Trump | Pakistan

President Donald Trump’s envoys were to meet Thursday with Ukrainian negotiators for the third time in two weeks to press his plan to end the war as his administration eased economic pressure on Russia. Two days after the envoys met Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Treasury Department partially suspended measures that Trump had announced in October when he finally vowed to get tough on Moscow. The Treasury Department suspended until at least April 29 economic sanctions against Lukoil-branded gas stations outside of Russia. A ban remains on place to prevent the money from flowing back to Russia, which has been under sweeping US and EU sanctions since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Trump’s sanctions had been one of the most concrete means to pressure Russia, which European diplomats accuse of trying to avoid pressure by pursuing negotiations. Easing isolation Steve Witkoff, Trump’s business partner-turned-roving global ambassador, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, will meet in the M...

The Trump administration on Wednesday announced increased vetting of applicants for H-1B visas for highly skilled workers, with an internal State Department memo saying that anyone involved in “censorship” of free speech be considered for rejection. H-1B visas, which allow US employers to hire foreign workers in speciality fields, are crucial for US tech companies which recruit heavily from countries including India and China. Many of those companies’ leaders threw their support behind Trump in the last presidential election. The cable, sent to all US missions on December 2, orders US consular officers to review resumes or LinkedIn profiles of H-1B applicants – and family members who would be travelling with them – to see if they have worked in areas that include activities such as misinformation, disinformation, content moderation, fact-checking, compliance and online safety, among others. “If you uncover evidence an applicant was responsible for, or complicit in, censorship or attempted censorship of protec...

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday his administration intends to maintain a pause on asylum decisions for “a long time” after an Afghan national allegedly shot two National Guard members near the White House, killing one of them. When asked to specify how long it would last, Trump said he had “no time limit” in mind for the measure, which the Department of Homeland Security says is linked to a list of 19 countries already facing US travel restrictions. “We don’t want those people,” Trump continued. “You know why we don’t want them? Because many have been no good, and they shouldn’t be in our country.” The Trump administration issued the pause in the aftermath of the shooting in Washington on November 26, that left 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom dead and another guardsman critically wounded. A 29-year-old Afghan national, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, has been arrested and charged with first degree murder in connection with the incident. Lakanwal had been part of a CIA-backed “partner force” fighting the Taliban in...

United States President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela should be considered “closed in its entirety”, but gave no further details as Washington ramps up pressure on President Nicolas Maduro’s government. “To all airlines, pilots, drug dealers and human traffickers, please consider the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela to be closed in its entirety,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. Venezuela’s communications ministry, which handles all press inquiries for the government, did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Trump’s post. The US Defence Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. US strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean have been underway for months, along with a US military buildup in the region, and Trump has authorised covert operations by its Central Intelligence Agency in Venezuela. The president told military service members this week that the U.S. would “very soon” begin land operations to stop s...

US President Donald Trump has announced that he is terminating all executive actions, proclamations, and directives issued during the presidency of his predecessor Joe Biden that were signed using a mechanical signature device known as an autopen. According to The Guardian, the autopen, which was patented in the US in 1803, is a robotic device that replicates signatures of a person using real ink. The decision comes amid a broader political offensive, including renewed attacks on immigration and personal criticism of Biden. Trump has often sought to drum up outrage over Biden’s alleged use of autopen to sign pardons, executive orders and other documents — accusing Biden of being too senile to govern while in power. In a post on his social media platform Truth Social on Friday, Trump wrote: “Any document signed by Sleepy Joe Biden with the Autopen, which was approximately 92 per cent of them, is hereby terminated, and of no further force or effect.” “The Autopen is not allowed to be used if approval is not spe...

US President Donald Trump on Thursday unleashed a series of posts on Truth Social that could dramatically reshape US immigration policy, declaring that he will “permanently pause” migration from “all third world countries” and calling for “reverse migration” to remove certain immigrants. “I will permanently pause migration from all third world countries to allow the US system to fully recover. This is necessary because unchecked migration has weakened American society and strained its resources. Until the system stabilises, no new immigrants from these countries will be allowed entry,” Trump wrote. He did not identify any countries by name or give any specifics about what he meant by “permanently pause”. However, his posts signal a sweeping crackdown that could affect millions of residents from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean, and which could also alter refugee, Green Card, and other immigration programmes. The development comes a day after the US government abruptly halted the processing of al...

Two US National Guard soldiers were critically wounded on Wednesday after being shot in a brazen daytime attack a few blocks from the White House, with US President Donald Trump terming the incident an “act of terror”. The incident, which left two Guard members critically wounded, was “an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror,” Trump said. “It was a crime against our entire nation.” He confirmed that the man taken into custody after the daylight shooting two blocks from the White House was “a foreigner who entered our country from Afghanistan”. The suspect had arrived in the United States in 2021 “on those infamous flights,” Trump said, referring to the evacuations of Afghans fleeing as the Taliban took over the country in the wake of the US retreat after 20 years of war. “We must now reexamine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan” under former president Joe Biden, Trump said. “We must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who d...

