ministry announced that its representative to the six-party nuclear talks will meet with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing Tuesday to exchange analyses on the current North Korean situation.

Минулої доби на Донбасі поранень зазнав 1 військовослужбовець – штаб

У зоні бойових дій на Донбасі упродовж 29 жовтня поранень зазнав один український військовослужбовець, повідомляє штаб української воєнної операції. За даними штабу, це сталося в районі Авдіївської промзони, у чоловіка – осколкове поранення, його стан оцінюють як задовільний.

«Наприкінці минулої доби у районі проведення АТО обстановка не зазнала суттєвих змін. Противник й надалі сконцентрував вогневу активність на донецькому напрямку, використовуючи переважно піхотне озброєння», – розповіли у штабі.

Повідомляється, що усього бойовики стріляли 15 разів, під їхній вогонь потрапили території біля Луганського, Світлодарська, Зайцева і Мар’їнки.

«Сили АТО вогнем у відповідь 10 разів жорстко пригнічували активність ворога», – повідомили у прес-центрі штабу АТО.

В угрупованні «ДНР» звинуватили українських військових 29 жовтня у обстрілах в Ясинуватій та Яковлівці. Там також заявили, що ЗСУ відкрили вогонь по школі в Олександрівці. Луганські сепаратисти заявили, що українська сторона 8 разів стріляла в бік підконтрольних угрупованню «ЛНР» територій.

Черговий режим припинення вогню, про який заявила 23 серпня Тристороння контактна група, мав почати діяти з 25 серпня, напередодні початку шкільного року, і стати постійним. Про перші його порушення сторони заявили вже через кілька хвилин після настання часу перемир’я.

Про перемир’я в зоні конфлікту на Донбасі домовлялися вже багато разів, досі жодного разу режим припинення вогню не втримувався. При цьому сторони щоразу заперечують свою вину в порушеннях і звинувачують протилежну сторону у провокаціях.

Rural US Areas Look at Innovative Ways to Connect to the Internet

More than 19 million Americans are still without home internet access…that according to the Federal Communication Commission. In Garrett County, Maryland, local leaders came up with an innovative plan to provide access to their community…VOA’s Lesya Bakalets reports on a creative approach to getting hard to reach customers on line.

Вірус вразив 140 тисяч українців за один тиждень – Ранковий ефір Радіо Свобода

Вірус вразив 140 тисяч українців за один тиждень;

У Гройсмана пропонують відмовитися від держстандартів;

Навіть Путін не підтримав незалежність Каталонії.

На ці теми говоритимуть ведучий Ранкової Свободи Юрій Матвійчук і гості студії: завідувач Центру грипу та гострих респіраторних інфекцій МОЗ України Тетяна Дихановська та президент Всеукраїнської ради захисту прав і безпеки пацієнтів Віктор Сердюк; голова правління Всеукраїнської асоціації захисту прав споживачів «Споживча довіра» Максим Гончар та старший юрист Eterna Law Артем Кузьменко; дипломат Маркіян Лубківський та експерт-міжнародник Геннадій Друзенко.

Trump Tax Overhaul Under Intensifying Fire as Congress Readies Bill

President Donald Trump’s plan for overhauling the U.S. tax system faced growing opposition from interest groups on Sunday, as Republicans prepare to unveil sweeping legislation that could eliminate some of the most popular tax breaks to help pay for lower taxes.

Republicans who control the U.S. House of Representatives will not reveal their bill until Wednesday. But the National Association of Home Builders, a powerful housing industry trade group, is already vowing to defeat it over a change for home mortgage deductions, while Republican leaders try to head off opposition to possible changes to individual retirement savings and state and local tax payments.

Trump and Republicans have vowed to enact tax reform this year for the first time since 1986. But the plan to deliver up to $6 trillion in tax cuts for businesses and individuals faces challenges even from rank-and-file House Republicans.

House and Senate Republicans are on a fast-track to pass separate tax bills before the Nov. 23 U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, iron out differences in December, send a final version to Trump’s desk before January and ultimately hand the president his first major legislative victory. Analysts say there is a good chance the tax overhaul will be delayed until next year.

