United Kingdom

President Donald Trump’s executive order to ban citizens of seven Muslim-majority states from entering the US for 90 days, and temporarily freeze all refugee arrivals (including Syrians indefinitely), has been interpreted widely as an attempt to curtail the inward migration of Muslims, which Trump and his supporters argue pose a threat to national security. It has also been challenged legally, and today a showdown between the DOJ and a San Francisco Court of Appeals is scheduled for 6pm, at which point the Trump order may be formally rejected, forcing Trump to engage the Supreme Court.

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UK authorities could arrest US journalists and whistleblowers who criticise the British government, according to reports.  The UK Law Commission is attempting to change the UK’s Espionage Act to prosecute foreigners who “leak confidential information” which damages national security. Infowars.com reports: “Foreigners who leak information overseas that damages British national security could also be prosecuted in the UK for the first time,” the Telegraph reported.

UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd warns MPs that President Trump’s temporary travel ban on Muslims from seven countries and the suspension of refugee arrivals to the U.S. is a potential “propaganda opportunity” for ISIS. “The sources of terrorism are not to be found in the sources where the president is necessarily looking for them,” Rudd told a Committee at the House of Commons in Parliament. The Home Secretary believes that Donald Trump’s executive order is wrong, divisive and a potential recruiting tool for the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS/ISIL/Daesh).

The Bank of England kept its key interest rate at 0.25%, gilt purchase program at GBP435BN, and corporate-bond plan at GBP10b, voting 9-0 on all 3 decisions. The BOE also raises growth forecasts, while keeping its inflation forecasts broadly unchanged, and said the current policy stance “depended on the trade-off between above-target inflation and slack in the economy.” The central banks also reiterated that “monetary policy could respond, in either direction, to changes in the economic outlook as they unfolded”

From the BOE statement: