Tag: calls

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Entertainment

Britney Spears’s Father Requires Inquiry Into Singer’s Management Claims

Britney Spears’s Father Calls for Inquiry Into Singer’s Control Claims

James P. Spears, the father of Britney Spears and the man who has long played a leading role in overseeing his daughter’s affairs, on Tuesday called for an investigation into the singer’s allegations last week that she was molested under her supervision, including convicting them to carry out and take medication against their will.

The court records on behalf of Mr. Spears followed the singer’s first full public statement in 13 years about the complex legal regime that oversees her personal welfare and finances, calling for her to quit conservatory without undergoing a mental evaluation .

In her remarks at the June 23 hearing, broadcast in the courtroom and streamed online, Ms. Spears blamed her management team, janitors and family for their treatment, and made explicit mention of her father.

Now, Mr. Spears’ attorneys have requested an evidence hearing and challenged the actions of Ms. Spears’ current personal guardian and court appointed attorney, saying that “It is crucial that the court confirm that Ms. Spears’ testimony was correct or not “carefully to determine what corrective action, if any, needs to be taken.”

The filings, filed late Tuesday in Los Angeles and received by the New York Times, continued: “It is also imperative that all parties are given a full and fair opportunity to function properly in the Conservatory trial before this court Responding to allegations and claims. “Asserted against them.”

The twin-pronged conservatory, which manages Ms. Spears ‘personal life and estate, was first cleared by a probate court in Los Angeles in 2008 when Ms. Spears’ father moved for control of the singer’s business and welfare amid concerns regarding their mental health and their potential for substance abuse. The arrangement is usually reserved for people who cannot fend for themselves, although Ms. Spears continued to work and perform in the years that followed.

Mr. Spears is currently overseeing the singer’s finances, along with a corporate trustee whom Ms. Spears asked last year to join the arrangement. Her personal curator, Jodi Montgomery, temporarily took over from her father in September 2019 after Mr Spears resigned due to health issues.

But Ms. Spears’ recent statement, along with confidential court records obtained from the New York Times, revealed that in private Ms. Spears had consistently urged quitting conservatories, calling it “too, too much,” according to the Reported by a court investigator in 2016, adding that she was tired of being exploited.

In court last week, Ms. Spears called the setup abusive, likened it to sex trafficking, and described that in 2019 she was forced to tour, undergo psychiatric exams and take medication before her father gave up his role as her personal conservator.

She also said she could not remove her contraceptive even though she wanted to get married and have more children. Ms. Spears referred to her father as “the one who approved of everything”.

In a second filing on Tuesday, Mr. Spears’ attorneys denied the characterization that he was in command, arguing that Ms. Montgomery “has been fully responsible for the daily personal care and medical treatment of Ms. Spears” as of September 2019. , despite some allegations made by Ms. Spears prior to Ms. Montgomery’s appointment.

“Mr. Spears just is not involved in decisions related to Ms. Spears’ personal care or medical or reproductive problems,” his attorneys wrote. Spears cannot hear his daughter’s concerns and address them directly because he has been cut off from communicating with her. “

They added that Mr Spears had no intention of returning as his daughter’s personal curator, but said he was “concerned about the management and care of his daughter”.

Lauriann Wright, an attorney for Ms. Montgomery, said in a statement Wednesday that Ms. Montgomery, as a personal conservator, has been “a tireless advocate for Britney and her well-being” with “one primary goal – to support and encourage”. Britney on her way to no longer needing the person’s care. “

Ms. Wright pointed to Ms. Montgomery’s role as a “neutral decision maker in complex family dynamics” and said that Ms. Spears’ “decision to get married and have a family was never influenced by the Conservatory while Ms. Montgomery” was the Conservatory of the person. “

She added that Ms. Montgomery was looking forward to “finding a way to end the Conservatory.”

Mr. Spears attorneys also raised concerns about the role of Mrs. Spears’s court-appointed attorney, Samuel D. Ingham III, who was hired on the case in 2008 when the singer was deemed unable to choose her own representation.

In the documents, Mr. Spears’ attorneys asked if an earlier move to make the role of Ms. Montgomery permanent was what the singer wanted or even aware of, and found that “Ms. Spears has neither signed nor reviewed the petition to appoint her personal curator, “which was instead signed by Mr. Ingham.

Citing Mr. Ingham’s earlier claim that Ms. Spears was found to be unable to consent to medical treatment in 2014, they stated, “There has been no such finding and there is no such order.” This, too, requires an investigation in a subsequent hearing, the lawyers wrote.

When requesting an investigation, Mr. Spears’ attorneys said, “Either the allegations will turn out to be true and corrective action must be taken in this case, or they will be proven false, in which case the conservatory can continue.” It is unacceptable for restorers or the court to respond to Ms. Spears’ testimony. “

Previously, Ms. Spears had raised concerns about her father’s control over her, according to the investigator’s 2016 report. She cited her inability to make friends or to date without her father’s approval; the limits of her weekly allowance of $ 2,000, despite her success as a performer; and the fear and “very harsh” consequences she said are linked to conservatory violations, the investigator said.

