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Trump adds seven countries, including Syria, to full travel ban list

The White House cited visa overstay rates for Syria in its justification for the ban.

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U.S. 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 United States.

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-Sharaa, a former al Qaeda commander who until recently was sanctioned by Washington as a foreign terrorist.

Trump has backed Sharaa, whose visit capped a stunning year for the rebel-turned-ruler who toppled longtime autocratic leader Bashar al-Assad and has since traveled the world trying to depict himself as a moderate leader who wants to unify his war-ravaged nation and end its decades of international isolation.

But in a post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday, Trump vowed “very serious retaliation” after the U.S. military said two U.S. Army soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed in Syria by a suspected Islamic State attacker who targeted a convoy of American and Syrian forces before being shot dead. He described the incident in remarks to reporters as a “terrible” attack.

The White House cited visa overstay rates for Syria in its justification for the ban.

“Syria is emerging from a protracted period of civil unrest and internal strife. While the country is working to address its security challenges in close coordination with the United States, Syria still lacks an adequate central authority for issuing passports or civil documents and does not have appropriate screening and vetting measures,” the White House said.

Trump signed a proclamation in June banning the citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States and restricting those from seven others, saying it was needed to protect against “foreign terrorists” and other security threats. The bans apply to both immigrants and non-immigrants, such as tourists, students and business travelers.

The travel ban remains on those twelve countries, the White House said.

Trump also added partial restrictions and entry limitations on an additional 15 countries, including Nigeria, which is under scrutiny from Trump, who in early November threatened military action over the treatment of Christians in the country.

Nigeria says claims that Christians face persecution misrepresent a complex security situation and do not take into account efforts to safeguard religious freedom.

Since returning to office in January, Trump has aggressively prioritized immigration enforcement, sending federal agents to major U.S. cities and turning away asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The expansion of the countries subject to entry restrictions marks a further escalation of immigration measures the administration has taken since the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., last month.

Investigators say the shooting was carried out by an Afghan national who entered the U.S. in 2021 through a resettlement program under which Trump administration officials have argued there was insufficient vetting.

Days after the shooting, Trump vowed to “permanently pause” migration from all “Third World Countries,” although he did not identify any by name or define the term.

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Trump links Greenland push to Nobel snub as EU readies response

Donald Trump said he no longer felt obliged to think “purely of peace” after the 2025 Peace Prize went to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado rather than to him.

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U.S. President Donald Trump has linked his renewed push to take control of Greenland to his failure to win the Nobel Peace Prize, as tensions with Europe mount and the European Union prepares possible retaliatory trade measures.

In comments reported by Reuters, Trump said he no longer felt obliged to think “purely of peace” after the Nobel Committee awarded the 2025 Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado rather than to him. The remarks came amid growing controversy over his insistence that the United States should gain “complete and total control” of Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory.

Trump declined to say whether he would use force to seize the Arctic island but reiterated threats to impose tariffs on several European countries if no agreement is reached. He has accused Denmark of being unable to protect Greenland from Russia or China, a claim rejected by Copenhagen and other European leaders.

The dispute has strained relations within NATO and raised fears of a renewed transatlantic trade war.

EU officials say Brussels is considering countermeasures, including tariffs on up to 93 billion euros ($108 billion) worth of U.S. imports, should Washington move ahead with its plans. EU leaders are expected to discuss their options at an emergency summit this week.

Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said Greenland’s future must be decided by its own people, stressing that “you don’t trade people.”

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen echoed that stance, saying the territory would not be pressured and would stand by dialogue and international law.

The row has unsettled European markets and industry, with investors wary of a repeat of the volatility seen during previous trade disputes. Trump is expected to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, where several European leaders have indicated they will seek talks in an effort to defuse tensions.

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Two high-speed trains collide in Spain, police sources say 21 people killed

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez cleared his schedule for Monday to address the tragedy, while the King and Queen were following the developments with concern, a spokesperson said.

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A high-speed train derailed and smashed into another oncoming train in southern Spain on Sunday, pushing the second train off the tracks and down an embankment in a collision that police sources confirmed to Reuters had killed at least 21 people.

The accident happened near Adamuz in the province of Cordoba, about 360 km (223 miles) south of the capital Madrid.

Of the 75 people hospitalised, 15 are in serious condition, the chief of Andalucia’s regional government, Juanma Moreno, told reporters early on Monday.

He said the death toll would likely be more than 20 and warned the number may rise by daylight.

“The forcefulness of the accident has been very strong … we will likely find (more) corpses,” Moreno said, adding that heavy machinery would need to be used to remove the trains’ wrecked metal pieces and try to locate any new victims.

El Pais newspaper reported that the 27-year-old driver of the Madrid-to-Huelva train, the one that was struck, was among the dead.

There were around 400 passengers on the two trains, most of them Spaniards travelling back to and from Madrid after the weekend. It was unclear how many tourists could be onboard as January is not holiday season in Spain, read the report.

“There are many injured. I am still trembling,” Maria San José, 33, a passenger on the Malaga-to-Madrid high-speed train that first derailed, told El Pais.

A passenger on the second train, who was not identified, told public broadcaster TVE: “There were people screaming, their bags fell from the shelves. I was travelling to Huelva in the fourth carriage, the last, luckily.”

The second train, heading to Huelva and operated by state-funded Renfe, was travelling at around 200 km per hour (124 miles/hour) at the moment of impact, reported El Pais.

It was unclear how fast the first train was travelling when it derailed.

The cause for the crash is not yet known, Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente told reporters at a press conference at Atocha station in Madrid, adding it was “really strange” that a derailment should have happened on a straight stretch of track. This section of track was renewed in May, he added.

