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High drama on stock markets and tensions with China mixed with lighter fare for Donald Trump this week as he again dominated the news agenda for seven days.- Real pressure -Trump signed an executive order lifting water-pressure restrictions on showerheads, a move the White House said would “make America’s showers great again.”Trump has long complained about inadequate water pressure in American bathrooms which he blames on environmental regulations.”I like to take a nice shower, to take care of my beautiful hair,” he said. “I have to stand under the shower for 15 minutes till it gets wet. It comes out drip, drip, drip. It’s ridiculous.”- ‘Yippy’ market -Trump called for everyone to “be cool” and added “this is a great time to buy” shortly before he reversed his tariff trade policy.He later admitted that people “were getting yippy” — a golf term used to describe a loss of nerve.In a separate speech, Trump claimed countries hit by tariffs were calling him up and “kissing my ass” as they seek better deals with the United States.- Military parade? No -The White House pushed back against reports that it is planning a military parade in Washington on June 14, the 250th anniversary of the founding of the US Army — and Trump’s 79th birthday.Trump floated the idea of holding a grand military parade in Washington during his first term after attending a Bastille Day parade in France.It never materialized, however, after the Pentagon said it could cost $92 million and concerns were raised that tanks and other heavy military vehicles would damage the city’s streets.- Gulf of press access -A judge ordered the White House to restore the Associated Press’s access to Trump’s official events.AP journalists and photographers have been barred from the Oval Office and Air Force One because the news agency continues referring to the “Gulf of Mexico” — and not the “Gulf of America” as decreed by Trump.The judge said the ban violated the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and of the press. The White House has appealed.- Vance and peasants -China condemned remarks by Vice President JD Vance in which he said the United States had for too long borrowed money from “Chinese peasants.””China’s position on China-US economic and trade relations has been made very clear,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.”It is surprising and sad to hear such ignorant and impolite words from this vice president.”

A US federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return to the United States of a Salvadoran migrant wrongly deported to his home country, and directed it to report Friday on those steps. Judge Paula Xinis is to preside over a hearing, the latest in a high-stakes legal wrangle over the executive branch’s powers to expel undocumented migrants, early Friday afternoon.Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran living in the eastern state of Maryland and married to a US citizen, was arrested March 12 by immigration police.He was among more than 200 people deported on March 15 to a notorious prison in El Salvador, as part of Donald Trump’s migration crackdown. Most of those expelled were accused by the administration of belonging to a Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, which Washington has labeled a terrorist organization.As Abrego Garcia’s family proclaimed his innocence, an administration lawyer acknowledged that his expulsion followed an “administrative error,” since a federal court in 2019 ruled he could not be expelled to El Salvador, where his life could be in danger.The case represents the only time the administration has acknowledged wrongly deporting anyone. The administration, however, said it was powerless to secure Abrego Garcia’s return from the high-security Salvadoran prison and insisted he was part of MS-13, a Salvadoran gang the United States classified as terrorist in February.Xinis initially rejected the administration arguments, saying it had shown no proof that Abrego Garcia was a gang member, and demanding that the government “facilitate” his return to the US by April 7 at the latest.A federal appeals court rejected the administration’s appeal.The conservative-dominated Supreme Court on Monday issued a stay of the district judge’s repatriation order pending further consideration.The high court also held that the administration was indeed required to “facilitate” Garcia’s return and to ensure that he be treated as if he had never been wrongly deported. But the justices also directed Xinis to clarify her order for the government to “effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s release — saying she may have exceeded her authority and needed to reflect “due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs.”She subsequently amended her wording to say the government must take “all available steps to facilitate” his return “as soon as possible,” not setting any deadline.The administration has described the case as a key test of the president’s power to conduct sensitive national security-related operations.Xinis also directed the administration to provide an update on Abrego Garcia’s current location, and to explain the legal grounds on which he was detained.The hearing Friday, at the federal courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland, is scheduled for 1:00 pm (1700 GMT). 

