Obama administration relaxes travel restrictions to Cuba
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The White House continues to relax restrictions against the communist Cuban regime. President Barack Obama has directed officials to allow more flights to Cuba, and will let students and religious groups travel to the island.
According to the Oval Office, “these measures will increase people-to-people contact; support civil society in Cuba; enhance the free flow of information to, from, and among the Cuban people; and help promote their independence from Cuban authorities.”
Americans will also be able to donate more money to Cubans on the island. The new rules will allow for businessmen to send $500 per quarter to non-family members in Cuba.
However, many Cuban-American refugees aren’t happy with the plan, which they say only allows more U.S. dollars into the island, propping up the regime of President Raul Castro, the younger brother of Cuban revolutionary and long-time Washington rival Fidel Castro.
U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) is a refugee from Castro’s Cuba. Born in Havana, Ros-Lehtinen is now the most senior female Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, and chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee. She has been outspoken in her support for the U.S. embargo against Cuba, which she says will help bring down the communist government and return rule of law to the island.
Ros-Lehtinen believes the changes undermine American efforts to isolate Cuba, and won’t help foster freedom on the island.
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World Bank: slow growth in developed nations, rapid growth in developing nations
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Global growth will slow for developed nations in 2011 while developing nations with emerging markets will experience faster growth and account for half of all global economic growth, Word Bank officials say.
The 187-nation institution World Bank outlined its expectations for global growth in its Global Economic Prospects issued on Wednesday.
World Bank officials said developed nations would see slower growth but more stable growth of around 3.3 percent, versus the 3.9 percent in 2010, which likely will not be enough to reduce unemployment rates significantly. Emerging markets will likely growth of around 6 percent in 2011 after experiencing growth of around 7 percent in 2010.
“On the upside, strong developing-country domestic demand growth is leading the world economy, yet persistent financial sector problems in some high-income countries are still a threat to growth and require urgent policy actions,” said Justin Yifu Lin, the World Bank’s chief economist and senior vice president for development economics.
The World Bank also said that the gross domestic product in most developing countries had regained the levels those countries would have seen without a “boom-bust cycle.”
However, the World Bank also said that the recovery of economies in “emerging Europe and Central Asia and in some high-income countries is tentative. Without corrective domestic policies, high household debt and unemployment, and weak housing and banking sectors are likely to mute the recovery.”
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Presidential Candidates Preparing for Campaign Announcements Soon
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The race for the 2012 presidential election has not started officially yet, but unofficially some politicians are dropping hints that announcements about their candidacy are coming in 2011.
The top Republican contenders appear to be former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Others have been making statements recently showing they are leaving their options open.
“If I did run, I do think I would have very significant strength going into it,” Huckabee said during a recent interview published in The Atlantic magazine. “I think I would be one of the best at drawing real contrasts with President Obama.”
Obama’s aides said this month the president plans to run for re-election, meaning the only other viable candidates would be Republicans.
The first Republican debates are expected in about six months as they prepare for the Iowa Caucuses in 13 months.
A recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll showed Obama would defeat all of the potential Republican challengers if the election were held now.
Popular opinion of the president rose during the lame duck session of Congress that followed the November elections.
Obama claimed victories with a tax cut bill, abolishing the military’s don’t ask, don’t tell policy and a new START Treaty with Russia on limiting nuclear missiles.
A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll revealed that 56 percent of Americans supported the president’s handling of the lame duck session.
However, strong Republican victories in November – that included a takeover of the majority in the House – leave little doubt Obama faces a tough fight to hold on to his presidency, according to political analysts.
Six leading Republicans already have raised millions of dollars for a presidential run through political action committees.
The committees hold campaign contributions in accounts that can be used for travel expenses and to hire staff or political consultants.
In addition to Palin, Romney, Huckabee and Gingrich, candidates with political action committees are Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
Romney has raised the most money at $7.4 million, according to Federal Election Commission records. Palin is second at $5.4 million and Pawlenty is third at $3.3 million.
The others all raised less than $2 million.
One of the issues that already is defining differences between the Republican candidates is tax policy.
Before Congress voted last month to extend tax cuts first enacted during the George W. Bush administration, Palin and Romney said they were against the legislation.
Palin said the two-year extension of the tax cuts should have waited for the next session of Congress. It also should have relied more heavily on business incentives to improve the economy, she said.
The new Congress would have given a better “deal for the American public than to accept what I think is a lousy deal, because it creates a temporary economy with even more uncertainty for businesses and it does increase taxes,” Palin said during a Good Morning America interview.
Huckabee and Pawlenty supported the tax bill, saying it would help low-income and middle-income households recover from recession.
Taxes are likely to remain a major issue throughout the 2012 presidential campaign, according to Republican and Democratic candidates.
Immigration policy already is rearing its head as a tough issue that will last throughout 2011.
The DREAM Act that would have granted residency to children brought to the United States as illegal immigrants was defeated in the Senate this month.
It could come up for a vote again next year, where it faces opposition from most Republicans.
While he was governor of Massachusetts, Romney signed an authorization for local police to arrest illegal immigrants.
His successor as governor rescinded the order.
Among potential Republican presidential candidates, Pawlenty is the only one who accepted an invitation to attend a Hispanic Leadership Network conference next month.
The others either declined or did not respond.
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American Corporations Caught Doing Business with Countries Blacklisted by U.S. Government
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The U.S. Treasury Department was defending itself Friday against allegations in a news report that it granted permission for numerous corporations to do business with Iran and other blacklisted countries.
The State Department classifies some of the countries as state sponsors of terrorism.
Officially, the U.S. government participates in an embargo against countries on the list.
Unofficially, the Treasury Department allowed U.S. firms to close about 10,000 deals in the past decade to sell to the countries under an exception for humanitarian aid.
Products sold to the blacklisted countries under the loophole in the law include cigarettes, chewing gum, Louisiana hot sauce and body-building supplements, according to the report in The New York Times.
U.S. firms have exported about $1.7 billion in goods to Iran in the past decade, according to government figures.
The report is a result of a three-year investigation by the newspaper that included a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
A Treasury Department spokesman downplayed the importance of the deals.
Treasury Under Secretary Stuart Levey said in a statement that the exports were “trivial in the context of our Iran policy.”
“This effort is having its intended impact,” Levey said. “Iran’s leadership is worried about its isolation from the international financial system and the other effects of sanctions.”
A primary goal of the embargo is to force Iran and other countries to comply with international law on nuclear proliferation and arms exports.
Cuba, North Korea and Sudan also are on the list of sanctioned countries.
Nuclear non-proliferation treaties say the Iranians would be allowed to develop nuclear material only for electrical power generation and medical treatments. They also must allow international inspections.
So far, the Iranians have denied entry to international inspectors.
In addition, the U.S. government claims to have evidence the Iranians are developing nuclear weapons.
The Obama administration and several Western nations extended the embargo against Iran this year by banning more Iranian companies from doing business with U.S. firms.
American companies that have used the humanitarian exception to do business in Iran include Kraft Foods, Pepsi, Bank of America, Citigroup, American Pulp & Paper Corp. and Hercules USA Inc.
Congress approved the humanitarian exception in 2000 that exempts agricultural and medical supplies from the sanctions.
The New York Times reported that the Treasury Department, under pressure from industry lobbyists, interpreted the law more broadly than Congress intended.
In one case, an American company bid on a pipeline project with permission of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to help Iran sell natural gas to Europe.
The project does not appear to fall under the exception in the federal law for agricultural or medical supplies.
In another case, Iranian Olympic athletes train with sports rehabilitation equipment purchased from an American firm.
The Treasury Department decides each application for exceptions on a case-by-case basis.
In the some cases, politicians trying to protect their home state businesses appear to have influenced the Treasury Department, The New York Times reported.
One example was a medical waste disposal firm in Honolulu. In 2003, its owner ordered 200 graphite electrodes from a Chinese firm that was blacklisted for selling missile technology to Pakistan and Iran.
The electrodes from China Precision Machinery Import Export Corp. were less expensive and easier to find than the ones sold in the United States, explained Samuel Liu, the medical waste plant’s owner.
The Treasury Department initially planned to deny the company’s application for an exception, according to The New York Times report.
While the electrodes were still on board a ship being sent to Hawaii, Liu made a $2,000 contribution to the office of Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii.
Inouye then wrote a letter to the Office of Foreign Assets Control asking for an exception to the sanctions law for the medical waste plant.
Shortly afterward, the Treasury Department granted the exception.
A spokesman for Inouye said the campaign contribution was unrelated to Inouye’s intervention for the medical waste firm.
