US to assess ‘anti-Americanism' in immigration decisions
Social media vetting will be expanded for those seeking to stay in the US or become a citizen.
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump's administration said Aug 19 it would look for 'anti-American' views, including on social media, when deciding on the right to live in the United States.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which handles requests to stay in the US or become a citizen, said it would expand vetting of the social media postings of applicants.
'America's benefits should not be given to those who despise the country and promote anti-American ideologies,' agency spokesman Matthew Tragesser said in a statement.
'Immigration benefits – including to live and work in the United States – remain a privilege, not a right.'
The US Immigration and Nationality Act, which dates back to 1952, defines anti-Americanism which at the time primarily focused on communists.
But the Trump administration has already moved aggressively to deny or rescind short-term visas for people deemed to go against US foreign policy interests, especially on Israel.
The latest guidance on immigration decisions said that authorities will also look at whether applicants 'promote anti-Semitic ideologies.'
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Straits Times
22 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Trump says US may provide air support to back a Ukraine peace deal
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox US President Donald J Trump (right) meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office of the White House on Aug 18. WASHINGTON/KYIV - President Donald Trump said on Aug 19 he has ruled out putting US troops on the ground in Ukraine, but said the United States might provide air support as part of a deal to end Russia's war in the country. A day after Mr Trump pledged security guarantees to help end the war at an extraordinary White House summit, the path to peace remained uncertain as the US and allies prepared to work out what military support for Ukraine might include. 'When it comes to security, (Europeans) are willing to put people on the ground. We're willing to help them with things, especially, probably ... by air,' Mr Trump said in an interview with the Fox News 'Fox & Friends' program. Mr Trump did not elaborate. Later, in an interview with radio host Mark Levin, Mr Trump characterised his negotiating style in trying to end the war as 'probably instinct more than process.' Following Aug 18's meeting, Russia launched its biggest air assault in more than a month on Ukraine, with 270 drones and 10 missiles launched, the Ukrainian air force said. The energy ministry said the strikes caused big fires at energy facilities in the central Poltava region, home to Ukraine's only oil refinery. Mr Trump conceded that Russian President Vladimir Putin might not want to make a deal after all, saying, 'We're going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks.' The nature of US military aid for Ukraine under a peace deal was unclear. Air support could take many forms, such as missile defense systems or fighter jets enforcing a no-fly zone. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that US air support was 'an option and a possibility', but, like Mr Trump, she did not provide any details. 'The president has definitively stated US boots will not be on the ground in Ukraine, but we can certainly help in the coordination and perhaps provide other means of security guarantees to our European allies,' she said at a news briefing. Analysts say more than 1 million people have been killed or wounded in the conflict, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Trilateral meeting? Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the White House talks as a 'major step forward' toward ending Europe's deadliest conflict in 80 years and setting up a trilateral meeting with Putin and Trump. Mr Zelensky's warm rapport with Mr Trump contrasted sharply with their disastrous Oval Office meeting in February. Mr Trump discussed Budapest as a venue for a summit involving Mr Zelensky and Mr Putin with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Aug 19, a White House official said. Istanbul, where delegations for the two countries have met previously, has also been mentioned, a senior administration official said. Hungary is one of the few European places that Mr Putin could visit without fear of arrest on International Criminal Court charges as Mr Orban maintains close ties with the Russian leader. It was unclear whether Ukraine would accept Hungary as a venue. Neutral Switzerland also said it would be ready to host Mr Putin for any peace talks. 'They are in the process of setting it up,' Mr Trump told radio host Levin about a Putin/Zelensky meeting. But Mr Trump cast doubt on whether he would attend. 'Now I think it would be better if they met without me. ... If necessary, I'll go,' he said. Mr Trump, asked by Levin how he balanced the interests of all the parties involved, said, 'Well, it's probably instinct more than process. I have instincts.' Ukraine's allies held talks in the so-called Coalition of the Willing format on Aug 19, discussing additional sanctions to crank up the pressure on Russia. The grouping has also agreed that planning teams will meet US counterparts in the coming days to develop security guarantees for Ukraine. Nato military leaders were expected to meet on Aug 20 to discuss Ukraine, with US General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, expected to attend virtually, officials told Reuters. Mr Putin has said Russia will not tolerate troops from the Nato alliance in Ukraine. He has also shown no sign of backing down from demands for territory, including land not under Russia's military control, following his summit with Mr Trump on Aug 15 in Alaska. Mr Neil Melvin, a director at the International Security at the Royal United Services Institute think-tank, said Russia could drag out the war while trying to deflect US pressure with a protracted peace negotiation. Mr Melvin said both Ukraine and its European allies on one side and Russia on the other were striving 'not to present themselves to Trump as the obstacle to his peace process.' 'They're all tiptoeing around Trump' to avoid any blame, he said, adding that Mr Trump's statements on security guarantees were 'so vague it's very hard to take it seriously'. REUTERS
Straits Times
22 minutes ago
- Straits Times
What's next for the Ukraine peace talks?
