A growing number of Republican lawmakers are pushing for an investigation into the Trump administration’s ties to Russia.

U.S. President Donald Trump, flanked by Chief of Staff Reince Priebus (R), speaks by phone with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S. January 28, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

"Let's get everything out as quickly as possible on this Russia issue," Trump supporter and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. "Maybe there's a problem that obviously goes much deeper than what we now suspect." Meanwhile, the Kremlin says political turbulence in the United States is delaying the resumption of better relations between Washington and Moscow.

Staff at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have been told that President Trump is preparing a handful of executive orders to reshape the agency, to be signed once a new administrator is confirmed, two sources who attended the meeting told Reuters on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday dropped a U.S. commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the longstanding bedrock of Washington's Middle East policy, even as he urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to curb settlement construction.

“I’m looking at two states and one state, and I like the one both parties like,” Trump told a joint news conference with Netanyahu. “I can live with either one.”

Contemplation

U.S. first lady Melania Trump and Sara Netanyahu look at the Contemplative Court fountain during a visit to the African American Museum of History and Culture in Washington, U.S., February 15, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

<strong>Around the world</strong>

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the European Union and Canada needed to lead the international economy in challenging times in a speech that marked his distance from both the United States under Trump, who has questioned the value and future of the bloc, and from Britain, which has voted to leave it.

More than 20 million people - more than the population of Florida - may die from starvation due to four separate famines over the next six months, U.N. World Food Programme chief economist Arif Husain says.

<strong>Quote of the day</strong>

“It’s almost overwhelming to comprehend that in the 21st century people are still experiencing famines of such magnitude. We’re talking about 20 million people, and all this within the next six months, or now. Yemen is now, Nigeria is now, South Sudan is now.”

-U.N. World Food Programme chief economist Arif Husain

Malaysian police detained a third suspect in connection with the murder of Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, an officer said. Kim Jong Nam lead a quiet life in Macau.

Around the country

Reuters reporters Lisa Baertlein and Paul Ingram report from Nogales, Mexico and Nogales, Arizona, to investigate potential risks that new trade barriers could pose for businesses and residents along the border.

The governor of North Dakota ordered protesters to evacuate a demonstration camp near the site of the Dakota Access Pipeline in the latest move to clear the area that has served as a base for opposition to the multibillion dollar project.

Republican U.S. Senator Susan Collins of Maine said she would oppose Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt's nomination to head the Environmental Protection Agency, citing his numerous lawsuits against the agency.

Around Wall Street

America's largest banks are to propose a complete overhaul of how financial institutions investigate and report potential criminal activity, arguing that rules imposed in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and strengthened during the Obama administration are onerous and ineffective, sources said.

Austria filed a lawsuit on Thursday against Airbus and the Eurofighter consortium, alleging them of willful deception and fraud linked to a 2 billion euro ($2.1 billion) order for Eurofighter jets in 2003, the defense ministry said.

Snap Inc, the owner of the popular messaging app Snapchat, set a valuation of between $16.20 billion and $18.52 billion in its initial public offering, significantly below expectations.

Today’s reason to live