Tag Archives: Donald Trump

South Korean, U.S. Marines tussle in snow in what North brands ‘madcap’ drill

South Korea and US Marines winter drills

By Kim Daewoung

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (Reuters) – South Korean and U.S. Marines are conducting military exercises on ski slopes in sub-freezing temperatures, including shirtless hand-to-hand combat in the snow, prompting warnings of retaliation from North Korea over “madcap mid-winter” drills.

More than 300 Marines are taking part, simulating combat on the ski slopes of Pyeongchang, host of the 2018 Winter Olympics, amid speculation North Korea could be planning another missile test in defiance of U.N. resolutions.

“U.S. Marine Corps and ROK (Republic of Korea) Marine Corps partnered together at every level to build a camaraderie and friendship of the two countries’ militaries but also to increase our proficiency in the event where we have to fight a war together,” U.S. Captain Marcus Carlstrom told reporters.

The training began on Jan. 15 and ends on Feb. 3 in Pyeongchang, about 180 km (115 miles) east of Seoul.

About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea in joint defense against North Korea, which is under U.N. sanctions over a series of nuclear and missile tests and which regularly threatens to destroy the South and the United States.

Poverty-stricken, reclusive North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

James Mattis, in his confirmation hearing as U.S. defense secretary, described “the Pacific theater” as a priority and analysts expect new U.S. military spending under President Donald Trump to strengthen the U.S. presence in Asia.

Topping U.S. concerns in the region are North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs and China’s military moves in the South China Sea.

North Korean media was dismissive of the exercises, but warned of retaliation.

“The colonial puppet forces, no more than a rabble, are keen on escalating the tension and the moves to ignite a war at a time when even their American master is at a loss how to cope with the DPRK’s powerful nuclear deterrent,” North Korea’s Minju Joson newspaper, quoted by the KCNA news agency, said.

“… If the south Korean warmongers ignite a war against the DPRK, totally counting on the U.S., the revolutionary forces of the DPRK will wipe out the aggressors to the last man by fully displaying their tremendous might …”

DPRK stands for Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.

Acting South Korean President Hwang Kyo-ahn said on Monday the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile defense system should not be delayed in the face of the growing North Korean nuclear missile threat. [nL4N1FD1A3]

South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo said on Friday North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles were “a direct and substantive threat” and ordered thorough military readiness, Yonhap News Agency said.

(Additional reporting by Nataly Pak in Seoul; Writing by Hyunyoung Yi and Nick Macfie; Editing by Paul Tait)

NATO, Russia and trade top the agenda for Trump talks with Britain’s May

Theresa May before meeting Donald Trump

By Steve Holland and Elizabeth Piper

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May, who share an unusual bond as the products of anti-establishment uprisings, will sit down on Friday for what could be a difficult search for unity on NATO, Russia and trade.

The meeting will mark Trump’s first with a foreign leader since taking power a week ago, and it could go a long way toward determining how crucial Trump considers the traditional “special relationship” between the two countries.

Trump rode an anti-Washington wave to win on Nov. 8, and May gained power in July after the “Brexit” vote that has put her country on a path to separate from the European Union. The meeting will conclude with a joint White House news conference.

Trump has declared NATO obsolete and expressed a desire for warmer ties with Russia. May considers the trans-Atlantic alliance crucial and is skeptical of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

They both want to begin work on a bilateral trade agreement, which for May would provide proof of stability amid the Brexit breakup and for Trump would support his belief that he can negotiate one-on-one trade pacts.

“They both need this to be a success,” said Heather Conley, a European expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.

Trump, she said, “needs to demonstrate that he has a command of issues” while May “needs to hear strong messages of support for her vision of a Britain that works for everyone, a global Britain.”

May, in a speech to Republican lawmakers gathered in Philadelphia on Thursday, suggested she saw the need for some reforms in NATO and for more countries to pay more to the alliance to help fund it, which has been Trump’s main complaint about NATO.

“America’s leadership role in NATO – supported by Britain – must be the central element around which the alliance is built,” May said.

But she said that EU nations “must step up” to ensure NATO remains the cornerstone of the West’s defense.

Trump and May also seem somewhat at odds over how to deal with Russia. In her speech, May said Western leaders should “engage but beware” of Putin and should not accept Putin’s claim that Eastern Europe is now in his sphere of influence.Trump, on the other hand, wants a strong U.S. relationship with Russia to fight Islamic State militants.

“I don’t know Putin, but if we can get along with Russia, that’s a great thing,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity” on Thursday. “It’s good for Russia, it’s good for us.”

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Trump’s hopes for Syria safe zones may force decision on Assad

displace Syrian boy in refugee camp

By Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s push to create safe zones in Syria could force him to make some risky decisions about how far to go to protect refugees, including shooting down Syrian or Russian aircraft or committing thousands of U.S. troops, experts said.

Trump said on Wednesday he “will absolutely do safe zones in Syria” for refugees fleeing violence. According to a document seen by Reuters, he is expected in the coming days to order the Pentagon and the State Department to draft a plan to create such zones in Syria and nearby nations.

The document did not spell out what would make a safe zone “safe” and whether it would protect refugees only from threats on the ground – such as jihadist fighters – or whether Trump envisions a no-fly zone policed by America and its allies.

If it is a no-fly zone, without negotiating some agreement with Russia Trump would have to decide whether to give the U.S. military the authority to shoot down Syrian or Russian aircraft if they posed a threat to people in that zone, which his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, refused to do.

“This essentially boils down to a willingness to go to war to protect refugees,” said Jim Phillips, a Middle East expert at the Heritage Foundation think-tank in Washington, noting Russia’s advanced air defenses.

Trump promised during his campaign to target jihadists from Islamic State, and he has sought to avoid being dragged deeper into Syria’s conflict – raising the question of whether he might be satisfied by assurances, perhaps from Moscow, that neither Russian nor Syrian jets would target the zone.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Trump did not consult with Russia and warned that the consequences of such a plan “ought to be weighed up.”

“It is important that this (the plan) does not exacerbate the situation with refugees,” he said.

Phillips and other experts, including former U.S. officials, said many refugees would not be satisfied by assurances from Moscow, while any deal with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who also is backed by Iran, might not go over well with America’s Arab allies.

The Pentagon declined comment on Thursday, saying no formal directive to develop such plans had been handed down yet, and some U.S. military officials appeared unaware of the document before seeing it described in the media on Wednesday.

“Our department right now is tasked with one thing in Syria, and that is to degrade and defeat ISIS,” said Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.

TENS OF THOUSANDS OF TROOPS

Trump’s call for a plan for safe zones is part of a larger directive expected to be signed in coming days that includes a temporary ban on most refugees to the United States and a suspension of visas for citizens of Syria and six other Middle Eastern and African countries deemed to pose a terrorism threat.

During and after the presidential campaign, Trump called for no-fly zones to harbor Syrian refugees as an alternative to allowing them into the United States. Trump accused the Obama administration of failing to screen Syrian immigrants entering the United States to ensure they had no militant ties.

Any safe zone in Syria guaranteed by the United States would almost certainly require some degree of U.S. military protection. Securing the ground alone would require thousands of troops, former U.S. officials and experts say.

Anthony Cordesman, a military expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, cautioned that a safe zone inside Syria could become a diplomatic albatross that would force a Trump administration to juggle a host of ethnic and political tensions in Syria indefinitely.

Other experts said jihadists could be attracted to the zone, either to carry out attacks that would embarrass the United States or to use the zone as a safe haven where militants could regroup.

Such a zone also would be expensive, given the need to house, feed, educate and provide medical care to the refugees.

“I think these people really have no idea what it takes to support 25,000 people, which is really a small number, in terms of the (internally displaced) and refugees” in Syria, Cordesman said.

The draft document gave no details on what would constitute a safe zone, where one might be set up and who would defend it.

Jordan, Turkey and other neighboring countries already host millions of Syrian refugees. The Turkish government pressed Obama, without success, to create a no-fly zone on Syria’s border with Turkey but now is at odds with Washington over its support for Kurdish fighters in Syria.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; additional reporting by Rodrigo Campos; editing by John Walcott and Cynthia Osterman)

Health insurers quietly shape Obamacare replacement with fewer risks

fed forms for applying for health insurance through affordable care act aka obamacare

By Caroline Humer and Susan Cornwell

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. health insurers are making their case to Republican lawmakers over how Americans sign up for individual insurance and pushing for other changes to shape the replacement of former President Barack Obama’s national healthcare law.