The NAHB, which boasts 130,000 member firms employing 9 million workers, says the bill would harm U.S. home prices by marginalizing the value of mortgage interest deductions as an incentive for buying homes. The trade group wants legislation to offer a $5,500 tax credit but says it was rebuffed by House Republican leaders.

“We’re opposed to the tax bill without the tax credit in there, and we’ll be working very aggressively to see it defeated,” NAHB chief executive Jerry Howard told Reuters.

Republicans warned that the Trump tax plan is entering a new and difficult phase as lobbyists ramp up pressure on lawmakers to spare their pet tax breaks.

“When groups start rallying against things and they succeed, everything starts unraveling,” Senator Bob Corker, a leading Republican fiscal hawk, told CBS’ Face the Nation.

Anxiety in high-tax states

One of the biggest challenges involves a proposal to eliminate the federal deduction for state and local taxes (SALT), which analysts say would hit upper middle-class families in high income tax states such as New York, New Jersey and California. The states are home to enough House Republicans to stymie legislation.

The top House Republican on tax policy gave ground over the weekend, saying he would allow a deduction for some local taxes to remain.

“We are restoring an itemized property tax deduction to help taxpayers with local tax burdens,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady said in a statement.

But the gesture appeared to do little to turn the tide of opposition to SALT’s elimination.

“I’m not going to sign onto anything until the full package is fully analyzed by economists,” Representative Peter King of New York told the Fox News program Sunday Morning Futures. “The fact that we’re getting it at the eleventh hour raises real issues with me,” he added.

A lobby coalition representing state and local governments, realtors and public unions rejected Brady’s statement outright, saying the move would “unfairly penalize taxpayers in states that rely significantly on income taxes.”

House Republicans have also faced opposition from Trump and others after proposing to sharply curtail tax-free contributions to 401(k) programs and move retirement savings to a style of account that allows tax-free withdrawals, rather than the tax-exempt contributions that are popular with 401(k) investors.

House Republicans now say they could permit higher 401(k) contribution limits but continue to talk about tax-free withdrawals. “We will expand the amount that you can invest. But we’ll also give you an option to actually not be taxed later in life,” House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy told Fox News.

The current cap on annual 401(k) tax-free contributions is $18,000.

Corker said congressional tax committees seem to be falling short of their goal to eliminate $4 trillion in tax breaks to prevent the Trump plan from adding to the federal deficit.

“They’re having great difficulty just getting to $3.6 trillion,” said the Tennessee Republican, who has vowed to vote against tax reform if it increases a federal debt load that stands at more than $20 trillion.

Ohio’s Republican governor, John Kasich, told Fox News Sunday that spending on entitlement programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security should also be reviewed as part of the effort to pay for tax cuts.

“It may be separate from the tax bill, but it needs to happen,” Kasich said.

12 затриманих у Jugendhub хлопців досі перебувають у військкоматі – адвокат

На території військкомату у Києві досі перебуває 12 людей із затриманих у ніч на суботу в столичному клубі Jugendhub, повідомила Радіо Свобода адвокат клубу Ксенія Проконова.

«Із ними частково є зв’язок, частково – немає. Намагаємось до них потрапити. Там вони проходять медогляд і все інше», – зазначила вона.

За словами юристки, частину хлопців відпустили після втручання Уповноваженого з прав людини Верховної Ради з тим, щоб вони о 9 ранку з’явились у військкомати за місцем реєстрації. Водночас, не всі затримані – кияни, серед них, зокрема, є особа з реєстрацією в анексованому Криму, яка приїхала до Києва на кілька днів, додала вона.

«Наскільки я знаю, він досі перебуває там, йому інкримінують ухиляння від призову», – каже Проконова.

Частина із затриманих вночі після втручання омбудсмана залишились на території Київського міського та обласного збірного пункту Збройних сил добровільно, заявив у коментарі Радіо Свобода речник Уповноваженого з прав людини Михайло Чаплига.