President Donald Trump on Friday repeated his call for an end to the “costly” custom of moving clocks back one hour every autumn, which he said was imposing an unnecessary financial burden on the United States.”The House and Senate should push hard for more Daylight at the end of a day,” Trump urged the US Congress in a Truth Social post.”Very popular and, most importantly, no more changing of the clocks, a big inconvenience and, for our government, A VERY COSTLY EVENT!!!”The summer clock, known as Daylight Saving Time, was adopted by the federal government during World War I but was unpopular with farmers rushing to get produce to morning markets, and was quickly abolished. Many states experimented with their own versions, but it wasn’t reintroduced nationwide until 1967. The issue has become a pet subject for Trump, who appealed in December for more light in the evenings, but he has at times appeared confused by the terminology.The demand would mean a permanent change to DST, whereas in December he pledged to get Republicans working on the opposite goal — abandoning DST. “The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t,” he said then.In 2022 the Senate, then controlled by Democrats, advanced a bill that would bring an end to the twice-yearly changing of clocks, in favor of a “new, permanent standard time.” The Sunshine Protection Act called for moving permanently to DST, to usher in brighter evenings, and fewer journeys home in the dark for school children and office workers.The bill never made it to then-president Joe Biden’s desk, as it was not taken up in the Republican-led House.The bill was introduced in 2021 by a Republican, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who is now Trump’s secretary of state. He said studies had shown a permanent DST could benefit the economy.Either way, changing to one permanent time would put an end to Americans pushing their clocks forward in the spring, then setting them back an hour in the fall.Colloquially the practice is referred to as “spring forward, fall back.”The clamor has increased in recent years to make DST permanent especially among politicians and lobbyists from the Northeast, where frigid conditions are normal in the early winter mornings.Rubio said the United States sees an increase in heart attacks and road accidents in the week that follows the changing of the clocks.Any changes would be unlikely to affect Hawaii and most of Arizona, the Navajo Nation, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, which do not spring forward in summer.

Donald Trump undergoes his first annual medical Friday since returning to power, putting the focus on a 78-year-old who is the oldest US president ever elected and has regularly faced accusations of a lack of transparency about his health.Republican Trump has repeatedly boasted about his own vigor since starting his second term in the White House, while mocking his 82-year-old Democratic predecessor Joe Biden as decrepit and mentally unfit for office.But now it will be Trump under scrutiny, with the billionaire due to arrive at the Walter Reed military hospital in the Washington suburbs at 11:00 am (1500 GMT) and expected to spend some five hours there.”I have never felt better, but nevertheless, these things must be done!” Trump said on Truth Social earlier this week. It was not immediately clear when the results of the exam being led presidential physician Sean Barbabella would be released, or how detailed they would be.Trump has repeatedly been accused of a lack of openness about his health despite huge interest in the wellbeing of America’s commander-in-chief.Trump is a prolific golfer who abstains from alcohol and cigarettes. But he is also known to indulge in fast food and famously enjoys his steaks well-done, although he appears noticeably thinner than during his first term.- ‘Healthiest individual’ -Trump’s personal and White House doctors have at times made outlandish claims about his health.In 2015, as Trump was running for the presidency for the first time, his doctor Harold Bornstein released a letter saying that the tycoon “unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”Bornstein later told CNN that Trump himself “dictated that whole letter. I didn’t write that letter.”His White House doctor in his first term, Ronny Jackson, said in 2018 that with a healthier diet Trump could “live to be 200 years old.”Jackson’s report then suggested Trump should aim to lose 10 to 15 pounds but was generally in “excellent health,” adding that there were no signs of “any cognitive issues.”A year later, an exam found the 6-foot-3 (1.9 meter) Trump weighed 243 pounds (110 kilograms), up seven pounds since shortly before taking office, making him technically obese. It said he was taking medication to treat high cholesterol.In 2020, he told Fox News that he aced a test for cognitive impairment by repeating the phrase “person, woman, man, camera, TV.” Age became a major issue in the 2024 election when Trump and Biden faced off as the oldest two major party candidates in history.Biden was forced to drop out after a stumbling performance in a TV debate against Trump in June that put concerns over his cognitive health to the top of the agenda.Since returning to office Trump has repeatedly compared his own vigor to Biden’s, while the White House has accused the previous administration of covering up what it says was the Democrat’s decline.