#Title

UK PM denies dodging Trump in pre-election Nato trip
Afp, Watford
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson denied yesterday that he was avoiding being pictured with Donald Trump ahead of a UK election next week, as footage emerged of other leaders mocking the US president.
Johnson met Trump away from the cameras on Tuesday before a two-day Nato summit, avoiding the media fanfare that normally accompanies such talks.
He also failed to publicly greet Trump and his wife Melania on the doorstep of Downing Street before a reception with other Nato leaders.
Johnson’s team are wary of what Trump might say during his two-day visit, with Britain set to go to the polls on December 12.
Johnson’s Conservatives are leading opinion polls but the rival Labour party has sought to whip up public opinion against Trump, who is deeply unpopular in Britain.
In a press conference on Tuesday, the president promised to “stay out” of the election campaign and most of his remarks were about divisions within Nato.
But he still managed to endorse Johnson as “very capable” and intervene in a row over US interests in Britain’s state-run National Health Service (NHS) after Brexit.
Arriving for the formal Nato talks in Watford, north of London, yesterday, Johnson denied he was trying to avoid being seen with Trump.
“I’m going to be photographed with every possible leader,” he insisted, and later posed with the president for an official welcome alongside Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg.
Downing Street said Trump and Johnson had discussed the Nato summit and an earlier meeting between Britain, France, Germany and Turkey about the situation in Syria.
Trump wrote on Twitter that he “enjoyed” the talks, which he said covered “numerous subjects including Nato and trade”.
Johnson is campaigning for re-election on a promise to get Britain out of the European Union next month, more than three years after the 2016 Brexit referendum.
He has held up a new US trade deal as one of the prizes of Brexit but has faced accusations from Labour that this will open up the much loved NHS to US firms.
Johnson denies this, and Trump said his country would not be interested in the NHS “if you handed it to us on a silver platter”.
Officials were braced for Trump to become more loquacious in a press conference after the Nato talks later yesterday -- particularly after footage emerged apparently showing other leaders apparently laughing at him.
At a Nato reception at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday, Johnson can be heard asking French President Emmanuel Macron why he was late.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau noted that Trump’s press conference had run on, as he commented on everything from “nasty” Macron’s criticism of Nato as brain dead, to “delinquent” European countries that failed to meet defence spending targets.
“Oh, yeah, yeah, he announced...” an amused Trudeau declares in the footage, adding: “You just watched his team’s jaw drop to the floor.

Banker sued
from page 16
officer-in-charge of the station, told
The Daily Star that the victims, aged between six and seven, were playing at the accused’s yard in a village of the upazila on Monday afternoon.
He was home alone. Luring them chocolates and biscuits, he took the three to his room and sexually assaulted them.
The victims were admitted to Kaliganj Upazila Health Complex around Tuesday noon as they were suffering from pain, he said, adding that Mobarak went into hiding.
Hasan Farooque, resident medical officer of the health complex, told journalists that the victims were admitted to the hospital with sexual assaults and they were given treatment.
They were later moved to Lalmonirhat Sadar Hospital for medical tests, he said.
Locals demanded immediate arrest of Mobarak and his exemplary punishment.