«Людям повинні були надати можливість пройти медкомісію, а також отримати повістки, за якими вони добровільно можуть з’явитися до військкоматів. Тобто (ситуація – ред.) вже більш-менш пробує увійти у правове русло. Проте у нас є інформація про одну особу на зараз, яку таки утримували, і зараз ми цю інформацію перевіряємо і намагаємо вийти на контакт. І досі утримують там», – пояснив він.

За словами Чаплиги, усім цим людям можуть запропонувати пройти комісію і вручити повістки, далі вони повинні з’явитись до військового комісаріату, пройти відповідну комісію, де мають бути вивчені підстави, чи підпадають вони під призов, але «прямо з клубу» поза їхньою волею в армію відправити не дозволяє українське законодавство.

«Ми приймаємо заяви зараз. Звичайно, вони всі будуть зареєстровані. Відповідно, буде реакція на адресу міністра внутрішніх справ щодо грубих порушень Кримінального процесуального кодексу під час того, що відбувалося. По-друге, буде відповідний лист на адресу міністра оборони», – зазначає він.

В Міноборони наразі ситуацію не коментували. 

Раніше 28 жовтня поліція повідомила, що в Києві її співробітники влаштували облаву на нічний клуб, у результаті якої затримали 17 осіб, вилуучивши у них вилучили речовини, схожі на наркотичні. Окрім того, за даними поліції, ще 32 молодих чоловіків доставили до військкомату.

Згідно із президентським указом, призов на строкову військову службу громадян України здійснюється у жовтні – листопаді 2017 року.

20 вересня Кабінет міністрів постановив, що чисельність громадян, які підлягають призову на строкову військову службу в жовтні-листопаді, становить 10 460 осіб.

 

For Spanish, Catalan Economies, No Winners in Standoff

Xavier Gabriel can take some credit if the tiny Catalan mountain town of Sort is one of the most famous in Spain.

He runs a lottery shop called La Bruja de Oro, or The Golden Witch, in a town whose name, aptly, means “Luck” in Catalan. Its fortune in having sold many prize-winning tickets has made it a household name and a successful online business.

But the crisis surrounding Catalonia’s push for independence has changed life for 60-year-old Gabriel. He joined more than 1,500 companies in moving their official headquarters out of the wealthy region in recent weeks. Their main fear: that they would no longer be covered by Spanish and European Union laws if Catalonia manages to break away, dragging their businesses into unknown territory.

“The time had come to make a decision,” said Gabriel, who employs 16 people and describes himself as a proud Catalan.

​Hedging their bets

Like Gabriel’s, the vast majority of companies that moved their headquarters didn’t transfer workers or assets, such as bank holdings or production equipment. So far, it’s mainly a form of legal insurance. But as the political crisis escalates, the risk is that companies are deferring investments and hiring. There is evidence that tourists are holding off booking, perhaps frightened by images in the media of police crackdowns, street demonstrations and strikes.

And the situation risks getting worse before it improves: the central government’s decision Friday to take control of the region could spiral out of control if there is popular resistance, whether by citizens or local authorities like the Catalan police force.

“There is absolutely no doubt that the crisis is having a very damaging effect on the economy,” said Javier Diaz Gimenez, an economics professor at Spain’s prestigious IESE Business School.

Financial markets in Spain have so far fallen only modestly, reflecting investors’ apparent belief that the tensions will eventually be resolved. The Spanish government has called a regional election in Catalonia for Dec. 21 and could later consider revisions to the constitution that might placate some of the independence supporters.

But that could take some time, Diaz Gimenez says, given how confrontational both sides have been.

Banks leave

The list of businesses moving headquarters includes Catalonia’s top two banks, Caixabank and Sabadell, which are among Spain’s top five lenders. Then there is the Codorniu cava sparkling wine maker for which Catalonia is famous. Another well-known cava maker, Freixenet, is also planning to follow if the independence drive continues. Publishing giant Planeta, the world’s leading Spanish-language publisher and second biggest publisher in France, has also moved its official address out of Catalonia.

Caixabank says it suffered a moderate but temporary run on deposits because of the crisis, but said it has since recovered and was adamant the move was permanent.

