Saturday, December 28

Types of News: Brief

News briefs are shorter stories about current events. It’s the who-what-when-and-where. “Just the facts, ma’am.” Please see our writers guidelines.

8Jan By Patti MohrNo Comments
Energy Policy, Oil & Gas, Sanctions, Types of News: Brief

‘We Do Not Need Middle East Oil,’ Trump Says

January 8, 2020-As he addressed the nation and the world at the height of an escalating crisis between Iran and the United States, President Donald Trump emphasized American strength in military capabilities, economic growth and natural resources in a sign he is not backing down from the possibility of war with archrival Iran. Trump called on signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran to abandon the agreement, asked the NATO alliance to take a stronger role in the Middle East, and announced new economic sanctions on Iran. Trump showed no sign of de-escalating the conflict with Iran. He said Iranians chanted "death to America" even as the United States signed onto the 2015 nuclear deal and fomented conflicts in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. Furthermore, he reinforced his decisio...
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NAFTA Replacement to Move Forward in U.S. Congress
10Dec By Patti MohrNo Comments
Global Trade, Types of News: Brief, United States

NAFTA Replacement to Move Forward in U.S. Congress

December 10, 2019-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and fellow House Democrats announced support for the U.S. -Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement today. Pelosi said the trade agreement is better than NAFTA and "infinitely better" than what President Donald Trump had initially proposed. "It's a victory for America's workers and one we take great pride in advancing." It's been a year since the leaders of Canada, the United States and Mexico signed the trade agreement. The deal covers agriculture, intellectual property, digital trade and financial services. The legislatures in all three countries need to ratify the deal before it takes effect. Democrats said the key to winning their support was working out enforcement mechanisms, particularly in the areas of labor and environment.
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Senate Panel Focuses on Crime-Related Migration at US-Mexico Border
13Nov By Patti MohrNo Comments
Corruption, Bribes, Illicit Finance & Money Laundering, Human rights, Migration, Immigration, Borders, Types of News: Brief

Senate Panel Focuses on Crime-Related Migration at US-Mexico Border

October 13, 2019--A Senate committee examining migration at the U.S.-Mexico border on Wednesday focused largely on crimes, such as child exploitation, drug trafficking and human smuggling. With just under a million cases of immigrants entering the U.S. border in the fiscal year 2019, the U.S. justice system of processing and detaining immigrants is overwhelmed, U.S. officials reported. Child Pawns Of primary concern are children who are used as human pawns for individuals seeking to enter the United States illegally. According to Mark Morgan, the acting commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, human smugglers use children as a "money-making commodity" by selling or renting them to migrants. "We know children are being rented and recycled and presented as fake fa...
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Syrian Constitutional Committee Begins in Geneva
30Oct By Patti MohrNo Comments
Diplomacy, Middle East, Political Systems, Domestic Politics, Types of News: Brief, UN Security Council

Syrian Constitutional Committee Begins in Geneva

October 30, 2019-As fighting again broke out in northern Syria, representatives the Syrian government, opposition forced and civil society met today in Geneva to negotiate a new constitution for the country plagued by eight years of civil war. "The task you are about to take is momentous," UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen told the 150 delegates. "You are mandated to prepare and draft for popular approval a constitutional reform as a contribution to the political settlement in Syria." UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen said he knows it "is not easy" for members to be present next to one another. (See video.) The directive is part of Security Council Resolution 2254, adopted unanimously in 2015, which sets out goals for a political solution for a sovereign state of Syria. Th...
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Brazil, China Aim to Strengthen Economic Ties
28Oct By Patti MohrNo Comments
Diplomacy, Types of News: Brief

Brazil, China Aim to Strengthen Economic Ties

October 28, 2019-Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and China's President Xi Jinping met in Beijing last Friday to bolster bilateral trade and investment between their two countries ahead of the APEC and BRICs summits next month. Bolsonaro, Brazil's new far-right leader, said the two leaders are meant to "were born to walk together" and that the two economies -- the second and ninth largest in the world -- are "completely aligned, in a way that reaches beyond our commercial and business relationship." The leaders established some common ground in trade and investment ahead the APEC Summit in Chile Nov. 11-17 and the BRICs Summit in Brazil Nov. 13-14. Strengthening Economic Ties Xi held a welcome ceremony for Bolsonaro and said he hoped to develop "strategic and long-term" relat...
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South Korea Opts Out of Special Trade Status for Developing Countries
28Oct By Patti MohrNo Comments
Foreign Aid, International Development, Global Trade, Organizations, IMF, WTO, G7, Types of News: Brief

