Donald Trump to order construction of Mexican wall and a temporary ban on refugees from seven Muslim countries

Mr Trump's insistence that Mexico would pay for the wall was among his most popular proposals on the campaign trail, sparking enthusiastic cheers at his raucous rallies.

Mexico has repeatedly said it will not pay for any border wall. Earlier this month, Trump said the building project would initially be paid for with a congressionally approved spending bill and Mexico will eventually reimburse the U.S., though he has not specified how he would guarantee payments.

Mr Trump will meet with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto at the White House next week.

In claiming authority to build a wall, Trump may rely on a 2006 law that authorized several hundred miles of fencing along the 2,000-mile frontier. That bill led to the construction of about 700 miles of various kinds of fencing designed to block both vehicles and pedestrians.

The Secure Fence Act was signed by then-President George W. Bush and the majority of the fencing in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California was built before he left office. The last remnants were completed after President Barack Obama took office in 2009.

He is also expected to order a multi-month ban on allowing refugees into the United States except for religious minorities escaping persecution, until more aggressive vetting is in place.

Another order will block visas being issued to anyone from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, the unnamed aides and experts told Reuters.

During his campaign, Mr Trump repeatedly stated he would build the wall with Mexico to combat "drug dealers, criminals and rapists" and, in the wake of the San Bernadino terror attack, proposed a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States.

Sean Spicer, the White House spokesman, said on Tuesday: "First and foremost, the President's been very, very clear that we need to direct agencies to focus on those who are in this country illegally and have a record - a criminal record or poses a threat to the American people. That's where the priorities going to be."

Detractors could launch legal challenges to the moves if all the countries subject to the ban are Muslim-majority nations, said immigration expert Hiroshi Motomura at UCLA School of Law. Legal arguments could claim the executive orders discriminate against a particular religion, which would be unconstitutional, he said.

"His comments during the campaign and a number of people on his team focused very much on religion as the target," Mr Motomura said.

Stephen Legomsky, who was chief counsel at US Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Obama administration, said the president had the authority to limit refugee admissions and the issuance of visas to specific countries if the administration determined it was in the public's interest.

"From a legal standpoint, it would be exactly within his legal rights," said Professor Legomsky, of the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis. "But from a policy standpoint, it would be terrible idea because there is such an urgent humanitarian need right now for refugees."

The Republican president, who took office last Friday, was expected to sign the first of the orders at the Department of Homeland Security, whose responsibilities include immigration and border security.

On the campaign trail, Mr Trump initially proposed a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, which he said would protect Americans from jihadist attacks.

Both Mr Trump and his nominee for attorney general, Senator Jeff Sessions, have since said they would focus the restrictions on countries whose migrants could pose a threat, rather than a ban on those of a specific religion.

Many Trump supporters decried former President Barack Obama's decision to increase the number of Syrian refugees admitted to the United States over fears that those fleeing the country's civil war would carry out attacks.

Trump's executive order threatens a refugee resettlement deal with Australia signed late last year, and could leave more than 1,000 asylum seekers in limbo.

The U.S. agreed to resettle an unspecified number of refugees being held in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the tiny South Pacific island nation of Nauru on Australia's behalf.

The deal followed agreement by Australia in September to join a US-led programme to resettle refugees from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador as part of its annual intake.

Australia's tough border security laws mandate that asylum seekers intercepted trying to reach the country by boat go for processing to detention camps on PNG's Manus island and Nauru.

Australia does not provide information on the nationalities of those held, but around a third of the 1,161 detainees were from countries covered by the executive orders, lawyers and refugee workers for the asylum seekers told Reuters.

"We already didn't have much hope the U.S. would accept us," Behrouz Boochani, an Iranian refugee who has spent more than three years on Manus island, told Reuters.

"If they do not take us, Australia will have to."

Useful links

• Everything you need to know about Trump's pledge to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem
• Who is Sean Spicer, Donald Trump's combative press secretary?
• Trump and Putin: inside the world's most dangerous special relationship

Trump says he will 'send in the Feds' if Chicago doesn't end 'carnage'

Mr Trump said on Twitter on Tuesday that he would "send in the Feds" to Chicago if it doesn't "fix the horrible 'carnage' of violence in the city.

In his inauguration speech on Friday, Mr Trump accused the Washington establishment of protecting itself but abandoning regular citizens who have suffered from poverty and crime. "This American carnage stops right here and stops right now," he said.

It was not clear what Mr Trump meant by "the Feds."