The health insurers, including Independence Blue Cross and Molina Healthcare Inc, are also recommending ways to put more control over insurance in the hands of states as the federal oversight of Obamacare is dismantled. They emphasize that it is crucial to keep government subsidies for low income people.

These changes, described by executives, high level officials in the health insurance sector and lawmakers in nearly a dozen interviews with Reuters, include pushing for more strict enforcement of eligibility for these plans.

Because Republicans are just starting to work with the new Trump administration and the debate is fluid, it is not clear ultimately what changes will take hold. But some of these ideas have started to surface in early Republican legislation, such as a co-sponsored bill from Maine Senator Susan Collins that would keep subsidies.

The moves underscore that private insurers are quietly working on how to benefit under the Trump administration, which is focusing on deregulation in healthcare, energy and manufacturing. And they show that insurers want to save aspects of Obamacare individual plans, but cut down on the risk to their own bottom lines and any hikes in premiums that threaten the viability of this insurance market.

This market for individual insurance covers about 10 million people and is small compared to the employer-based system that covers more than 160 million Americans and the government-paid programs for over 120 million people.

But it is one that insurers have described as having growth potential. While Obamacare cut the uninsured rate to 11 percent, there are still millions of uninsured Americans. The largest U.S. insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc told investors recently that it sees opportunities in new state-based markets and is talking to policymakers.

Many investors believe that the Republican deregulation push with Trump will benefit insurers.

“Clearly they support the private insurers and the role that they are going to play in any sort of new market,” said Jeff Jonas, a portfolio manager at Gamco Investors in Rye, New York, which he said owns the publicly traded insurers.

INFLUENCING WHAT “REPLACE” LOOKS LIKE

President Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to repeal Obama’s national healthcare law on his first day in office. He and Republicans have not presented an agreed upon replacement plan, but key issues they are expected to address include the law’s requirements for individuals to have insurance.

Insurers’ main “ask” takes into account replacement plans under discussion in Congress, and largely assumes that government funds will continue to subsidize health benefits, at least for the next two to three years.

Daniel Hilferty, CEO of Independence Blue Cross in Pennsylvania, told Reuters that he advocated tightening the rules around signing up for insurance outside of the open enrollment period, and tight control of which third parties are allowed to pay premiums for patients.

Independence is part of a nationwide network of Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees such as Anthem Inc and has enrolled more than 300,000 consumers in individual plans.

Hilferty’s requests, echoed by other people in the industry who did not want to be named, are similar to demands the industry made of Obama. Enrollment outside of the regular period – and third-party groups that keep poorer, sicker patients in the private market by paying their premiums – has helped lead to hundreds of millions of dollars in losses for insurers and pushed three of the nation’s largest players out of the Obamacare market.

In addition, Independence is also asking for a bigger role in signing up new customers who want to buy individual plans. Insurers sell plans both on the exchanges and off the exchanges, but subsidized plans are currently mostly sold on the government run HealthCare.gov and on state-run websites in a dozen states.

“It would be really helpful if we in the industry played a more significant role in the actual enrollment process,” Hilferty said.

Trump signed an executive order on Friday directing the federal government to scale back regulations, taxes and penalties related to the law. But the directive did not change the priorities outlined to Reuters by the insurers and industry sources, they said.

FOCUS ON THE MANDATE, COST SHARING

Insurers have built their list of top priorities assuming in part that Republicans will try to overturn the existing individual mandate, which requires Americans to pay a fee if they do not have insurance. A replacement plan would need to include some type of bonus to entice healthy people to get insurance.

That, they say, would be a step towards a good mix of sick and healthy people that will keep the plans profitable. Ideas include creating high-risk pools to keep the very sick in a separate market and offering low prices to the young and healthy.

Without a punishment for not buying insurance that is like the individual mandate, the market can’t survive, according to Dr. J. Mario Molina, Chief Executive Officer of Molina Healthcare Inc, a company that provides Medicaid for the poor and individual insurance plans on the exchanges.

“It probably needs to be a combination of both an incentive and a penalty,” Molina said.