Ukraine and the US will soon meet in Switzerland to discuss Washington’s plan for ending the war with Russia, Kyiv said Saturday, as it seeks to fix the draft that heeds to some of Moscow’s hardline demands. US President Donald Trump gave Ukraine less than a week to approve the 28-point plan to end the nearly four-year conflict, which would see the invaded country ceding territory, cutting its army, and pledging to never join NATO. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s European allies, who were not included in drafting the agreement, said the plan requires “additional work” as they scrambled at the G20 summit in South Africa to come up with a counter-offer to Trump’s plan to beef up Kyiv’s positions. “In the coming days, consultations will take place with partners regarding the steps needed to end the war,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said, after he issued a decree stating Ukraine’s team for the talks, which will be led by his top aide, Andriy Yermak. “Our representatives know how to defend Ukraine’s national interests and w...

After months of trading insults, US President Donald Trump and incoming New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani smiled at each other, swapped compliments and pledged to collaborate on tackling crime and affordability in the nation’s biggest city at an unexpectedly friendly meeting at the White House on Friday. The political opposites, a Republican billionaire and a young democratic socialist, have clashed over everything from immigration to economic policy. But it was clear the two forged a rapport in their first encounter. Mamdani, a 34-year-old state lawmaker, stood by Trump’s desk as the 79-year-old president smiled up at him and patted him warmly on the arm, having only recently falsely caricatured Mamdani as an anti-Semitic communist, among other jibes. “We agree on a lot more than I would have thought,” Trump said after letting journalists and cameras into the Oval Office at the end of a private meeting with the mayor-elect. “We have one thing in common: We want this city of ours that we love to do very well...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s top security official denied on Friday that he had agreed to a Trump administration peace plan, and European leaders hastily sought a response to a draft that endorses most of Russia’s key wartime demands. Washington has presented Kyiv with a 28-point plan that would require Kyiv to give up additional territory, scale back the size of its military and forever abandon hope of joining the Nato alliance. Ukraine’s European allies said they had not been consulted over the plan and scheduled an urgent phone call to discuss the situation. Britain and Germany said their leaders would take part. Zelensky’s office did not say whether he would join in. US officials said the plan was drafted after consultations with Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, a close Zelensky ally who served as defence minister until July. “This plan was drawn up immediately following discussions with one of the most senior members of President Zelensky’s administ...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was earlier reported to have skipped out on attending an Asean summit to avoid broaching the issue of Pakistan in a possible meeting with United States President Donald Trump, will be attending the G20 summit in South Africa which has been boycotted by the American leader. The Kolkata-based Telegraph reported that Modi had avoided the last two multilateral platforms where the US President was present — the Asean summit in Malaysia and Trump’s Gaza Peace Summit in Egypt — “resulting in speculation that the prime minister was trying to avoid a meeting with the American leader till the India-US trade deal is finalised”. Trump’s administration has said it will not attend the first G20 summit in Africa, alleging that the host country, previously ruled by its white minority apartheid system until 1994, discriminates against white people. The US president has also rejected South Africa’s agenda for the November 22-23 summit of promoting solidarity and helping developing natio...

In fresh comments on the military escalation between Pakistan and Indian in May, United States President Donald Trump has said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif phoned him to say that he had “saved millions”, adding that it took the threat of “350 per cent tariffs” to end the conflict. Tensions between India and Pakistan had flared earlier this year when a deadly terror attack on tourists in occupied Kashmir was blamed on Islamabad, which denied the accusations. The two sides traded a series of tit-for-tat blows that ended in the declaration of a ceasefire by Trump in May, who has since repeatedly talked about his role in ending the military escalation between the two countries. Addressing the US-Saudi Investment Forum on Wednesday, the US president said, “I’m good at settling disputes, and I’ve always been — I’ve done very well with that over the years. View this post on Instagram “India, Pakistan — they were going to go at it, nuclear weapons. I said that’s okay, you can go at it, but I’m putting a 350pc t...

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Saudi Arabia was being designated as a “major, non-Nato ally”. “Tonight, I’m pleased to announce that we’re taking our military cooperation to even greater heights by formally designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-Nato ally, which is something that is very important to them,” Trump said during a formal black-tie dinner at the White House. “And I’m just telling you now for the first time, because they wanted to keep a little secret for tonight,” Trump said of the designation, which only 19 other countries have previously received. View this post on Instagram According to Politico, the other countries in that category include Israel, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar. The status provides a US partner with military and economic privileges but does not entail security commitments. US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June had made Saudi Arabia safer, Trump added. Meanwhile, bin Salman had earlier promised to increase his country’s US investment to $1 trillion from a $600 ...

