Syria conflict: Bolton says US withdrawal is conditional

The withdrawal of US troops from Syria depends on certain conditions, US National Security Adviser John Bolton says, in a further indication that the process is being slowed down.

On a trip to Israel and Turkey, he said he would seek Turkish assurances that Kurds in northern Syria would be safe.

The US also wants to ensure that the remnants of the Islamic State (IS) group are defeated, he added.

President Donald Trump has faced strong criticism over the planned US pullout.

When he first announced the move in the middle of December, he said: "They're all coming back and they're coming back now."

US officials said American forces had been given 30 days to leave Syria.

Mr Trump also said at the time that IS had been "defeated".

The development shocked allies and US defence officials alike, with Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and senior aide Brett McGurk resigning soon after. On Saturday, Department of Defence chief of staff Kevin Sweeney became the third senior Pentagon official to announce his resignation since President Trump's announcement.

Meanwhile, America's Kurdish allies in north-east Syria were left feeling exposed as Turkey, which regards them as terrorists, appeared poised to move against them.

But Mr Trump seemed to row back last week when he said troops were being pulled out "slowly" and that they would be fighting remaining IS militants at the same time.

What did John Bolton say?

"We don't think the Turks ought to undertake military action that is not fully co-ordinated with and agreed to by the United States at a minimum so they don't endanger our troops, but also so that they meet the president's requirement that the Syrian opposition forces that have fought with us are not endangered," Mr Bolton said in Israel ahead of talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He told reporters there was no timetable for a US withdrawal from Syria but that there was not an unlimited commitment.

Mr Bolton also said President Trump wanted to ensure that IS was "destroyed".

Mr Netanyahu said he would discuss Iran's ambitions in Syria when he met Mr Bolton on Sunday evening.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will begin a week-long tour of the Middle East designed to reassure allies in the region.

The US partnership with the Kurdish-led Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) is credited with playing a major role in the demise of IS.

But the main fighting force in the SDF is the Kurdish YPG militia, which Turkey regards as a terrorist group.

On Sunday, a spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it was "irrational" to suggest Turkey targeted Kurds.

Ibrahim Kalin said Turkey's focus was on the YPG and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - which Ankara also regards as a terror group.

What is the US presence in Syria?

Some 2,000 US military personnel are reported to be in Syria although the real numbers could be higher.

American ground troops first became involved in Syria in autumn 2015 when then-President Barack Obama sent in a small number of special forces to train and advise local Kurdish fighters who were fighting IS.

The US did this reluctantly after several attempts at arming anti-IS groups had descended into chaos.

Over the intervening years the number of US troops in Syria has increased, and a network of bases and airfields has been established in an arc across the north-eastern part of the country.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46775308

Trump cites unlikely allies Clinton, Obama amid border wall showdown

FOX NEWS - President Trump invoked on Sunday past pro-border security comments by two unlikely political adversaries – Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton – as the ongoing partial federal government shutdown over border wall funding enters its third week.

In a pair of early-morning posts on Twitter, Trump, who is scheduled to meet with advisers at Camp David to discuss border security on Sunday, also seemingly addressed reportsthat the prolonged shutdown will end up costing the government more than the $5 billion he has requested for the wall, writing that in the end, a "properly planned and constructed Wall will pay for itself many times a year!"

Trump's remarks appeared to underscore his unwillingnesss to compromise on securing at least some of his demand for border wall funding, despite the insistence of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that Democrats will never pay for a wall. However, in an interview set to broadcast Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told host Chuck Todd that Trump "was willing to agree, and he mentioned this at the Rose Garden press conference, to take a concrete wall off the table."

Mulvaney had met with senior congressional officials on Saturday to try to make progress on a compromise, although he suggested the encounter had been mostly unproductive.

"If that is not evidence of our willingness to solve the problem," Mulvaney said. "Because again, what's driving this is the president's desire to change the conditions at the border. And if he has to give up a concrete wall, replace it with a steel fence in order to do that so that Democrats can say, 'See? He's not building a wall anymore' that should help us move in the right direction."

On Twitter, the president intimated that only political considerations were animating Democrats' rejection of wall funding. Pelosi and other Democrats have suggested they would be willing to fund general border security efforts, but not a wall. The president has told Democrats the shutdown could last more than a year.

http://www.fox32chicago.com/politics/trump-cites-unlikely-allies-clinton-obama-amid-border-wall-showdown

>>4626303

Trump heads to Camp David for border security talks with staff

President Trump is heading to Camp David where talks will take place with senior White House staff on border security as the partial government shutdown moves into its third week.

The deadlock over border security funding appears to have no end in sight, even as the Trump administration claims it is making concessions to Democrats to lock in Trump's demand for $5.6 billion in funding for a border wall.

Meanwhile Democrats, not willing to give more than $1.3 billion in annual border funding, blame Trump for the shutdown. In the House, where they have a new majority, they passed a spending bill that would re-open the government but not provide any funding for a wall. The GOP-led Senate has signaled it will not take up any legislation opposed by Trump.