Spokesman says president still believes millions voted illegally in election despite lack of evidence

Mr Trump maintains that three to five million illegal immigrants cast fraudulent votes in the US election, his spokesman has said, David Lawler reports.

Such claims have been thoroughly debunked, but Sean Spicer said Mr Trump stands by them "based on studies and evidence presented to him".

The statements came after Mr Trump signed an executive order to push ahead with the controversial Keystone and Dakota oil pipelines during a busy second working day in the White House.

It also emerged that he would keep James Comey, the embattled FBI director, in his post despite outrage at his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails.

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Kellyanne Conway 'repeatedly punched man' at Trump inauguration ball

Kellyanne Conway, the senior adviser to Donald Trump, repeatedly punched a man at an inaugural ball, a witness has said.

Charles Gasparino, a correspondent for the Fox Business network, said he saw Mrs Conway intervene during a fight between two tuxedoed attendees.

“Suddenly out of nowhere came Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway who began throwing some means punches at one of the guys,” he wrote in a Facebook post.

“Whole thing lasted a few mins no one was hurt except maybe the dude she smacked,”he continued. “Now I know why Trump hired her.”

According to the New York Post the alleged altercation took place near the ball’s VIP area, came shortly after the first dance between the president and first lady and appeared to involve friends or family of Mrs Conway’s.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

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'1984' sales soar after 'alternative facts'

In the wake of incorrect or unprovable statements made by Mr Trump and some White House aides, one truth is undeniable: Sales are soaring for George Orwell's "1984."

Orwell's classic dystopian tale of a society in which facts are distorted and suppressed in a cloud of "newspeak" was in the top 5 on Amazon.com as of midday on Tuesday.

The sales bump comes after the administration's assertions that Mr Trump's inaugural had record attendance and Mr Trump's unfounded allegation that millions of illegal votes were cast against him last autumn.

Kellyanne Conway, a senior adviser to Mr Trump, coined an instant catchphrase on Sunday when she called Mr Trump's claims about crowd size "alternative facts," bringing comparisons by some on social media to "1984." Orwell's book has long been standard classroom reading. 

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Pro-Trump site gets first question at White House briefing

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer took the first question at his briefing on Tuesday from a reporter who works for LifeZette, a website founded by Donald Trump supporter Laura Ingraham that published some untrue stories during the 2016 presidential campaign, AP reports. 

Last year, LifeZette released a video, "Clinton Body Count," that promoted a conspiracy theory that Hillary and Bill Clinton had ties to the deaths of several colleagues and Democrats. Another video posted two weeks before the election promoted false claims that voting machines in 16 states could be compromised because they were linked to a company tied to liberal activist George Soros.

LifeZette features a mix of conservative politics, lifestyle and consumer articles and videos. Its home page Tuesday featured a story about New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady calling Trump to congratulate him on becoming president; one that questioned the purpose of last weekend's women's march; and another in which Fox News' Sean Hannity condemned Trump officials who had leaked information to the press.

Tuesday's briefing was another indication of how press relations have changed with the onset of a new administration in Washington.

Spicer taking the first question from Stinson attracted notice because, before Trump, major news outlets were traditionally called upon to open White House press conferences and briefings. 

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Allison Pearson: The Women's March was a triumph – but now we must learn to live with Trump

Wycombe Abbey may well be the best school in the country. When it comes to exam results, the independent girls’ school knocks the boys into a straw boater. In November, as it became clear that Donald Trump would be the next President of the United States, shrieks and wails were heard coming from the boarding houses.

The girls were aghast. Many were in tears. It wasn’t just that there would be no first female president, not now and maybe not in their lifetime.

Instinctively, the girls understood that Trump’s victory was a personal insult. What does it matter if you are a bright young woman, immensely hard-working and convinced you are the equal of any boy, when the most powerful man on earth believes his celebrity gives him the right to grab you by the private parts?

As I was swept forward on a great tide of people during the Women’s March on Saturday, it was the girls of Wycombe Abbey I was thinking of. And of my own daughter, 21 today (happy birthday, darling), who walked alongside me, radiating a youthful idealism as cloudless and glittering as that glorious London afternoon.

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President on Twitter: tweets of the day

President's schedule

9.25am: The President meets with Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus.

11am: President takes official portrait.

1pm: Press secretary Sean Spicer to brief the media.

1.25pm: President visits the Department of Homeland Security.

4pm: President to have phone call with Phil Bryant, Mississippi governor.