ISRAEL: Trump Arrives In Israel

In a visit fraught with symbolism, President Trump on Monday became the first sitting U.S. president to set foot in the Old City of Jerusalem.

The president and first lady Melania Trump visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditional site of Jesus' crucifixion, burial and resurrection, and the Western Wall, part of the Jewish temple complex destroyed by Rome in 70 C.E.

The walled Old City lies in East Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel from Jordan in the Six-Day War 50 years ago. Israel's subsequent annexation of East Jerusalem is not recognized internationally.

The White House said the visit was unofficial and private. The U.S. considers the status of Jerusalem unresolved and subject to negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not accompany the president to the Old City.

Nonetheless, Trump's visit and particularly his brief stop at the Western Wall, Judaism's most revered religious site carried profound significance.

Trump said in joint remarks with Netanyahu later Monday that he was "deeply moved" by the experience. It will leave an impression on me forever.

Netanyahu said the Israeli people "applaud" the U.S. president for making the trip.

According to the White House, the visit affirmed the theme of Trump's first overseas trip, promoting unity and peace among the three Abrahamic faiths.

The president stopped first in Saudi Arabia, home of Islam's most sacred sites. Wednesday he is scheduled to visit Pope Francis in Vatican City.

But when it comes to the Western Wall, real estate plays as large a role as religious faith.

Israelis celebrate the "reunification" of Jerusalem in 1967 as a national holiday. Its 50th anniversary, according to the Jewish calendar, begins on Tuesday night, just hours after Trump leaves Israel.

The Wall sits at the base of a plateau which Jews call the Temple Mount and Muslims call the Noble Sanctuary. Since the 7th century C.E. it has been the site of Islam's Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Trump did not visit the Muslim sites above the Western Wall.

Trump's daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who are observant Jews, joined the president and his wife. The chief rabbi of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinovich and his wife Yael, greeted them.

In accordance with traditional Jewish religious practice in which men and women sit separately during prayer — Trump's wife and daughter went to the women's section with the rabbi's wife.

On the men's side, Trump approached the Wall alone, rested the palm of his hand on it and stood silently for about 15 seconds. He placed a note between the massive stones, a centuries-old tradition of supplication.

Israeli security closed off much of the normally bustling Old City in advance of Trump's visit. A large temporary security screen blocked views of the Western Wall.

Many Israelis remarked that the president's visit implicitly affirmed Israel's claim to the site, though Trump has made no public statement to that effect.

In their press conference, Trump and Netanyahu reiterated their plans to work together. We understand each other, Netanyahu said, thanking Trump for the change in American policy on Iran and the reassertion of American leadership in the Middle East.

Referencing his earlier visit to Saudi Arabia, Trump said he believed a new level of partnership is possible in the Middle East.

This includes a renewed effort at peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. I've heard it's one of the toughest deals of all, but I have a feeling that we're going to get there eventually, he said. I hope.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will donate a combined $100 million to a World Bank fund for women entrepreneurs that was the brainchild of Ivanka Trump.

The announcement by World Bank President Jim Young Kim came during a visit to Saudi Arabia by President Trump, who was accompanied by his wife, Melania, daughter Ivanka and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

We thought it was a fantastic idea, Kim said. But we had no idea how quickly this would build. This is really a stunning achievement. I've never seen anything come together so quickly, and I really have to say that Ivanka's leadership has been tremendous.

The money will help kick off a $1 billion women's empowerment fund that the World Bank will announce in July, he said.

The UAE's U.S. ambassador, Yousef Al Otaiba, said in a statement that the promised donation reflects our commitment to empowering women in our region and builds on the progress we have made in our country, where women play a role in every segment of society.

The donation raised some eyebrows, since candidate Trump regularly excoriated the Clinton Foundation for accepting donations from repressive Middle East regimes such as Saudi Arabia.

Facebook posting in which Trump said, Saudi Arabia and many of the countries that gave vast amounts of money to the Clinton Foundation want women as slaves and to kill gays. Hillary must return all money from such countries!

During an October debate, Trump also told Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Saudi Arabia giving $25 million, Qatar, all of these countries.

You talk about women and women's rights? So these are people that push gays off business off buildings. These are people that kill women and treat women horribly. And yet you take their money.

The World Bank fund, which provides technical help and investment funding for women business owners, differs from the Clinton Foundation in some significant ways.