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Friday that US Treasury bonds remained a safe place in an unpredictable world as he warned of “considerable turbulence” facing the economy.The big US bank reported higher quarterly profits in results overshadowed by upheaval in financial markets as equity markets have churned amid gyrations in the US Treasury market and a falling US dollar.US bond yields were up again early Friday, indicating weaker demand for US Treasuries, long considered a safe haven asset. Dimon rejected the notion that US Treasuries were no longer a haven, but acknowledged an impact from recent market volatility.”It does change the nature a little bit from the certainty point of view,” Dimon said in a conference call with reporters.”But it doesn’t take away the fact that if you’re going to invest your money in something, America is still a pretty, pretty good place in this turbulent world.”The volatility in the Treasury market has been accompanied by a drop in the US dollar that analysts attribute to a weakening US economic outlook and to questions about President Trump’s fluctuating trade policy.Dimon’s comments came as the giant US bank reported first-quarter profits of $14.6 billion, up nine percent from the year-ago level in results that topped analyst expectations.Revenues were $45.3 billion, up eight percent.The lender had a steady performance across businesses, with the biggest profits coming from its corporate and investment bank.Equity markets revenues soared 48 percent as the bank pointed to an especially strong performance in derivatives “amid elevated levels of volatility,” JPMorgan said in a press release. The bank also scored higher revenues in trades connected to interest rates and commodities.Bank officials said they had not seen signs of a steep change in consumer behavior due to tariffs. But they said there had been some move by consumers to “pull forward” spending on some items ahead of tariffs.- Becoming more cautious -Dimon reported hearing “anecdotal” evidence that companies are becoming more reticent about deals.Dimon is hearing that people “are being very cautious about investment,” he said. “What you see in the actual data coming forward, I don’t know.”Dimon in recent days has warned of an increased risk of recession due to Trump’s aggressive trade policy, with China responding to Trump’s latest tariff hike with an escalation of its own.In an earnings press release, Dimon described the economy as “facing considerable turbulence (including geopolitics), with the potential positives of tax reform and deregulation and the potential negatives of tariffs and ‘trade wars,’ ongoing sticky inflation, high fiscal deficits and still rather high asset prices and volatility.” Dimon said.JPMorgan set aside additional reserves of $973 million in case of loan defaults, a sign that it is preparing for a potentially weaker economy. Overall provisions rose 75 percent from the year-ago level.The additional reserves reflect that JPMorgan has adjusted its economic scenario “to add a little bit of downside risk and increase the uncertainty,” said Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum.Shares jumped 3.2 percent in early trading.

The Spanish family killed when a New York sightseeing helicopter plunged into the Hudson River, leaving no survivors, were celebrating a birthday, a local official said on Friday.A senior business executive, his wife and three children died along with the aircraft’s pilot when the helicopter malfunctioned, disintegrating in mid-air before plunging into the cold waterway below Thursday.They’d taken the spectacular sight-seeing flight over Manhattan as a treat for the mother.”The family flew out to extend the trip a couple days in NYC. They were celebrating the mom’s 40th birthday with the tourist helicopter flight yesterday. The kids were all 11 years old and younger,” said Jersey City mayor Steven Fulop.A family member was flying in to recover their remains and officials were seeking to expedite the release of the bodies to be repatriated to Spain, he added on X.Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were reportedly on site Friday with no conclusive report on the incident expected for months.Images showed the cockpit of the passenger helicopter being lifted from the river by a barge crane overnight, and stored at a nearby Army Corps of Engineers site in Jersey City on the other side of the river from Manhattan, Fulop said.