The Jim Bakker Show

Trump, South Korea’s Hwang agree to strengthen defenses against North Korea: White House

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korean Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn agreed to take steps to strengthen joint defense capabilities to defend against North Korea’s nuclear threat, the White House said on Sunday after a telephone call between the two leaders.

“President Trump reiterated our ironclad commitment to defend (South Korea), including through the provision of extended deterrence, using the full range of military capabilities,” the White House said in a statement.

It also said Trump and Hwang discussed the upcoming visit by the new U.S. defense secretary to Japan and South Korea, where shared concerns about North Korea will top the agenda.

The United States and South Korea have agreed to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system designed to protect against North Korea’s growing nuclear and ballistic capabilities despite objections from China, which says the radar could penetrate Chinese territory.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said on Jan. 1 his country was close to test-launching an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), and state media has said a launch could come at any time.

North Korea has maintained its nuclear and missile programs in violation of repeated rounds of international sanctions.

(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Will Dunham)

Netanyahu backs U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem though signals no urgency

giant banner congratulating Donald Trump in Jerusalem, Israel

By Jeffrey Heller

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced support on Sunday for moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem but mentioned no time frame, after a Republican activist accused Israel of pressing the Trump administration to delay the pledged step.

In an interview with Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, Marc Zell, head of the Republicans Overseas Israel branch, said new U.S. President Donald Trump was “proceeding cautiously because of concerns raised by Israeli officials”.

Trump’s team spoke often during the presidential campaign about shifting the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Israel’s self-proclaimed capital and a holy city at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But a week ago, Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, lowered expectations of an imminent announcement about an embassy move that would anger the Arab world and possibly touch off violence. [ID:nL5N1FD5Y9]

Palestinian officials said the embassy’s relocation would kill off any prospects for peace. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem – which Israel captured in a 1967 war and annexed in a move not recognized internationally – for the capital of a state they seek in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Israeli officials said last Sunday the embassy issue was barely discussed in a 30-minute telephone call between Trump and Netanyahu, who are to meet in Washington early next month.

Netanyahu addressed the matter in general terms in public remarks to his cabinet on Sunday that were described by Israeli media as a response to Zell’s accusation of foot-dragging.

“I want to take the opportunity to make it unequivocally clear that our position has always been, and remains so now and at all times, that the U.S. embassy should be here, in Jerusalem,” Netanyahu said, without directly mentioning Zell.

Currently, no country has its embassy in Jerusalem, the Israeli foreign ministry said. Costa Rica and El Salvador did until a few years ago, but they are now in Tel Aviv.

“Jerusalem is Israel’s capital and it is right and proper that all of the foreign embassies, and not only the American embassy, move here. I believe that in time, most of them will indeed come to Jerusalem,” Netanyahu told the cabinet.

The international community says Jerusalem’s final status should be determined via direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians – talks that collapsed in 2014.

Israeli officials have said they do not want a U.S. embassy move rushed and political commentators have noted that its relocation would damage the stronger relations Israel has been quietly building with the Sunni Muslim world.

(Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Ukraine says more soldiers killed in deadliest clashes in weeks

KIEV (Reuters) – The number of Ukrainian soldiers killed in an offensive by pro-Russian separatists over the past two days has risen to seven, Ukraine’s military said on Monday, in the deadliest outbreak of fighting in the east of the country since mid-December.

The clashes between Ukraine’s military and the pro-Russian separatists coincide with U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for better relations with Moscow that has alarmed Kiev while the conflict in its eastern region remains unresolved.

The rebels began attacking government positions in the eastern frontline town of Avdiyivka on Sunday, Ukrainian officials said. Five soldiers were killed and nine wounded on Sunday and two more were killed on Monday, they said.

“The situation in the Avdiyivka industrial zone is challenging. The enemy continues to fire at our positions with heavy artillery and mortars,” Ukrainian military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk told a regular daily briefing.

The separatist website DAN said on Monday shelling by Ukrainian troops had killed one female civilian and wounded three others in the rebel-held town of Makiyivka, south of Avdiyivka. The reports could not be independently verified.

On Sunday the separatists said one of their fighters had been killed during heavy Ukrainian shelling of their positions.

Both sides accuse the other of violating a two-year-old ceasefire deal on a near-daily basis.