While Ivanka Trump proposed the idea along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, she is not involved with its operation.

Norm Eisen, former ethics official for the Obama Administration and a regular critic of the Trump family's conflicts of interest, noted in an email to NPR, In my view foreign government donations to a fund run by a reputable international organization like the World Bank for a good cause are generally acceptable.

But Eisen said the donations need to be strictly vetted and must be transparent.

Based on what we know, there's no reason to believe that those two things did not happen. That said, the hypocrisy is concerning, and the general miasma of corruption that surrounds all things Trump suggests some extra scrutiny here, he added.

I don't see this fund as a big problem if she does not solicit donations and it is entirely World Bank run, said Richard Painter, former ethics adviser to the George W. Bush administration.

But the Saudis could try letting women drive cars too. That would be good for entrepreneurship, he said.

Earlier in the day, Ivanka Trump met with a group of elite Saudi women at Tuwaiq Palace in Riyadh, where she largely avoided sharp criticism of the country's treatment of women.

There's still a lot of work to be done to empower women in both Saudi Arabia and the United States, she said.

USA: Starbucks To Recruit 10,000 Refugees Worldwide, Airbnb Offers Free Accomodation

Leaders of several American companies have announced plans to hire, house or otherwise support people affected by President Trump's sweeping freeze on people seeking asylum in the U.S. or traveling from seven largely Muslim countries.

NPR's Carrie Johnson breaks down the president's executive order on immigration here.

Starbucks Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz says his company plans to hire 10,000 refugees in the next five years in the 75 countries where it does business.

In a letter to current employees on Sunday, Schultz said the company would "start this effort here in the U.S. by making the initial focus of our hiring efforts on those individuals who have served with U.S. troops as interpreters and support personnel in the various countries where our military has asked for such support."

Starbucks has about 238,000 employees worldwide, 157,000 of whom work in the U.S., according to a 2015 regulatory filing.

Schultz also directly addressed the potential effects that "proposed trade sanctions, immigration restrictions and taxes" might have on the company's business in Mexico, where it says it has nearly 600 stores:

"We stand ready to help and support our Mexican customers, partners and their families as they navigate what impact proposed trade sanctions, immigration restrictions and taxes might have on their business and their trust of Americans. But we will continue to invest in this critically important market all the same."

He also reiterated the company's past assurance to employees who purchase health insurance under the Affordable Care Act that they "will always have access to health insurance through Starbucks," even if the law is repealed, as congressional Republicans and President Trump have vowed to do.

The CEO of the global home-rental company Airbnb, Brian Chesky, wrote on Facebook that the company is "providing free housing to refugees and anyone else who needs it in the event they are denied the ability to board a US-bound flight and are not in your city/country of residence."

"We have 3M homes, so we can definitely find people a place to stay," he wrote, referring to the private residences users list for rental through Airbnb.

On its website, Airbnb invited people to volunteer their homes for free to people affected by the immigration freeze. "If free housing is not available in certain markets, Airbnb will subsidize the cost of necessary listings," a spokesperson wrote in an email to NPR, pointing out that the new policy is part of an ongoing company program that connects relief workers at refugee camps in Europe with people volunteering free housing.

The ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft also reacted to the order by announcing changes to company policies.

Lyft announced it would donate $1 million over the next four years to the American Civil Liberties Union "to defend our constitution."

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said the company was working on a plan to pay drivers "who use Uber and come from the listed countries, many of whom take long breaks to go back home to see their extended family. These drivers currently outside of the U.S. will not be able to get back into the country for 90 days."

Kalanick is one of 19 business leaders who accepted positions on Trump's economic advisory team.

On Sunday, Uber's operation in New York City pointed to Kalanick's announcement as evidence that the company was not on board with the immigration freeze, after its drivers seemingly undercut a protest of the policy by New York City taxi drivers.

"On Saturday, as demonstrators gathered at John F. Kennedy International Airport to protest President Trump's immigration ban, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) released a statement condemning the administration's controversial executive order.

"Later, the NYTWA directed its 'largely Muslim,' 19,000 members to participate in a one-hour strike at JFK in solidarity with the protesters. With thousands demonstrating boisterously outside the airport, the taxi lines normally packed with passengers inside the terminal were cordoned off entirely. And while none of the new arrivals at JFK had any luck hailing a yellow cab, the effects of the work stoppage were minimized in part by Uber, the ride-hailing app, which continued to operate at the airport throughout the strike.