Leaving for the presidential retreat at Camp David in Maryland, Trump told reporters Sunday that he has the support of most government workers who are impacted by the shutdown.

They "agree 100 percent with what I'm doing," he said before repeating his claim that he may resort to declaring a national emergency to get his border wall — a move that is certain to result in a legal fight.

"This shutdown could end tomorrow or it also could go on for a long time," Trump added.

Vice President Mike Pence and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney met with Democratic aides on Saturday to work toward ending the impasse, but both sides have indicated that no progress was made.

"V.P. Mike Pence and team just left the White House," Trump tweeted. "Briefed me on their meeting with the Schumer/Pelosi representatives. Not much headway made today. Second meeting set for tomorrow. After so many decades, must finally and permanently fix the problems on the Southern Border!"

The two sides discussed a multitude of topics, including protections for so-called Dreamers currently protected by the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and asylum policies, but little was agreed upon, GOP and Democratic aides told Politico.

In another show of compromise, Mulvaney told NBC's "Meet the Press" that Trump has let go of his call for a "concrete wall" and has shifted to a steel fence. “If he has to give up a concrete wall, replace it with a steel fence in order to do that so that Democrats can say, ‘See? He's not building a wall anymore,’ that should help us move in the right direction," Mulvaney said.

“If that's not evidence of the president's desire to try and resolve this, I don't know what is,” Mulvaney said.

But Democrats were never willing to compromise, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a separate interview Sunday. “The first thing that one of the individuals from the Democrats’ side said in the meeting was ‘We’re not here to make an agreement," Sanders said on "Fox News Sunday."

New House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., met with Trump and other leaders on Friday, and said afterwards that her impression was that Trump relishes a government shutdown.

"Our purpose in the meeting at the White House was to open up government. The impression you get from the president that he would like to not only close government, build a wall, but also abolish Congress so the only voice that mattered was his own," she told "CBS Sunday Morning."

The next move Democrats are making is to offer a series of bills, introduced by House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., that give funding to specific departments, the first of which would fund the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-heads-to-camp-david-for-border-security-talks-with-staff

USS Cole bomber has been killed - Trump

Jamal al-Badawi, the militant behind the deadly attack on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000, died in a US air strike, President Donald Trump has confirmed.

"Our great military has delivered justice for the heroes lost and wounded in the cowardly attack on the USS Cole," Mr Trump tweeted.

US defence officials said a "precision strike" was carried out on Tuesday east of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.

Badawi was believed killed but that could not be confirmed at the time.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-46776626

High flu activity in NJ, hospitals ramp up visitor restrictions

For the first time this season, flu activity is widespread across New Jersey, state officials said.

The north, central and southern regions of the state are seeing high flu activity as of Dec. 29, with flu strain H1N1 leading in the number of cases, surveillance reports at the state Department of Health show.

Gemma Downham, infection prevention manager at AtlantiCare, said in a statement that the health network's emergency departments, urgent care centers and primary care offices have seen an increase in the number of patients seeking flu-like symptoms.

“The increase across these care areas shows an earlier onset of flu season than last year,” she said.

Flu season typically starts in October and can last through May. Health experts have said that in some recent years, there have been fewer cases in the fall and more once harsher winter weather kicks in.

Last year, flu cases spiked in mid-January when about 30 children nationwide had already died from influenza-like illnesses, federal reports show.

A total of 13 children have died so far this flu season, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As flu season picks up in New Jersey, hospitals are announcing visitor restrictions in order to prevent the spread of illness.

AtlantiCare announced it will expand temporary visitor restrictions at its hospitals and centers starting Monday to allow only people 14 years and older.

“We recognize that family members play a key role in caring for loved ones,” Downham said. “We also ask that family or friends accompanying a loved one to one of our hospital campuses, our Cancer Care Institute locations, or other outpatient care areas follow flu precautions, too.”

Health providers caution that anyone who is experiencing symptoms and is going to a health care center for treatment should wear a mask in waiting and public areas, and wash hands after coughing, sneezing or using a tissue.

Reports from the state Department of Health show that the majority of flu cases have tested positive for the H1N1 strain, which caused a global pandemic in 2009.

The strain is now included in annual vaccines. This year’s quadrivalent shots contain flu vaccines for two type A and two type B virus strains. It can take up to two weeks for flu vaccine antibodies to develop in the body.

Flu symptoms may include fever, headaches, fatigue, coughing and muscle aches and pains. More serious complications can include bacterial pneumonia, ear infections, sinus infections, dehydration and worsening of chronic illnesses and medical conditions.

Those most at risk for suffering serious symptoms and complications are pregnant women, children, seniors and people with compromised immune systems.

Instead of heading to an emergency room, health experts urge people to call their primary care providers or visit urgent care centers when possible.

“The exception would be for children under the age of five, adults over the age of 65 and those with chronic conditions or other health issues that could put them at additional risk for flu complications," Downham said.

https://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/high-flu-activity-in-nj-hospitals-ramp-up-visitor-restrictions/article_80bd2af1-9529-51c8-bfd6-3d6208268ec4.html

>>4626617

this is art?