Trump floats 'closing country for a while'
Washington, May 6: US President Donald Trump has floated a new idea about border security, saying that people might "have to think about closing up the country", the media reported.
"They don't want the wall but we're going to get the wall, even if we have to think about closing up the country for a while," CNN quoted Trump as saying during a tax reform roundtable in Ohio on Saturday.
"We're going to get the wall. We have no choice. We have absolutely no choice. And we're going to get tremendous security in our country.
"And we may have to close up our country to get this straight, because we either have a country or we don't. And you can't allow people to pour into our country the way they're doing," he added.
It was not immediately clear what Trump meant by the remarks. The White House has not commented.
Indian origin Democratic Representative Pramila Jayapal told CNN on Saturday that Trump "is absolutely out of his mind to think that is any kind of a reasonable solution for our economy or compassionate or in line with our values.
"This President has done everything he can every time he's in trouble to turn around and try to turn it against immigrants, and it really deeply saddens me," Jayapal said.
During the roundtable, the President sharply criticised Democrats, including Ohio's Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, for their opposition to a border wall.
Trump has escalated his rhetoric against illegal immigration, especially in the wake of an annual migrant caravan that is seeking asylum in the US.
He has also ordered the National Guard to deploy troops to the border to address what the administration calls a "crisis" there.
Trump also told supporters at a speech in Michigan last weekend that if Congress did not meet his funding demands for border security, he may support a government shutdown this winter.
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Kerala-born entrepreneur linked to Lebanon pager blasts, Bulgarian agency clears him of involvement
Wayanad: Rinson Jose, a Kerala-born entrepreneur and Norwegian citizen, has been linked to the investigation into the recent pager explosions in Lebanon that resulted in at least 20 fatalities and thousands of injuries.
Jose, 37, is the owner of Bulgaria-based Norta Global Limited and is suspected of being involved in the supply chain for the pagers used in the attacks on September 17, 2024.
“Although on paper it was BAC Consulting that signed the contract with Gold Apollo, Norta Global was actually the one behind the deal,” Telex, a Hungarian media outlet quoted sources as saying.
Reports suggest that Jose has gone missing since the attacks.
However, an investigation by Bulgaria's security agency, SANS, has cleared Jose and his company of any direct involvement, stating that no shipments related to the pagers passed through Bulgaria.
“Following verifications, it has been indisputably established that no communication equipment corresponding to those that exploded on September 17 was imported, exported or manufactured in Bulgaria,” the agency was quoted as saying by AFP. It added that the company and its owner had not carried out any transactions linked to the sale or purchase of the merchandise or that “falls under laws on terrorism financing".
