January 23, 2020 - 10:47 AMT
Trump planning to expand U.S. travel ban

U.S. President Donald Trump said he plans to add nations to his existing travel ban to bar more foreign nationals from entry into the the country, the BBC reports.

The current ban - signed by Mr Trump two years ago - closed U.S. borders to citizens from seven countries, most with Muslim majorities.

Libya, Iran, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, North Korea and Venezuela are affected.

Countries from Europe, Africa and Asia are being considered for the expanded order, according to U.S. media.

Trump confirmed that more countries will be added.

"You see what's going on in the world, our country has to be safe," he told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday.

He gave no further details on which countries would be targeted or how many, but said that the information would be released "very shortly".

The expanded list, first reported by Politico, may include Belarus, Myanmar (also known as Burma), Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania. Different versions of this list have been considered among the administration for weeks, U.S. media said.