Page 2 - Trump Administration

US pushes environmental enforcement after more than a decade of budget cuts

The Environmental Protection Agency conducted more on-site inspections of polluting industrial sites this year than any time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency said on Monday as it seeks to reinvigorate its enforcement programme after more than a decade of budget cuts. EPA opened nearly 200 criminal investigations this year, a 70 per cent increase over 2022, the agency said in a report. It completed nearly 1,800 civil settlements, a 9 per cent increase over 2022. More than half the inspections and settlements involved poor and disadvantaged communities long scarred by pollution, the agency said, reflecting the Biden administration's emphasis on environmental justice issues. But some parts of EPA's enforcement efforts still lag. In 2023, for example, it charged 102 defendants criminally. The Trump administration charged more every year, although most years only marginally. Nearly 200 defendants were charged in the latter years of the Obama administration. There is,

Trump's administration overpaid corn farmers by $3 bn: Federal watchdog

The Trump administration overpaid corn farmers by about $3 billion in federal aid in 2019, a federal watchdog agency has found.

USCIS reverses Trump-era policy denying certain immigrant visa applications

In 2018, The Trump administration gave its immigration officials more power to reject H-1B visa applications outright.

US President Biden suspends oil leases in Alaska's Arctic refuge

This reverses a drilling program approved by the Trump administration

Biden administration reverses Trump changes to bank antidiscrimination law

The Biden administration announced it would repeal the changes made by the Trump administration to an important law made to stop banks from discriminating against racial minorities and the poor

US Capitol violence: Trump administration officials to testify on January 6

Two senior Trump administration officials plan to defend their actions during the January 6 riot at the US Capitol when they appear before Congress

Hard to meet May 1 deadline to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan: Biden

United States President Joe Biden said it is going to be hard to meet the May 1 deadline to pull out US troops from Afghanistan as per the deal made during the Donald Trump administration

Trump raised $255.4 million in 8 weeks in bid to overturn election

Former US President Donald Trump and the Republican Party raised $255.4 mn in the eight-plus weeks following the election, new federal filings show, as he sought to undermine and overturn the results

Inheriting a confluence of crises, Biden will take helm as US president

US has seen a near-death experience as a democracy. Americans who will watch the new president be sworn in are now acutely aware of how much it needs to be protected

Trump admin slams China's Huawei, halting shipments from Intel: Report

The United States made the latest decisions during a half dozen meetings starting on Jan. 4

US lawyers ask 2nd Circuit to nix Donald Trump from defamation suit

US Justice Department lawyers asked a federal appeals court to replace Trump with the United States as the defendant in a defamation lawsuit brought by a woman who says he raped her in the 1990s

Trump's move to blacklist Xiaomi cost Chinese firm's top executives $4.5 bn

The move startled investors because previous bans focused on Chinese companies with military ties

Trump administration takes final swipes at China and its companies

Trump admin took another swipe at China and its biggest firms, imposing sanctions on officials and companies for alleged misdeeds in South China Sea and imposing an investment ban on nine more firms

Trump admin adds China's Comac, Xiaomi to Chinese military blacklist

The companies will be subject to a new US investment ban which forces American investors to divest their holdings of the blacklisted firms by Nov. 11, 2021.

Trump administration set for its last auction of US oil drilling rights

Biden has said he would halt new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters, but he has not laid out a method or timeline for realizing that goal

US House impeaches Trump for a second time; 10 Republicans vote yes

Some Republicans argued the impeachment drive was a rush to judgment that bypassed the customary deliberative process such as hearings

New Trump admin rule will raise wage cost for employing H-1B workers

The move is part of the Trump administration's efforts to protect American workers from being undercut by cheaper labour from abroad

Trump admin shelves planned investment ban on Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu

Senior officials in the administration had been considering plans to add the firms to a list of alleged Chinese military companies, which would have subjected them to a new US investment ban

US imposes sanctions on Iranian foundations in last days of Trump's term

Republican Trump is due to hand over power to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden after losing the Nov. 3 election

Declassified US report envisions India's growing role in Indo-Pacific

The outgoing Trump administration declassified a report which amply describes the growing importance of India in the Indo-Pacific region