"Later, after the NYTWA's work stoppage ended, Uber tweeted that it had turned off surge-pricing at JFK, effectively undercutting taxi drivers as they returned to work after protesting."

Over the weekend, the CEOs of Google, Twitter, Facebook and Apple all issued statements condemning the freeze and "complaining that the order was pushed through so quickly it left great uncertainty about the status of some of their best employees," as NPR's Jim Zarroli reported.

"Apple would not exist without immigration, let alone thrive and innovate the way we would do," Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote in a message to his employees. "I've heard from many of you who are deeply concerned about the executive order issued yesterday restricting immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries. I share your concerns. It is not a policy we support."

USA: Trump Travel Ban, Court issues Emergency Order Temporarily Barring The U.S. From Deporting People

A federal judge in New York has issued an emergency order temporarily barring the U.S. from deporting people from nations subject to President Donald Trump's travel ban.

U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly issued the order Saturday evening after lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union filed a court petition on behalf of people from seven predominantly Muslim nations who were detained at airports across the country as the ban took effect.
Cheers broke out in a crowd of demonstrators outside a Brooklyn courthouse as the decision, effective nationwide, was announced.
The order barred U.S. border agents from removing anyone who arrived in the U.S. with a valid visa from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

It also covered anyone with an approved refugee application.
It was unclear how quickly the order might affect people in detention.

7 p.m.
New York City's Kennedy Airport became a scene of anguish Saturday for relatives of people detained after arriving in the U.S. from nations subject to President Donald Trump's travel ban.
Lawyers and advocates working at the airport say they didn't have a hard count on the number of people taken into custody after getting off their flights.
Yosre Ghaled was among about a dozen distraught people waiting at a terminal Saturday to see if loved ones would be released or deported.
She says her mother-in-law's sister had been detained.
The 67-year-old Yemeni citizen had flown to the U.S. to live with family because she is sick from heart problems and diabetes.
Two members of congress joined hundreds of protesters at the airport, demonstrating against the detentions.

1 a.m.
The government of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto is taking exception to the Israeli prime minister's praise of a border wall to keep out illegal immigration.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Twitter Saturday that "President Trump is right" for building a wall.
"I built a wall along Israel's southern border," he wrote. "It stopped all illegal immigration. Great success. Great idea."
Mexico's Foreign Ministry said in a communique that it had expressed its "profound surprise, rejection and disappointment in the prime minister's message on Twitter" to Israel's ambassador. "Mexico is Israel's friend and should be treated as such."

12:20 a.m.
President Donald Trump says his crackdown on refugees and citizens from seven majority-Muslim countries "is not a Muslim ban."
A day after signing an executive order implementing the ban immediately, Trump says it's "working out very nicely."
But confusion, worry and outrage boiled over Saturday as airlines blocked people from travelling to the United States and legal challenges were mounted.
Included is a 90-day ban on travel to the U.S. by citizens of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. The U.S. refugee program is suspended for 120-days.
Trump's order imposed the most aggressive ban on Syrians, indefinitely blocking entry to the U.S. by anyone from that country, including those fleeing civil war.

12:10 a.m.
Airlines around the world are turning away passengers, refunding tickets and rebooking flights in the aftermath of President Donald Trump's immigration order.
The order signed Friday included a 90-day ban on travel to the U.S. by citizens of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen. It also suspended the U.S. refugee program for four months.
That forced airlines to tell some customers they couldn't proceed on flights to the U.S.
Dubai-based Emirates said a small number of its passengers were affected Saturday, and it was helping them rebook. Delta Air Lines and British Airways both said they were offering refunds for passengers who couldn't complete their trips.
Several airlines, including Qatar Airways, posted travel alerts on their websites warning customers about the changes.

11:50 p.m.
In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says his country's decision to not issue Americans visas will not be retroactive.
Zarif says on Twitter: "Unlike the U.S., our decision is not retroactive. All with valid Iranian visa will be gladly welcomed."
U.S. visa restrictions that took effect on Saturday for people from several countries, including Iran, ban travel even for those who already had American visas.

11:20 p.m.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has a message for refugees rejected by U.S. President Donald Trump: Canada will take you.
Trudeau tweeted Saturday "To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength .WelcomeToCanada."

Trudeau also tweeted a picture of him greeting a Syrian child at Toronto's airport.