The accident happened at 7.45 p.m. (1845 GMT), about 10 minutes after the Iryo train left Cordoba heading towards Madrid, authorities said.

“The Iryo 6189 Malaga – (to Madrid) train has derailed from the track at Adamuz, crashing onto the adjacent track. The (Madrid) to Huelva train which was travelling on the adjacent track has also derailed,” Adif, which runs the rail network, said in a social media post.

Puente said most of those killed and injured had been in the first two carriages of the second train, the Renfe Alvia that derailed on impact and plunged down the side of the railway embankment. The first carriage had 37 people on board and the second, 16, he said.

An Iryo-operated train travelling from Malaga to Madrid derailed, smashing into the Renfe train travelling from Madrid to Huelva, sending it careering down a railway embankment.

The Iryo train had more than 300 passengers on board, while the Renfe train had around 100.

Paco Carmona, Cordoba fire chief, told TVE that while the Iryo had been evacuated within hours of the accident, the Renfe carriages were badly damaged, with twisted metal and seats.

“There are still people trapped. The operation is concentrating on getting people out of areas which are very narrow,” he said. “We have to remove the bodies to reach anyone who is still alive. It is proving to be a complicated task.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez cleared his schedule for Monday to address the tragedy, while the King and Queen were following the developments with concern, a spokesperson said.

Foreign embassies sent text messages to staff asking them to confirm they were safe, Reuters reported.

Adamuz Mayor Rafael Moreno told El Pais that he was among the first to reach the crash site alongside the local police and saw what he believed to be a badly lacerated body several metres from the accident site.

“The scene is horrific,” he said. “I don’t think they were on the same track, but it’s not clear. Now the mayors and residents of the area are focused on helping the passengers.”

Local television images showed a reception centre set up for passengers in Adamuz, a town of 5,000 people, with locals bringing food and blankets as nighttime temperatures hovered around 42 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius).

Tearful passengers disembarking from the bus spoke briefly to local press before being guided inside.

Salvador Jimenez, a journalist for TVE who was on board the Iryo train, shared images showing the nose of that train’s rear carriage lying on its side, with evacuated passengers sitting on its upturned side.

Jimenez told TVE by phone from beside the stricken trains that passengers had used emergency hammers to smash the windows and climb out, and they had seen two people taken out of the overturned carriages on stretchers.

Iryo is a private rail operator, majority-owned by Italian state-controlled railway group Ferrovie dello Stato. The train involved was a Freccia 1000 train which was travelling between Malaga and Madrid, a spokesperson for Ferrovie dello Stato said.

The company said in a statement that it deeply regretted what had happened and had activated all emergency protocols to work closely with the relevant authorities.

Renfe said the derailment of its train had been caused by the Iryo train derailing into its path, adding that emergency services were still recovering passengers.

Renfe said its president was travelling to the crash site and that it was working to support passengers and their families. Adif has suspended all rail services between Madrid and Andalucia.

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Iran’s Khamenei accuses Trump of inciting deadly protests

Trump has repeatedly warned Tehran against executing detained protesters, threatening “very strong action” if mass hangings were carried out.

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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused U.S. President Donald Trump of inciting weeks of unrest across Iran, as rights groups report that more than 3,000 people have been killed in the country’s deadliest protests in years.

Speaking in Tehran on Saturday, Khamenei said Washington bore responsibility for the violence and destruction that accompanied the demonstrations, which began late last month over economic hardship and escalated into nationwide calls for the end of clerical rule.

“The U.S. president is criminally responsible for the casualties, damage and slander inflicted on the Iranian nation,” Khamenei said, according to state media.

The protests, which erupted on December 28, spread rapidly across major cities and towns. Khamenei acknowledged that “several thousand” people had died, blaming the violence on foreign enemies, including the United States and Israel, whom he accused of orchestrating chaos, arson and attacks on public property.

A U.S.-based rights group, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), said it had verified 3,090 deaths, including nearly 2,900 protesters, as well as more than 22,000 arrests. Iranian authorities have not confirmed those figures.

Trump has repeatedly warned Tehran against executing detained protesters, threatening “very strong action” if mass hangings were carried out.

On Friday, he posted on social media thanking Iran’s leaders for allegedly calling off executions, a claim Iranian officials denied, saying there had been “no plan to hang people.”

Responding indirectly, Khamenei said Iran would not seek war but would not allow “domestic or international criminals” to go unpunished.

In a separate interview, Trump called for “new leadership in Iran” and urged an end to Khamenei’s 37-year rule. He has also spoken favorably of exiled opposition figure Reza Pahlavi, while expressing doubts about his ability to rally sufficient support inside Iran.

Iranian authorities say arrests have followed extensive intelligence operations targeting what they describe as “rioters, terrorists and mercenaries.”

State media reported that thousands had been detained, including alleged “ringleaders” accused of coordinating unrest from abroad.

Last week, Iran’s prosecutor general warned that detainees would face severe punishment, describing those involved as mohareb — an Islamic legal term meaning “waging war against God,” which carries the death penalty under Iranian law.

The crackdown appears to have largely quelled the protests, according to residents and state media, though access to independent information remains limited.

Internet blackouts, briefly eased early on Saturday, were later reimposed, according to monitoring group NetBlocks, which said nationwide connectivity continued to “flatline” as the shutdown entered its tenth day.

Residents in some hard-hit areas said the worst violence occurred earlier in the week, as security forces moved to reassert control.

Israeli officials have publicly expressed support for Iranian opposition figures in recent weeks, with one minister acknowledging the presence of Israeli operatives inside Iran, though denying any direct effort to overthrow the leadership.

Iranian authorities continue to blame foreign influence for the unrest, while rights groups warn that the true scale of casualties may be difficult to verify amid arrests, censorship and ongoing internet restrictions.

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