by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : US President Donald Trump has declined to apologise for his campaign-era proposal to ban all Muslims from the America, saying “there’s nothing to apologise for”, the media reported.
“There’s no reason to apologize,” Trump said on Monday during a joint news conference alongside the Nigerian President when asked if he would apologise for his call during the 2016 presidential campaign for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the US.
“There’s nothing to apologize for. We have to have strong immigration laws to protect our country.”
Trump’s refusal to apologise for or rescind his calls during the 2016 campaign for banning all Muslims from entering the United States has been repeatedly cited during court cases concerning the travel ban he put in place last year, reports CNN.
Trump said he did not believe an apology would change the course of the legal case.
He continued to slam current US immigration laws during the conference on Monday.
“Our immigration laws in this country are a total disaster. They’re laughed at all over the world.”
He also derided the laws as “weak”, “pathetic” and “obsolete”.
“Just look at our southern border and look at our weak and obsolete immigration laws. And they are obsolete and they are weak and they are pathetic,” Trump said.
“And there’s no country in the world that has laws like we do and they’ve got to change and they’ve got to change now for the safety of our country.”
Trump’s comment came as he discussed loopholes in US immigration laws that he said can be exploited by terrorists and traffickers, CNN reported.
The Prseident said his administration is closely monitoring developments involving the caravan and has previously pledged to keep any migrants from entering the US illegally.
The latest iteration of Trump’s travel ban is now before the US Supreme Court, which last week heard oral arguments in the case.
During the arguments, several justices pressed the government on Trump’s campaign promise to ban Muslims from the US.
The US solicitor general, Noel Francisco, argued that campaign statements “should be out of bounds”.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Tehran : Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday warned his US counterpart Donald Trump that abandoning a nuclear deal that the Tehran government signed with world powers in 2015 would lead to “serious consequences”.
Speaking live on television, Rouhani said his government had kept its end of the deal and warned Trump not to tear up the agreement, which had also been signed by Russia, China, Germany, the UK and France.
“I am telling those in the White House that if they do not live up to their commitments, the Iranian government will react firmly,” Rouhani said.
“If anyone betrays the deal, they should know that they would face severe consequences,” he added.
Trump has said that unless the US’ European allies put right what he has described as “terrible flaws” in the deal by May 12, his government would re-establish economic sanctions on Iran, dealing the pact a major blow, Xinhua news agency reported.
Rouhani stressed that Iran was complying with the deal, as has been confirmed a dozen times by the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose Director General Yukiya Amano said in March that a possible failure of the agreement would be a great loss.
French President Emmanuel Macron was in Washington in an attempt to try and persuade Trump not to walk away from the accord.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday he had agreed with his Chinese counterpart that Moscow and Beijing would try to block any US attempt to wreck the nuclear deal.
Iran has said it would ramp up its nuclear programme if the deal collapses.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Tehran : Iranian Petroleum Minister said here on Monday that Tehran will use all capacity to thwart the US President Donald Trump’s attempts to hurt the country’s economy.
Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said “we would do anything needed to counter Trump” in case he decides to reimpose sanctions on Iran, Xinhua reported.
Iran waits for Trump’s decisions on May 12 and would accordingly react to the US policies, he said, adding that “we do not exclude any option”.
Zanganeh made the remarks on the sidelines of a ceremony for signing an energy contract, referring to Trump’s possible decision to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal.
Trump had said that he would not extend waivers under the deal reached between Iran and six major world powers in 2015 and implemented in January 2016.
He has constantly criticized the pact in which the West promised to relieve sanctions on Tehran in exchange for a halt in Iran’s efforts to develop nuclear weapons.
Under the deal, the US President must sign a waiver suspending the US sanctions on Iran every 120 days.
The United States is the only side that has threatened to scrap the deal, a stance that has been confronted by other participants.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : Former FBI Director James Comey has released memos documenting his conversations with Donald Trump that includes the US President’s concerns about media leaks, investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and Trump’s recollection of his Russian counterpart telling him that Russia had the “most beautiful hookers in the world”.
The Comey memos sent to Congress from the Justice Department on Thursday night included documentation of seven conversations he had with Trump from January 7, 2017 to April 11, 2017. Four of the notes were classified and partially redacted and three of them were unclassified, the Washington Post reported.
Details published in the notes were consistent with allegations in Comey’s new book, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership”.
The memos reveal the extent of Trump’s preoccupation with unproven allegations that he had consorted with prostitutes while in Moscow in 2013. Trump, according to the memos, repeatedly denied the allegations and persuaded Comey to help disprove them, while also recalling being told by Putin that Russia has the “most beautiful prostitutes”.
Comey also wrote that the President said on January 27 he had “serious reservations” about Flynn. “The guy has serious judgment issues,” the former FBI head was told. Flynn was forced to resign over charges that he had lied to the FBI about his contacts with Russia. He is now cooperating with the probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Comey wrote that he was asked by Trump to drop an inquiry into links between Flynn and Russia. “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go,” Trump was reported to have said after a White House meeting.
Trump seized on the memos in a Twitter message and said: “James Comey Memos just out and show clearly that there was NO COLLUSION and NO OBSTRUCTION. Also, he leaked classified information. WOW! Will the Witch Hunt continue?”
Comey’s memo of his February 14, 2017, discussion with Trump included a previously unreported exchange about trying to prevent leaks. At the time, he was upset that transcripts of his phone conversations with the Mexican and Australian leaders had appeared in The Washington Post.
Trump was also focussed on loyalty, as Comey said in Congressional testimony and his book. In their final April 11 conversation, Comey wrote that Trump told him: “I have been very loyal to you, very loyal, we had that thing, you know.”
Comey said that he assumed Trump was referring to his previous pledge for loyalty before his inauguration, where Comey responded he would provide “honesty”, and Trump responded, “honest loyalty”.
The former FBI chief was fired in May.
Trump’s complaint about the “cloud” hanging over him due to the Russia investigation was also included in the memos. In the same conversation, Trump also suggested he would sue Christopher Steele, the British ex-intelligence officer who wrote the dossier, although he never did so.
The unredacted, classified version of the memos will be made available to Congress, the Department of Justice said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Kuwait City : Kuwait is ready to cement commercial relations with the US, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Commerce and Industry said on Tuesday.
Khaled Al-Roudhan, the Kuwait’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, flew to the US on Tuesday on a visit. He will hold talks with his US counterpart Wilbur Louis Ross on means of promoting the domestic investment environment and cementing commercial relations between Kuwait and the United States, Xinhua reported.
Al-Roudhan will also discuss with his US counterparts expertise swap, with an aim to increase commercial exchanges between the two countries.
The minister is also scheduled to lecture at the US Chamber of Commerce and hold talks with officials of the World Bank on how to improve business in Kuwait according to international criteria.
Kuwaiti exports to the US reached $141.6 million and imports from the US amounted to $3.4 billion in 2017.
—IANS