At the time, the estate investigator concluded that the Conservatory was in Ms. Spears’ best interests because of her complex finances, vulnerability to outside influences, and “intermittent” drug problems, the report said. But it also called for “a path to independence and the eventual termination of the conservatory”.

Ms. Spears said in court last week that she did not know she could move to terminate the conservatories. “I’m sorry for my ignorance, but honestly I didn’t know,” she said.

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Health

contemporary calls to analyze the origins of covid

fresh calls to investigate the origins of covid

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with a bipartisan group of members of Congress.

Pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images

LONDON — The European Union and the United States are expected to call for more progress on an investigation into the origins of Covid-19, according to a draft EU document.

The draft document, seen by CNBC, is the foundation for the outcome of an upcoming summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and European leaders which is due on Tuesday. Its wording could change right up until the end of the meeting. 

Speaking Thursday, European Council President Charles Michel, who chairs European summits, said: “The world has the right to know exactly what happened, in order to be able to learn the lessons.”

We have to know where it did come from.

Ursula von der Leyen

European Commission president

At the same news conference on Thursday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “It is of utmost importance that we learn about the origin of the coronavirus.”

“There is this horrible pandemic, a global pandemic we have to know where it did come from in order to draw the right lessons and to develop the right tools to make sure that this will never happen again and, therefore, the investigators need complete access to whatever is necessary to really find the source of this pandemic,” she added.

These statements follow Biden’s call last month for the World Health Organization to carry out a second phase of a probe into the origins of the virus, which was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.

A WHO report said earlier this year that the most likely cause of the virus was natural, and dismissed a lab leak theory. But it suggested that further studies would need to be carried out.

The U.S. intelligence community said last month that it “does not know exactly where, when, or how the Covid-19 virus was transmitted initially but has coalesced around two likely scenarios: either it emerged naturally from human contact with infected animals or it was a laboratory accident.”

The discussion on the origins of the coronavirus comes at a time when the U.S. and the EU also intend to talk about their broader relationship with China.

While on the one hand, the U.S. and the EU want to criticize what they describe as human rights violations in China; on the other hand, they want Beijing to engage constructively on climate change policies and to open up certain parts of its economy.

Biden is hoping that the EU will be a partner when it deals with China over the coming years.

“Biden believes that with a broad coalition, you may be able to push China down a more constructive path. International pressure, that is pressure not coming from Washington only, could prove useful on any of these topics,” Jeremy Ghez, associate professor at H.E.C. Business School in Paris, told CNBC last week.

The EU decided in March to put on hold the ratification of an investment agreement with Beijing — a deal that had been presented back in December, just weeks before the inauguration of Biden.

This investment partnership is now frozen following a diplomatic row between Brussels and Beijing. In March, the EU decided to impose sanctions against China for its treatment of the ethnic minority Uyghurs and Beijing retaliated by announcing counter-sanctions against members of the European Parliament.

The ethnic Uyghurs, who live mostly in China’s west, have been identified by the United Nations, United States, United Kingdom and others as a repressed group. China’s Foreign Ministry in March characterized such claims as “malicious lies” designed to “smear China” and “frustrate China’s development.”

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Health

C.D.C. Requires Up to date Childhood Vaccinations After Decline Final 12 months

C.D.C. Calls for Updated Childhood Vaccinations After Decline Last Year

Pediatricians urge U.S. parents to get their children given routine vaccinations after vaccinations for diseases such as measles declined last year as the pandemic imposed restrictions, including the arrangement of homes.

New data from 10 jurisdictions that closely monitor vaccinations confirms that the number of vaccine doses administered fell between March and May last year, particularly in older children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.

Although vaccinations recovered between June 2020 and September 2020 and were approaching pre-pandemic levels, the increase was insufficient to offset the earlier decline, the study found.

Vaccination is required to attend most schools, camps and daycare, but the CDC study authors warned that the delay could nonetheless pose “a serious public health threat that would lead to vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks.”

They expressed concern that the move to distance learning during the pandemic may have hampered enforcement of vaccination regulations, noting that even a temporary drop in vaccination can affect herd immunity.

A measles outbreak occurred in Rockland County, NY and surrounding counties in 2018-2019 after the measles vaccination rate in schools in the area dropped to 77 percent, among the 93 to 95 percent required to maintain herd immunity are. “Pediatric outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases can undo efforts to reopen schools this fall,” the researchers added.

Parents should plan ahead now and make appointments so their children can be protected, said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, Chair of the Infectious Diseases Committee at the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“We should start thinking about it,” said Dr. Maldonado in a telephone interview. “People forget. We have whooping cough outbreaks regularly every four or five years and are just waiting to see another. “

“We’ll likely see more infections because the kids will get back together and there will be less masking and social distancing,” she added.