Close to 10,000 people have been killed since fighting between Ukrainian troops and rebels seeking independence from Kiev first erupted in April 2014.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was due to discuss the state of the conflict on Monday in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who helped broker the Minsk ceasefire deal.

Ukraine and NATO accuse the Kremlin of supporting the rebels with troops and weapons, which it denies. The United States and European Union have imposed sanctions on Russia over the conflict, as well as for its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.

Ukraine is anxious that international resolve to hold Russia to account may waver following the election of Trump, who has spoken of possibly lifting sanctions against Moscow.

Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday and the two men agreed to try to rebuild strained ties and to cooperate in Syria.

(Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Gareth Jones)

Wall St. set to open lower after Trump’s travel curbs

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange

By Yashaswini Swamynathan

(Reuters) – U.S. stocks looked set to open lower on Monday, amid uncertainty following President Donald Trump’s orders to curb travel and immigration from certain countries.

Trump on Friday signed executive orders to bar admission of Syrian refugees and suspend travel to the United States from Syria, Iraq, Iran and four other countries on the grounds of national security.

Thousands of people rallied in major U.S. cities and at airports in protest, while several countries including long-standing American allies criticized the measures as discriminatory and divisive.

The promise of tax cuts and simpler regulations had lured investors into equity markets since Trump’s election in November, but some are worried about the potential risk of his protectionist policies.

The pullback in futures suggests that the Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> could fall below the 20,000 mark it hit for the first time ever on Wednesday.

“A new week of trading is getting off on a sour note, as key macro news, Fed action, international and domestic backlash over Trump’s immigration stand are putting investors on the defense,” Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial, wrote in a note.

“We look for a bumpy to negative ride as the ‘Worry Trade’ rules the day.”

Dow e-minis <1YMc1> were down 70 points, or 0.35 percent, at 8:32 a.m. ET (1332 GMT), with 21,512 contracts changing hands.

S&P 500 e-minis <ESc1> were down 9.25 points, or 0.4 percent, with 128,685 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis <NQc1> were down 21.5 points, or 0.42 percent, on volume of 22,585 contracts.

A report from the U.S. Commerce Department showed consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, increased 0.5 percent after a 0.2 percent gain in November.

Shares of big technology companies Microsoft <MSFT.O>, Alphabet <GOOGL.O> and Netflix <NFLX.O> were down between 0.60 percent and 0.90 percent in premarket trading on Monday. Apple <AAPL.O> and Facebook <FB.O>, which are scheduled to report results this week, were also lower.

Tempur Sealy <TPX.N> dropped 26 percent to $46.70 after the company said it terminated its contracts with mattress retailer Mattress Firm following disagreements over changes in their contracts.

Data technology company Ixia <XXIA.O> rose 5.8 percent to $19.25 after Keysight Technologies <KEYS.N> said it would buy the company for about $1.6 billion.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

Trump talks to Putin, other world leaders about security threats

By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump discussed Syria and the fight against Islamic State with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday in one of several calls with world leaders that the new U.S. president used to put his stamp on international affairs.

Trump’s call with Putin was their first since the New York businessman took office and came as officials said he was considering lifting sanctions on Moscow despite opposition from Democrats and Republicans at home and European allies abroad.

Neither the White House nor the Kremlin mentioned a discussion of sanctions in their statements about the roughly hour-long call.

“The positive call was a significant start to improving the relationship between the United States and Russia that is in need of repair,” the White House said. “Both President Trump and President Putin are hopeful that after today’s call the two sides can move quickly to tackle terrorism and other important issues of mutual concern.”

Former President Barack Obama strongly suggested in December that Putin personally authorized the computer hacks of Democratic Party emails that U.S. intelligence officials say were part of a Russian effort aimed at helping Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 election.

Trump’s relationship with Russia is being closely watched by the European Union, which teamed up with the United States to punish Moscow after its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

Trump spoke to two top EU leaders, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, on Saturday in addition to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

His call with Merkel, who had a very close relationship with Trump’s predecessor, former President Barack Obama, included a discussion about Russia, the Ukraine crisis, and NATO, the U.S. and German governments said.

Trump has described NATO as being obsolete, a comment that has alarmed long-time U.S. allies. A White House statement said he and Merkel agreed NATO must be capable of confronting “21rst century threats.”

Trump’s executive order restricting travel and instituting “extreme vetting” of visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries already puts him at odds with Merkel, whose embrace of Syrian refugees was praised by Obama even as it created political problems for her domestically.

Trump has said previously that Merkel made a “catastrophic mistake” by permitting more than a million refugees, mostly Muslims fleeing war in the Middle East, to come to her country.

In his call with Hollande, Trump “reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to NATO and noted the importance of all NATO allies sharing the burden on defense spending,” the White House said.

Hollande warned Trump against taking a protectionist approach, which he said would have economic and political consequences, according to a statement from the French president’s office.

The refugee order created confusion and chaotic scenes in airports on Saturday and largely overshadowed the news of Trump’s calls with foreign leaders, which took place throughout the day and which photographers captured in photos and video outside the Oval Office.

During his call with Japan’s Abe, Trump affirmed an “ironclad” U.S. commitment to ensuring Japan’s security. The two leaders also discussed the threat posed by North Korea. They plan to meet in Washington early next month.

Trump spoke to Australia’s Turnbull for 25 minutes and emphasized the close relationship between the two countries.

(additional reporting by Roberta Rampton, Andrea Shalal, Andrew Osborn, Alexander Winning, and Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

Tycoon Slim says ready to help Mexico negotiate with Trump

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim shows the book "Crippled America: How to make America great again" by Donald Trump during a news conference in Mexico City, Mexico

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim said on Friday he is willing to help the government negotiate with Donald Trump, and called on Mexicans from all political parties to unite behind President Enrique Pena Nieto in his discussions with the U.S. president.

In a rare news conference by the generally media-shy mogul, Slim said Mexico needed to negotiate from a position of strength, noting that Trump, who he called a “great negotiator,” represented a major change in how politics is conducted.

(Reporting by Christine Murray)

Trump tells Republican lawmakers: Enough talk. Time to deliver

By Richard Cowan and Susan Cornwell

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – President Donald Trump pushed Republican lawmakers on Thursday for swift action on a sweeping agenda including his planned U.S.-Mexican border wall, tax cuts and repealing the Obamacare law, despite tensions over timetables and priorities.

Congressional Republicans were in Philadelphia for a three-day retreat to hammer out a legislative agenda, with the party in control of the White House, Senate and House of Representatives for the first time in a decade.

“This Congress is going to be the busiest Congress we’ve had in decades, maybe ever,” Trump said in a speech to the lawmakers at a Philadelphia hotel.

“Enough ‘all talk, no action.’ We have to deliver,” Trump added.

But Trump did not hold an expected question-and-answer session with the lawmakers, and his speech veered into side issues such as predicting crowd size for an anti-abortion march in Washington, alleging American voting irregularities and touting winning Pennsylvania in the Nov. 8 election.

House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, who initially hesitated in endorsing Trump last year and has criticized him on some issues, disputed the notion that congressional Republicans were not in synch with the New York businessman who was sworn in less than a week ago having never previously held public office.

“We are on the same page with the White House,” Ryan said during a joint news conference with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

“This is going to be an unconventional presidency,” Ryan added. “I think you know this by now. … I think we’re going to see unconventional activities like tweets and things like that. I think that’s just something that we’re all going to have to get used to.”

Trump pressed the lawmakers for action on repealing and replacing Democratic former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, even as Republicans scramble to devise a replacement plan, and lowering taxes on “all American businesses” and the middle class.

For weeks, Republicans talked about formulating an agenda for the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency. In recent days, the talk has turned into a 200-day agenda for passing major legislation before the lawmakers’ August recess.

“It’s going to take more than simply 100 days,” Ryan said.

Ryan said that it is “our goal is to get these laws done in 2017,” without guaranteeing that a replacement for Obamacare and a tax reform bill would be enacted by the end of December.

McConnell said lawmakers will take up legislation to provide $12 billion to $15 billion to pay for Trump’s planned wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday for the wall to proceed, part of a package of measures aimed at curbing illegal immigration, although the action has tested already frayed relations with Mexico.

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said the pace of legislative action may frustrate Trump.

“President Trump comes from a different world,” McCarthy told reporters. “Out in the business community, he likes things done fast, and he’s going to continue to push them.”

PROTESTS IN PHILADELPHIA

Thousands of anti-Trump protesters took to the streets in Philadelphia, a heavily Democratic bastion that is one of the cities that could be stripped of federal funds for protecting illegal immigrants under a Trump directive.

Marchers carried signs including, “Fascist Pig,” “Protect My Health Care,” “Immigration Makes America Great,” “Planet Over Profit” and “Impeach Trump.”

