Trump's promise on new immigration action creates confusion, contradictions

President Donald Trump is promising new executive action on immigration as he returns to the defining issue of his administration. But Trump has offered contradictory and confusing statements about his plans in recent days.
His comments come after the Supreme Court rejected his efforts to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, programme, which protects young immigrants brought to the country as children.
Trump said last month that he would quickly be filing paperwork to address the court's concerns, but has yet to make a move.
The latest confusion about Trump's thinking started with a Telemundo interview earlier this month in which the president said he would soon be signing an immigration bill" a very good bill and merit-based bill and that one of the aspects of the bill is going to be DACA." "We're going to have a road to citizenship, he added.
The problem: No such bill exists to sign and there is zero appetite in Congress to wade into the divisive issue with four months to go before the election and in the middle of a pandemic.
Elsewhere in the interview, Trump said he would instead be signing a big executive order that would include DACA.
But, we put it in, and we'll probably going to then be taking it out. We're working out the legal complexities right now, but I'm going to be signing a very major immigration bill as an executive order," he said.
White House spokesman Judd Deere quickly tried to walk back the meandering comments, saying that Trump was working on an executive order to establish a merit-based immigration system to further protect US workers."
Trump, he added, has long said he is willing to work with Congress on a negotiated legislative solution to DACA" one he said could include citizenship but not "amnesty. Trump apparently did not get the message.

We're going to take care of DACA because I'm going to be doing, in the not-too-distant future, pretty soon I'm going to be signing a new immigration action very, very big merit-based immigration action that, based on the DACA decision, I'll be able to do, he said Tuesday, adding to the confusion.

Donald Trump to make his first visit to India on Feb 24, 25: White House

Current Affairs
US President Donald Trump will embark on a two-day visit to India from February 24 during which he will travel to New Delhi and Ahmedabad to further strengthen the strategic bilateral partnership and highlight the strong and enduring bonds between the American and Indian people, the White House announced on Tuesday.
President Trump will be accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump and they will visit India on February 24–25, White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said.
She said Trump and Modi talked on the telephone over the weekend.
"During a phone call over the weekend, President Trump and Prime Minister Modi agreed the trip would further strengthen the India-US strategic partnership and highlight the strong and enduring bonds between the American and Indian people," she said.
The President and the First Lady will travel to New Delhi and Ahmedabad, which is in Prime Minister Modi's home State of Gujarat and played an important role in Mahatma Gandhi's life and leadership of the Indian independence movement, the White House said.
Trump's predecessor Barack Obama had travelled to India in 2010 and 2015.

"President Trump's trip to India is timely in view of the bilateral trade issues that need to be resolved and in light of the collaborations between the US and India in various realms," M R Rangaswami, Indian-American philanthropist and head of Indiaspora, told PTI.Describing it as a significant visit, Mukesh Aghi, president of the US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum, noted that the last three American presidents had made trips to India....Read More

Donald Trump imposes sanctions on Turkey as Syrian crisis escalates

International News
Protesting Turkey's military offensive into northeast Syria, US President Donald Trump on Monday announced he will authorise sanctions against Turkish officials, raise steel tariffs and end negotiations on a $100 billion trade deal. Turkey launched a cross-border assault on Kurdish fighters on Wednesday after the US decided to withdraw troops from Syria, a move criticised by the Republicans, with some terming it a "betrayal" of the Kurds.
"This (executive) order will enable the US to impose powerful additional sanctions on those who may be involved in serious human rights abuses, obstructing a ceasefire, preventing displaced persons from returning home, forcibly repatriating refugees or threatening the peace, security or stability in Syria," Trump said in a statement.
Turkey's military offensive is endangering civilians and threatening peace, security and stability in the region, he said, adding that he has been perfectly clear with his Turkish counterpart that his action is precipitating a humanitarian crisis and setting conditions for possible war crimes.
"I'm fully prepared to swiftly destroy Turkey's economy if Turkish leaders continue down this dangerous and destructive path," the president said.
Trump said he will be issuing the executive order authorising imposition of sanctions against current and former officials of Turkey and those contributing to destabilising Syria.The order will authorise a broad range of measures, including financial sanctions, the blocking of property, and barring entry into the US, he said, adding that the US will immediately stop negotiations with Turkey on a $100 billion trade deal.