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U.S. Commerce Department says consumer spending up 0.3 percent in November
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Consumer spending was up by 0.3 percent in November, according to the latest data from the U.S. Commerce Department.
Commerce Department Acting Deputy Secretary Rebecca Blank said the increased spending was supported by small gains in personal income of 0.3 percent.
“Consumer spending in November and October is consistent with stronger economic growth during the fourth quarter,” said U.S. Commerce Department Acting Deputy Secretary Rebecca Blank. “Looking ahead, the just-enacted middle class tax cut package will further increase consumer spending and business investment in 2011, leading to additional job gains and a growing economy in the coming months.”
Spending increases on services and goods was widespread, except for motor vehicle purchases.
The data supported earlier reports from retailers that November spending had exceeded their expectations.
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President Obama departs for vacation in Hawaii
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – President Barack Obama departed for his holidays in Hawaii on Wednesday evening after wishing everyone a Merry Christmas.
The First Family left for Hawaii left last week and the president stayed back to take care of the official business that lawmakers were considering.
At a hurriedly called press conference, Obama called the usually known “lame duck session” of the legislatures as “the most productive post-election period we’ve had in decades,” adding, “and it comes on the heels of the most productive two years that we’ve had in generations.”
Obama concluded his media rendezvous, saying, “I want to wish you all a merry Christmas. Happy holidays. Happy New Year. See you in 2011.”
President Obama shook hands and wished Merry Christmas to all journalists and cameramen, present at the departure point on the lawns of the White House.
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Obama Signs Bill to Extend Tax Cuts and Unemployment Benefits
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – President Obama signed into law an $858 billion tax bill Friday that extends tax cuts and unemployment insurance benefits throughout next year.
“It’s a good deal for the American people,” Obama said during a signing ceremony. “This is progress and that’s what they sent us here to achieve.”
The House approved the measure late Thursday.
The bill passed by a 277 to 148 margin with strong support from Obama, who said the measure is needed to help households recover from recession.
The new law will “protect our middle class, grow our economy and create jobs,” Obama said.
Critics of the legislation – some from Obama’s own Democratic Party – said the reduction in tax revenue from the bill would deepen the nation’s $14 trillion deficit.
They also said some of the tax breaks – particularly for estate taxes – benefit the rich but do little for middle-income and low-income persons.
The tax breaks were enacted during the Bush administration but set to expire on New Year’s Day 2011.
“This bill, the president of the United States believes and I believe, will have a positive effect on the economy,” said House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.). “I will vote for this bill because I don’t want to see middle-income working people in America get a tax increase, because I think that will be a depressant on an economy that needs to be lifted up.”
The Senate approved the same measure on Wednesday by an 81 to 19 vote.
The measure grants unemployed workers in states with the worst joblessness as much as 99 weeks of unemployment insurance benefits through the end of 2011.
It also seeks to stimulate the economy with incentives for consumer spending.
A two-percent reduction in Social Security payroll tax would allow wage-earners to keep as much as $2,136 out of their paychecks that normally would go to the federal government.
The bill represented one of Obama’s greatest bipartisan successes after drawing strong support from Republicans.
In addition, 31 conservative Democrats wrote a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi before the vote urging that it be passed quickly.
“It is time for us to put aside the partisan talking points and accomplish what the American people sent us here to do,” the letter said.
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Sentencing For Offering Thousands To D.C. Tax Collector
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – A Maryland man on Friday found himself in the clutches of law after giving a tax collector thousands in cash to clean up his brother’s tax records according to the Justice Department and the FBI.
Haadis Ketema, 45, of Glenarden was sentenced to 12 months of probation and a $2,500 fine after pleading guilty on August 23, 2010, to a charge that he gave $4,000 to a District of Columbia tax collector in hopes of erasing a record pertaining to his brother’s tax liability, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. and James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.
The sentencing came in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after Ketema pleaded guilty to a charge, most commonly known as “supplementation of salary.”
The Honorable Magistrate Judge Alan Kay in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia sentenced Ketema after the information was submitted to the court by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri L. Schornstein,
The Justice Department communique noted that Ketema met on January 19, 2007 with a tax collector for the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue.
“During the meeting at Union Station, Ketema gave the tax collector $4,000 in cash to change a computer record of the District of Columbia. The doctored record would show that a tax liability of a business then owned by Ketema’s brother was no longer outstanding,” said the statement.