Shares for Caixabank, Sabadell and some other companies have been volatile, falling after the Oct. 1 vote for independence and jumping sharply when they announced their decision to move headquarters.

Tip of the iceberg

Lottery shop owner Gabriel says ticket sales this month are up nearly 300 percent over last year, a rise he attributed to popular support for his decision to move his business.

Diaz Gimenez said the decisions to move headquarters, while not immediately affecting jobs, were “just the tip of the iceberg.”

“Plans to relocate firms or invest elsewhere are going to accelerate and some of it is going to go to, say, Poland, and it’s never going to come back,” he said.

“People that were thinking about investing in Spain and Barcelona are starting to think again,” he said. “It’s not just Catalonia. It’s the mismanagement by Spain, which is proving that it’s not a serious country because it cannot solve this thing.”

Spanish economy humming

The turmoil, ironically, comes just as Spain has been enjoying some of the fastest economic growth in Europe.

Its economy, the fourth-largest in the 19-country eurozone, grew by a hefty quarterly rate of 0.9 percent in the second quarter. The government has maintained its forecast for growth in 2017 at 3.1 percent, but revised its estimate for 2018 from 2.6 percent to 2.3 percent because of the political crisis. Moody’s credit rating agency has warned that a continued political impasse and, ultimately, independence for Catalonia would severely hurt the country’s credit rating.

Billions at stake

Tourism seems to be taking the biggest hit so far.

Experts say spending in the sector in Catalonia in the first two weeks of October — that is, following the independence referendum — was down 15 percent from a year earlier.

Tourism represents about 11 percent of Spain’s 1.1-trillion euro ($1.3 trillion) gross domestic product, with Catalonia and its capital, Barcelona, providing a fifth of that, being the most popular destinations for visitors.

Exceltur, a nonprofit group formed by the 25 leading Spanish tourist groups, expects growth in tourism this year to ease from an estimated 4.1 percent to 3.1 percent.

Reservations in Barcelona alone are down 20 percent compared with last year, it said. If the trend continues in the final three months of the year, it could lead to losses of up to 1.2 billion euros ($1.41 billion) in the sector, which in turn could affect jobs.

Analysts fear that the independence movement’s stated aim of continuing to create as much social and economic chaos for Spain as possible could exacerbate the situation. The Catalan National Assembly group has been openly talking about a boycott against Spain’s top companies and major strike activity.

“Spain, its tourism, everything is very dependent on image,” Diaz Gimenez said. “And this is just killing it.”

Singapore’s Lee Offers Insights on Trump, China Relations

As President Donald Trump prepares for a 10-day trip to Asia, his first to the region since taking office, one of the region’s leaders brought to Washington last week insights that potentially represent sentiments held not just by his government.

 

Lee Hsien Loong — eldest son of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founding prime minister, and a successor to the position his father held for decades — told audiences in the U.S. capital that the emerging geostrategic landscape of the Asia Pacific depends not only on internal dynamics, but also on U.S. intention and action.

 

At a White House ceremony, Lee told Trump that Singapore, “like many other countries,” watches U.S.-China relations “very closely.”

 

Trump leaves for the region Nov. 3.

​Presence and preparedness

Lee, Singapore’s prime minister since 2004, alluded to the geopolitical competition between the U.S. and China while speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington think tank.

He stressed the importance of the U.S. to maintain a strategic presence where such presence is called for.

 

“If you’re not there, everybody else in the world will look around and say, ‘I want to be friends with both the U.S. and the Chinese, and the Chinese are ready, I’ll start with them,’” he told the audience.

 

Lee, who is fluent in English, Mandarin Chinese and Malay, three of Singapore’s four official languages, visits Washington often, and also makes periodic trips to Beijing, including one just last month. 

 

Lee said Chinese officials perceive the current U.S. administration as demonstrating gong-li-zhu-yi, a term that may be best translated as placing an overriding premium on profitability. While the phrase sounds slightly derogatory, it may also indicate that Chinese officials see Trump as wanting to see results, not just empty talk.