- ‘Heartbreaking and tragic’ -Siemens confirmed to AFP that one of the victims was Agustin Escobar, the CEO of a unit under the global technology firm.Reports suggested his wife Merce Camprubi was among the dead.The bodies of all six victims, including the three children, were recovered from the water, Mayor Eric Adams told a briefing Thursday. He  called it a “heartbreaking and tragic crash.”The aircraft’s operator, said by officers to be New York Helicopter, had yet to comment or confirm the identity of its pilot.Video of the incident has emerged showing the cockpit apparently becoming detached from the rotor with the disintegrating aircraft falling into the busy river below.”It appears that the main rotor struck the body of the helicopter, cutting off the tail of the helicopter, which created an unrecoverable event,” said former military aviator and attorney Jim Brauchle of Motley Rice. “The two main causes of this phenomenon are mechanical failure or excessive maneuvering.”No cause for the crash has been given officially.Police and fire service divers raced to pull survivors from the wreckage, rushing two of those rescued to hospital, but doctors were unable to save them.There have been around 30 helicopter crashes in New York since 1980, Brooklyn Borough President Mark Levine told reporters, calling for tighter restrictions on helicopter traffic in the city.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet US envoy Steve Witkoff on Friday for talks on the Ukraine conflict, the Kremlin said, cautioning they were unlikely to reach a breakthrough.US President Donald Trump is pressing Moscow and Kyiv to end the more than three-year conflict, but has failed to extract any major concessions from the Kremlin despite repeated negotiations between Russian and US officials.Witkoff’s trip to Russia, his third since Trump took office, comes after Trump voiced frustration at the slow pace of ceasefire negotiations, telling NBC News last month he was “pissed off” with his Russian counterpart.”The conversation on various aspects of the Ukrainian settlement will continue,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the talks, set to take place in Putin’s home city of Saint Petersburg.”There is no need to expect any breakthroughs here, the process of normalising relations is ongoing,” he was quoted as saying by Russian state media.When asked whether the talks would touch on a possible meeting between Putin and Trump, Peskov was quoted as saying: “Maybe”.Witkoff has held two previous meetings with Putin in Russia since Trump returned to the White House in January.After their last meeting, Witkoff, a long-time Trump ally who worked with the US president in real estate, said Putin was a “great leader” and “not a bad guy”.The envoy’s praise of a president long seen by the United States as an autocratic adversary highlights the dramatic turn in Washington’s approach to dealings with the Kremlin since Trump took office for a second term.Earlier in the day, Witkoff met Russia’s top economic negotiator Kirill Dmitriev.- Rocky road to reset – Trump has pushed for a broad rapprochement with Moscow, which has yielded some results.On Thursday, Russia freed dual US-Russian ballet dancer Ksenia Karelina from prison in exchange for suspected tech smuggler Arthur Petrov, the second exchange between Moscow and Washington in less than two months.Karelina, arrested last January while visiting Russia to see family, was serving a 12-year sentence on “treason” charges after she donated the equivalent of around $50 to a pro-Ukraine charity.The head of Moscow’s foreign intelligence service, Sergei Naryshkin, said Friday that Russia would discuss more prisoner swaps in the future.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the swaps helped build confidence between the two sides, which deteriorated under former US President Joe Biden’s administration. “It helps build trust, which is much needed, but it will take a long time to finally restore it,” he told reporters.US and Russian delegations met in Istanbul on Thursday for talks about restoring the functioning of their embassies, which drastically scaled back staffing as relations between the two nuclear powers cooled off.But despite a flurry of diplomacy, there has been little meaningful progress on Trump’s main aim of achieving a Ukraine ceasefire.Putin last month rejected a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for a full and unconditional pause in the conflict, while the Kremlin has made a truce in the Black Sea conditional on the West lifting certain sanctions.Trump recently told NBC News he was “very angry” with Putin after the Russian president criticised Zelensky’s credibility and called for a transitional external administration to be put in place in Ukraine.Separate talks in Saudi Arabia last month resulted in the White House saying both sides had agreed to halt aerial strikes on energy targets.But no formal agreement was put in place and both sides have accused the other of continuing such attacks.- Witkoff in Oman – Witkoff’s visit to Russia also comes ahead of crucial talks between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s nuclear programme, scheduled for Saturday in Oman.Witkoff, whose sweeping remit covers the conflicts in both Ukraine and Gaza, is set to lead the US delegation for the negotiations.Trump previously appeared to threaten to bomb Iran if it does not agree to a new deal to limit its nuclear programme.Moscow, which counts Iran as a close ally, has urged for a diplomatic solution and warned military confrontation would be a “global catastrophe”.

The mighty dollar is sliding sharply as President Donald Trump’s turbulent trade agenda has battered US credibility in global markets and fanned fears of a self-inflicted economic downturn.The US currency fell by another two percent on Friday to hit a three-year low against the euro to $1.14, before paring back some losses.A weaker dollar could drive inflation in the United States by making imports more expensive, squeeze the profit margins of companies and make US markets less attractive to foreign investors.It has been a sharp reversal of fortune for the greenback, which had soared in the wake of Trump’s November election victory.Back then, there was talk that the dollar’s ascent could bring the euro down to parity with the US currency as investors welcomed Trump’s plans for tax cuts and smaller government.”The US was really at its peak,” recalled Adam Button of ForexLive. “Now it’s slipping in dramatic fashion.”The euros has gained almost 10 percent against the dollar since Trump returned to the White House on January 20, when the currencies stood near parity at $1.04.It was rocked in recent days by Trump’s stop-start tariffs announcements: The US leader announced universal duties last week, only to implement but quickly remove some of the harshest ones this week.”We don’t have a lot of trade wars to look back on, especially in the last 90 years,” Button said. “So modern markets have never dealt with this kind of shock.”- ‘Damage done’ -George Saravelos, global head of foreign exchange research at Deutsche Bank, said that despite Trump’s tariffs U-turn, “the  damage to the USD (dollar) has been done”.”The market is re-assessing the structural attractiveness of the dollar as the world’s global reserve currency and is undergoing a process of rapid  de-dollarization,” Saravelos said in a note to clients.While Trump froze higher tariffs on scores of countries this week, he left a 10 percent universal duty that went into effect last week in place.At the same time, he escalated a trade war with China, applying a 145 percent levy on goods from the world’s second biggest economy, which retaliated on Friday with a 125 percent levy on US goods.Some other Trump tariffs have also had staying power, such as sectoral levies on auto imports, steel and aluminium.”Global recession is now our baseline forecast as higher tariffs and retaliatory measures take hold,” said a JPMorgan Chase research note released Monday.- Still strong -Amid the unrest in financial markets, investors have turned to other assets such as gold and the Swiss franc, which have soared higher.The movement against the dollar is “a bit of a momentum trade and a bit of an acknowledgement that the tone of US exceptionalism is being peeled back,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.”You have foreign investors who are losing confidence in their US investments because of the policy volatility,” O’Hare added.Market watchers say it is too early to say whether the recent decline in the greenback portends any deeper shift. The long-term health of the dollar is an evergreen topic of debate, and the currency has endured earlier moments of doubt.O’Hare noted that the dollar is still “relatively strong” compared with its trading level at other times, including during the 2008 financial crisis.

China said Friday it would raise its tariffs on US goods to 125 percent in a further escalation of a trade war that threatens to bring exports to a halt between the world’s two biggest economies.Beijing’s retaliation sparked fresh market volatility, with European stocks seesawing following the announcement while Tokyo and Seoul closed in the red.In a sign of investors’ worries about the health of the US economy under President Trump’s erratic stewardship, the dollar fell to a three-year low against the euro and by 1.3 percent against the yen.In Beijing, China’s State Council Tariff Commission said new tariffs of 125 percent on US goods would take effect Saturday, almost matching the staggering 145 percent level imposed on Chinese goods coming into America.A Commerce Ministry spokesperson said the United States bore “full responsibility for this”, deriding Trump’s tariffs as a “numbers game” that “will become a joke”.The Chinese finance ministry said tariffs would not go any higher because “there is no possibility of market acceptance for US goods exported to China” — an acknowledgement that almost no imports are possible at the new level.Beijing also said it would file a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization over the latest round of levies announced by Trump.Chinese President Xi Jinping condemned “unilateral bullying”.While the superpowers clash, the EU said its trade chief Maros Sefcovic would hold talks with US counterparts in Washington on Monday to resolve their own tariffs spat.Sefcovic is travelling “in good faith to try and find solutions that can benefit us all,” EU trade spokesperson Olof Gill said.- ‘Beautiful thing’ -Trump sent global financial markets into a tailspin by announcing historic tariffs on America’s trading partners on April 2, including a 10-percent baseline for all goods coming into the United States.After days of plunging markets, on Wednesday he froze the higher tariff rates of 20 percent or more imposed on allies such as the European Union or Japan, but kept an additional rate of 34 percent on China.Beijing has since retaliated, leading to tit-for-tat increases over the past few days that culminated in Friday’s latest move. Trump acknowledged “a transition cost and transition problems” on Thursday, while insisting “in the end it’s going to be a beautiful thing.” Speaking to reporters, he said he had respect for Xi and was hoping for a deal.”He’s been a friend of mine for a long period of time. I think that we’ll end up working out something that’s very good for both countries,” he said.Economists warn that the disruption in trade between the tightly integrated US and Chinese economies threatens businesses, will increase prices for consumers, and could cause a global recession.Trump described the European Union as “very smart” to refrain from retaliatory levies. But the 27-nation bloc’s chief Ursula von der Leyen told the Financial Times on Friday that it remained armed with a “wide range of countermeasures” if negotiations with Trump hit the skids.”An example is you could put a levy on the advertising revenues of digital services” applying across the bloc, she said.