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed with Mr Trump only that the level of representation at any talks should be higher than in previous rounds. For all the extraordinary spectacle involved in President Donald Trump's talks with Russia's president last week and with Ukraine's president, accompanied by European leaders, on Aug 18, the most likely outcome so far is more meetings. Mr Trump stressed that his first priority would be to help organise direct talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to bring the war in Ukraine to a close. The US president said that he could then join them for subsequent rounds to help iron out remaining differences. After emerging from the Oval Office, Mr Zelensky summed up the discussion about a key issue, security guarantees, in a way that could apply to the entire process: 'There is still a lot of work to be done.' When will Zelensky and Putin meet? Mr Putin has agreed to meet with Mr Zelensky in the coming weeks as the next phase of the peace process, Ms Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said on Aug 19. The US National Security Council is working on a framework, she added. But Mr Putin had previously stated that he would hold such a meeting only after all the details of a peace treaty were hammered out, and there is no indication that has changed. State news media in Russia on Aug 19 played down any potential meeting, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggesting that it would require intense preparation. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Proposals sought to develop Changi East Urban District next to T5 World Top officers hold Ukraine talks after Trump rules out sending US troops Singapore NDP 2026 to be held at National Stadium to accommodate more Singaporeans Singapore Girl, 14, among 3 injured after minibus falls into Bukit Panjang canal Singapore Hyflux founder Olivia Lum and ex-CFO gave input to 'play down' energy component of Tuaspring project Opinion The era of job dating? It's all about matching employers and talent Opinion Singapore's next phase of growth requires a refreshed blueprint Business SGX wants to woo private companies to list in Singapore, says its head of research A foreign policy aide to Mr Putin said that the Russian leader had agreed with Mr Trump only that the level of representation at any talks should be higher than in previous rounds. Mr Zelensky has said that he is ready for talks in any format, and suggested at a news conference in Washington on Aug 18 that it might require pressure from the United States to get Mr Putin to attend. Mr Putin has made it clear that he does not consider Ukraine a viable state, and therefore does not view Mr Zelensky as a worthy interlocutor. On Aug 19, Mr Lavrov dismissively referred to the Ukrainian leader, who first became famous in Russia as a television comedian, as 'this character' and 'this man'. During three earlier rounds of talks, Russia sent Mr Vladimir Medinsky, a former culture minister and a Kremlin adviser in anti-Ukraine propaganda efforts, as its lead negotiator – a move that was interpreted as a stick in the eye to Ukraine. Is Putin using a meeting with Zelensky as a stalling tactic? Mr Putin has a reputation for slow-walking any crisis, hoping that circumstances will turn more favorable to him. There is a consensus among war analysts that Mr Putin favors continuing the fighting because he feels that he is winning on the battlefield, and that would give him leverage in future talks, even if the gains are negligible and come with massive loss of life. Even some Russian analysts expect the Kremlin to suggest at least one more round of negotiations in Istanbul to work on a possible format for a Putin-Zelensky meeting. 'Each of these stages can be dragged out endlessly by diplomatic and bureaucratic negotiations, even under American pressure,' Mr Andrei Nikulin, a Russian political commentator, wrote on the Telegram social media app. What are the 'security guarantees' that Ukraine wants? Mr Trump has said the United States would support security guarantees provided by Europe, and that became the focus of the White House talks on Aug 18. While Ukraine and its European allies wanted the first step in any peace process to be a ceasefire, Mr Trump has stressed that an overarching peace plan can be negotiated without a ceasefire. Putin has agreed to meet with Mr Zelensky in the coming weeks as the next phase of the peace process. PHOTO: DOUG MILLS/NYTIMES The basic idea of the security guarantees, first broached by Britain and France last February, is that some nations, likely but not necessarily European, would provide soldiers to Ukraine to bolster its forces and create a kind of tripwire that would make Russia hesitate to invade again. Russia said on Aug 18 that it would refuse any such force from Nato countries. Ideally, Ukraine wants weapons, foreign troops and an ironclad plan of how another invasion would be parried. No American soldiers will be deployed to Ukraine, Mr Trump said on Aug 19 on Fox News, but he did not clarify what exactly he would do to support the security guarantees. 'We can certainly help in the coordination and perhaps provide other means of security guarantees to our European allies,' Ms Leavitt told reporters Tuesday. 