Trump Signs Raft of Executive Orders on Day 1 

US President Donald Trump signs numerous executive orders, including pardons for defendants from the January 6th riots and a delay on the TikTok ban, on the first day of his presidency in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 20 January 2025. (EPA)
US President Donald Trump signs numerous executive orders, including pardons for defendants from the January 6th riots and a delay on the TikTok ban, on the first day of his presidency in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 20 January 2025. (EPA)
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Trump Signs Raft of Executive Orders on Day 1 

US President Donald Trump signs numerous executive orders, including pardons for defendants from the January 6th riots and a delay on the TikTok ban, on the first day of his presidency in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 20 January 2025. (EPA)
US President Donald Trump signs numerous executive orders, including pardons for defendants from the January 6th riots and a delay on the TikTok ban, on the first day of his presidency in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 20 January 2025. (EPA)

On the first day of his new term, President Donald Trump signed orders ranging from climate to immigration, along with sweeping pardons for many of those who stormed the capital on January 6, 2021.

Some of his orders delivered on promises he made during the 2024 campaign. Others, like a withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO), had not been expected.

Here is a summary of the orders Trump signed at a Washington arena packed with supporters, and later at the White House, after he was sworn in as president.

- Immigration -

Trump signed various orders aimed at reshaping how the United States manages immigration and citizenship.

One declared a national emergency at the southern border.

Trump also promised a mass deportation operation involving the military, which he says will target those he called "criminal aliens."

In the Oval Office, Trump signed an order revoking birthright citizenship.

But automatic US citizenship to people born in the country is enshrined in the Constitution, and Trump's action is certain to face a legal challenge.

- January 6 rioters -

Trump signed pardons for some of the 1,500 participants in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by his supporters trying to overturn the 2020 election.

He again referred to those who were convicted or pleaded guilty over the riots as "hostages."

- Paris Climate accord -

The president immediately withdrew the United States from the Paris climate accord, repeating an action he took during his first term.

The order extends Trump's defiant rejection of global efforts to combat planetary warming as catastrophic weather events intensify worldwide.

It would take a year to leave the agreement after submitting a formal notice to the United Nations framework that underpins global climate negotiations.

- Oil drilling -

Trump signed an order declaring a "national energy emergency" aimed at significantly expanding drilling in the world's top oil and gas producer.

"We will drill, baby, drill," Trump said in his inaugural address.

- Work from home -

Another order requires federal workers to return to the office full-time, with Trump seeking to undo most of the work-from-home allowances that flourished during the Covid-19 pandemic.

- Leaving WHO -

Trump signed an order for the United States to exit the World Health Organization, insisting Washington was unfairly paying more than China into the UN body.

- TikTok -

The president ordered a 75-day pause on enforcing a law that would effectively ban TikTok.

His action delayed implementation of an act that came into effect this week, prohibiting the distribution and updating of TikTok in the United States.

Trump has said the app's Chinese parent company must agree to sell a fifty percent share to the United States.

- West Bank settlers -

Trump revoked sanctions against violent Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank accused of abuses against Palestinians, undoing an unprecedented action taken by Joe Biden's administration.

- Cuba -

Reversing another one of Biden's more recent moves, Trump removed Cuba from a blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism.

Biden had removed Cuba from the list only days earlier as part of a deal to free prisoners.



France Accuses Iran of ‘Repression’ in Sentence for Nobel Laureate

People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)
People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)
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France Accuses Iran of ‘Repression’ in Sentence for Nobel Laureate

People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)
People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)

France accused Iran on Monday of "repression and intimidation" after a court handed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi a new six-year prison sentence on charges of harming national security.

Mohammadi, sentenced Saturday, was also handed a one-and-a-half-year prison sentence for "propaganda" against Iran's system, according to her foundation.

"With this sentence, the Iranian regime has, once again, chosen repression and intimidation," the French foreign ministry said in a statement, describing the 53-year-old as a "tireless defender" of human rights.

Paris is calling for the release of the activist, who was arrested before protests erupted nationwide in December after speaking out against the government at a funeral ceremony.

The movement peaked in January as authorities launched a crackdown that activists say has left thousands dead.

Over the past quarter-century, Mohammadi has been repeatedly tried and jailed for her vocal campaigning against Iran's use of capital punishment and the mandatory dress code for women.

Mohammadi has spent much of the past decade behind bars and has not seen her twin children, who live in Paris, since 2015.

Iranian authorities have arrested more than 50,000 people as part of their crackdown on protests, according to US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).


Iran's Supreme Leader Urges Iranians to Show 'Resolve' against Foreign Pressure

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).
Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).
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Iran's Supreme Leader Urges Iranians to Show 'Resolve' against Foreign Pressure

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).
Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Monday called on his compatriots to show "resolve" ahead of the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution this week.

Since the revolution, "foreign powers have always sought to restore the previous situation", Ali Khamenei said, referring to the period when Iran was under the rule of shah Reza Pahlavi and dependent on the United States, AFP reported.

"National power is less about missiles and aircraft and more about the will and steadfastness of the people," the leader said, adding: "Show it again and frustrate the enemy."


UK PM's Communications Director Quits

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS
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UK PM's Communications Director Quits

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's director of communications Tim Allan resigned on Monday, a day after Starmer's top aide Morgan McSweeney quit over his role in backing Peter Mandelson over his known links to Jeffrey Epstein.

The loss of two senior aides ⁠in quick succession comes as Starmer tries to draw a line under the crisis in his government resulting from his appointment of Mandelson as ambassador to the ⁠US.

"I have decided to stand down to allow a new No10 team to be built. I wish the PM and his team every success," Allan said in a statement on Monday.

Allan served as an adviser to Tony Blair from ⁠1992 to 1998 and went on to found and lead one of the country’s foremost public affairs consultancies in 2001. In September 2025, he was appointed executive director of communications at Downing Street.