Page 41 - Us Government

"Going to move heaven and earth" to rebuild Baltimore bridge, says Biden

Biden delivered the remarks as he surveyed the wreckage from last week's bridge collapse in Baltimore, reaffirming his commitment to the people there

Biden urges Egypt, Qatar to press Hamas to come to agreement for hostages

US President Joe Biden on Friday wrote to the leaders of Egypt and Qatar, calling on them to press Hamas for hostage deal with Israel, according to a senior administration official, one day after Biden called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to redouble efforts to reach a cease-fire in the six-month-old war in Gaza. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private letters, said Biden's national security adviser will meet Monday with family members of some of the estimated 100 hostages who are believed to still be in Gaza. The letters come as Biden has deployed CIA Director Bill Burns to Cairo for talks this weekend about the hostage crisis.

Amid healthy US jobs report, US Fed likely to delay interest rate cuts

US employers hired far more workers than expected in March and raised wages at a steady clip, the Labor Department said

US policy to change if Netanyahu fails to protect Gaza civilians: Biden

Washington is Israel's top weapons supplier and the Biden administration has mostly provided a diplomatic shield for it at the United Nations

During China visit, Yellen calls for level playing field for US workers

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called Friday for a level playing field for American companies and workers as she began a five-day visit to China in one of the country's major industrial and export hubs. Yellen told Wang Weizhong, the governor of Guangdong province, that it's important for the U.S. and China to have open and direct communication on areas of disagreement. "This includes the issue of China's industrial overcapacity, which the United States and other countries are concerned can cause global spillovers, she said. Yellen, the first Cabinet-level official to visit China since President Joe Biden met Chinese leader Xi Jinping last November, has telegraphed that she will raise what the U.S. considers to be unfair Chinese trade practices, a concern shared by many European countries. Before talks with the governor, she met with American, European and Japanese business representatives to hear their concerns, ahead of what will likely be tough talks on trade and other issue

Six months into Gaza war, Israel's isolation grows with no end in sight

When Israel declared war against Hamas last October, it stood unified at home and enjoyed broad backing from around the world following an unprecedented attack by the Islamic militant group. Six months later, Israel finds itself in a far different place: bogged down in Gaza, divided domestically, isolated internationally and increasingly at odds with its closest ally. The risk of a broader regional war remains real. Despite Israel's fierce military onslaught, Hamas is still standing, if significantly weakened. The offensive has pushed Gaza into a humanitarian crisis, displacing more than 80% of the population and leaving over 1 million people on the brink of starvation. Yet Israel hasn't presented a postwar vision acceptable to its partners, and cease-fire talks remain at a standstill. Here are six takeaways from the first six months of war. BATTLEFIELD STALEMATE Israel declared war in response to Hamas' Oct. 7 cross-border attack, in which the militant group killed 1,200 people,

Sri Lanka unaware of ship carrying toxic waste from the US, say official

Sri Lanka is not yet aware of the nature of hazardous materials on the cargo vessel that collided with a key Baltimore bridge last week as it was supposed to declare the contents of containers only 72 hours before the time of arrival into the Colombo Port, officials here said. The Singapore-flagged container ship vessel Dali, which was mainly manned by an Indian crew, collided with the 2.6-km-long four-lane Francis Scott Key Bridge over the Patapsco River in Baltimore in the early hours of March 26. The 984-foot cargo ship was bound for Colombo, Sri Lanka. The ship was carrying 764 tonnes of hazardous materials as reported by the US media. According to the information available, there are 57 containers with such toxic materials that can be categorised under the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code. The waste included mostly corrosives, flammables, miscellaneous hazardous materials, and Class-9 hazardous materials, including explosives & lithium-ion batteries in 56 ...

Thieves steal $30 mn in cash in one of the biggest heists in Los Angeles

Thieves got away with $30 million in cash from a money storage facility in Los Angeles by breaking into the building on Easter Sunday and cracking the safe. Now detectives are seeking to unravel the brazen cash heist, reportedly one of the largest on record in Los Angeles. Police Cmdr Elaine Morales told The Los Angeles Times, which broke the news of the crime, that the thieves were able to breach the building, as well as the safe where the money was stored. The operators of the business did not discover the massive theft until they opened the vault. Media reports identified the facility as a location of GardaWorld, a global cash management and security company, in Sylmar. The Canada-based company, which also operates fleets of armoured cars, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. LAPD Officer David Cuellar, a department spokesperson, confirmed that officers received a call for service at 4:30 am Sunday at a business on the street where ...

US officials raise commercial, market access issues with China in meeting

Washington has raised concerns with Beijing for years over restricted access to the Chinese market for US companies

Meta pushes back on US FTC's attempt to amend 2020 privacy settlement

The agency has accused Meta of misleading parents about protections for children

Federal Judge denies Trump bid to dismiss classified documents prosecution

A federal judge refused Thursday to throw out the classified documents prosecution against Donald Trump, rejecting a defence argument that the case should be tossed because he was entitled as a former president to retain the records after he left office. Lawyers for Trump had cited a 1978 statute known as the Presidential Records Act in arguing that he was permitted to designate records from his time in office as personal and take them with him when he left the White House. Prosecutors on special counsel Jack Smith's team vigorously opposed that argument, saying the statute had no relevance in a case concerning classified documents. US District Judge Aileen Cannon sided with the government in a three-page order, writing that the indictment makes no reference to the Presidential Records Act, nor do they rely on that statute for purposes of stating an offence.

US blocks 13 ships facilitating illicit trade in support of Iran's military

Iran-backed Houthis have also launched attacks on commercial vessels and US naval assets using Iranian-made UAVs and missiles, according to the US State Department

1 dead, 2 injured after crane section falls from a South Florida high-rise

One person was killed and two others were hospitalised Thursday afternoon when a section of crane fell from a building in downtown Fort Lauderdale, officials said. Crews were in the process of stepping the crane during the construction of a high-rise building when a section being prepared to increase the crane's height came loose, Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Chief Stephen Gollan said during a news conference. A construction worker fell with the crane section, causing fatal injuries, officials said. The crane itself remained secured to the building. The crane section landed on a nearby bridge, damaging at least two vehicles, Gollan said. A man and a woman who had been on the ground were taken to a nearby hospital, where they were listed in stable condition. Another person was treated at the scene and refused transport to the hospital. The bridge was damaged by the falling crane section, meaning the roadway will be closed indefinitely until it's repaired. The river that runs under the

Israel has to get Gaza war over 'fast' as it is 'losing the PR war': Trump

Former President Donald Trump offered a tough message to Israel in its war against Hamas on Thursday, urging the country to: Get it over with. In an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump said that Israel is absolutely losing the PR war and called for a swift resolution to the bloodshed. Get it over with and let's get back to peace and stop killing people. And that's a very simple statement," Trump said. "They have to get it done. Get it over with and get it over with fast because we have to -- you have to get back to normalcy and peace. The presumptive GOP nominee, who has criticised President Joe Biden for being insufficiently supportive of Israel, also appeared to question the tactics of the Israeli military as the civilian death toll in Gaza continues to mount. Since Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, Israel's military has battered the territory, killing more than 30,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and creating a humanitari

US election: Trump leads Biden in 6 of 7 states, says latest opinion poll

Ahead of the upcoming US election scheduled for November, President Joe Biden is trailing behind his main opponent Donald Trump in six of the seven battleground states, according to a latest opinion poll. Voters are broadly dissatisfied with the national economy and there are deep doubts about Biden's capabilities and job performance, the survey conducted by the Wall Street Journal revealed. Trump leads between two and eight percentage points in six battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina. However, Biden is leading Trump by three points in Wisconsin. In every state in the survey, negative views of the president's job performance outweigh positive views by 16 percentage points or more, with the gap topping 20 points in four states. By contrast, Trump earns an unfavourable job review for his time in the White House in only a single state Arizona where negative marks outweigh positive ones by 1 percentage point, The Wall Street Journ

G7 price cap on Russian oil, recent action by Indian refiners working: US

Since October, the US has enforced the price cap with sanctions including designating in February Sovcomflot (SCF), Russia's state-owned shipping company

We had nothing to do with it: US after attack on Iranian consulate in Syria

Shortly after an airstrike widely attributed to Israel destroyed an Iranian consulate building in Syria, the United States had an urgent message for Iran: We had nothing to do with it. But that may not be enough for the US to avoid retaliation targeting its forces in the region. A top US commander warned on Wednesday of danger to American troops. And if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent broadening of targeted strikes on adversaries around the region to include Iranian security operatives and leaders deepens regional hostilities, analysts say, it's not clear the United States can avoid being pulled into deeper regional conflict as well. The Biden administration insists it had no advance knowledge of the airstrike Monday. But the United States is closely tied to Israel's military regardless. The US remains Israel's indispensable ally and unstinting supplier of weapons, responsible for some 70% of Israeli weapon imports and an estimated 15% of Israel's defense budget.

Houthis may be low on weapons as attacks on ships slow, says US commander

Houthi rebels in Yemen may be running through their supplies of drone swarms and anti-ship ballistic missiles as the pace of their attacks has slowed a bit, the top US Air Force commander for the Middle East said Wednesday. Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, who heads US Air Forces Central, said that the persistent American retaliatory strikes on the Iran-backed militia group have certainly affected their behaviour. Their pace of operations is not what it was. The Houthis have been conducting near daily attacks on commercial and military ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, launching drones and missiles from rebel-held areas of Yemen. The attacks -- which are often unsuccessful but at times have struck the ships have disrupted a crucial shipping route. In response, the US and allies have been forced to increase their military ship presence along the waterway, and on several occasions have launched wider retaliatory strikes on ammunition, weapons and other facilities. US ships and fighte

Baltimore bridge cleanup: Maritime terminal prepares for redirected ships

The only maritime shipping terminal currently operating in the Port of Baltimore is preparing to process an influx of redirected ships as crews continue clearing the mangled wreckage of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge. Tradepoint Atlantic will unload and process an estimated 10,000 vehicles over the next 15 days, according to a statement from the company. That includes six regularly scheduled ships and nine that have been redirected since the deadly bridge collapse blocked access to the port's main terminals, which remains closed to traffic in a logistical nightmare for shipping along the East Coast. Crews opened a second temporary channel through the collapse site Tuesday, but it's too shallow for most commercial vessels to pass through. The two existing channels are meant primarily for vessels involved in the cleanup effort, which began last week. Work continues to open a third channel that will allow larger vessels to pass through the bottleneck and restore more commercia

US senator urges Prez Biden to review alleged Nippon Steel ties to China

Nippon Steel said in a statement that Horizon's report was "rife with inaccuracies and misrepresentations"