'The president understands security guarantees are crucially important to ensure a lasting peace, and he has directed his national security team to coordinate with our friends in Europe and also to continue to cooperate and discuss these matters with Ukraine and Russia as well.' What are Putin's red lines? From the outset, Mr Putin has tried to justify invading Ukraine by accusing the West of using the country, once a pillar of the Soviet Union, as a stalking horse to undermine Russia. Mr Putin has repeatedly referred to eradicating what he calls the 'root causes' of the war in Ukraine – his shorthand for achieving his geopolitical goals – as his red line for ending it. Those goals include keeping Ukraine out of Nato and preventing the alliance from expanding farther into former Soviet states. Among his other conditions for ending the war are annexing territory in eastern Ukraine populated mostly by ethnic Russians and ensuring that the Ukrainian military cannot threaten Russia and that the government in Kyiv is not hostile toward Moscow. The Russian military largely failed to achieve those outcomes on the battlefield, so Mr Putin is trying to obtain them through negotiations, by leveraging the fact that Russia controls about 20 per cent of Ukrainian territory. What if the talks collapse? Having made a campaign promise that he would end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours, Mr Trump has acknowledged in recent days that it was a lot harder than he had expected. Some analysts have suggested that he might just walk away, although the quest for a Nobel Peace Prize is also seen as a factor that keeps him engaged. French President Emmanuel Macron said after the talks on Aug 18 that new sanctions on Russia and on countries that trade with Russia, as well as new tariffs on Russia or its trading partners, were still possible. Mr Putin, he noted, has continued to bomb Ukraine even after talking to Trump about peace. While threatening punishing tariffs against Russia's trading partners earlier this summer, Mr Trump rowed back the threat after meeting with Mr Putin in Alaska on Aug 15. NYTIMES
Business Times
22 minutes ago
- Business Times
Intel's US$25 billion rally sends valuation to dot-com levels
[NEW YORK] After months of turbulence, Intel bulls are finally being rewarded for their patience. But the stock's sudden rebound comes with a worrying side-effect: a valuation so high its most recent precedent is from the dot-com era more than two decades ago. Shares of the struggling chipmaker have rallied 28 per cent this month, adding about US$24 billion in market value, on reports that the US government is in talks for a potential equity stake, as well as plans for a US$2 billion investment from Japan's SoftBank Group. The jump has Intel trading at 53 times profits projected over the next 12 months, the highest since early 2002, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. 'The stock looks incredibly expensive here,' said Wayne Kaufman, chief market analyst at Phoenix Financial Services. 'That kind of multiple is a bet that the government will push Intel so hard on customers that it becomes a winner.' The surge in Intel this month followed a slump in the wake of a disappointing earnings report on Jul 24 and criticism of Tan earlier by US President Donald Trump, who called for the CEO to step down, citing conflicts of interest. After meeting with Tan on Aug 11, Trump changed his tune, saying Tan's 'success and rise is an amazing story'. Since then, reports have circulated that the Trump administration is in discussions to take a stake of about 10 per cent in the company. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a CNBC interview on Tuesday (Aug 19) that the talks are aimed at converting US grants already made to Intel under the Chips and Science Act into non-voting equity. Of course, the US's plans regarding Intel have not been finalised and could still change. Intel declined to comment on Lutnick's remarks. For Paul Nolte, market strategist and senior wealth manager at Murphy & Sylvest Wealth Management, the potential government involvement could benefit Intel in the short term but may pose a risk in the long term. 'This strikes me as an easy road to get onto, but a hard one to get out of,' Nolte said. 'At the end of the day, this raises so many more questions than it answers.' Meanwhile, Intel's premium valuation is largely a reflection of just how much its profitability has collapsed in recent years. Intel is projected to generate more than US$1 billion in adjusted profit over the next four quarters, after losing about US$1.3 billion in the previous four, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. From 2018 to 2021, the company generated more than US$20 billion in annual profits on average. 'We have no idea what Intel can deliver in earnings growth since it is so behind on tech and because you can't cost-cut your way to growth,' said Nancy Tengler, chief executive officer of Laffer Tengler Investments. 'It's hard to have confidence in the estimates, which makes it difficult to assess the valuation. I think it's overvalued, but I also think the picture is so uncertain that it wouldn't be attractive at any price.' Wall Street largely echoes her caution. Fewer than 8 per cent of the analysts tracked by Bloomberg recommend buying the stock, while nearly 80 per cent have the equivalent of a neutral rating. In addition, at its Tuesday close of US$25.31, Intel trades notably above the average price target of about US$22, representing the weakest return potential among components of the Nasdaq 100 Index. Still, there is optimism that chief executive officer Tan Lip-Bu will be able to turn things around. Much of his focus has been on cost-cutting, which has improved Intel's outlook to return to profitability but raised concerns that the chipmaker may be bowing out of the race for technological leadership. Part of his effort has also been centred on a costly build out of its foundry operations undertaken by his predecessor, Pat Gelsinger. 'Clearly it's going to take a number of years for it to really start operating on a smooth basis,' said Gerrit Smit, lead portfolio manager of the Stonehage Fleming Global Best Ideas Equity fund. 'We have got trust in him, but we think he's got a long slog ahead.' BLOOMBERG