- European response -During talks with Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday, state media quoted Xi as saying Friday that China and the EU should team up on trade.”China and Europe should fulfil their international responsibilities… and jointly resist unilateral bullying practices,” Xi said.This, he stressed, would not only “safeguard their own legitimate rights and interests, but also… safeguard international fairness and justice.”Top EU officials are due to hold their next summit in July.After new falls on Wall Street on Thursday, Asian markets were under pressure again on Friday.Tokyo sank three percent — a day after surging more than nine percent — while Sydney, Seoul, Singapore and others also sagged. European markets opened higher only to fall after China’s retaliation, but they pared down losses later.Gold, a haven in times of uncertainty, hit a new record above $3,200 while investors spooked by Trump’s policies dumped normally rock-solid US Treasuries.”The sugar high from Trump’s tariff pause is fading fast,” said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.”Bottom line: the world’s two largest economies are in a full-blown trade war — and there are no winners.”But US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick boasted on social media Thursday that “the Golden Age is coming. We are committed to protecting our interests, engaging in global negotiations and exploding our economy.”burs-adp/lth

US envoy Steve Witkoff was in Russia on Friday, the Kremlin said, his third visit to the country as Washington pushes for a ceasefire in Ukraine.US leader Donald Trump is pressing Moscow and Kyiv to end the more than three-year-long conflict, but has expressed anger at both Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky over a lack of progress.”Yes, I can confirm he flew into Russia,” state media reported Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying when asked about reports Witkoff had landed for talks with Putin.He did not confirm if a meeting between the two would take place, but said Moscow would “inform” if it did.Witkoff has held two previous meetings with Putin in Russia since Trump returned to the White House in January.After their last meeting, Witkoff, a long-time Trump ally who worked with the US president in real estate, said Putin was a “great leader” and “not a bad guy”.The envoy’s praise of a president long seen by the United States as an autocratic adversary highlights the dramatic turn in Washington’s approach to dealings with the Kremlin since Trump took office for a second term.His visit to Russia also comes ahead of crucial talks between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s nuclear programme, scheduled Saturday in Oman.Witkoff, whose sweeping remit covers the conflicts in both Ukraine and Gaza, is set to lead the US delegation for the negotiations.Trump previously appeared to threaten to bomb Iran if if does not agree to a new deal to limit its nuclear programme.Moscow, which counts Iran as a close ally, has urged for a diplomatic solution and warned military confrontation would be a “global catastrophe.”- Rocky road to reset – Trump has pushed a broad rapprochement with Moscow that has borne some results.On Thursday, Russia freed dual US-Russian ballet dancer Ksenia Karelina from prison in an exchange for suspected tech smuggler Arthur Petrov.Karelina, arrested last January while visiting Russia to see family, was serving a 12-year sentence on “treason” charges after she donated the equivalent of around $50 to a pro-Ukraine charity.Russia will discuss more prisoner swaps with the United States, the head of its foreign intelligence Sergei Naryshkin said Friday.”Dialogue with the new US administration will certainly continue in various directions, including the issue you mentioned,” Naryshkin told reporters when asked about future talks.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that prisoner exchanges helped build “trust, which is much needed” between the two sides after ties deteriorated under former US president Joe Biden.US and Russian delegations also met in Istanbul on Thursday for talks about restoring the functioning of their embassies, which drastically scaled back staffing as the relations between the two nuclear powers cooled off. However, despite a flurry of diplomacy, there has been little meaningful progress on Trump’s main aim for a Ukraine ceasefire. Trump recently told NBC news he was “very angry” and “pissed off” with Putin after he criticised Zelensky’s credibility and called for a transitional external administration to be put in place in Ukraine.  Putin last month rejected a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for a full and unconditional ceasefire.Separate talks in Saudi Arabia last month resulted in the White House saying both sides had agreed to halt aerial strikes on energy targets.But no formal agreement was put in place and both sides have accused the other of continuing such attacks.