by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Bushehr – Nuclear power station
Washington DC : The US has exempted three Iranian nuclear sites from sanctions, but warned that they will be under strict scrutiny, the State Department said.
The benefitted sites were those of Arak (central Iran), Bushehr (south) and Fordow, near the city of Qom that was built underground to protect against military attack.
The measure announced on Monday was “interim” and only allowed the continuation of the three non-proliferation projects “under the strictest scrutiny to ensure transparency and maintain constraints on Iran” Efe quoted the State Department as saying.
Early on Monday the US imposed its “toughest ever” sanctions on Iran that it had earlier lifted after the signing of the nuclear agreement in July, 2015 between Tehran and Russia, China, the UK, France, Germany and the US.
US President Donald Trump’s administration in May reinstated all sanctions lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal, targeting both Iran and countries that trade with it in oil, financial transactions with its Central Bank and the country’s port sector.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : US President Donald Trump confirmed on Tuesday that he is planning to put an end to what he called the “ridiculous” law that grants citizenship to all children born in US territory.
“We’re the only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the US… with all of those benefits,” Trump said in an interview with the online daily Axios, reports Efe.
Trump did not mention the fact that more than two dozen other countries, including Mexico and Canada, also have similar laws authorising citizenship for anyone born in their territory.
“It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous. And it has to end,” he added.
During the 2016 election campaign, Trump had explored this idea, although experts say that he will face significant obstacles and unleash a prolonged legal battle if he tries to implement it since birthright citizenship is an explicit part of the Constitution.
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution states: “All persons born or naturalised in the US and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the US and of the state wherein they reside.”
“It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. Guess what? You don’t,” Trump said, adding that “You can definitely do it with an Act of Congress. But now they’re saying I can do it just with an executive order.”
The US President provided no details about that proposition, saying only that he had discussed the matter with his legal advisers in the White House.
The Democratic National Committee criticised Trump’s proposal as “obviously unconstitutional.”
“His intent is clear: To incite fear, divide our nation, and make vulnerable communities feel unsafe,” DNC spokesman Daniel Wessel said in a statement, adding “If you want leaders who will unite our country instead of divide it, you must vote on November 6.”
Trump’s plan would be directed against the US-born children of illegal immigrants and would not affect people with legal residence.
The escalation of the president’s anti-immigrant rhetoric comes during the final stretch of the election campaign for the November 6 midterm vote in which Republicans are seeking to maintain their majority in Congress.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : US President Donald Trump announced that he intends to reduce the American federal budget deficit by cutting financing to every government agency and department by 5 per cent.
“I’m going to ask each of you to come back with a 5 per cent cut for our next meeting, I think you’ll all be able to do it… Get rid of the fat, get rid of the waste… It will have a huge impact,” Trump told the Cabinet at the White House on Wednesday, adding that he would be willing to allow “special exemptions” for one or two departments but some might have to undergo cuts larger than 5 per cent.
Trump’s proposal comes after the Treasury Department reported that the federal budget deficit increased this year to $779 billion, or by 17 per cent over last year, the largest deficit in six years, reports Efe news.
Although he did not get into specifics, Trump probably was referring to the cuts that will be in his administration’s budget proposal for fiscal 2020, which he will send to Congress at the beginning of next year.
However, although the President can ask his Cabinet members to cut their departments’ budgets, the federal funds are ultimately approved by Congress, quite apart from the wishes and desires of the president.
Lawmakers have the freedom to include their own spending plans for federal agencies and the rest of the government, although the president has the right to veto any budget they approve.
Three-quarters of the federal government’s operations have been financed through the end of September 2019, while the remaining agencies, including the Departments of Agriculture, Justice, Transportation and Homeland Security have been funded through December 7.
Congress will try to avoid a partial government shutdown and approve a budget for those agencies before the end of this year.
Trump had already asked for double-digit spending reductions for some federal departments, but this was rejected by Congress.
The president’s first budget proposal, made last year, included eliminating 62 agencies, something that legislators completely ignored.
Trump has blamed Democrats in Congress for seeking to raise spending on national programmes in exchange for fulfilling his wish to strengthen the military, but his tax reform has had one of the greatest impacts on increasing the deficit since it imposed significant tax cuts, especially on the wealthiest taxpayers.
Despite the fact that he does not want to cause a government shutdown prior to the November midterm elections, the magnate might be willing to do so in early December, before the next budget negotiation deadline.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
By Michael Hernandez,
Washington: The U.S. on Tuesday sanctioned a wide network businesses it says support a branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) that recruits Iranian and Afghan child soldiers for combat in Syria.
The Treasury Department said the financial network supports the Basij Resistance Force, a paramilitary force subordinate to the IRGC.
In all the U.S. sanctioned at least 20 businesses and banks, including a steel company, several financial groups, and a mine development firm. All are alleged to be part of Bonyad Taavon Basij, or Basij Cooperative Foundation, which is accused of funneling money to the force through a complex system of shell companies and financial measures.
The sanctions come amid the Donald Trump administration’s push to apply financial pressure on Tehran.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement accompanying the sanctions announcement that the network “is an example of how the IRGC and Iranian military forces have expanded their economic involvement in major industries, and infiltrated seemingly legitimate businesses to fund terrorism and other malign activities.”
“This vast network provides financial infrastructure to the Basij’s efforts to recruit, train, and indoctrinate child soldiers who are coerced into combat under the IRGC’s direction,” said Mnuchin said.
The Treasury Department said “many of” the designated firms have “significant international dealings across the Middle East and with Europe.”
As a result of the blacklistings, Americans are generally prohibited from doing business with the firms and any assets belonging to them within U.S. jurisdiction have been frozen.
—AA
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Business, Commodities, Commodities News, Commodity Market, Finding Customers, Investing, Large Enterprise, Marketing Basics, Markets, Networking, Online Marketing, Technology
San Francisco : Amazon on Tuesday announced a new investment of $10 million in Closed Loop Fund (CLF) to support recycling infrastructure in the US aimed at cutting the amount of waste treated at landfills.
Amazon said its investment will increase the availability of curbside recycling for three million homes in communities across the country, making it easier for customers to recycle and further develop end markets for recycled commodities, Xinhua reported.
The funds will help “divert one million tons of recyclable material from landfill into the recycling stream and eliminate the equivalent of 2 million metric tons of CO2 by 2028 — equivalent to shutting down a coal-fired power plant for six months,” the company said.
The CLF was founded in 2014 to invest in companies and organisations working on services, infrastructure or technology that aimed to provide more accessible recycling service to American communities, when about half of Americans today lack access to convenient, sufficient curbside recycling at their homes.
“This investment will help build the local capabilities needed to make it easier for our customers and their communities to recycle and to increase the amount of material recycled across the country,” said Dave Clark, Amazon’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Operations.
The CLF hopes that over the next 10 years, it could help eliminate more than 16 million tons of greenhouse gas, divert more than 8 million cumulative tons of waste from landfills, improve recycling for more than 18 million households, and save nearly 60 million dollars for American cities.
“Amazon’s investment in Closed Loop Fund is another example of how recycling is good business in America… we hope their leadership drives other brands and retailers to follow suit,” said CEO of Closed Loop Fund Ron Gonen.
As one of the world’s largest e-commerce companies, Amazon packages produce a massive amount of cardboard and packaging waste every year, and the company shipped more than 5 billion items for its members of the Amazon Prime service in 2017.
Amazon has been enforcing the Frustration-Free Packaging program since 2008, which has eliminated over 500 million boxes and more than 244,000 tons of packaging materials over the past 10 years.
—IANS
