WASHINGTON / AP President Donald Trump has barred all refugees from entering the United States for four months, and indefinitely halted any from Syria, saying the ban is needed to keep out “radical terrorists.” The order immediately suspended a program that last year resettled in the US roughly 85,000 people displaced by war, political oppression, hunger and religious prejudice. ...

  Bloomberg A group of Republicans in the U.S. Senate is intensifying calls on President Donald Trump to keep sanctions on Russia in place ahead of his planned call with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin. Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio and others were responding to media reports that Trump administration officials are considering taking executive actions to lift sanctions imposed ...

  BERLIN / AP German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday that there’s no solution yet to the problem of how to fairly share the burden of migration in the European Union, an issue that has weighed on Berlin’s relations with other members of the 28-nation bloc ever since the migrant influx of 2015. The impasse has given ammunition to ...

  WASHINGTON / AP Prime Minister Theresa May went to Washington, and President Donald Trump extended the hand of friendship. Literally. May left Washington after a 24-hour visit as Saturday’s British newspapers splashed front-page photos of the two leaders touching hands as they walked at the White House before a strikingly collegial news conference. May wanted her meeting, Trump’s first as ...

  PARIS / AP Hard-left Socialist rebel Benoit Hamon heads into France’s left-wing presidential primary runoff as a surprising favorite to beat pro-business pragmatist Manuel Valls, in a vote that will realign France’s unpredictable presidential campaign. Hamon is the favorite in Sunday’s vote after arriving in pole position in the first round with 36 percent of the votes. He proposes a ...

  MOSUL / AP An Iraqi officer says Iraqi forces discovered sulfur mustard, a chemical warfare agent, in Mosul alongside a cache of Russian surface-to-surface missiles. Iraqi special forces Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil said French officials tested the chemical agent this week and confirmed it was sulfur mustard. Iraqi forces showed journalists a tank of the chemical agent and a warehouse ...

  Bloomberg UBS Group AG suffered a net 15.2 billion francs ($15.2 billion) in withdrawals during the final three months of last year, in part because investors moved money out of Switzerland before the government shares their data with tax authorities, a trend that’s expected to continue this year. The bank fell as much as 3.9 percent in Zurich trading, ...

  Bloomberg Barclays Plc has settled on Dublin for its main hub inside the European Union after Brexit and is planning to add about 150 staff there if UK-based finance companies lose easy access to the trading bloc, according to people with knowledge of the decision. The bank started scouting the city for office space this month and has been ...

  Emirates Business Arab Bank Group announced its 2016 results reporting a growth of 20% in net profits. Net operating income before provisions and taxes exceeded US$1.1 billion, whilst the Group’s net profit after tax reached $533 million for the year 2016 as compared to US $ 442 million for 2015. Excluding the effect of foreign currency devaluations, the Bank ...

Bloomberg After years of lagging behind London on spawning financial technology startups, Paris this week hosted a show of force aimed at proving the French capital can catch up as more than 1,500 bankers, investors and entrepreneurs gathered. The Paris Fintech Forum, which took place in the old bourse’s temple-like building, tripled its turnout from last year. With the UK’s ...