Foreign
Trump calls for Keystone XL pipeline plans to be revived

U.S. President Donald Trump has called for the revival of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil from Canada to the U.S.
Trump took to his online platform Truth Social to urge the company building the pipeline to come back to America.
“The Trump administration is very different, easy approvals, almost immediate start.
“If not them, perhaps another pipeline company. We want the Keystone XL pipeline built,’’ he said.
The pipeline, first proposed in 2008, has been controversial from the start.
It would carry crude oil from oil sands in Alberta, Canada to Nebraska in the Midwestern U.S., where it would link up existing pipelines that connect to the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River.
It was opposed by environmental groups and Native American tribes.
A long-standing battle between the oil industry and environmentalists trickled into politics and U.S. and Canadian courts.
Then U.S. president, Barack Obama, rejected the project in 2015 due to environmental concerns before Trump revived it during his first term in office.
Then, in one of his first actions as U.S. president in 2021, Joe Biden revoked Trump’s permit for the pipeline, stating that its construction was not consistent with his administration’s economic and climate goals.
Foreign
Trump plans 25% tariffs on steel, aluminium imports

U.S. President Donald Trump plans to impose tariffs of 25 per cent on steel and aluminium imports into the United States, he said on Sunday.
“Any steel coming to the United States is going to have them, 25 per cent tariff,” Trump said, according to journalists travelling with the president. When questioned about tariffs on aluminium imports, Trump replied, “25 Per cent for both.”
Trump also confirmed his plan to announce further reciprocal tariffs in the coming week.
He spoke of an announcement on Tuesday or Wednesday.
“Very simply, if they charge us, we charge them, Trump told reporters, adding that the tariffs would go into effect almost immediately.”
U.S. tariffs of 10 per cent on Chinese goods took effect from Feb. 4.
The planned tariffs of 25 per cent on Mexico and Canada were suspended for an initial period of 30 days following promises from the two countries to increase border security measures.
Trump won November’s presidential election promising to slap high tariffs on foreign goods to reduce U.S. trade deficits.
He implemented a number of duties during his first term from 2017 to 2021.
Foreign
U.S. president considering 25% tariffs on Canada, Mexico starting in February

Donald Trump said tariffs of 25 per cent on products from Canada and Mexico could be introduced as early as February, hours after taking office as US president on Monday.
Speaking at the White House while signing various orders shortly after his inauguration, Trump said, “We’re thinking in terms of 25 per cent on Mexico and Canada, because they’re allowing vast number of people … to come in.”
“I think we’ll do it Feb. 1,” Trump added, referring to the potential start date for the tariffs.
Earlier on Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump did not intend to impose tariffs on trading partners like Canada, Mexico, and China.
Instead, he planned to instruct the authorities to assess trade relations with China and its neighbours on the North American continent, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a summary of a planned memorandum and Trump’s advisers.
Shortly after winning the election in November, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico, and China.
There are also fears in the EU that Trump could impose new tariffs.
Tariffs are a type of surcharge on imported goods. They are paid as goods enter the country.
Trump imposed a range of tariffs on imported goods during his first term in office from 2017 to 2021.
Foreign
Israel releases first 90 Palestinian prisoners

The first 90 Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel under the terms of the Gaza ceasefire deal were freed hours after an agreement took effect on Sunday.
This is to halt the fighting that has devastated the coastal territory; local media cited Israeli authorities as confirming.
Local media outlets, including the Times of Israel, cited the prison authority as confirming the release, saying that most of the freed prisoners were women and minors.
The majority of the detainees came from the West Bank, while others were from East Jerusalem, according to the reports.
Palestinian media has showed the footage and pictures of what they said were released prisoners arriving in Ramallah.
On Sunday, the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas released the first three Israeli hostages as part of the ceasefire agreement.
They were transferred by the Palestinian militant group Hamas to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Sunday afternoon.
Among those transferred were three women, named by the Israeli military as Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher.
They were then transferred to Israeli forces and transported to a hospital in Tel Aviv, where they were greeted by family.
A Hamas spokesman had confirmed that four more Israeli hostages would be released next Saturday.
This will be part of the deal to exchange 33 hostages for 1,904 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails over the course of six weeks.
Following months of stalemate in the 15-month Gaza war, a three-stage ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas was brokered on Wednesday, capping months-long efforts by the U.S.
Others are; Egypt and Qatar to mediate between the warring parties.
The first stage of the ceasefire agreement also foresaw the Israeli military withdrawing from densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip.
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