Trump | Pakistan

In a rare evening address from the White House, US President Donald Trump boasted on Wednesday of his accomplishments and blamed his Democratic predecessor for soaring consumer prices as his party braces for a tough midterm election next year. “Eleven months ago, I inherited a mess, and I’m fixing it,” Trump said in a speech that lasted less than 20 minutes and was delivered at rapid-fire pace. The Republican president, who regularly complains that he does not get credit for his accomplishments, offered few new policy initiatives to address high costs. Instead, he placed blame at the feet of former president Joe Biden, previous trade deals, immigrants and what he described as a corrupt system. The Republican president, who regularly complains that he does not get credit for his accomplishments, touted his administration’s work this year on a range of issues from reducing border crossings to bringing down prices of some goods. Trump announced his administration would send a “warrior dividend” of $1,776 to 1.45...

United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday expanded a list of countries subject to a full travel ban, prohibiting citizens from an additional seven countries, including Syria, from entering the country. The White House said in a statement that Trump signed a proclamation “expanding and strengthening entry restrictions on nationals from countries with demonstrated, persistent, and severe deficiencies in screening, vetting, and information-sharing to protect the Nation from national security and public safety threats”. Tuesday’s move banned citizens from Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, Syria and those holding Palestinian Authority-issued travel documents. The action also imposes a full ban on Laos and Sierra Leone, which had previously only been subject to partial restrictions. The White House said the expanded ban goes into effect on January 1. The action comes despite Trump’s vow to do everything he could to make Syria successful after landmark talks in November with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sha...

Donald Trump’s top national security officials faced a grilling from lawmakers Tuesday on US strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific — operations that have raised alarms about escalating military force near Venezuela. The House and Senate briefings, led by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, came amid mounting unease in Congress over the president’s widening campaign in waters off Latin America, and as lawmakers weigh measures to curb Trump’s authority to act without their approval. US officials say the operations target narcotics bound for American shores. Critics counter that the campaign — which has destroyed at least 26 boats and killed at least 95 people, according to US military figures — is legally ambiguous and strategically unclear. The classified sessions preceded a possible Senate vote on resolutions aimed at restricting Trump from launching military action against Venezuela without congressional consent. But Senate Democratic Minority Leader C...

US President Donald Trump sued the BBC on Monday for defamation over edited clips of a speech that made it appear he directed supporters to storm the US Capitol, opening an international front in his fight against media coverage he deems untrue or unfair. Trump accused Britain’s publicly owned broadcaster of defaming him by splicing together parts of a January 6, 2021 speech, including one section where he told supporters to march on the Capitol and another where he said “fight like hell”. It omitted a section in which he called for peaceful protest. Trump’s lawsuit alleges the BBC defamed him and violated a Florida law that bars deceptive and unfair trade practices. He is seeking $5 billion in damages for each of the lawsuit’s two counts. The BBC has apologised to Trump, admitted an error of judgment and acknowledged that the edit gave the mistaken impression that he had made a direct call for violent action. But it has said there is no legal basis to sue. Trump, in his lawsuit filed on Monday in Miami feder...

Congressional Democrats released 19 new images from the estate of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Friday, including photos of now-President Donald Trump, as the deadline for an extensive release of documents related to the disgraced financier nears. Trump is featured in three of the photos shared by House Oversight Committee Democrats, who said they are reviewing more than 95,000 images produced by the estate. In one black-and-white photo, Trump is seen smiling with several women — whose faces are redacted — on each side of him. A second image shows Trump standing beside Epstein, and a third, less-clear image shows him seated alongside another woman, whose face is also redacted, with his red tie loosened. It was not clear when or where the photos were taken. “Everybody knew this man,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday. “He was all over Palm Beach. He has photos with everybody. I mean, almost — there are hundreds and hundreds of people that have photos with him. So that’s no ...

A coalition of unions, employers and religious groups filed a lawsuit on Friday seeking to block US President Donald Trump’s bid to impose, open new tab a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas for highly-skilled foreign workers. The lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco is the first to challenge a proclamation Trump issued two weeks ago announcing the fee as the Republican president moves to further restrict immigration to the United States. Plaintiffs include the United Auto Workers union, the American Association of University Professors, a nurse recruitment agency and several religious organisations. They argued that Trump’s power to restrict the entry of certain foreign nationals does not allow him to override the law that created the H-1B visa programme. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson, in a statement, said Trump’s administration engaged in lawful actions “discouraging companies from spamming the system and driving down American wages, while providing certainty to employers who need to bring t...

