e_Paper, Sunday, July 23, 2017

8
SUNDAY, JULY 23, 2017
DT
News
Trump attacks Washington Post
report on Sessions Russia meeting
• Tribune Desk
WORLD
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions
US President Donald Trump went
on the offensive on Saturday morning,
after the Washington Post reported
that his attorney general,
Jeff Sessions, discussed Trump’s
White House bid with the Russian
ambassador to Washington in 2016,
the Guardian reports.
The president did not defend
Sessions, whom earlier this week
he criticised strongly for his recusal
from the Russia investigation.
Instead, Trump complained about
“illegal leaks” and demanded:
“Why isn’t the AG or Special Council
[sic] looking at the many Hillary
Clinton or Comey crimes. 33,000
e-mails deleted?”
The Post report cited US intelligence
intercepts which contradict
Sessions’ assurances that the campaign
was not discussed. Sergey
Kislyak told his superiors in Moscow
he talked about campaign-related
matters and significant policy issues
during two meetings with Sessions,
according to current and former US
intelligence officials, the Washington
Post reported on Friday.
The ambassador’s accounts of
the meetings, which US spy agencies
intercepted, clash with those of Sessions
and pile fresh pressure on the
attorney general just days after the
president publicly criticised him.
On Saturday morning, Trump
tweeted his anger.
On Friday, Gen Raymond Thomas,
head of Special Operations
Command, blamed a “media leak”
for one instance of Islamic State
leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, escaping
capture or death.
Trump did not immediately follow
up or expand his argument,
instead tweeting about a speaking
engagement in Norfolk, Virginia.
He then tweeted a reference to
reports, met with horror among
Democrats, that White House advisers
were exploring the possibility
of presidential pardons.
“While all agree the US President
has the complete power to
pardon,” Trump wrote, “why think
of that when only crime so far is
LEAKS against us.FAKE NEWS.”
The Post cited an unnamed US
official who called Sessions’ statements
“misleading” and “contradicted
by other evidence”. An unnamed
former official said the intelligence
indicated Sessions and Kislyak had
“substantive” discussions on matters
including Trump’s positions on
Russia-related issues and prospects
for bilateral relations in a Trump administration,
the paper reported.
The officials acknowledged that
the ambassador could have mischaracterised
the meetings in his
briefings to Moscow.
Madaripur residents await
Habiganj Bridge that will cut
distance by 30km
AP
The attorney general has repeatedly
said he never discussed campaign-related
issues with Russian officials
and that it was in his capacity
as a senator, not a Trump surrogate,
that he met Kislyak. “I never had
meetings with Russian operatives
or Russian intermediaries about the
Trump campaign,” he said in March.
The president, marking six
months in office, appeared to be
venting concern that the investigation
headed by special counsel
Robert Mueller was reportedly expanding
to include his business ties
with Russia.
The report about the Russian
ambassador capped another tumultuous
day in Washington. Sean
Spicer resigned as White House
press secretary, ending a controversial
tenure as the administration’s
public face. He stepped down
after the president tapped Anthony
Scaramucci, a New York financier
and longtime Trump supporter, as
the new White House communications
director. •
Magura bullet-hit girl’s
2nd birthday today
• Khan Mazharul Haque,
Magura
NATION
Today is the 2nd birthday of Suraiya,
who received bullet injuries
while in her mother’s womb during
a Jubo League factional clash in
Magura on July 23, 2015.
The parents of the girl are worried
thinking about her future as
her physical growth seems to be
unlikely compared to other children
in the society.
While this correspondent visited
Suraiya yesterday, she was noticed
in the lap of her mother, Nazma
Begum, in the house yard.
Nazma said: “Though we are
happy and arranged everything
to celebrate the day according to
our ability, at the same time we
are worried thinking about her future
as she cannot speak, walk and
move like a normal child.”
“She lost an eye after being hit
by a bullet in my womb, is now losing
vision in the other eye too,” she
also said.
“She has been recommended
regular treatment and checkups,
but we are unable to afford the
treatment cost,” the mother added.
“Doctors at Bangladesh Eye
Hospital in Dhaka prescribed regular
medication for Suraiya. But I do
not have the ability to continue her
treatment due to financial crisis,”
Suraiya’s father Bachchu Bhuiyan
said.
She was also having other physical
complications, Bachchu said,
adding that Suraiya was unable to
walk and speak though she should
have been doing these at this age.
He said that after the incident,
the government, different organisations
and individuals visited the
house and extended financial support
for the family.
“But no one comes to see us or
asks about the wellbeing of Suraiya
now,” the father said.
Earlier on July 23, 2015,eightmonth
pregnant Nazma was shot
in her abdomen during an attack by
a faction of Magura Jubo League on
their rival faction in Doarpar area
of Magura town. The attack also
left one killed.
A bullet pierced through the unborn
baby’s right shoulder and also
injured her right eye.
Miraculously, the baby survived
after being delivered following a
two-hour caesarean on her mother
at Magura General Hospital. Nazma
Khatun also survived the accident.
The baby was sent to the DMCH
on July 26 without her mother
as her condition was critical. Responding
to doctors’ advice Nazma
was brought to the DMCH on July
30 from Magura General Hospital to
breastfeed her baby as the newborn
needed it the most to survive.•
DHAKA TRIBUNE
• Manjur Hossain, Madaripur
NATION
Several hundred thousand people
of several union parishads under
Madaripur Sadar upazila are awaiting
the inauguration of Habiganj
Bridge on the Arial Khan River.
The bridge, once opened to
traffic, will reduce the distance
between the Sadar and Shibchar
upazilas, where the approach
road of the much-hyped Padma
Bride is situated, by around 30 kilometres.
Locals say the bridge will greatly
help commuters travel in the region
and even in Dhaka smoothly
and comfortably.
Construction of the bridge,
520-metre long and 9.3-metre
wide, started on February 15, 2013
at an estimated cost of Tk63.94
crore.
Moreover, the local government
department has recently repaired
12.3 kilometre road stretching
from Khagdi bus stand to Srinadi
area between the two upazilas to
help smooth traffic through the
bridge.
Dhurail Union Parishad Chairman
Md Majibar Rahman Mridha
said the people living in the area
have been suffering for want of a
bridge for decades.
“Education, health, electricity
and communication is the area are
badly affected owing to the situation,”
he said, hoping, the bridge
will help the people get rid of all
the problems.
Madaripur Local Government
Engineering Department’s Executive
Engineer Malay Chakrabarti
said they will fix a date to formally
inaugurate the bridge. •