Tag Archives: POTUS

Business

U.S. Postal Service finalizes plan to slow some mail deliveries

Leave a comment

WASHINGTON, Aug 6 (Reuters) – The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) on Friday finalized a plan effective Oct. 1 to slow down some first-class mail deliveries as part of efforts to cut red ink.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy proposed in March to revise existing one- to three-day service standards to one to five days for first-class mail. USPS said on Friday that 61% of first-class mail will remain at its current standard.

USPS said in a notice published in the Federal Register current standards require it “to rely heavily on air transportation, using air cargo transportation carriers and commercial passenger air carriers.”

Delivery standards will be slower for about 7% of periodicals.

Airplanes, USPS added, are less reliable than surface transportation and costs much more because of “weather delays, network congestion, and air traffic control ground stops.”

The “addition of one or two days to current service standards for first-class mail and periodicals would enable the Postal Service to convey a greater volume of mail within the contiguous United States by surface transportation,” it said.

While acknowledging “some uncomfortable changes,” DeJoy defended the plan earlier on Friday at a board of governors meeting, saying it makes a commitment to deliver to “every address in the nation, six days a week, and strives for financial sustainability.”

USPS on Friday posted a $3 billion quarterly net loss, with a 1.1% rise in first-class mail deliveries to 12.1 billion pieces. But “volumes remain lower than pre-pandemic levels and we expect continued secular declines,” it added.

For the minority of first-class mail affected by the slower delivery window “the standard would only change by one or two days (with most of such volume experiencing a one-day change),” USPS said.

USPS added it has been unable to achieve existing “service performance targets for many years, and that these service failures illustrate the weakness of the current transportation model.”

In June, the attorneys general of 20 states asked the U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission to reject plans to slow down some first-class deliveries, saying allowing that to happen could harm local governments’ ability to fulfill essential functions.

DeJoy unveiled a plan in March to cut $160 billion in predicted losses over the next decade with the changes in service standards a key part.

USPS has struggled with poor delivery performance over the past year, facing a huge boost in packages and staffing issues due to the coronavirus pandemic. It said Thursday that through July it delivered 89% of first-class mail on time, up 1.5 percentage points.

Starting Aug. 29, USPS will raise prices of first-class postage stamps to 58 cents from 55 cents. Price hikes are needed because over the past decade, mail volume has declined by 46 billion pieces, or 28%, while single piece first-class mail declined 47%, USPS said.

Congress is considering a plan to provide USPS with $46 billion in financial relief over 10 years, including eliminating a requirement that USPS pre-fund retiree health benefits for 75 years.

The agency has reported net losses of about $90 billion since 2007. One reason is 2006 legislation mandating that it pre-fund more than $120 billion in retiree healthcare and pension liabilities, a requirement labor unions have called an unfair burden not shared by other businesses.

Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Diane Craft, Marguerita Choy and Richard Chang

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

US

EXCLUSIVE U.S. starts flying migrant families into Mexico far from border – source

Leave a comment

Asylum-seeking migrant families from Central America wait to be processed by the U.S. Border Patrol agents after crossing the Rio Grande river into the United States of America from Mexico in Roma, Texas, U.S., July 28, 2021. REUTERS/Go Nakamura

WASHINGTON, Aug 5 (Reuters) – The United States on Thursday began flying Central American and Mexican families to southern Mexico in an effort to deter migration by bolstering a COVID-era expulsion policy at the U.S.-Mexico border, a person familiar with the matter said.

Nearly 200 Mexican and Central American family members were expelled deep into Mexico on Thursday in what are expected to be regular flights, the person said. The flights, which will include adults, aim to disrupt a pattern of repeat crossings under a U.S. border policy known as Title 42.

U.S. President Joe Biden has reversed many of the restrictive immigration policies of his Republican predecessor, former President Donald Trump, but has left Title 42 in place amid 20-year highs in border arrests.

Although health experts, pro-migrant advocates and some Democrats say the policy cuts off access to asylum without a clear health rationale, Biden officials argue it is necessary to keep U.S. detention centers from becoming overwhelmed during the pandemic.

Under Trump, some Mexican migrants caught at the U.S.-Mexico border were flown to southern Mexico. But the use of the strategy under Biden – and under the Title 42 order – is new, according to the person familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity to discuss government operations.

The United States will work with non-governmental organizations and shelters in southern Mexico to ensure that migrants can safely return to their home countries, the person said.

Mexico’s migration institute and foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Biden administration also announced last week that it would subject migrant families to a fast-track deportation process known as “expedited removal” to their home countries from U.S. detention centers. read more

The expulsion flights to southern Mexico will be faster than that process, the person familiar with the situation said.

Pro-migrant groups on Monday restarted litigation that aims to stop the Biden administration from expelling families under Title 42, which the administration renewed that day. read more

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), one of the groups challenging Title 42, has argued the policy denies migrants a legal right to claim asylum and returns them to situations of grave danger in Mexico.

Lee Gelernt, the lead ACLU lawyer in the case, said the flights to southern Mexico could also inflict harm.

“The Biden administration is apparently looking for new ways to expel people and in the process subject these desperate migrants to additional trauma,” he said.

Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington, Additional reporting by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Mica Rosenberg and Gerry Doyle

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

Business

U.S. COVID-19 eviction ban expires, leaving renters at risk

Leave a comment

WASHINGTON, July 31 (Reuters) – A pandemic-related U.S. government ban on residential evictions expired at midnight on Saturday, putting millions of American renters at risk of being forced from their homes.

The expiration was a blow to President Joe Biden, who on Thursday made a last-ditch request to Congress to extend the moratorium, citing the raging Delta variant.

On Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives adjourned without reviewing the tenant protections after a Republican congressman blocked a bid to extend it by unanimous consent until Oct. 18. Democratic leaders said they lacked sufficient support to put the proposal to a formal vote.

The U.S. Senate held a rare Saturday session but did not address the eviction ban. The White House had made clear it would not unilaterally extend the protections, arguing it does not have legal authority to do so following a Supreme Court ruling in June.

More than 15 million people in 6.5 million U.S. households are currently behind on rental payments, according to a study by the Aspen Institute and the COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project, collectively owing more than $20 billion to landlords.

Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren on Saturday said that in “every state in this country, families are sitting around their kitchen table right now, trying to figure out how to survive a devastating, disruptive and unnecessary eviction.”

Democratic Representative Cori Bush and others spent Friday night outside the U.S. Capitol to call attention to the issue.

Workers break up the furniture left by a renter who was evicted after a 48-hours notice for violating the terms of her lease in Chelsea, Massachusetts, U.S., March 29, 2021. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

She asked how parents could go to work and take care of children if they are evicted. “We cannot put people on the street in a deadly global pandemic,” Bush said on Saturday.

Landlord groups opposed the moratorium, and some landlords have struggled to keep up with mortgage, tax and insurance payments on properties without rental income.

An eviction moratorium has largely been in place under various measures since late March 2020. The ban by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) went into effect in September 2020 to combat the spread of COVID-19 and prevent homelessness during the pandemic. It has been extended multiple times, most recently through Saturday.

CDC said in June it would not issue further extensions. A CDC spokeswoman confirmed that the moratorium had expired but declined to comment further.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in explaining the need to extend the eviction ban, noted that out of $46.5 billion in rental relief previously approved by Congress, “only $3 billion has been distributed to renters.”

Late Saturday, Pelosi said lawmakers were demanding “the $46.5 billion provided by Congress be distributed expeditiously to renters and landlords.”

Some Democratic lawmakers early Sunday were rallying outside the Capitol to call for the ban’s reinstatement.

Some states like California and New York have chosen to extend eviction moratoriums beyond July 31. Federal agencies that finance rental housing on Friday urged owners of those properties to take advantage of assistance programs and avoid evicting tenants.

Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Raju Gopalakrishnan

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

World

Risking China’s anger, Blinken meets representative of Dalai Lama in India

Leave a comment

NEW DELHI, July 28 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with a representative of Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in New Delhi on Wednesday, a State Department spokesperson said, a move that is likely to provoke anger in China.

Blinken met briefly with Ngodup Dongchung, who serves as a representative of Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), also known as the Tibetan government in exile, the spokesperson said.

Chinese troops seized Tibet in 1950 in what Beijing calls a “peaceful liberation”. In 1959, the Dalai Lama fled into exile in India following a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

The CTA and Tibetan advocacy groups have received a boost in international support in recent months amid rising criticism of China’s human rights record, particularly from the United States.

In November, Lobsang Sangay, the former head of the Tibetan government in exile, visited the White House, the first such visit in six decades.

A month later, the U.S. Congress passed the Tibet Policy and Support Act, which calls for the right of Tibetans to choose the successor to the Dalai Lama, and the establishment of a U.S. consulate in the Tibetan capital Lhasa.

Blinken’s meeting with Dongchung is the most significant contact with the Tibetan leadership since the Dalai Lama met then-president Barack Obama in Washington in 2016.

China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Beijing says Tibet is a part of China and has labelled the Dalai Lama a dangerous separatist.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Ambassador to India Atul Keshap deliver remarks to civil society organization representatives in a meeting room at the Leela Palace Hotel in New Delhi, India, July 28, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Read More

INDIA TIES

In his first visit to India since joining U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration, Blinken also met his Indian counterpart, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and other officials on Wednesday before heading to see Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The two sides are expected to discuss supplies of COVID-19 vaccines, the security situation in Afghanistan,and India’s human rights record. read more

Speaking to a group of civil society leaders at a New Delhi hotel, Blinken said that the relationship between the United States and India was “one of the most important in the world”.

“The Indian people and the American people believe in human dignity and equality of opportunity, the rule of law, fundamental freedoms including freedom of religion and belief . . . these are the fundamental tenets of democracies like ours,” he said.

“And of course, both of our democracies are works in progress. As friends we talk about that.”

Indian foreign ministry sources said ahead of Blinken’s visit that the country was proud of its pluralistic traditions and happy to discuss the issue with him.

Modi’s government has faced allegations of suppressing dissent, pursuing divisive policies to appeal to its Hindu nationalist base and alienating Muslims, the country’s biggest minority. read more

Blinken arrived in India on Tuesday night and leaves for Kuwait later on Wednesday.

Reporting by Simon Lewis and Sanjeev Miglani in New Delhi
Writing by Krishna N. Das and Alasdair Pal
Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

Business

U.S. judge ends Amazon challenge to $10 bln cloud contract after Pentagon cancellation

Leave a comment

The company and law firm names shown above are generated automatically based on the text of the article. We are improving this feature as we continue to test and develop in beta. We welcome feedback, which you can provide using the feedback tab on the right of the page.

WASHINGTON, July 9 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Friday dismissed Amazon.com’s legal challenge to the Defense Department’s2019 decision to award a $10 billion JEDI cloud-computing project to rival Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) after the Pentagon canceled the contract.

Amazon.com had accused then-President Donald Trump, alleging that the former president exerted improper pressure on military officials to steer the contract away from Amazon. The Pentagon said on Tuesday it expected the new multi-billion dollar contract would be split between Amazon and Microsoft.

Amazon did not object to dismissing its 2019 lawsuit.

Judge Patricia E. Campbell-Smith of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims agreed to dismiss the lawsuit at the government’s request, saying the case was now moot.

Trump publicly derided then-Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and repeatedly criticized the company. Amazon had sought to question Trump about his role in the contract decision.

The Pentagon hopes to have the first awards by April 2022 for its new Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability (JWCC).

John Sherman, acting chief information officer for the Defense Department, said on Tuesday he expects both Microsoft and Amazon will get cloud contracts.

Microsoft said in a statement that the company was confident it will “continue to be successful as the DoD selects partners for new work.”

Amazon’s Amazon Web Services cloud unit said it agreed with the Pentagon’s decision to cancel the contract. It said the initial award was “not based on the merits of the proposals and instead was the result of outside influence that has no place in government procurement.”

In April, Campbell-Smith refused to dismiss Amazon’s claims alleging the Trump administration interfered in the Pentagon’s award to Microsoft after putting it on hold indefinitely in February 2020.

The now-canceled Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud (JEDI) contract was budgeted for as much as $10 billion and was part of a broader digital modernization of the Pentagon aimed at making it more technologically agile.

Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Dan Grebler

Read original article here

World

Iran begins process of making enriched uranium metal; U.S., E3 dismayed

Leave a comment

VIENNA/WASHINGTON, July 6 (Reuters) – Iran has begun the process ofproducing enriched uranium metal, the U.N. atomic watchdog said on Tuesday, a move that could help it develop a nuclear weapon and that three European powers said threatened talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Iran’s steps, which were disclosed by the International Atomic Energy Agency and which Tehran said were aimed at developing fuel for a research reactor, also drew criticism from the United States, which called them an “unfortunate step backwards.”

U.S. and European officials made clear that Iran’s decision would complicate, and potentially torpedo, indirect U.S.-Iranian talks seeking to bring both nations back into compliance with the 2015 deal, which was abandoned by former U.S. President Donald Trump.

The deal imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme to make it harder for Tehran to develop fissile material for nuclear weapons in return for the lifting of economic sanctions. After Trump withdrew, Iran began violating many of its restrictions.

Tehran has already produced a small amount of uranium metal this year that was not enriched. That is a breach of the deal, which bans all work on uranium metal since it can be used to make the core of a nuclear bomb. read more

“Today, Iran informed the Agency that UO2 (uranium oxide) enriched up to 20% U–235 would be shipped to the R&D laboratory at the Fuel Fabrication Plant in Esfahan, where it would be converted to UF4 (uranium tetrafluoride) and then to uranium metal enriched to 20% U–235, before using it to manufacture the fuel,” an IAEA statement said.

A confidential IAEA report seen by Reuters said the agency had confirmed that Iran had taken the second of the four steps described, making clear it has begun the process.

Britain, France and Germany said on Tuesday they had “grave concern” about Iran’s decision, which violates the nuclear deal formally named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). read more

“Iran has no credible civilian need for uranium metal R&D and production, which are a key step in the development of a nuclear weapon,” they said in a joint statement issued by Britain’s foreign ministry.

“With its latest steps, Iran is threatening a successful outcome to the Vienna talks despite the progress achieved in six rounds of negotiations,” they said, and urged Iran to return to the talks, which began in April and adjourned on June 20. No date has been set for a next round.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said that Washington was not setting a deadline for the talks but noted “that as time proceeds Iran’s nuclear advances will have a bearing on our view of returning to the JCPOA.”

Price said the United States found it “worrying” that Iran was continuing to violate the agreement “especially with experiments that have value for nuclear weapons research.

“It’s another unfortunate step backwards for Iran,” he said.

Reporting by Francois Murphy in Vienna and by Humeyra Pamuk and Arshad Mohammed in Washington;
Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Jonathan Landay and Simon Lewis in Washington and by David Milliken in London;
Writing by Francois Murphy and Arshad Mohammed
Editing by David Goodman and Sonya Hepinstall

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here