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Trump targets Greenland and Panama as international students urged back to campus before inauguration: Live

Danish defense minister says country will spend $1.5 billion to ensire ‘stronger presence’ in Arctic

Alex Woodward,Oliver O'Connell,Gustaf Kilander
Friday 27 December 2024 12:07 GMT
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Congress Narrowly Averts Government Shutdown — And Rejects Trump’s Debt Ceiling Commands

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Donald Trump has posted his traditional rambling Christmas message calling out various foes, taunting adversaries, and reiterating his desire for U.S. territorial expansionism — including retaking the Panama Canal, incorporating Canada into the union, and buying Greenland.

A Danish official said an announcement that the country is boosting defense spending for Greenland, was an “irony of fate.”

Troels Lund Poulsen, the Danish defense minister, told the paper Jyllands-Posten Tuesday that the country plans to spend a “double-digit billion amount” in krone — about $1.5 billion — to make sure they have a “stronger presence” in the Arctic.

Trump said the “ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity” for the U.S., which operates a base in the territory’s northwest.

Meanwhile, college campuses across the country are calling the nation’s more than 1 million international students back to school before Trump’s inauguration, warning that the possibility of an imminent travel ban targeting certain countries could impact their return.

At the same time, Trump allies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have divided their party with recent comments lamenting the quality of the U.S. workforce.

College campuses are calling international students back to campus before Trump’s presidency begins

More than 1.1 million international students are enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities in the 2023 and 2024 year, and many schools are calling them back to campus before Trump returns to the White House, according to CNN.

International students typically rely on nonimmigrant visas that allow them to study in the U.S. but are not a legal pathway for permanent resident status.

At Cornell University, students who are traveling abroad have been advised to return for the spring semester by January 21 or to “communicate with an advisor about your travel plans and be prepared for delays.”

“A travel ban is likely to go into effect soon after inauguration,” the university warned students late last month, according to a memo obtained by CNN. “The ban is likely to include citizens of the countries targeted in the first Trump administration: Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Myanmar, Sudan, Tanzania, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen, and Somalia. New countries could be added to this list, particularly China and India.”

More than 17,000 international students studied at the University of Southern California during the last academic year — the largest number of international students in the state — and school administrators have urged foreign students in an email to return to campus one week before Trump’s presidency, according to an email reviewed by CNN.

“One or more executive orders impacting travel … and visa processing” may be issued, the email said.

Trump has promised to reinstate a ban on travel into the United States from majority-Muslim countries he implemented in his first administration through a series of executive actions targeting immigration. Joe Biden later rescinded them.

On the campaig trail, the president-elect threatened to take aim at students involved in campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war, and then students who would otherwise be eligible for permanent resident status after graduation will be screened to “exclude all communists, radical Islamists, Hamas supporters, America haters and public charges.”

Trump has also promised to “ban refugee resettlement from terror-infested areas like the Gaza Strip” and to launch an aggressive nationwide deportation operation targeting people living in the country illegally.

“We didn’t take people from certain areas of the world because I didn’t want to have people ripping down and burning our shopping centers and killing people,” he said earlier this year.

(AP)
Alex Woodward26 December 2024 14:28

Trump’s long, weird history with Panama

Donald Trump rattled North American diplomatic relations over the weekend with a threat to retake the Panama Canal, two and a half decades after the US transferred control of the vital global trade route to Panama.

In a series of posts on Truth Social, the president-elect accused the country of “ripping off” the US.

Josh Marcus reports.

Canal threats and a hotel battle: Trump’s long, weird history with Panama

Major Trump project in Panama City brought lawsuits, shoving matches and money-laundering allegations before Trump lost it in hostile takeover

Oliver O'Connell26 December 2024 14:00

Trump aims dig at Obama in bizarre hour-long Christmas Day Truth Social posting spree

Donald Trump made a dig at former president Barack Obama as he went on a Christmas Day Truth Social posting spree.

The president-elect initially seemed to adopt a toned-down festive message, simply posting, “MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!” on Truth Social on Wednesday morning.

In the afternoon, however, he shared a lengthy post where he wished “Merry Christmas to the Radical Left Lunatics,” but refused the same sentiment to the “37 most violent criminals” pardoned by Joe Biden, instead telling them to “GO TO HELL.”

Rhian Lubin has the story.

Trump aims dig at Obama in bizarre hour-long Christmas Day Truth Social posting spree

Trump reeled off 34 posts on his social media platform within a one-hour period

Oliver O'Connell26 December 2024 13:30

Biden signs 50 bills into law on Christmas Eve

President Joe Biden spent Christmas Eve signing 50 bills into law, including one piece of legislation supported by Paris Hilton and another designating the bald eagle as the U.S. national bird.

The Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act, backed by Hilton, a socialite and activist, is designed to hold teenage treatment centers and care facilities accountable. Hilton spent time on Capitol Hill promoting the measure.

Gustaf Kilander reports.

Biden signs 50 bills into law - including and Paris Hilton-backed legislation

The Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act is designed to hold teenage treatment centers and care facilities accountable

Oliver O'Connell26 December 2024 13:00

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