Thailand’s leader vowed to keep fighting on the disputed border with Cambodia as fighter jets struck targets on Saturday, hours after US President Donald Trump said he had brokered a ceasefire. Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul posted on Facebook that the Southeast Asian nation would “continue to perform military actions until we feel no more harm and threats to our land and people”. Trump, who brokered a ceasefire in the long-running border dispute in October, spoke to Anutin and Cambodian premier Hun Manet on Friday, and said they had agreed to “cease all shooting”. Neither of them mentioned any agreement in statements after their calls with Trump, and Anutin said there was no ceasefire. “I want to make it clear. Our actions this morning already spoke,” Anutin said. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the continued fighting. Hun Manet, in a statement on Saturday on Facebook, said Cambodia continues to seek a peaceful resolution of disputes in line with the October agreem...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he spoke with US President Donald Trump by phone on Thursday, as New Delhi seeks relief from 50 per cent US tariffs on some of the country’s key exports to punish India for its Russian oil purchases. “We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments,” Modi said in a post on X. A White House official confirmed the call took place, but gave no details about what was discussed. Modi and Trump have spoken three times since Trump doubled tariffs on imports from India to as much as 50pc, hitting exports of textiles, chemicals and food items such as shrimp. Modi described his conversation with Trump as “warm and engaging” and said their countries would continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity. Trade negotiations between the two sides collapsed in late July, after India resisted opening its market for US farm products and declined to acknowledge Trump’s role in mediating during a conflict betw...

Renewed fighting raged at the border of Cambodia and Thailand on Thursday, with combat heard near centuries-old temples, ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned phone call to the two nations’ leaders. At least 15 people, including Thai soldiers and Cambodian civilians, have been killed in the reignited border conflict, officials said. More than half a million people, mostly in Thailand, have fled border areas near where jets, tanks and drones have waged battle. The Southeast Asian nations dispute the colonial-era demarcation of their 800-kilometre (500-mile) frontier, where both sides claim a smattering of historic temples. This week’s clashes are the deadliest since five days of fighting in July that killed dozens before a shaky truce was agreed, following intervention by Trump. The US president said he expected to speak on Thursday with the leaders of Thailand and Cambodia to demand a halt to their renewed clashes. “I think I’m scheduled to speak to them tomorrow,” Trump told reporters at the White Hou...

Thailand and Cambodia accused each other of targeting civilians in border attacks on Wednesday, as US President Donald Trump said he would make a phone call to stop the fighting and salvage a ceasefire he brokered in July. The two Southeast Asian nations have each blamed the other for the clashes that started on Monday, and remain at odds on a diplomatic solution to the border tensions that have been simmering for months. Thailand’s foreign minister said in an interview on Tuesday that he saw no potential for negotiations, adding the situation was not conducive to third-party mediation, while a top adviser to Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet told Reuters his country was “ready to talk at any time”. Speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania on Tuesday evening, Trump listed a number of wars that he claimed he helped stop, including between Pakistan and India, and Israel and Iran, before commenting on the renewed conflict in Southeast Asia. “I hate to say this one, named Cambodia–Thailand and it started up today an...

The United States will allow Nvidia’s H200 processors, its second-best artificial intelligence chips, to be exported to China and collect a 25 per cent fee on such sales, US President Donald Trump said on Monday. The decision appears to settle a US debate about whether Nvidia and rivals should maintain their global lead in AI chips by selling to China or withhold the exports, though Beijing has told companies not to use US technology, leaving it unclear whether Trump’s decision would lead to new sales. Nvidia shares rose 2pc in after-hours trading after Trump made the announcement on Truth Social, following a 3pc rise during the day on a report by Semafor. Trump said in his post that he had informed President Xi Jinping of China, where Nvidia’s chips are under government scrutiny, about the move and that he “responded positively.” He said the US Commerce Department was finalising details of the arrangement and the same approach would apply to other AI chip firms such as Advanced Micro Devices and Intel. Trump...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the second phase of a US plan to end Tel Aviv’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza was close, but cautioned several key issues still needed to be resolved, including whether a multinational security force would be deployed. Netanyahu, speaking to reporters alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Jerusalem, said that he would hold important discussions with US President Donald Trump at the end of the month on how to ensure the plan’s second phase was achieved. The prime minister’s office in November said that Trump had invited Netanyahu to the White House “in the near future”, although a date for the visit has not yet been made public. Netanyahu said that he would discuss with Trump how to bring an end to Hamas rule in Gaza. Israel and Hamas entered a ceasefire two months ago, but Israel has continued its bombardment of Gaza, killing Palestinians, as the death toll in the besieged enclave reached over 72,300 as of November 19, 2o25. Gaza’s ...

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...