| In early morning or late-night tweets and in speeches, Trump has lambasted automakers, airlines, retailers and health insurers, often knocking down their share prices. But Reuters interviews with nearly a dozen executives and lobbyists who have taken part in or have been briefed on in-person meetings with Trump reveal a different side of the president. North Korea’s advancing nuclear capabilities have prompted influential Japanese lawmakers to push harder for Japan to develop the ability to strike preemptively at Pyongyang’s missile facilities. Today, two House of Representatives committees will begin negotiating over changes to a Republican plan backed by President Donald Trump that dismantles key provisions of former President Barack Obama’s signature 2010 Affordable Care Act. Insurers have questioned the assumptions underlying “Trumpcare” and claims that it would reduce premiums, while some experts said it would push younger, healthier people to forgo coverage. WikiLeaks on Tuesday published what it said were thousands of pages of internal CIA discussions about hacking techniques used over several years. The discussion transcripts showed that CIA hackers could get into Apple Inc iPhones, Google Inc Android devices and other gadgets in order to capture text and voice messages before they were encrypted using apps like WhatsApp and Signal. Cyber security experts disagreed about the extent of the fallout from the data dump, but said a lot would depend on whether WikiLeaks followed through on a threat to publish the actual hacking tools, which could do damage. U.S. and Iraqi officials believe the leader of Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has left operational commanders behind with diehard followers to fight the battle of Mosul, and is now hiding out in the desert, focusing mainly on his own survival. On International Women’s Day
A cameraman films a statue of a girl facing the Wall St. Bull, as part of a campaign by U.S. fund manager State Street to push companies to put women on their boards, in the financial district in New York, U.S., March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid A U.S. official told Reuters on Monday that multiple fast-attack vessels from the Revolutionary Guard had come within 600 yards (550 meters) of the USNS Invincible, a tracking ship, forcing it to change direction in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday. But an Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander was quoted as saying the U.S. Navy ship changed course toward the Iranian vessels, and issued a warning. Gunmen dressed as medics stormed a hospital in the Afghan capital and battled security forces for hours on Wednesday, killing at least three people and wounding dozens in an attack claimed by Islamic State. Business A government watchdog group, Public Citizen, said it will ask lawmakers to investigate whether billionaire investor Carl Icahn should have been subject to lobbying disclosure laws when he advised President Donald Trump to overhaul the U.S. biofuels program. German carmaker Volkswagen is not open to merger talks with Italian rival Fiat Chrysler, Chief Executive Matthias Mueller said, rebuffing an overture from FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne. “We have other problems,” Mueller added. Airbus is considering doing away with one of the hallmarks of its A380 superjumbo, a "grand staircase" echoing the era of cruise ships, as it looks to revive sales of the world's largest airliner, industry sources said. China unexpectedly posted its first trade gap in three years in February as a construction boom pushed imports much higher than expected and as increasing U.S. protectionist rhetoric casts a spotlight on the export giant's trade position. | 