Trump moves to scale back financial regulations ADVERTISING Trump moves to scale back financial regulations WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is taking his first steps aimed at scaling back financial services regulations, and the Republican-run Congress cast a vote
Trump moves to scale back financial regulations
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is taking his first steps aimed at scaling back financial services regulations, and the Republican-run Congress cast a vote early Friday signaling that it’s eager to help.
The president signed an executive order that will direct the Treasury secretary to review a 2010 financial oversight law, which reshaped financial regulation after the 2008-09 financial crisis.
Trump also signed a presidential memorandum that instructs the Labor Department to delay implementing an Obama-era rule that requires financial professionals who charge commissions to put their clients’ best interests first when giving advice on retirement investments.
While the financial oversight order won’t have any immediate impact, the administration’s intent is clear.
“The Dodd-Frank Act is a disastrous policy that’s hindering our markets, reducing the availability of credit and crippling our economy’s ability to grow and create jobs,” said Press Secretary Sean Spicer.
Soldiers thwart attack on Louvre, tourists held in lockdown
PARIS (AP) — Paris was plunged into panic — again — when soldiers guarding the Louvre Museum shot an attacker who lunged at them with two machetes on Friday and shouted “Allahu Akbar!” as the historic landmark went into lockdown.
The threat appeared to quickly recede after the assailant was subdued, but it cast a new shadow over the city just as tourism was beginning to rebound after a string of deadly attacks. Coming just hours before Paris finalized its bid for the 2024 Olympics, it also renewed questions about security in the City of Light.
The soldiers’ quick action put an end to what French President Francois Hollande said was “no doubt” a terrorist attack at one of Paris’ most iconic tourist attractions.
French prosecutor Francois Molins said the assailant was believed to be a 29-year-old Egyptian who had been living in the United Arab Emirates, though his identity has not yet been formally confirmed.
“Everything shows that the assailant was very determined”, Molins told a news conference, adding that the attacker, who was shot four times, was in a life-threatening condition in a hospital.
Trump hits Iran with new sanctions for missile test
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration ordered sanctions against more than two dozen people and companies from the Persian Gulf to China Friday in retaliation for Iran’s recent ballistic missile test, increasing pressure on Tehran without directly undercutting a landmark nuclear deal with the country.
Those targeted by the Treasury Department include Iranian, Lebanese, Emirati and Chinese individuals and firms involved in procuring ballistic missile technology for Iran. They are now prohibited from doing any business in the United States or with American citizens. The overall impact is likely to be minimal on Iran’s economy, though some of the people and companies have relationships with Iran’s hard-line Revolutionary Guard military forces.
“The days of turning a blind eye to Iran’s hostile and belligerent actions toward the United States and the world community are over,” Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, said in a statement.
Although White House spokesman Sean Spicer acknowledged that much of the legwork had occurred under President Barack Obama, he told reporters the Trump administration “acted swiftly and decisively” after Iran’s recent missile test and Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen firing on a Saudi naval vessel.
It is Trump’s first package of penalties against Iran, reflecting his insistence on a tougher stance toward Tehran. Throughout his election campaign, Trump accused the Obama administration of being weak on Iran, and he vowed to crack down if elected.
Trump on jobs report: ‘It’s going to continue, big league’
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump greeted news of a robust January jobs report Friday with his signature blend of gusto, self-promotion and promises of good times yet to come.
“Great spirit in the country right now,” Trump said of the 227,000 jobs gained last month.
Flanked by leading CEOs who met with him at the White House, Trump suggested that his November election victory had lifted America’s morale — and had emboldened many employers to step up hiring. His celebratory response to January’s strong job gain contrasted with the restraint typical of Barack Obama, who tended to mention the millions of Americans still searching for work in any given month.
“I think it’s going to continue, big league,” Trump said of last month’s job growth.
The president has yet to wade far into the details of policies that could shape the economy under his watch and possibly into his successor’s administration. So far, he has kept his economic proposals short on specifics while promoting their benefits.
Worst fighting in east Ukraine since 2015; 33 dead this week
AVDIIVKA, Ukraine (AP) — International monitors on Friday strongly urged the warring sides in eastern Ukraine to silence their guns as heavy artillery and rocket barrages continued to pummel residential areas.
At least 33 people including civilians have been killed and several dozen injured in fighting this week in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russia-backed separatist rebels — the worst violence in the region since 2015.
The death toll in the fighting that began in April 2014 has now exceeded 9,800, according to U.N. figures and a tally of recent fighting.
“Unacceptable! … Sides have to stop fighting!” the monitoring mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation In Europe said on its Facebook page.
While the warring sides have regularly exchanged gunfire despite a February 2015 peace deal brokered by France and Germany, this week has seen a sharp spike in hostilities. Fighting has raged around the government-controlled industrial town of Avdiivka, just north of the main rebel stronghold of Donetsk, catching residential areas in the crossfire.
‘El Chapo’ lawyers say jail conditions are too strict in NYC
NEW YORK (AP) — He’s locked up 23 hours a day. His wife can’t visit him. He can’t call anyone, except his lawyers. He even was denied water, his lawyers say.
The strict jail conditions for notorious Mexican drug lord and escape artist Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman were outlined on Friday by defense attorneys in a failed bid to get a judge to loosen them.
Guzman smiled at his common-law wife, Emma Coronel, as he was led into the Brooklyn courtroom under heavy guard by deputy U.S. marshals at his second court appearance since being brought to the United States on Jan. 19.
“This was so far the only way she has been able to see him,” defense attorney Michelle Gelernt said afterward with a silent Coronel at her side.
Guzman, 59, has pleaded not guilty to charges of running a massive drug trafficking operation that laundered billions of dollars and oversaw murders and kidnappings. He’s being held at a high-security federal jail in Manhattan, with U.S. officials mindful of how he twice escaped from prison in Mexico, the second time via a mile-long tunnel dug to the shower in his cell.
Discarded IS receipts offer glimpse into former Mosul life
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — Receipts from taxi rides, ledgers listing internet usage for the privileged few and random logbooks documenting an ever tighter economy are just some of the documents that Islamic State militants left behind when they fled eastern Mosul in the face of advancing Iraqi forces.
The discarded papers and bundles of receipts, found on a recent visit to a home used as a base for the militants in the city, offer an unusual glimpse into the Islamic State group’s daily life and economy.
In the months leading up to the Mosul offensive, IS fighters were increasingly pushed underground by punishing U.S.-led coalition airstrikes.
The bookkeeping reveals how IS bases had become increasingly like bunkers, but also how easily the fighters were able to move within their so-called caliphate just a year ago, when it spanned across western Iraq and a third of Syria.
Most of the receipts were from early 2016, when IS had only just lost control of the city of Ramadi in western Anbar province, but still controlled about a quarter of Iraq’s territory. Slips of paper document taxi rides back and forth to IS-held towns across the Iraq-Syria border.
