Showing posts with label US. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US. Show all posts

Thursday, September 29, 2016

US election 2016: Trump accused of Cuba embargo breach

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Hillary Clinton says presidential rival Donald Trump appears to have violated US laws, after a report said he broke a trade embargo with Cuba.
Newsweek reports that Mr Trump's company secretly conducted business in Cuba, violating the US trade embargo against the country.
The company allegedly spent at least $68,000 (£52,300) in Cuba in 1998.
Mr Trump's spokesman Kellyanne Conway said the money was not paid, and that he was against deals with Cuba.
Mr Trump has also repeatedly said he had rejected offers to invest in Cuba.
The Newsweek report says Mr Trump's company funnelled the cash through a US consulting firm to make it appear legal.
Mrs Clinton said: "We have laws in our country, and the efforts that Trump was making to get into the Cuban market - putting his business interests ahead of the laws of the United States and the requirements that businesses were operating under with sanctions shows that he puts his personal and business interests ahead of the laws and values and the policies of the United States of America."
"This is something they're going to have to give a response to," said Marco Rubio, the Cuban-American senator from Florida who has endorsed Mr Trump. "I mean, it was a violation of American law, if that's how it happened.
"I hope the Trump campaign is going to come forward and answer some questions about this, because if what the article says is true - and I'm not saying that it is, we don't know with 100% certainty - I'd be deeply concerned about it," he told a podcast hosted by ESPN and ABC.

Analysis: Anthony Zurcher, BBC News North America reporter

Don't run afoul of Florida's expatriate Cuban community. It's one of those iron-clad rules that Republican presidential nominees have obeyed since the rise of Fidel Castro - and it's now another rule that Donald Trump has apparently broken.
Cuban-Americans who fled the island after the revolution historically have been a reliable voting bloc in Florida for Republicans because of the party's hard-line anti-communist stance. While new generations of Cuban-Americans have been less rigid on the issue, Republican presidential candidates continue to pay deference to their interests in this presidential swing state, where every vote is precious.
Earlier this week, the Republican nominee was making nice with Cuban-Americans in Miami's Little Havana and ordering coffee at the famous Versailles Restaurant - much like his predecessors had before him. His efforts, however, may be undone by his past actions.

What the report says



Newsweek's front-page - citing company records, interviews with former Trump executives and court filings - alleges that Mr Trump's company, then called Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, sent a consulting firm to Havana on its behalf in search of business opportunities.
Newsweek says Mr Trump's senior officers disguised the cash by making it appear that the trip was connected to a Catholic charity.
If the consulting firm spent US money during the visit, without permission from the US government, it would have directly violated the Cuban embargo, which remains in place to this day despite a warming in US-Cuba ties.

What the Trump campaign has said

Speaking on ABC earlier on Thursday, Ms Conway initially said: "As I understand from the story, they paid money in 1998." Later in the same interview, she said: "Did his hotel invest in 1998 in Cuba? No."
There has been no further statement from the Trump campaign.
Ms Conway referred to comments Mr Trump has made in the past that were critical of the Cuban regime, and supportive of the embargo.
In a 1999 column in The Miami Herald, Mr Trump wrote that he had snubbed chances to do business in Cuba. "It would place me directly at odds with the longstanding US policy of isolating Fidel Castro. I had a choice to make: huge profits or human rights. For me, it was a no-brainer.

A history of the US trade embargo with Cuba

1959: Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro leads a guerrilla army into Havana overthrowing the Batista regime.
1960: In response to Castro's communist reforms, US breaks off diplomatic relations with Cuba and imposes a trade embargo.
1962: Castro agrees to allow the Soviet Union to deploy nuclear missiles on the island bringing the US and the USSR to the brink of nuclear war.
April 2009: President Barack Obama lifts restrictions on family travel and the sending of remittances to Cuba.
July 2015: The US and Cuba reopen embassies in each other's capitals and restore full diplomatic ties.
March 2016: President Obama makes a three-day visit to Cuba and holds talks with President Raul Castro. He expresses hope the embargo will be ended, but it can only be lifted by the US Congress which is controlled by Republicans who oppose the move.
Aug 2016: US commercial flight arrives in Cuba for the first time in more than half a century.
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Saturday, September 17, 2016

Syria conflict: US air strikes 'kill dozens of government troops'

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The US-led coalition has admitted its planes carried out an attack in eastern Syria that the Russian army says killed at least 62 Syrian troops fighting IS.
The US said its planes had halted the attack in Deir al-Zour when informed of the Syrian presence.
A spokesman for US President Barack Obama apologised for "unintentional loss of life", AP news agency reported.
The strikes allowed IS to advance, said the Russians, who called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
Russia earlier said the current ceasefire in Syria was in danger of collapse and the US would be to blame.
The cessation of hostilities does not include attacks by the US on IS or other jihadist groups.
The US Central Command statement said the coalition believed it was attacking positions of so-called Islamic State and the raids were "halted immediately when coalition officials were informed by Russian officials that it was possible the personnel and vehicles targeted were part of the Syrian military".
It said the "Combined Air Operations Center had earlier informed Russian counterparts of the upcoming strike".
It added: "Syria is a complex situation with various military forces and militias in close proximity, but coalition forces would not intentionally strike a known Syrian military unit. The coalition will review this strike and the circumstances surrounding it to see if any lessons can be learned."


