Brazilian tourists wearing protective face masks queue with others to enter the Jeronimos Monastery in Lisbon on March 12, 2020. (Photo by PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP via Getty Images)
The European Commission has issued a statement condemning President Donald Trump’s travel ban to 26 European countries, announced last night in a widely criticized speech.
“The Corona virus is a global crisis, not limited to any continent and it requires cooperation rather than unilateral action,” the statement said. “The European Union disapproves of the fact that the U.S. decision to impose a travel ban was taken unilaterally and without consultation.”
Countries excluded from the ban include the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Croatia, Cyprus, Romania, and Bulgaria.
It does not apply to legal permanent residents of the U.S., according to the Department of Homeland Security, and most of their family members.
The ban is set to start this Friday evening and last for 30 days. Over the same period, Congress will close the U.S. Capitol to the public, and the White House has canceled tours.
Trump’s speech came in the wake of the World Health Organization’s long-anticipated designation of the coronavirus as a pandemic.
There have been a total of 1,215 cases and 36 deaths reported in the U.S., according to the CDC.
The Pentagon has sent “prepare to deploy” orders to about 2,000 U.S. troops to be ready to respond to the Israel-Hamas war, two U.S. officials said on the condition of anonymity to discuss a decision that has not been announced yet.
The head of Israel’s Shin Bet security service has taken responsibility for not warning of the bloody Oct. 7 Hamas rampage that killed over 1,400 Israelis.
Republicans rejected Rep. Jim Jordan for House speaker on a first ballot Tuesday, as an unexpectedly numerous 20 holdouts denied the hard-charging ally of Donald Trump the GOP majority needed to seize the gavel.
The federal judge overseeing the 2020 election subversion case against Donald Trump in Washington imposed a narrow gag order on him on Monday, barring the Republican former president from making statements targeting prosecutors, possible witnesses and the judge's staff.
A 71-year-old Illinois man accused of fatally stabbing a 6-year-old boy and seriously wounding a 32-year-old woman was charged with a hate crime Sunday.
Republicans chose Rep. Jim Jordan as their new nominee for House speaker on Friday during internal voting, putting the gavel within reach of the staunch ally of GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump.
American citizens in Israel can start leaving the country on charter flights starting Friday after the State Department said flights will take Americans and immediate family members to either Athens, Greece or Frankfurt, Germany.
The Israeli military has ordered the 1.1 million residents of northern Gaza to evacuate to the south within 24 hours as U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Israel.