Insurers also want to keep the cost-sharing subsidies that have made healthcare costs affordable for millions of people as well as the premium subsidies that help to reduce the monthly cost for people with low incomes. Those subsidies are part of a court case filed last year that is on hold.

“If it’s free or close to free, you are more likely to sign up in the absence of the mandate,” said Dan Mendelson, CEO of Avalere Health, a research group and consultant that advises health insurers and is part of Inovalon Holdings.

Insurers also want continued premium subsidies, skewed to keep up enrollment of younger people.

“I think if you don’t have the subsidies, then the whole thing falls apart,” said Molina.

(Reporting by Caroline Humer; additional reporting by Susan Cornwell in Washington D.C.; editing by Edward Tobin)

U.S. government scientists go ‘rogue’ in defiance of Trump

national park in south dakota

By Steve Gorman

(Reuters) – Employees from more than a dozen U.S. government agencies have established a network of unofficial “rogue” Twitter feeds in defiance of what they see as attempts by President Donald Trump to muzzle federal climate change research and other science.

Seizing on Trump’s favorite mode of discourse, scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA and other bureaus have privately launched Twitter accounts – borrowing names and logos of their agencies – to protest restrictions they view as censorship and provide unfettered platforms for information the new administration has curtailed.

“Can’t wait for President Trump to call us FAKE NEWS,” one anonymous National Park Service employee posted on the newly opened Twitter account @AltNatParkService. “You can take our official twitter, but you’ll never take our free time!”

The @RogueNASA account displayed an introductory disclaimer describing it as “The unofficial ‘Resistance’ team of NASA. Not an official NASA account.” It beckoned readers to follow its feed “for science and climate news and facts. REAL NEWS, REAL FACTS.”

The swift proliferation of such tweets by government rank-and-file followed internal directives several agencies involved in environmental issues have received since Trump’s inauguration requiring them to curb their dissemination of information to the public.

Last week, Interior Department staff were told to stop posting on Twitter after an employee re-tweeted posts about relatively low attendance at Trump’s swearing-in, and about how material on climate change and civil rights had disappeared from the official White House website.

Employees at the EPA and the departments of Interior, Agriculture and Health and Human Services have since confirmed seeing notices from the new administration either instructing them to remove web pages or limit how they communicate to the public, including through social media.

The restrictions have reinforced concerns that Trump, a climate change skeptic, is out to squelch federally backed research showing that emissions from fossil fuel combustion and other human activities are contributing to global warming.

The resistance movement gained steam on Tuesday when a series of climate change-related tweets were posted to the official Twitter account of Badlands National Park in South Dakota, administered under the Interior Department, but were soon deleted.

A Park Service official later said those tweets came from a former employee no longer authorized to use the official account and that the agency was being encouraged to use Twitter to post public safety and park information only, and to avoid national policy issues.

Within hours, unofficial “resistance” or “rogue” Twitter accounts began sprouting up, emblazoned with the government logos of the agencies where they worked, the list growing to at least 14 such sites by Wednesday afternoon.

An account dubbed @ungaggedEPA invited followers to visit its feeds of “ungagged news, links, tips and conversation that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is unable to tell you,” adding that it was “Not directly affiliated with @EPA.”

U.S. environmental employees were soon joined by similar “alternative” Twitter accounts originating from various science and health agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Weather Service. Many of their messages carried Twitter hashtags #resist or #resistance.

An unofficial Badlands National Park account called @BadHombreNPS also emerged (a reference to one of Trump’s more memorable campaign remarks about Mexican immigrants) to post material that had been scrubbed from the official site earlier.

Because the Twitter feeds were set up and posted to anonymously as private accounts, they are beyond the control of the government.

(By Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Young girl who tweeted from Aleppo asks Trump to help Syrian children

Aleppo's tweeting girl tweets to Donald Trump asking for help for children in syrian civil war

LONDON (Reuters) – The seven-year-old Syrian girl who gained a global following last year with her Twitter updates from Aleppo has written an open letter to U.S. President Donald Trump asking him to help other children her war-torn country.

Bana Alabed drew some 363,000 followers after she joined the micro-blogging site in September where she uploaded messages and pictures of daily life in Aleppo on the @AlabedBana handle, an account managed by her mother Fatemah.