Russia's defence ministry earlier said that if the US air strikes did turn out to be an error, it would be because of Washington's refusal to co-ordinate military action with Moscow.

Only if the current ceasefire - which began on Monday - holds for seven days, will the US and Russia begin co-ordinated action against the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham group, which was previously known as the al-Nusra Front, and IS.
The Russian defence ministry quoted a statement by Syrian army general command as saying that the four coalition air strikes on Syrian troops had allowed IS to advance.
The Russian foreign ministry said the attack had jeopardised the US-Russia agreement on Syria.
The Syrian statement said that the air strikes were "conclusive evidence" that the US and its allies supported the jihadist group.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group put the death toll at at least 80.
There have been no confirmed cases of US air strikes targeting Syrian troops. Last December, Syria accused the coalition of attacking a government army camp in Deir al-Zour but the US denied it.

'Repeated messages'

Earlier, Russia's military expressed fears for the ceasefire. It said rebel groups had increased attacks and it urged the US to act or be responsible for the collapse of the truce.
Russian General Vladimir Savchenko said "the situation in Syria is worsening", with 55 rebel attacks over the past 24 hours, leading to the deaths of 12 civilians.
Gen Viktor Poznikhir said Russia, an ally of the Syrian government, was doing all it could to rein in Syrian troops.
"If the American side does not take the necessary measures to carry out its obligations... a breakdown of the ceasefire will be on the United States," he said.
"The United States and the so-called moderate groups they control have not met a single obligation they assumed in the framework of the Geneva agreement."
The terms require moderate rebel groups to separate themselves from jihadists.
Gen Poznikhir said: "Our repeated messages to the American side are left without a response. There is doubt that the US is able to influence the moderate opposition they control."
A US National Security Council spokesman later said: "While there have been challenges on both sides, violence is considerably lower and the cessation is broadly holding.
"What we're not seeing is humanitarian aid getting through and it will be hard to build confidence on the ground until that occurs."
Some 20 trucks have been waiting since Monday for safe passage from Turkey into Syria and on to rebel-held east Aleppo.

Truce's days may be numbered - BBC's James Longman, Beirut

This was meant to be a trust-building exercise, but nearly a week after the truce began, the blame game has begun.
There was deep scepticism from the rebels about details in the plan which called for their separation from extremist groups. That is why they never formally accepted the deal.
It was always a major sticking point. Were US backed groups supposed to surrender territory to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham? Or were they required to fight them? It was never clear. Either way, the stipulation would leave them far weaker on the battlefield. But refusing and standing in the way of much-needed humanitarian aid would not have been popular.
Now this weekend, the main rebel groups are due to meet to discuss their position. Their mistrust of the government and its Russian allies runs deep. They see the obstruction of aid deliveries on the border as a stalling tactic, and one which they have seen before.
If aid doesn't reach besieged areas soon, the ceasefire's days are numbered. And co-ordinated strikes against IS won't happen.


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Tuesday, September 13, 2016

'Fastest ever' leap in US household incomes

By  5:54 PM  , , , , ,  No comments

Average American incomes rose by 5.2% in 2015, in the fastest increase ever recorded by the federal government.
The annual report from the Census Bureau also found that the poverty rate fell for all racial groups, in the steepest decline found since 1968.
Low income workers received the largest boost, bringing median income levels back to before the recession.
This was the first recorded rise in American household incomes in eight years - or since the Obama presidency.
Figures for Americans who lack healthcare also dropped, as did the poverty rate.
In 2015 there were 43.1 million Americans living in poverty, 3.5 million fewer than in 2014.
Real median household income was $56,500 (£42,900) in 2015, the Census Bureau reported, up from $53,700 (£40,700) the year before.
About 2.4 million more Americans have found full-time year-round work in 2015, according to Census officials.But median incomes only rose for workers in US cities, and not for rural or farm workers.

There is still a large disparity between white and black workers' incomes.
The median household income for black Americans in 2015 was $36,898 (£28,000). The median household income for white Americans was $63,000 (£47,770).
Income inequality has been a major issue throughout the 2016 campaign.
Hillary Clinton has promised equal opportunities to all American workers, while Donald Trump says he will be the "the greatest jobs producing president that God ever created".
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