Trudeau oversaw the arrival of more than 39,000 Syrian refugees soon after he was elected in late 2015.
The young prime minister has been reluctant to criticize President Donald Trump. His government has been trying to balance his liberal view of the world while not offending the new Trump administration.
More than 75 per cent of Canada's exports are to the U.S.

10:20 p.m.
An Iraqi who was detained overnight at a New York City airport because of President Donald Trump's ban on refugees from certain Muslim nations has called America "the land of freedom" after being released from custody.
Hameed Khalid Darweesh worked as an interpreter for the U.S. Army when it invaded Iraq in 2003. Later he was a contract engineer for the U.S.
He was granted permission to relocate to the U.S., but was detained along with another traveller from Iraq after arriving at Kennedy Airport Friday night.

Lawyers petitioned a federal court early Saturday to let them go. Two Democratic U.S. Representatives, Nydia Velazquez and Jerrold Nalder, were at the airport trying to get 11 other detainees released.
After he was freed Saturday, Darweesh told a waiting crowd that "America is the greatest nation, the greatest people in the world."

9:50 p.m.
In Somalia, people are reacting with dismay and warnings that countries could retaliate against the United States' new immigration and visa policies with restrictive policies of their own.
"I am shocked beyond words. This will mean that my new husband will never be able to join me in the U.S.," said Fatima Ashkir, a Somali-American woman from Florida who came to Mogadishu to marry her Somali boyfriend.
Others say they are not surprised at President Donald Trump's executive order imposing a three-month ban on refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Somalia.

"His intentions of hurting rather than to help were clear from the very beginning," said Ahmed Abdullahi, a university student in Mogadishu. "But you have to know that this will have a serious effect on relations between Americans and the Muslim world. A tit-for-tat response by Muslim countries, in which Americans could be barred from entering countries affected, is likely to be seen."

8:30 p.m.
Iran's foreign ministry is suggesting the country will limit issuing visas to American tourists in retaliation for U.S. President Donald Trump's suspension of immigration and visas for nationals from Muslim countries including Iran.

The official IRNA news agency Saturday carried a statement by the Iranian foreign ministry that says Iran will resort to "counteraction" to Trump's executive order.

The statement says: "Iran, to defend the dignity of the great Iranian nation, will implement the principle of reciprocity until the removal of the insulting restriction against Iranian nationals."

The statement adds: "It will apply corresponding legal, consular and political actions."
The two countries have had no diplomatic relations since 1979 when militants stormed the U.S. embassy.

8 p.m.

Cairo airport officials say five U.S.-bound Iraqi migrants from one family who have been prevented from boarding an EgyptAir flight to New York's JKF airport would return to Iraq.

They said the five will spend Saturday night at Cairo airport and leave for Irbil, capital of Iraq's Kurdish region, Sunday morning.
They added that the sixth U.S.-bound migrant, a Yemeni national, left the airport to return to Cairo, where he resides.

The officials said Saturday's action by the airport was the first since President Donald Trump imposed a three-month ban on refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

The officials said the six migrants, escorted by officials from the U.N. refugee agency, were stopped from boarding the plane after authorities at Cairo airport contacted their counterparts in JFK airport.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

7:05 p.m.
Dutch airline KLM says it has had to turn away seven would-be passengers because they would no longer have been accepted into the United States under President Donald Trump's ban on immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations.
Manel Vrijenhoek, at KLM's press office, said: "We would love to bring them there. That's not the problem. It's just that this is what the U.S. sprang on the rest of the world -- that these people are no longer welcome."
She said the seven were due to fly with KLM from different airports around the world. Vrijenhoek said she had no specifics on their nationalities, although she confirmed they were from countries affected by the three-month immigration ban: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.
Trump signed the order Friday.

6:40 p.m.
A U.S. federal law enforcement official says any non-U.S. citizen from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen is now barred from entering the United States.
That covers legal permanent residents -- green card holders -- and visa-holders from those seven countries who are out of the United States after Friday, when President Donald Trump signed an executive order with the temporary ban. They cannot return to the U.S. for 90 days.
The official says there's an exemption for immigrants and legal permanent residents whose entry is in the U.S. national interest, but it's unclear how that exemption will be applied.
The official says visa and green card holders already in the U.S. will be allowed to stay.
The official wasn't authorized to publicly discuss the details of how Trump's order is being put in place and spoke only on condition of anonymity.
Customs and Border Protection is notifying airlines about passengers whose visas had been cancelled or legal residents scheduled to fly back to the U.S., and the airlines are being told to keep them off those flights.