During his speech, Trump took time to explain his side of the story on Mexico’s president canceling a meeting next week because of Trump’s insistence that America’s southern neighbor eventually pay for the wall. Mexico has said it will not.

Trump said a tax reform bill “will reduce our trade deficits, increase American exports and will generate revenue from Mexico that will pay for the wall, if we decide to go that route.”

McConnell and Ryan did not say whether Congress would offset the wall’s cost by cutting other programs or simply add to huge budget deficits that Republicans have criticized for years.

Ryan and McConnell also indicated congressional Republicans do not plan to modify U.S. law banning torture even as Trump considers bringing back a CIA program for holding terrorism suspects in secret overseas “black site” prisons where interrogation techniques often condemned as torture were used.

“I think the director of the CIA (Mike Pompeo) has made it clear he’s going to follow the law. And I believe virtually all of my members are comfortable with the state of the law on that issue now,” McConnell said.

“Torture’s not legal,” Ryan said. “And we agree with it not being legal.

In a highly unusual move for a visiting foreign leader, British Prime Minister Theresa May, who will see Trump in Washington on Friday, addressed the retreat, calling herself a “fellow conservative who believes in the same principles that underpin the agenda of your party.”

She was loudly applauded for praising Trump’s victory.

“Because of what you have done together, because of that great victory you have won, America can be stronger, greater, and more confident in the years ahead,” May said.

(Additional reporting by David Morgan and Doina Chiacu; Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by Frances Kerry and Cynthia Osterman)

Putin-Trump phone call to take place on Saturday: Kremlin

By Christian Lowe and Noah Barkin

MOSCOW/BERLIN (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump will speak by telephone on Saturday, the Kremlin said, a first step towards what Trump has billed as a normalization of relations after three years of tensions sparked by the conflict in Ukraine.

Trump will also have a telephone conversation the same day with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and that call is expected to focus on Russia, a source in Berlin familiar with the matter said. Merkel’s spokeswoman declined to comment.

Merkel and French President Francois Hollande met in Berlin on Friday, underscoring a need for European unity in the face of growing internal and external threats, including concerns about a move toward protectionism by the United States.

“Let’s say it honestly, there is the challenge posed by the new U.S. administration, regarding trade rules and what our position will be on managing conflicts in the world,” Hollande, who will leave office after an April-May election, told reporters.

Trump has said in the past that, as part of the rapprochement he is seeking with Russia, he is prepared to review sanctions Washington imposed on Russia over its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula.

That move is likely to face resistance from both influential figures in Washington and foreign leaders — Merkel among them — who argue sanctions should only be eased if Moscow complies with the West’s conditions on Ukraine.

Trump and Putin have never met and it was unclear how their very different personalities would gel. Trump is a flamboyant real estate deal-maker who often acts on gut instinct, while Putin is a former Soviet spy who calculates each step methodically.

PATIENCE

Both have spoken about ending the enmity that has dragged U.S.-Russia relations to their lowest ebb since the Cold War.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if we actually got along with people? Wouldn’t it be nice if we actually got along, as an example, with Russia? I am all for it,” Trump told a news conference in July last year.

Trump is already under intense scrutiny at home from critics who say he was elected with help from Russian intelligence — an allegation he denies — and that he is too ready to cut deals with a country that many of his own officials say is a threat to U.S. security.

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, said the Russian leader would use the call to congratulate Trump on taking office and to exchange views on U.S.-Russian ties.

Asked by reporters if Ukraine would come up, Peskov said: “This is the first telephone contact since President Trump took office, so one should hardly expect that (it)…will involve substantive discussions across the whole range of issues.

“We’ll see, let’s be patient.”

If Putin and Trump can establish a rapport, it could pave the way for deals on Ukraine and Syria, two sources of friction during the administration of Barack Obama.

For the Russian leader, there is much to gain. Putin is expected to run for re-election next year, but is hampered by a sluggish economy. A softening or removal of sanctions would allow Western investment and credit to flow in, lifting growth and strengthening Putin’s election prospects.

(Additional reporting by Polina Devitt and Denis Pinchuk in Moscow and Joseph Nasr and Andrea Shalal in Berlin; Editing by Ralph Boulton)

South Korean, U.S. Marines tussle in snow in what North brands ‘madcap’ drill

South Korea and US Marines winter drills

By Kim Daewoung

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (Reuters) – South Korean and U.S. Marines are conducting military exercises on ski slopes in sub-freezing temperatures, including shirtless hand-to-hand combat in the snow, prompting warnings of retaliation from North Korea over “madcap mid-winter” drills.