Last month, the young girl and her family were evacuated from the rebel-held eastern part of the city following a government offensive. They arrived in Turkey, where they met President Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey has supported rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

On her own @FatemahAlabed Twitter account, Fatemah posted a picture of the handwritten letter where the young girl introduces herself to Trump as “part of the Syrian children who suffered from the Syrian war”.

“…Can you please save the children and people of Syria? You must do something for the children of Syria because they are like your children and deserve peace like you,” the letter reads. “If you promise me you will do something for the children of Syria, I am already your new friend.”

Britain’s BBC quoted Fatemah as saying Bana penned the letter before Trump’s inauguration last Friday.

In the letter, Bana also talks about losing friends in the nearly-six-year conflict and her new life outside Syria.

“Right now in Turkey, I can go out and enjoy. I can go to school although I didn’t yet. That is why peace is important for everyone including you,” she said.

“However, millions of Syrian children are not like me right now and suffering in different parts of Syria. They are suffering because of adult people.”

On Wednesday, Trump said he “will absolutely do safe zones in Syria” for refugees fleeing violence, without giving further details. His comments came after Russia, Turkey and Iran on Tuesday backed a shaky truce between Syria’s warring parties.

(Reporting By Eleanor Whalley and Marie-Louise Gumuchian Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)

Germany condemns Israel’s plans for more settlement homes on occupied land

Israeli settlement

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany, in unusually strong criticism of Israel, said on Wednesday plans to build 2,500 more settlement homes in the Israeli-occupied West Bank put in doubt Israel’s stated commitment to a two-state solution with the Palestinians.

Israel announced the plans on Tuesday in the second such declaration since U.S. President Donald Trump took office signaling he could be more accommodating toward such projects than his predecessor Barack Obama.

Martin Schaefer, a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry, said the announcement went “beyond what we have seen on it in the last few months both in terms of its scale and its political significance”.

He said the German government doubted whether the Israeli government still stood by its official goal of a peace agreement under which Palestinians would get a state in territory now occupied by Israel and co-exist peacefully with it.

If Israel were to move away from this goal, the basis of the whole Middle East peace process would be thrown into question, Schaefer added. The last round of U.S.-brokered peace talks collapsed in 2014.

The European Union has also warned that Israel’s settlement plans threaten to undermine the chances of peace with the Palestinians.

Germany went to great lengths to make amends for the Nazi era genocide of Jews, including establishing strong relations with Israel, which now considers Germany to be among its most important European allies.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told parliament on Wednesday to expect more announcements on settlement-building and earlier this week told senior ministers that there were no more restrictions on construction.

“We can build where we want and as much as we want,” an official quoted Netanyahu as telling the ministers.

Most countries consider settlements illegal and an obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peace, as they reduce and fragment the territory Palestinians need for a viable state.

Israel disagrees, citing biblical, historical and political connections to the land – which the Palestinians also assert – as well as security interests.

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke in Berlin and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem; writing by Michelle Martin; editing by Mark Heinrich)

Trump says he will order ‘safe zones’ for Syria

displaced Syrian woman

By Julia Edwards Ainsley and Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he “will absolutely do safe zones in Syria” for refugees fleeing violence in the war-torn country.

Saying Europe had made a tremendous mistake by admitting millions of refugees from Syria and other Middle Eastern trouble spots, Trump told ABC News in an interview: “I don’t want that to happen here.”

“I’ll absolutely do safe zones in Syria for the people,” he added, without giving details.

According to a document seen by Reuters on Wednesday, Trump is expected to order the Pentagon and the State Department in coming days to craft a plan for setting up the “safe zones,” a move that could risk escalation of U.S. military involvement in Syria’s civil war.

The draft executive order awaiting Trump’s signature signaled the new administration was preparing a step that Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, long resisted, fearing the potential for being pulled deeper into the bloody conflict and the threat of clashes between U.S. and Russian warplanes over Syria.

“The Secretary of State, in conjunction with the Secretary of Defense, is directed within 90 days of the date of this order to produce a plan to provide safe areas in Syria and in the surrounding region in which Syrian nationals displaced from their homeland can await firm settlement, such as repatriation or potential third-country resettlement,” the draft order said.

Creation of safe zones could ratchet up U.S. military involvement in Syria and mark a major departure from Obama’s more cautious approach. Increased U.S. or allied air power would be required if Trump chooses to enforce “no fly” restrictions, and ground forces might also be needed to protect civilians in those areas.

Still, the document gave no details on what would constitute a safe zone, exactly where they might be set up and who would defend them. Jordan, Turkey and other neighboring countries already host millions of Syrian refugees. The Turkish government had long pressed Obama, without success, for creation of a no-fly zone in Syria on its border with Turkey.

The draft raised the possibility of establishing those safe havens in neighboring countries but did not elaborate.

Trump’s call for a plan for safe zones is part of a larger directive expected to be signed in coming days that includes a temporary ban on most refugees to the United States and a suspension of visas for citizens of Syria and six other Middle Eastern and African countries deemed to pose a terrorism threat.

It represents a modified version of the blanket ban on Muslims entering the United States that Trump initially advocated on the campaign trail last year, sparking criticism from human rights groups and across the U.S. political spectrum.

REPUBLICANS HAVE CALLED FOR SAFE ZONES

U.S. military officials had long warned that the creation of no-fly zones inside Syria would require a large number of additional resources beyond the fight against Islamic State and it would be difficult to ensure that jihadist insurgents did not infiltrate those areas amid the chaos of Syria’s civil war.

Some Republican lawmakers have advocated the creation of such zones, especially to protect civilians fleeing the conflict against attacks by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

During and after the presidential campaign, Trump called for no-fly zones to harbor Syrian refugees as an alternative to allowing them into the United States. Trump accused the Obama administration of failing to properly screen Syrian immigrants entering the United States to ensure they had no militant ties.

Obama’s aides have insisted the vetting was meticulous and none of the Syrian refugees allowed in have been implicated in any attacks.

On the campaign trail, Trump gave no details as to how he might go about creating such havens, except to say that he would ask Gulf states to help pay.

“All the questions of setting up a safe zone are still there,” a U.S. official said. “If you’re going to declare a safe zone, there’s a lot of other things” that would have to be analyzed and put in place before it becomes feasible.

Among the biggest questions would be how to avoid confrontations with Russian forces in Syria helping keep Assad in power.

Under the broader executive order, which the draft document says is intended to “protect the American people from terrorist attacks by foreign nationals,” Trump would impose a 30-day suspension of the entry of immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The temporary halt is aimed at giving the homeland security secretary, the secretary of state and the director of national intelligence enough time to determine what information is needed from each country to ensure visas are not issued to individuals that pose a national security threat, according to the draft.

Countries that do not provide adequate information about their nationals will be required to do so within 60 days or risk being blocked from entering the United States. That would exclude diplomatic visas, NATO visas and visas for travel to the United Nations.

It would also suspend the overall U.S. refugee program for 120 days so the government can study the process and determine if additional checks are necessary, but that could be waived on a case-by-case basis. It would completely stop refugee processing of Syrians until “I have determined that sufficient changes have been made” to the refugee program to ensure “its alignment with national interest,” the draft said.

(Additional reporting by Mica Rosengberg, Phil Stewart, Yara Bayoumy, Jonathan Landay, Eric Beech and Warren Strobel; Editing by James Dalgleish and Peter Cooney)

Trump expected to launch measures to curb illegal immigration

boy watching U.S. workers

By Julia Edwards Ainsley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to begin signing executive orders aimed at curbing illegal immigration on Wednesday, beginning with a directive to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico and another to boost personnel needed to crack down on illegal immigrants, congressional aides with knowledge of the plan told Reuters.

In the coming days, Trump is expected to limit the number of refugees admitted to the United States to 50,000 a year, down from 100,000, and to impose a temporary ban on most refugees.

Trump, who took office last Friday, will begin signing the orders at the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday. On Twitter on Tuesday night, Trump reiterated his promise to build the border wall, which was a cornerstone of his presidential campaign and which he has promised to make Mexico pay for.

The border enforcement order includes plans to hire 5,000 more U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents used to apprehend migrants at the border and to triple the number of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents used to arrest and deport migrants living in the United States illegally.

The Customs and Border Protection agency has already struggled to meet its hiring mandate, with a little more than 19,000 agents on the payroll, out of a congressionally mandated 21,000.