‘Westerners can be inscrutable, too’

In another observation he shared, Lee said the Chinese don’t quite know what to make of Trump or of U.S. foreign policy under the current administration.

 

“They’re not quite sure how to figure you out, they’re looking for a way to understand you,” Lee said of his counterparts in Beijing. “If you find them inscrutable, you must realize Westerners can be inscrutable, too!”

Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) drew worldwide attention with the 19th Party Congress.

 

During the weeklong event, which marked the end of Xi’s first five-year term, the CCP agreed not only to give Xi a second term, but to add his political “thoughts” to its constitution, putting him on par with the country’s founder Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, who set China on a path for economic reform.

 

Western media covered the event in depth. President Trump even took note of Xi’s “extraordinary elevation” (via a tweet).

 

Xi seeks to extend influence to 2050

 

“The era he [Xi] envisages extends to not just the next five, or even 10, years, [encompassing] two terms, but extending to 2050, and taking China to 100 years after the revolution,” Prime Minister Lee said, referring to the time that will have lapsed from 1949 when the Chinese Communist Party officially defeated the Kuomintang (KMT) Party in a drawn-out civil war.

 

Xi’s illuminations, together with those of his predecessors, now bear the historical responsibility of ensuring China’s enrichment and empowerment for decades, if not centuries, to come, if all goes according to the party’s plan. 

 

How China’s Xi will wield his newly sanctioned power at home and abroad is being watched closely from a variety of vantage points, not the least of which being Taiwan.

 

In November 2015, Singapore hosted a meeting between leaders of China and Taiwan. Asked if his country may once again facilitate such a dialogue, Lee said, “We have a very limited role.” He described Singapore’s hosting of the 2015 meeting between Xi and Taiwan’s then-President Ma Ying-jeou: “Our job was to provide the room and tea cups, that’s it!”

 

Given the seemingly unbridgeable gap between Taiwan’s current ruling party and their equally intransigent counterparts on the mainland, Lee said his opinion was: “The best you can hope for is a standoff.”

​‘In politics, no party remains in power forever’

During Lee’s discussion at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, one audience member, who had praised Lee’s knowledge of details, asked, “You stated that ‘in politics, no party remains in power forever,’ does that apply to Singapore?”

 

“I’m sure it does. I don’t know when it will happen, but I will not want to make it happen sooner than it needs to,” he quickly said, before shifting his gaze and attention to the next questioner.

 

Lee, 65, has been at the head of the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) and has been prime minister since 2004. His late father, Lee Kuan Yew, co-founded PAP in 1954 and was prime minister of the Southeast Asian nation-state from 1965 to 1990 and remained a powerful figure until a few years before he passed away, in 2015.

У Росії пригрозили ветувати резолюцію про миротворців ООН на Донбасі зразка України і США

У Росії пригрозили вдатися до права вето в Раді безпеки ООН, якщо на голосування винесуть резолюцію про миротворчу місію ООН на окупованій частині Донбасу такого зразка, що задовольнятиме Україну і США, стверджуючи, що це буде спробою зірвати мінські домовленості про врегулювання в цьому регіоні України.

Як заявив 28 жовтня голова комітету з закордонних справ Ради федерації, верхньої палати російського парламенту, Костянтин Косачов, коментуючи повідомлення про висловлену в Києві позицію спеціального представника Державного департаменту США у справах України Курта Волкера, вона, «очевидно, не відповідає, а, називаючи речі своїми іменами, суперечить мінським домовленостям».

«Якщо зміст висловлювань Волкера переданий правильно, то очевидно, що це спроба або скасувати мінські домовленості, чи змусити Росію накласти на таку резолюцію Ради безпеки ООН вето», – сказав Косачов російському агентству «РІА Новості».

Особливо неприйнятним він назвав те, що, якщо вірити заявам американського спецпредставника, мандат миротворців ООН виключає участь російських представників у такій місії.

