Image
  China controls the rare earths the world buys - can Trump's new deals change that? US President Donald Trump has signed a flurry of deals on his Asia visit to secure the supply of rare earths, a critical sector that China has long dominated. The deals with Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia differ in size and substance and it's too early to assess their tangible impact. But they all include efforts to diversify access to the minerals that have become essential for advanced manufacturing, from electric vehicles to smartphones. The agreements, which aim to lock partners into trading with the US, are a clear bid to reduce dependence on China, ahead of a key meeting with its leader Xi Jinping. They could eventually challenge Beijing's stranglehold over rare earths, but experts say it will be a costly process that will take years. "Building new mines, refining facilities, and processing plants in regions such as Australia, the United States, and Europe comes ...
Post a Comment

 The president will leave the White House on 20 January 2025, when     his successor Donald Trump is inaugurated.


US President Joe Biden has granted presidential pardons to 39 Americans convicted of non-violent crimes and commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 others, including several convicted in a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme. The White House described it as the largest presidential pardon ever issued in a single day. 
It comes after Biden decided to pardon his own criminally convicted son, Hunter Biden. Announcing the move, Biden said the padrones had “demonstrated successful rehabilitation and a commitment to making their communities stronger and safer”. 
The US Constitution states that a president has “broad power to grant pardons and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment”. The White House released a list of 39 pardons it said were for “non-violent offenses” or “non-violent drug offenses”. It did not name the specific crimes they were convicted of. Many of those pardoned have been released from prison. Many were veterans or had become community leaders or advocates. The White House described one of the pardoned men as a Virginia resident who was convicted of drug offenses at age 21. After serving his sentence, he earned a college degree, had a successful career in the U.S. Army and Air Force, and volunteered for charities that helped veterans. The White House said in a statement that he was "known to those who knew him as exceptionally hardworking, dedicated, and trustworthy," and provided brief biographies of all those who received pardons. 
The 1,499 sentences were commuted, including those who were under house arrest during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as those whose sentences Biden considered too long because of outdated laws. Biden said of those whose sentences were commuted, "they have demonstrated that they deserve a second chance." Biden promised to "take further action in the coming weeks." Among those whose sentences were reduced was Timothy McGinn, 76, a former stockbroker who was convicted in 2013 of defrauding hundreds of clients of millions of dollars, wiping out the savings of many of his victims. 
Another man who received a pardon, former Ohio county commissioner Jimmy Dimora, was convicted in 2012 of taking $450,000 (£355,000) in bribes that included luxury trips to Las Vegas, prostitution and a stone-fired pizza oven. Also on the list were Paul Daugaard’s, who was convicted in 2014 of overseeing a fraudulent tax shelter, and Ellen Lovett, who was convicted in 2017 of defrauding the federal health insurance program Medicare as part of a $26 million scheme. The president will leave the White House on January 20, 2025, when his successor, Donald Trump, will be sworn in. However, he has issued a few explicit pardons in the past. These are pardons granted to large numbers of people who fall under a category determined by the president. In October 2022, Biden issued a full pardon for people convicted of marijuana possession, and later expanded it to include other marijuana-related offenses. Earlier this year, Biden issued another full pardon for military personnel and veterans who were convicted of crimes based on their sexual orientation. 
Biden’s decision earlier this month to pardon his son Hunter continued a trend of presidents on both sides of the US political divide – including Trump – pardoning people close to them. The younger Biden was serving time in two criminal cases for tax fraud and gun crimes. The move proved controversial, as the outgoing president had previously denied doing so. But he has claimed that the cases against his son were politically motivated. Biden has also considered granting early pardons to prominent critics of his successor Trump to protect them from retaliation, but is reportedly concerned about the precedent it would set. In a separate incident on Thursday, a former FBI informant pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, leading to an investigation into the Biden family.
 Alexander Smirnov admitted that he fabricated a “fabrication” about Biden and his son taking bribes from Ukrainian energy company Burisma. Republicans in Congress have seized on the claim as evidence of corruption. According to the Pew Research Center, Trump has issued 237 pardons during his first term in the White House. Of those, 143 were pardons and 94 were commutations of sentences. 
Many were in uproar before leaving office. In recent days, Trump has promised on his first day in office to pardon those convicted of participating in the January 6, 2021 riots on Capitol Hill, where his supporters tried to block the certification of Biden's election victory. He said this week that the pardons would be for those who were "non-violent."

Comments

Post a Comment