6:35 p.m.
Israel's leader has endorsed President Donald Trump's plan to build a wall along the Mexican border.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted Saturday that Israel's wall along its border with Egypt has been successful in stopping a swell of African migrants.
"President Trump is right. I built a wall along Israel's southern border. It stopped all illegal immigration. Great success. Great idea," he wrote, with images of the Israeli and American flag.
The tweet marked a rare public foray for the Israeli leader into a charged American domestic affair. The two leaders spoke earlier this week and Netanyahu is planning to visit Trump in the White House next month.
After repeated clashes with President Obama, Netanyahu has high expectations for Trump, who has signalled he will take a kinder approach.

5:45 p.m.
Malala Yousafzai, shot in the head by the Pakistani Taliban in 2012 to stop her campaigning for girls' education and co-winner of the 2014 Nobel peace prize, says she is heart-broken by U.S. President Donald Trump's ban on refugees from entering the United States for four months.
The order Friday suspends a program that saw around 85,000 people displaced by war, political oppression, hunger and religious prejudice resettled in the U.S. last year. Trump indefinitely blocked people fleeing Syria's civil war, and imposed a 90-day ban on U.S. entry from seven Muslim majority nations.
In a statement Saturday, Yousafzai implores Trump "not to turn his back on the world's most defenceless children and families."
Refugees and immigrants, she says, have "helped build your country."
Trump's mother was born in Scotland.

5:15 p.m.
Qatar Airways is advising passengers bound for the United States from seven newly banned majority Muslim countries that they need to have either a U.S. green card or diplomatic visa to travel.
A statement on the company's website says: "Nationals of the following countries: Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Yemen ... may travel to the U.S. only if they are in possession of a permanent resident card (Green card) or any of the below visas."
It listed foreign government, United Nations, international organization and NATO visas.
President Donald Trump has issued a 90-day ban on all entry to the U.S. from countries with terrorism concerns, including Syria, Iraq and Libya.

3 p.m.
Cairo airport officials say seven U.S.-bound migrants -- six from Iraq and one from Yemen -- have been prevented from boarding an EgyptAir flight to New York's JFK airport.
The officials said the action Saturday by the airport was the first since President Donald Trump imposed a three-month ban on refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.
The officials said the seven migrants, escorted by officials from the U.N. refugee agency, were stopped from boarding the plane after authorities at Cairo airport contacted their counterparts in JFK airport.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

2:45 p.m.
The head of a leading refugee aid agency says President Donald Trump's decision to ban Syrian refugees hurts innocents fleeing violence.
Jan Egeland of the Norwegian Refugee Council tells The Associated Press on Saturday that Trump's decision "will not make America safer, it will make America smaller and meaner."
Trump on Friday suspended refugee admissions for four months and indefinitely banned those from war-torn Syria, pending program changes that are to ensure refugees won't harm national security.
Egeland says the decision dealt a "mortal blow" to the idea of international responsibility for those fleeing persecution. He says the U.S. is leading a "race to the bottom" in which politicians in wealth countries provide "zero moral leadership."

1 p.m.
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says the time has come for removing walls between nations rather that building new ones.
Rouhani did not name any particular country but his remarks come shortly after President Donald Trump's executive order Friday suspending all immigration and visa processes for nationals from a handful of countries with terrorism concerns, including Iran, for 90 days.
Rouhani said Saturday that, "It is not the day for creating distance among nations."
Speaking at a tourism conference broadcast on state TV, Rouhani said that those seeking to create such walls, "have forgotten that the Berlin Wall collapsed years ago."

12:30 p.m.
The International Rescue Committee is calling President Donald Trump's suspension of the U.S. refugee resettlement program a "harmful and hasty" decision.
In a statement issued late Friday night after the suspension was announced, IRC President David Miliband said, "America must remain true to its core values. America must remain a beacon of hope."
The IRC statement declared that the U.S. vetting process for prospective refugees is already robust -- involving biometric screening and up to 36 months of vetting by "12 to 15 government agencies."
Miliband praised The United States' record as a resettlement destination and said, "This is no time for America to turn its back on people ready to become patriotic Americans."