Таким чином Костянтин Косачов прокоментував оприлюднене раніше 28 жовтня повідомлення народного депутата України Мустафи Найєма (фракція «Блок Петра Порошенка») про зустріч того дня Курта Волкера, який прибув до Києва, з групою народних депутатів України. «Волкер очікує, що до кінця року буде готова резолюція Ради безпеки ООН щодо миротворчої місії в Україні, і, можливо, навіть ухвалена. Що важливо, критичним у цій резолюції буде питання контролю над російсько-українським кордоном. Причому саме активного контролю воєнізованою місією, наголосив Волкер, а не пасивного моніторингу. На запитання, чи можлива участь росіян у цій місії, він прямо відповів: «Не можу цього уявити»», – написав Найєм у фейсбуці.

Схожу інформацію про цю зустріч подав тоді ж і народний депутат України Володиир Ар’єв (фракція «Блок Петра Порошенка»). «Найголовніше сьогодні від Курта Волкера: – можливо, що до кінця року буде резолюція Ради безпеки ООН щодо миротворчої місії на Донбасі. Тези він готує; – блакитні каски мають контролювати всю територію, в тому числі кордон (Росія наразі хоче лише на лінії розмежування – це моя ремарка) та мати доступ до місць дислокації важкої техніки; – Росії дуже не подобається закон про реінтеграцію Донбасу, де вона названа агресором; – Україна – єдина сторона з усіх, яка показує прагнення до виконання мінських угод. Як би хто до цих угод не ставився, це поки єдиний процес, який визнає Росія, що дає можливість уникнути ескалації; – враження, що Путін змінив підхід із суто військового і тепер прагне отримати дружнє йому керівництво України (замість діючого)», – написав Ар’єв у фейсбуці.

Напередодні прибуття Курта Волкера до Києва з ним зустрічався попередніми днями міністр закордонних справ України Павло Клімкін. Після тієї зустрічі Клімкін повідомив, що в перебігу розмови з Волкером із приводу мандату можливої миротворчої місії ООН на окупованій частині сходу України обидва висловили «дуже чітку спільну позицію». За його словами, ця позиція полягає в «неможливості легалізації бойовиків» зі збройних сепаратистських угруповань, які підтримує Росія, а також у необхідності запровадити заходи безпеки на окупованій території, після чого міжнародний контингент має почати контролювати всю цю територію, включно з непідконтрольною нині Києву ділянкою кордону з Росією.

Таку ідею в Москві вже називали неприйнятною. У Кремлі прагнуть, щоб місія ООН розмістилася тільки безпосередньо на лінії контакту і біля неї, в місцях, де працюють спостерігачі ОБСЄ, і мала мандат виключно для захисту цих спостерігачів. Цю позицію натомість назвали неприйнятною Україна і її західні союзники, включно зі США, заявляючи, що це матиме на меті не вирішення конфлікту, а його консервацію.

China Objects to Taiwan President’s Visits to US

Taiwan’s president began a weeklong journey Saturday, and China is not happy about it.

 

Tsai Ing-wen’s trip has her visiting three Pacific Island allies — Tuvalu, the Solomon Islands and the Marshall Islands — via Honolulu and the U.S. territory of Guam.

 

China claims sovereignty over democratic, self-ruled Taiwan and believes Tsai is seeking formal independence from China.

 

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Washington should not allow Tsai to stop in the U.S. to” avoid sending any erroneous messages to the Taiwan independence force…”

 

Tsai has said she wants to maintain peace with China, but will defend Taiwan’s democracy and security.

 

The U.S. State Department said last week that Tsai’s transitions through U.S. locations would be “private and unofficial.”

 

China has claimed sovereignty over the island since 1949, when Mao Zedong’s Communist forces won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists fled to Taiwan.

Report: DeVos Considers Only Partial Debt Relief for Defrauded Students

The Education Department is considering only partially forgiving federal loans for students defrauded by for-profit colleges, The Associated Press has learned, abandoning the Obama administration’s policy of fully erasing that debt.

Under President Barack Obama, tens of thousands of students deceived by now-defunct for-profit schools had more than $550 million in such loans canceled completely.

