Dec 23, 2018

Trump says he had a "long" call with Turkish president Erdogan

President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left) with President Donald Trump. Photo: Turkish presidency / Murat Cetinmuhurdar / Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.

Days after announcing the U.S. would exit Syria, President Trump tweeted:

I just had a long and productive call with President @RT_Erdogan of Turkey. We discussed ISIS, our mutual involvement in Syria, & the slow & highly coordinated pullout of U.S. troops from the area. After many years they are coming home. We also discussed heavily expanded Trade.

Why it matters: Turkey is also the country that was most active in sharing information about the Saudi killing of Jamal Khashoggi. Unlike other world leaders, Erdogan has not publicly commented on the U.S.'s exit, but has said Turkey will continue to bring peace in Syria. Though the U.S. has fought next to the Kurdish militia in Syria, Turkey sees them as a terrorist group.

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Navarro memos warning of mass coronavirus death circulated in January

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The state of play: By late February, Navarro was even more alarmed, and he warned his colleagues, in another memo, that up to two million Americans could die of the virus.

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Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced plans to declare a state of emergency and a 108 trillion yen ($990 billion) stimulus package Tuesday, as several governments announced new restrictions amid a jump in cases.

The big picture: The virus is confirmed to have killed almost 75,000 people and infected 1.3 million globally as of early Tuesday, per Johns Hopkins data. Spain has reported the most cases outside the U.S. (more than 136,000) and Italy the most deaths (over 16,000) as half the planet's population is now on lockdown.

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