 Steel tariffs will be increased back up to 50 per cent, the level prior to the reduction in May, Trump said....READ MORE

Facebook plans to hire team of editors to help curate your news stories

Current Affairs

Facebook has long relied on algorithms to select news stories for its users to see.Now the social network wants to rely on something else for the same task, too: humans.
Specifically, Facebook plans to hire a team of editors to work on a news initiative called News Tab, which is its latest venture into the world of publishing.
The Silicon Valley company said that journalists would help curate News Tab, a new section inside of the company’s mobile application that will surface the most recent and relevant stories for readers. Facebook said it planned to hire seasoned journalists from various outlets for the roles and would put up job postings on its employment board on Tuesday.
News Tab is part of the company’s effort to highlight real-time journalism and news. It will exist outside of the News Feed, Facebook’s never-ending stream of status updates and friend requests.
“Our goal with the News Tab is to provide a personalized, highly relevant experience for people,” said Campbell Brown, Facebook’s head of news partnerships. “To start, for the Top News section of the tab we’re pulling together a small team of journalists to ensure we’re highlighting the right stories.”

 Facebook has been under pressure for spreading misinformation and disinformation to millions of its users. In 2016, Russian operatives manipulated Facebook and disseminated false news stories across its network to influence the outcome of the American presidential election. On Monday, Facebook also revealed that China was behind Facebook pages and groups that were sowing disinformation about the protests in Hong Kong...Read More

Sarah Sanders to step down as White House press secretary this month: Trump

Company News

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders will step down at the end of the month, President Donald Trump announced Thursday.
Trump making the surprise announcement of her departure hoped that Sanders would run for the Governor of Arkansas State."After 3 1/2 years, our wonderful Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be leaving the White House at the end of the month and going home to the Great State of Arkansas...., Trump said in a tweet.
"She is a very special person with extraordinary talents, who has done an incredible job! I hope she decides to run for Governor of Arkansas - she would be fantastic. Sarah, thank you for a job well done!" tweeted the US president.Sanders (36), only the third woman to serve in the prestigious position, is the daughter of popular GOP politician and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.
Later at a White House event, Trump praised Sanders.
"We've been through a lot together. She's tough, and she's good. You also have tough and bad, right? She's tough but she's good. She's great. And she's going to be leaving the service of her country and she's going to be going - I guess you could say the private sector but I hope she's going she comes from a great state, Arkansas. That's a state I won by a lot, so I like it. We love Arkansas. She's going to be going back to Arkansas with her great family. Her husband is fantastic, Trump said.
The outgoing White House Press Secretary said it was one of the "greatest jobs she could ever have".

 "This has been the honour of a lifetime, the opportunity of a lifetime. I couldn't be prouder to have had the opportunity to serve my country, and particularly to work for this president.

Azhar's listing shows int'l commitment to root terrorism out of Pak: US

International News

The UN declaring Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist demonstrates international commitment to rooting out terrorism in Pakistan and bringing security and stability to South Asia, the Trump administration said Wednesday, expressing hope that Islamabad will take sustained and irreversible action against terror groups operating from its soil.

Welcoming China's decision to lift its hold on the proposal to blacklist the Pakistan-based JeM chief, a senior Trump administration official during a conference call with reporters said after 10 years China has done the right thing by lifting its blockade.

"I think China seems to have understood that it was increasingly important that it's actions on the international stage on terrorism matched it's rhetoric, the White House official said on the condition of anonymity.

Pulwama attack, the official noted was just the latest in the terrorist attacks that this deadly group has conducted.

"Designating Azhar demonstrates international commitment to rooting out terrorism in Pakistan and bringing security and stability to South Asia," the official said, adding that this designation is critically important and it was a long time coming.

This designation, the official said, is in line with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's stated commitment to crackdown on militancy inside Pakistan and his acknowledgment that prosperity and development in Pakistan is contingent on maintaining regional stability.

 So we acknowledged that this designation is a good step forward and we look forward to how Pakistan would use this international designation press forward on its own stated commitment, the official said...Read More