But President Donald Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos, is working on a plan that could grant such students only partial relief, according to department officials who were not authorized to publicly comment on the issue and spoke on condition of anonymity. The department may look at the average earnings of students in similar programs and schools to determine how much debt to wipe away.

Hints of new approach

If DeVos goes ahead, the change could leave many students scrambling after expecting full loan forgiveness, based on the previous administration’s track record. It was not immediately clear how many students might be affected.

A department spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.

But the Trump team has given hints of a new approach.

In August, the department extended its contract with a staffing agency to speed up the processing of a backlog of loan forgiveness claims. In the procurement notice, the department said that “policy changes may necessitate certain claims already processed be revisited to assess other attributes.” The department would not further clarify the meaning of that notice.

Advocates: unjustified, unfair

DeVos’ review prompted an outcry from student loan advocates, who said the idea of giving defrauded students only partial loan relief was unjustified and unfair because many of their classmates had already gotten full loan cancellation. Critics say the Trump administration, which has ties to the for-profit sector, is looking out for industry interests.

Earlier this year, Trump paid $25 million to settle charges his Trump University misled students.

“Anything other than full cancellation is not a valid outcome,” said Eileen Connor, a litigator at Harvard University’s Project on Predatory Student Lending, which has represented hundreds of defrauded students of the now-shuttered Corinthian Colleges. “The nature of the wrong that was done to them, the harm is even bigger than the loans that they have.”

“Even more importantly, it is completely unfair that a happenstance of timing is going to mean that one student who’s been defrauded is going to have full cancellation and the next is not,” Connor said.

1990s regulation

A federal regulation known as borrower defense allows students at for-profit colleges and other vocational programs to have their loans forgiven if it is determined that the students were defrauded by the schools. That rule dates to the early 1990s. But it was little used until the demise of Corinthian and ITT for-profit chains in recent years caused tens of thousands of students to request that the government cancel their loans.

In the last few months of the Obama administration, the Education Department updated the rule to add protections for students, shift more financial responsibility onto the schools and prevent schools from having students sign away their right to sue a school.

That change was set to take effect in July, but DeVos has frozen it and is working on a new version. She argued that the Obama regulation was too broad and could cancel the loans of some students without a sound basis.

65,000 claims waiting

DeVos has come under criticism for delaying consideration of more than 65,000 applications for loan forgiveness under the borrower defense rule. The agency hasn’t approved a single claim since DeVos took office in February.

Jennifer Wang, an expert with the Institute of College Access and Success, said the Obama administration was providing full loan cancellations to students.

“It would be totally different from what was happening under the last administration,” Wang said. “It’s not equitable; it’s not fair for students. If she provides partial relief, it’s that she only cares what’s fair for schools and not students.”

Abby Shafroth, an attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, said the agency could be faced with lawsuits, especially from Corinthian students, whose classmates had received full forgiveness.

On Climate Change, It’s Trump vs. Markets

At the 2015 Paris summit, world leaders pledged to take steps to avoid catastrophic climate change. This November in Bonn, Germany, U.N. negotiators will be back, working out the details of how to cut emissions of planet-warming gases. It is the first conference since President Donald Trump said the United States would withdraw from the agreement. That leaves questions about the direction of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. As VOA’s Steve Baragona reports, the answer is not straightforward.

Artisans in Mali Hope to Bring Back an Ancient Fabric Style

Artisans in Mali are hoping that Bogolan, a traditional cotton fabric, will continue to fascinate Western fashion designers and provide jobs at home. VOA’s Teffera Girma Teffera and Bagassi Koura visited a small neighborhood in central Bamako where artisans are hard at work. Salem Solomon narrates.

First Charges Reportedly Approved in Russia Probe; Details Still Unclear

A U.S. federal grand jury has approved the first charges in an investigation of Russian influence on U.S. elections, according to several major news outlets.

The grand jury’s action, resulting from the probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller, was first reported by CNN on Friday evening. It quoted sources as saying anyone who was charged could be taken into custody as soon as Monday. The exact charges were unclear.

Reuters, The Wall Street Journal and NBC News subsequently issued similar reports. All the reports were attributed to unnamed sources.

President Donald Trump on Saturday visited his Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia. He sent three tweets but they did not refer to the reports.

On Friday evening, the president did post a social media message linking to a New York Post story headlined: How Team Hillary played the press for fools on Russia.

White House officials have not commented on the president’s activities Saturday, but he was seen by VOA News exiting the north portico of the residence, clad in slacks, a windbreaker, what appeared to be white golf shoes and a baseball cap before entering a black vehicle for the 40-minute ride in the presidential motorcade to his private club along the Potomac River.

CNN said lawyers working on Mueller’s team were seen entering the federal courtroom in Washington, D.C., on Friday, where the grand jury meets to hear testimony.

Mueller has kept a tight lid on information about the probe, and a spokesman for Mueller’s office declined requests for comment on the media reports about the indictment.

Working since May

Mueller was appointed special counsel in May, shortly after the firing of then-FBI Director James Comey, to look into allegations that the Trump campaign might have colluded with Russia to win the election. He is also examining the possibility that the president may have tried to interfere with the Russia investigation.

The probe also is examining possible financial ties between Russian businesses and members of the Trump campaign, and foreign lobbying conducted by former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

In addition to Mueller’s probe, three congressional committees are conducting their own investigations into possible Russian influence on the election.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Friday told reporters it was “a pretty big waste” for the news media to investigate connections between Trump associates and Russia. Her comment was made in response to a question about Trump’s tweeting earlier in the day that it was “commonly agreed” there had been no collusion between his presidential campaign and Russia.

“It is now commonly agreed, after many months of COSTLY looking, that there was NO collusion between Russia and Trump. Was collusion with HC!” the president tweeted.

HC is a reference to Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and Democratic nominee whom Trump defeated in last November’s presidential election.

VOA’s Marissa Melton contributed to this report.

Кримчанина Зейтуллаєва російська влада могла етапувати до виправної колонії в Башкортостан – дружина

Незаконно засудженого в Росії кримчанина, фігуранта «справи Хізб-ут Тахрір» Руслана Зейтуллаєва могли етапувати до виправної колонії в російській Республіці Башкортостан. Про це дружина Зейтуллаєва повідомила 28 жовтня на засіданні організації «Кримська солідарність», інформує сайт Крим.Реалії.

«Мені прийшов лист із СІЗО Уфи про те, що Руслана етапували десять днів тому до колонії №2 Салавата. Ніяких печаток або підписів, що це завіряють, на листі немає», – сказала Зейтуллаєва.

Адвокат Едем Семедляєв також зазначив, що крім цього листа підтверджень відправки Зейтуллаєва до колонії немає, а зв’язок із засудженим відсутній.

Також на засіданні дружина іншого незаконно засудженого фігуранта севастопольської «справи Хізб ут-Тахрір» Ферата Сайфуллаєва Ельзара повідомила, що її чоловіка помістили до спеціальної камери до 4 лютого.

Суд над кримчанами Зейтуллаєвим, Ваїтовим, Прімовим і Сайфуллаєвим розпочався в червні 2016 року. Їх заарештували взимку 2015 року в Севастополі й звинуватили в участі в забороненій у Росії ісламській організації «Хізб ут-Тахрір».

Північно-Кавказький окружний військовий суд у Ростові-на-Дону 7 вересня 2016 року засудив Зейтуллаєва до семи років колонії загального режиму, Сайфуллаєв, Ваітов і Прімов отримали по п’ять років колонії загального режиму.

Верховний суд Росії 27 липня 2017 року збільшив до 15 років строк позбавлення волі Зейтуллаєва.

Росія мусить відвести свої сили з Донбасу для початку роботи місії ООН – Волкер

Про це спеціальний посланець президента США по Україні Курт Волкер заявив 28 жовтня у Києві під час свого незапланованого візиту до України

Російські перекладачі викривили слова Штайнмаєра про анексію Криму – посол Щерба

«Штайнмаєр говорить німецькою: «Annexion». Перекладач збивається і перекладає: «возз’єднання з Росією»