South Korea Opts Out of Special Trade Status for Developing Countries

October 28, 2019-South Korea plans to give up a special status in the World Trade Organization. The status gives developing countries longer time periods to implement trade agreements and the ability to increase trade opportunities. South Korea Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki made the announcement late last week, saying it reflects his country's growing economy and external pressures. South Korea's economy is worth $1.5 trillion and is the 11th largest economy in the world. In July, U.S. President Donald Trump called on strong economies such as China to shed the special status. His July memorandum makes specific recommendations regarding the treatment of countries that he says should no longer be treated as developing economies. Singapore, Brazil, the UAE and Taiwan have also pledged...
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EU Allows UK Extension on Brexit
28Oct By Patti MohrNo Comments
Europe, EU, Eurozone, Globalization, Global Disintegration, Types of News: Brief

EU Allows UK Extension on Brexit

October 28, 2019-The European Union agreed to allow the United Kingdom to extend its plan to leave the customs union as late as January 31, 2020. That means that despite British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's pledge to take the U.K. out of the EU "do-or-die" by October 31, it is not going to happen. Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, said on Twitter he plans to formalize the extension for Brexit in a written procedure. The costs of a no-deal Brexit would have meant economic disruptions, food and fuel shortages, price spikes and blockages in ports and roads. Johnson had negotiated a new withdrawal agreement with the EU, but he was unable to win the support of the British parliament for the plan. Johnson has called for national elections to be held December 12. "...
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Coal Can’t Compete With Gas & Renewable in Europe, Study Says
24Oct By Patti MohrNo Comments
Energy Policy, Oil & Gas, Types of News: Brief

Coal Can’t Compete With Gas & Renewable in Europe, Study Says

October 24, 2019-In a sign that renewable energy and natural gas are increasingly gaining market power, a study released today by the Carbon Tracker Initiative finds that 79 percent of coal generators in the European Union are running at a loss. "Owing to relentless competition from ever lower-cost wind and solar, and gas, these losses could be sustained for the foreseeable future," according to the Carbon Tracker Initiative, a London-based think tank focused on climate change. The new study suggests the coal industry cannt survive, unless it is supported by heavy government subsidies, due to sustained competition from wind and solar power and temporarily cheap natural gas. "EU coal generators are haemorrhaging cash because they cannot compete with ever-cheaper renewables and...
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Turkey-Russia Agree on Plan in Syria
22Oct By Patti MohrNo Comments
Diplomacy, Middle East, Types of News: Brief

Turkey-Russia Agree on Plan in Syria

October 22, 2019-As U.S. troops pulled out of northeastern Syria, Russia President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made an agreement to share control of north east Syria. Under the plan, Turkey would control the area it currently has under its control while Russian and Syrian troops control the rest of the border, Haartz news reported. Under the Russian-Turkish agreement, Syrian Kurd fighters would need to move 30 kilometers (18 miles) away from the border area within 150 hour period that starts on Wednesday. Erdogan said 800 Syrian Kurdish fighters withdrew since Turkey and the United States agreed to a five-day pause in the operation and that 1,300 more are still expected to withdraw. "Syria should be free from the illegal military foreign presence," Pu...
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Seized North Korean Cargo Ship Sold for Scrap Metal
22Oct By Patti MohrNo Comments
Sanctions, Types of News: Brief

Seized North Korean Cargo Ship Sold for Scrap Metal

October 22, 2019-A U.S. court made an order of forfeiture for a cargo vessel named "Wise Honest" that had shipped coal and machinery for North Korea in violation of U.S. and international sanctions. The U.S. Justice Department announced the decision yesterday, saying that it effectively ends the ship's "career as one of North Korea’s largest sanctions-busting vessels.” A Ship's Story In April, foreign maritime authorities intercepted and seized the ship. In May, DOJ Attorneys John Demers and Geoffrey Berman filed a civil forfeiture complaint in a U.S. court against the 17,061-ton, single-hull bulk carrier ship. According to a DOJ statement, it was the first-ever seizure of a ship evading sanctions. The Korea Songi Shipping Company had used the ship to export North Korean coal ...
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