ISLAMABAD: King Abdullah II of Jordan completed his two-day visit to Pakistan on Friday.
During his visit, the king met Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. The leaders agreed to focus more intently on enhancing bilateral trade and investment relations between their two countries.
The current volume of that bilateral trade is $75 million, and the Pakistani leadership stressed to King Abdullah that they do not feel that figure fully reflects the “excellent brotherly relations” between their countries.
Abbasi discussed the success of Pakistan’s counter-terrorism efforts and his country’s commitment toward regional peace and stability.
On Friday morning, hours before leaving Islamabad, King Abdullah also met President Mamnoon Hussain and agreed to hold a Pakistan-Jordan Joint Ministerial Commission next month.
President Hussain stressed that Pakistan and Jordan are connected through deep political, cultural and historical links and proposed that there should be a regular exchange of trade delegations between them.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mohammed Faisal, said in his weekly press briefing on Friday that the visit provided an opportunity to explore ways and means to further strengthen cooperation in diverse areas of mutual interest.
“The visit of His Majesty King Abdullah II has given a new impetus to the existing fraternal bonds between the two brotherly countries,” Faisal added.
Defense Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan, National Assembly member Ijaz ul Haq, Commander of the Northern Air Command Air Vice Marshal Sarfraz Khan, and Base Commander Air Commodore Mujahid Hussain were present to bid farewell to King Abdullah.
King Abdullah concludes Pakistan visit
King Abdullah concludes Pakistan visit
Trump warns against infiltration by a ‘bad Santa,’ defends coal in jovial Christmas calls with kids
- Take potshots at his critics, "including the Radical Left Scum that is doing everything possible to destroy our Country, but are failing badly”
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida: President Donald Trump marked Christmas Eve by quizzing children calling in about what presents they were excited about receiving, while promising to not let a “bad Santa” infiltrate the country and even suggesting that a stocking full of coal may not be so bad.
Vacationing at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, the president and first lady Melania Trump participated in the tradition of talking to youngsters dialing into the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which playfully tracks Santa’s progress around the globe.
“We want to make sure that Santa is being good. Santa’s a very good person,” Trump said while speaking to kids ages 4 and 10 in Oklahoma. “We want to make sure that he’s not infiltrated, that we’re not infiltrating into our country a bad Santa.”
He didn’t elaborate.
Trump has often marked Christmases past with criticisms of his political enemies, including in 2024, when he posted, “Merry Christmas to the Radical Left Lunatics.” During his first term, Trump wrote online early on Dec. 24, 2017, targeting a top FBI official he believed was biased against him, as well as the news media.
Shortly after wrapping up Wednesday’s Christmas Eve calls, in fact, he returned to that theme, posting: “Merry Christmas to all, including the Radical Left Scum that is doing everything possible to destroy our Country, but are failing badly.”
But Trump was in a jovial mood while talking with the kids. He even said at one point that he “could do this all day long” but likely would have to get back to more pressing matters like efforts to quell the fighting in Russia’s war with Ukraine.
When an 8-year-old from North Carolina, asked if Santa would be mad if no one leaves cookies out for him, Trump said he didn’t think so, “But I think he’ll be very disappointed.”
“You know, Santa’s — he tends to be a little bit on the cherubic side. You know what cherubic means? A little on the heavy side,” Trump joked. “I think Santa would like some cookies.”
The president and first lady Melania Trump sat side-by-side and took about a dozen calls between them. At one point, while his wife was on the phone and Trump was waiting to be connected to another call, he noted how little attention she was paying to him: “She’s able to focus totally, without listening.”
Asked by an 8-year-old girl in Kansas what she’d like Santa to bring, the answer came back, “Uh, not coal.”
“You mean clean, beautiful coal?” Trump replied, evoking a favored campaign slogan he’s long used when promising to revive domestic coal production.
“I had to do that, I’m sorry,” the president added, laughing and even causing the first lady, who was on a separate call, to turn toward him and grin.
“Coal is clean and beautiful. Please remember that, at all costs,” Trump said. “But you don’t want clean, beautiful coal, right?”
“No,” the caller responded, saying she’d prefer a Barbie doll, clothes and candy.