The United Nations Security Council on Monday voted to adopt a US-drafted resolution endorsing President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza and authorising an international stabilisation force for the Palestinian enclave. Israel and Hamas agreed last month to the first phase of Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza — a ceasefire in their two-year war and a hostage-release deal — but the UN resolution is seen as vital to legitimising a transitional governance body and reassuring countries that are considering sending troops to Gaza. The text of the resolution says member states can take part in the Board of Peace, envisioned as a transitional authority that would oversee the reconstruction and economic recovery of Gaza. It also authorises the International Stabilisation Force (ISF), which would ensure a process of demilitarising Gaza, including by decommissioning weapons and destroying military infrastructure. Trump’s 20-point plan is included as an annexe to the resolution. Russia, which holds a veto on the ...

The United States Justice Department said on Friday it will fulfil President Donald Trump’s request to investigate convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to former Democratic President Bill Clinton and JPMorgan, as Trump sought to shift the focus from his relationship with the convicted sex offender. The move comes two days after a congressional committee released thousands of documents that raised new questions about Trump’s relationship with the late financier, and marks the latest in a series of demands by Trump for federal law enforcement to pursue his perceived political enemies. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Jay Clayton, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, will lead the investigation. The Epstein scandal has been a political thorn in Trump’s side for months, partly because he amplified conspiracy theories about Epstein to his own supporters. Many Trump voters believe Bondi and other Trump officials have covered up Epstein’s ties to powerful figures and obscured details surrounding his deat...

United States President Donald Trump said on Friday that he is considering agreeing to a deal to supply Saudi Arabia with F-35 stealth fighter jets, which are made by Lockheed Martin. “They wanna buy a lot of jets,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “I’m looking at that. They’ve asked me to look at it. They want to buy a lot of ‘35’ — but they want to buy actually more than that, fighter jets.” The potential sale comes as Trump plans to host Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House next week, when they are expected to sign economic and defence agreements. Asked about the talks, Trump told reporters it was “more than meeting, we’re honouring” Saudi Arabia. He repeated that he hoped Saudi Arabia would soon join the Abraham Accords, which have normalised relations between Israel and Muslim-majority nations. Riyadh has resisted such a step absent agreement on a roadmap to Palestinian statehood. A Pentagon intelligence report has raised concerns over the potential F-35 deal, warning that ...

US President Donald Trump said on Friday he would likely sue the BBC next week for as much as $5 billion after the British broadcaster admitted it wrongly edited a video of a speech he gave but insisted there was no legal basis for his claim. The British Broadcasting Corporation has been plunged into its biggest crisis in decades after two senior leaders resigned following accusations of bias, including over the editing of Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the Capitol. Trump’s lawyers had initially set a Friday deadline for the BBC to retract its documentary or face a lawsuit for “no less” than $1bn. They also demanded an apology and compensation for what they called “overwhelming reputational and financial harm,” according to a letter seen by Reuters. The BBC, which has admitted its editing of Trump’s remarks was an “error of judgement,” sent a personal apology to Trump on Thursday but said it would not rebroadcast the documentary and rejected the defamation claim. “We’ll sue the...

United States President Donald Trump said on Friday he wants the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to investigate links between the late alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and former Democratic president Bill Clinton. Seeking to turn the tables after a new trove of Epstein emails reignited questions over his own ties to the disgraced financier, Trump also demanded a probe into US bank JPMorgan Chase, ex-Harvard president Larry Summers and others. Republican Trump accused rival Democrats of “using the Epstein Hoax” to distract from the party’s recent compromise to end a record US government shutdown, and said the scandal involved “Democrats, not Republicans.” “I will be asking AG Pam Bondi, and the Department of Justice, together with our great patriots at the FBI, to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, JP Morgan, Chase and many other people and institutions,” Trump said on Truth Social. “Records show that the...

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed legislation ending the longest government shutdown in US history, roughly two hours after the House of Representatives voted to restart disrupted food assistance, pay hundreds of thousands of federal workers and revive a hobbled air-traffic control system. The Republican-controlled chamber passed the package by a vote of 222-209, with Trump’s support largely keeping his party together in the face of vehement opposition from House Democrats, who are angry that a long standoff launched by their Senate colleagues failed to secure a deal to extend federal health insurance subsidies. Trump’s signature on the bill, which cleared the Senate earlier in the week, will bring federal workers idled by the 43-day shutdown back to their jobs starting as early as Thursday, although just how quickly full government services and operations will resume is unclear. View this post on Instagram It would extend funding through January 30, leaving the federal government on a path to kee...

Democrats released emails on Wednesday in which convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein suggested that United States President Donald Trump was aware of the financier’s sexual abuse and definitely “knew about the girls”. Trump has denied any involvement in or knowledge of the sex-trafficking activities of his former friend, who died by suicide in federal prison in 2019 as he was awaiting trial. But Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said the emails “raise serious questions about Donald Trump and his knowledge of Epstein’s horrific crimes”. The furore around the disgraced financier is still roiling Trump’s administration four months after his Justice Department effectively closed the case, announcing there was no more information to share. Democrats in the House — keen to capitalise on the simmering controversy — have been trying to force a vote that would compel publication of the full Epstein case files. The newly released emails were written to longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted ...