Author: potus

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday revived a requirement that owners of millions of small businesses register with an arm of the Treasury Department charged with fighting money laundering and other financial crimes.The justices granted an emergency plea made by the Justice Department in the waning days of the Biden administration to allow enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act, enacted in 2021 to crack down on the illicit use of anonymous shell companies.Owners and part-owners of an estimated 32.6 million small businesses must register personal information with Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN. The information includes photo…

Police in Da Nang say bust is biggest money laundering case ever exposed in the central coastal city.Vietnam police say they have arrested five people and smashed a money laundering ring that brought $1.2bn of criminal cash into the country from abroad. Between 2022 and 2024, members of the ring – which included bank employees – forged identification cards and bank seals to establish 187 businesses, opening more than 600 corporate bank accounts, according to authorities. The accounts were used to transfer and legalise money obtained through fraud or gambling abroad, police said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday seemed inclined to revive a civil rights lawsuit against the Texas police officer who shot a man to death during a traffic stop in Houston over unpaid tolls.The justices appeared to be in broad agreement that the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should take another look at the case of Ashtian Barnes, who died in his rental car in April 2016 on the shoulder of the Sam Houston Tollway.Barnes was shot by the officer, Roberto Felix Jr., who jumped on the sill of the driver’s door of Barnes’ car…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Many U.S. adults are on board with the idea of beefing up security at the southern border and undertaking some targeted deportations, according to a new poll. But as President Donald Trump begins his second term with a series of sweeping executive orders on immigration, the findings suggest his actions may quickly push the country beyond the limited consensus that exists on the issue.There is a clear desire for some kind of action on U.S.-Mexico border security, according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Half of U.S. adults think increasing security…

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump ‘s second term began with efforts to deliver on key campaign promises, including his vows to crack down on immigration and restore “ energy dominance.”In his first Oval Office appearance in his second term, he issued sweeping pardons for people charged in the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol and declared a “national emergency” at the U.S.-Mexico border.Some of these early moves are likely to be popular with the public. Most Americans think increasing security at the U.S.-Mexico border should be at least “a moderate priority” for the federal government, according to a poll…

In the past four years, top officials from Jake Sullivan to Katherine Tai have sat down with FP to offer insight into U.S. President Joe Biden’s foreign policy. Together, they painted a picture of the “Biden doctrine” on foreign aid, relations with Europe, U.S.-China competition, and more. On Biden’s final weekend in office, we’re revisiting some of the most illuminating conversations to provide an insider’s look at the outgoing president’s foreign-policy legacy. In the past four years, top officials from Jake Sullivan to Katherine Tai have sat down with FP to offer insight into U.S. President Joe Biden’s foreign policy.…

Islamabad, Pakistan – When Omar Ayub Khan, the leader of the opposition and a member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), presented the party’s charter of demands to Ayaz Sadiq, the speaker of the country’s National Assembly, on Thursday, it seemed like the longstanding impasse between the government and the nation’s most popular party might finally be resolved. However, just 24 hours later, Imran Khan, former prime minister and PTI founder, was sentenced to 14 years in prison by an accountability court on charges of misuse of authority and corruption. The two sides had initiated negotiations late last year on several contentious…

America must “pay the price for peace,” said President Harry Truman in 1948, or it would “pay the price of war.” The ghastliest moments of the 20th century came when autocratic aggressors ruptured the Eurasian balance of power. Standards of morality went by the wayside in conquered regions. Autocratic spheres of influence became platforms for further predation. Countervailing coalitions, thrown together under dire circumstances, had to claw their way back into hostile continents at horrid cost. This is why Truman’s America, having paid the price of war twice in a quarter century, chose to continuously bolster the peace after 1945.…

I voted for U.S. President Joe Biden in 2020, and as readers here know, I supported Vice President Kamala Harris last November despite my misgivings about the administration’s handling of foreign policy. As Biden takes his final bow on the global stage, how well did he and his team perform? As one would expect, Biden’s final foreign-policy speech claimed that they did a terrific job. My assessment is rather different. At the most general level, the Biden administration sought to turn the clock back to an earlier era of benign U.S. global leadership. Instead of “America First,” the United States…

Before Joe Biden was inaugurated in 2021, many analysts speculated that he would adopt an overtly pro-Kurdish stance as the U.S. president. Those predictions were based on his time as a senator and vice president, when he fostered close relations with certain Kurdish communities in the Middle East. But as Biden’s presidency comes to an end, his track record is underwhelming—littered with missed opportunities to support Kurds and Kurdish issues. Ahead of the 2020 U.S. election, the think tank community in Washington, D.C., began to game out what a possible Biden administration might look like. Aykan Erdemir and Philip Kowalski…