More than 300 Marines are taking part, simulating combat on the ski slopes of Pyeongchang, host of the 2018 Winter Olympics, amid speculation North Korea could be planning another missile test in defiance of U.N. resolutions.

“U.S. Marine Corps and ROK (Republic of Korea) Marine Corps partnered together at every level to build a camaraderie and friendship of the two countries’ militaries but also to increase our proficiency in the event where we have to fight a war together,” U.S. Captain Marcus Carlstrom told reporters.

The training began on Jan. 15 and ends on Feb. 3 in Pyeongchang, about 180 km (115 miles) east of Seoul.

About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea in joint defense against North Korea, which is under U.N. sanctions over a series of nuclear and missile tests and which regularly threatens to destroy the South and the United States.

Poverty-stricken, reclusive North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

James Mattis, in his confirmation hearing as U.S. defense secretary, described “the Pacific theater” as a priority and analysts expect new U.S. military spending under President Donald Trump to strengthen the U.S. presence in Asia.

Topping U.S. concerns in the region are North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs and China’s military moves in the South China Sea.

North Korean media was dismissive of the exercises, but warned of retaliation.

“The colonial puppet forces, no more than a rabble, are keen on escalating the tension and the moves to ignite a war at a time when even their American master is at a loss how to cope with the DPRK’s powerful nuclear deterrent,” North Korea’s Minju Joson newspaper, quoted by the KCNA news agency, said.

“… If the south Korean warmongers ignite a war against the DPRK, totally counting on the U.S., the revolutionary forces of the DPRK will wipe out the aggressors to the last man by fully displaying their tremendous might …”

DPRK stands for Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.

Acting South Korean President Hwang Kyo-ahn said on Monday the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile defense system should not be delayed in the face of the growing North Korean nuclear missile threat. [nL4N1FD1A3]

South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo said on Friday North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles were “a direct and substantive threat” and ordered thorough military readiness, Yonhap News Agency said.

(Additional reporting by Nataly Pak in Seoul; Writing by Hyunyoung Yi and Nick Macfie; Editing by Paul Tait)

NATO, Russia and trade top the agenda for Trump talks with Britain’s May

By Steve Holland and Elizabeth Piper

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May, who share an unusual bond as the products of anti-establishment uprisings, will sit down on Friday for what could be a difficult search for unity on NATO, Russia and trade.

The meeting will mark Trump’s first with a foreign leader since taking power a week ago, and it could go a long way toward determining how crucial Trump considers the traditional “special relationship” between the two countries.

Trump rode an anti-Washington wave to win on Nov. 8, and May gained power in July after the “Brexit” vote that has put her country on a path to separate from the European Union. The meeting will conclude with a joint White House news conference.

Trump has declared NATO obsolete and expressed a desire for warmer ties with Russia. May considers the trans-Atlantic alliance crucial and is skeptical of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

They both want to begin work on a bilateral trade agreement, which for May would provide proof of stability amid the Brexit breakup and for Trump would support his belief that he can negotiate one-on-one trade pacts.

“They both need this to be a success,” said Heather Conley, a European expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.

Trump, she said, “needs to demonstrate that he has a command of issues” while May “needs to hear strong messages of support for her vision of a Britain that works for everyone, a global Britain.”

May, in a speech to Republican lawmakers gathered in Philadelphia on Thursday, suggested she saw the need for some reforms in NATO and for more countries to pay more to the alliance to help fund it, which has been Trump’s main complaint about NATO.

“America’s leadership role in NATO – supported by Britain – must be the central element around which the alliance is built,” May said.

But she said that EU nations “must step up” to ensure NATO remains the cornerstone of the West’s defense.

Trump and May also seem somewhat at odds over how to deal with Russia. In her speech, May said Western leaders should “engage but beware” of Putin and should not accept Putin’s claim that Eastern Europe is now in his sphere of influence.Trump, on the other hand, wants a strong U.S. relationship with Russia to fight Islamic State militants.

“I don’t know Putin, but if we can get along with Russia, that’s a great thing,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity” on Thursday. “It’s good for Russia, it’s good for us.”

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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