Immigration enforcement away from the border is also expected to be strengthened by seeking an end to “sanctuary cities” where local law enforcement officials refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

Trump will call for an end to this practice and may instruct the federal government to stop providing certain funds to cities that refuse to comply.

Later in the week, Trump is expected to suspend the issuing of visas to people from countries where it is deemed that adequate screening cannot occur. Immigration experts expect those countries to include Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Libya and Yemen.

A review will be conducted by the Trump administration to determine what screening must occur before travel for citizens from such countries can resume.

(Reporting by Julia Edwards Ainsley; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Franklin Paul and Frances Kerry)

Israel plans more than 2,500 new settler homes to start Trump era

Palestinian man next to Israeli settlement

By Ori Lewis

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel announced plans on Tuesday for 2,500 more settlement homes in the occupied West Bank, the second such declaration since U.S. President Donald Trump took office signaling he could be more accommodating toward such projects than his predecessor.

A statement from the Israeli Defence Ministry, which administers lands Israel captured in a 1967 war, said the decision was meant to fulfil demand for new housing “to maintain regular daily life”.

Most of the construction, it said, would be in existing settlement blocs that Israel intends to keep under any future peace agreement with the Palestinians. However, a breakdown provided by the prime minister’s office showed large portions of the planned homes would be outside existing blocs.

Trump spoke by phone on Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On Tuesday, the new president’s chief spokesman refrained from stating a position on the settlement announcement but said the two leaders would discuss settlement building when they meet in Washington next month.

Asked whether Trump supports the latest settlement announcement, White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters: “Israel continues to be a huge ally of the United States. He wants to grow closer with Israel.” Pressed again on the issue, he said: “We’ll have a conversation with the prime minister.”

The muted response from the Trump White House, which has promised an approach more aligned with Israel’s government, was a clear departure from Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, whose aides routinely criticized settlement construction plans.

U.N. Middle East envoy Nikolay Mladenov is due to brief the U.N. Security Council behind closed doors on Wednesday at the request of council member Bolivia, diplomats said.

About 350,000 settlers live in the West Bank and a further 200,000 in East Jerusalem, which Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East war. Beyond the major blocs, most of which are close to the border with Israel, there are more than 100 settlement outposts scattered across hilltops in the West Bank.

Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the Israeli announcement and said it would have “consequences”. The West Bank and East Jerusalem are home to more than 2.6 million Palestinians.

“The decision will hinder any attempt to restore security and stability, it will reinforce extremism and terrorism and will place obstacles in the path of any effort to start a peace process that will lead to security and peace,” he said.

Palestinians want the West Bank and Gaza Strip for an independent state, with its capital in East Jerusalem. Israeli troops and settlers withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

OBSTACLE TO PEACE

The European Union said Israel’s settlement plans “further seriously undermine the prospects for a viable two-state solution”.

Most countries consider settlements illegal and an obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peace as they reduce and fragment the territory Palestinians need for a viable state.

Israel disagrees, citing biblical, historical and political connections to the land – which the Palestinians also assert – as well as security interests.

During the U.S. election campaign, Trump indicated he would dispense with Obama’s opposition to settlement building, a stance that delighted Netanyahu’s government. He was sworn in on Friday.

On Sunday, Israel announced plans for hundreds of new homes in East Jerusalem, and the right-wing Netanyahu told senior ministers he was lifting restrictions on settlement construction across the board.

“We can build where we want and as much as we want,” an official quoted Netanyahu as telling the ministers.

Following Tuesday’s announcement, the prime minister’s office listed some of the West Bank areas scheduled for new construction. Not all were in settlement blocs.

“I have agreed with the defense minister to build 2,500 new homes in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) – we are building and will continue to build,” Netanyahu wrote in a tweet. Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman is himself a settler.

The Defence Ministry statement said 100 of the new homes would be in Beit El, a settlement which has received funding from the family of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, now a White House adviser.

David Friedman, Trump’s choice for ambassador to Israel and a staunch supporter of settlers, has served as president of the American Friends of Beit El, a group that raises funds for the settlement.

(Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, Matt Spetalnick in Washington and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; writing by Ori Lewis; editing by Mark Heinrich, Howard Goller and Andrew Hay)