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Budget Cutters Eye Eliminating Mortgage Interest Deduction
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Government budget cutters are eying eliminating or curbing the home mortgage interest deduction.
The deduction is popular with Americans who earn enough money to itemize deductions and who can then deduct the amount they pay for interest on their home mortgage from their income, thus reducing the amount of tax they pay.
However, with federal tax revenues down and the federal budget deficit up, government officials are eager to find additional revenue wherever they can. The federal deficit is currently at 62 percent of gross domestic product but could grow to 185 percent of GDP by 2035 if nothing is done, warned the commission appointed by President Barack Obama.
The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility is looking at ways to reform the tax code to reduce the nearly $14 trillion U.S. deficit.
On Wednesday the Commission submitted a proposal to do that which included limiting the mortgage-interest tax deduction. Limiting the mortgage-interest tax deduction would reduce the deficit by $4 trillion by 2020 and to 2.3% of GDP by 2015.
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FCC Contemplates Plan to Avoid Internet Censorship
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The Federal Communications Commission is preparing to vote Dec. 21 on a plan to limit the ability of Internet service providers and governments from restricting access to the Web.
FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, a Democrat, described his proposal that is set for the vote in announcement this week.
The two Republican FCC commissioners immediately criticized the plan as imposing too much regulation over the Internet, indicating that reaching net neutrality is unlikely to be completed soon, according to industry analysts.
Net neutrality refers to a policy for preventing censorship by Internet service providers and governments on content, sites, platforms, the kinds of equipment allowed and the means of communication over the Internet.
The policy also would require that any two Internet subscribers could communicate with each other without restriction under terms of their access.
The policy fell into doubt Thursday – a day after Genachowski’s announcement – when the Internet company Amazon shut down the tell-all Web site Wikileaks in response to government pressure.
In recent years, Internet service providers have been criticized for exerting too much control over access to the Internet.
Large Internet companies like Google and Yahoo have escaped most of the criticism.
However, niche companies like Facebook and Twitter have sometimes been accused of being restrictive.
Congress stepped into the debate by ordering the FCC to develop a plan to ensure unbiased access.
Genachowski’s plan calls on the Internet companies to upgrade analytic components of their services in return for being regulated under existing Internet regulations. The analytics can filter out some Internet content.
If the companies fail to upgrade their analytics, they would be regulated under more restrictive rules, similar to telephone companies.
“This framework, if adopted later this month, would advance a set of core goals,” Genachowski said. “It would ensure that the Internet remains a powerful platform for innovation and job creation; it would empower consumers and entrepreneurs; it would protect free expression; it would increase certainty in the marketplace and spur investment both at the edge and in the core of our broadband networks.”
However, his fellow commissioners disagreed.
Ranking Republican commissioner Robert McDowell issued a statement saying, “Pushing a small group of hand-picked industry players toward a ‘choice’ between a bad option (Title I Internet regulation) or a worse option (regulating the Internet like a monopoly phone company under Title II) smacks more of coercion than consensus or compromise.”
He accused Genachowski’s proposal of exceeding his authority.
“This ‘agreement’ has been extracted in defiance of not only the courts, but a large, bipartisan majority of Congress as well,” McDowell said. “Both have admonished the FCC not to reach beyond its statutory powers to regulate Internet access.”
Ironically, political pressure from a member of Congress prompted Amazon to stop allowing Wikileaks to use its servers on Thursday.
Wikileaks is a Web site that publishes government documents leaked to the news media.
Its release this week of more than 251,000 U.S. State Department communications with its embassy staff and heads of state created a huge international incident.
The outrage fell as much on the State Department for some criticisms of foreign governments mentioned in the documents as it did on Wikileaks.
Amazon dropped WikiLeaks following inquiries from the staff of Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Ind.-Conn.), chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Lieberman issued a statement saying, “I wish that Amazon had taken this action earlier based on Wikileaks’ previous publication of classified material. The company’s decision to cut off Wikileaks now is the right decision and should set the standard for other companies Wikileaks is using to distribute its illegally seized material. I call on any other company or organization that is hosting WikiLeaks to immediately terminate its relationship with them.”
Lieberman called the documents published by Wikileaks “stolen, classified information.”
Wikileaks protested the Amazon shut down with a Twitter message that said, “If Amazon are so uncomfortable with the first amendment they should get out of the business of selling books.”
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