GOP candidate charged:

A Montana Republican running for the US Congress has been charged with assaulting a reporter hours before polls were to open on Thursday for a special election that could test US President Donald Trump’s political clout.

The incident on Wednesday threatened to roil a tightening race in the Republicanleaning state, where a Democratic political novice aimed to pull off a victory in a contest seen as a bellwether for next year’s US congressional elections.

It was not clear what effect the assault charge against Republican technology executive Greg Gianforte would have on the Montana race, where 37 percent of the 699,207 registered voters had already submitted absentee ballots, according to state election officials.

Gianforte was charged with misdemeanor assault after a political correspondent for the US edition of the Guardian newspaper said the candidate had “body-slammed” him during a campaign event in Bozeman. (RTRS)