The CDC analyzed data from nine states and New York City. In eight of the jurisdictions, a stay at home order was issued last spring.

The number of doses of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccines (DTaP) administered decreased by 15.7 percent in children under 2 years of age and in children aged from in the spring of last year compared to the same period in 2018 and 2019 2 to 6 years back by 60 percent.

The vaccine doses against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) fell by 22.4 percent in 1-year-olds and by 63 percent in 2 to 8-year-olds.

HPV vaccine administration decreased more than 63 percent in adolescents aged 9-17 years compared to the same period in 2018 and 2019; and doses of Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, and whooping cough) decreased by over 60 percent.

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Politics

Treasury says tax hole to balloon to $7 trillion, requires beefed-up IRS

Treasury says tax gap to balloon to $7 trillion, calls for beefed-up IRS

The Internal Revenue Service building in Washington.

SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images

The Treasury Department estimates that the difference between Americans’ tax bill and actual payment will grow to $ 7 trillion over the next decade.

In prepared remarks, Deputy Secretary of State Mark Mazur told Congress on Thursday that the so-called tax gap would only worsen over the next few years without further funding from lawmakers.

He added that the gross tax gap estimate for 2019 alone is around $ 580 billion.

“Over the next ten years, the gross tax gap is expected to be around $ 7 trillion, about 15 percent of all taxes owed,” Mazur told House legislators.

“A larger tax gap leads to the following results: higher tax rates elsewhere in the system, lower revenues to fund the country’s budget priorities, or higher budget deficits and higher national debt,” he added. “Widespread and persistent violations also undermine confidence in the fairness of our tax system.”

Mazur attributed the persistent and growing tax gap to insufficient funding for the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS budget has been cut by 20% over the past 10 years, resulting in a number of layoffs and a significant drop in audit rates.

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The tax collector said earlier this year that budget cuts had forced him to cut 33,378 full-time positions between fiscal 2010 and 2020, including a significant number of taxpayer service and law enforcement staff.

The IRS has repeatedly warned that the layoffs undermine its ability to begin and conduct audits that would help fill the tax loophole. While the number of millionaires has nearly doubled since 2012, tax audits fell 72% from 40,965 in 2012 to 11,331 in 2020.

Mazur recommended that lawmakers endorse provisions in the Biden government’s 2022 budget that would help top up the service.

The White House is currently proposing a sustained, multi-year funding stream of nearly $ 80 billion over the next decade, which the Treasury Department said would allow it to put staff on hold. President Joe Biden has also suggested means to update IRS technology and improve information reporting on third-party reports.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Analysis estimates these compliance initiatives would generate approximately $ 700 billion in additional tax revenue over the next decade.

Mazur’s remarks came a day after five former Treasury Ministers – Lawrence Summers, Robert Rubin, Henry Paulson, Jacob Lew, and Timothy Geithner – called on lawmakers in a New York Times comment to allocate much of the Biden administration’s budget to the tax collector authorize.

“We are convinced that better information reporting requirements can be designed that enable a significant increase in revenue collection without burdening taxpayers at all and not significantly increasing the regulatory burden on the entire economy,” wrote the former secretaries.

“Sensible people cannot agree on the extent of certain tax rate increases,” added the quintet. “But on this issue, everyone, including Congressmen from both parties, should agree that if the IRS is given the tools it needs to improve compliance, it will generate significant revenue and create a fairer, more efficient system of tax administration.”

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Politics

Biden’s price range proposal requires $36 billion to combat local weather change

Biden's budget proposal calls for $36 billion to fight climate change

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on tackling climate change prior to signing executive actions in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, January 27, 2021.

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

President Joe Biden’s 2022 budget proposal calls for more than $36 billion to fight global climate change, an increase of more than $14 billion compared with 2021, with major new investments focused on clean energy, climate and sustainability research and improved water infrastructure.

The widespread funding for climate change issues would move forward the president’s vow to slash U.S. carbon emissions in half by 2030 and put the economy on a path to carbon neutrality by mid-century.

Biden’s main spending areas on climate include:

  • $10 billion for clean energy innovation
  • $7 billion for NOAA research
  • $6.5 billion for rural clean energy storage, transmission projects
  • $4 billion for advancing climate research
  • $3.6 billion for water infrastructure
  • $1.7 billion for retrofitting homes and federal buildings
  • $1.4 billion for environmental justice initiatives

Climate change is “an opportunity to create new industries and good-paying jobs with a free and fair choice to join a union, revitalize America’s energy communities and the economy, and position America as the world’s clean energy superpower,” the White House proposal released on Friday said.

In an effort to decarbonize the electricity sector by 2035, the budget calls for $2 billion to employ welders, electricians and other laborers on clean energy projects across the U.S. It also includes $580 million to remediate abandoned oil and gas wells and reclaim old mines.

The budget calls for $815 million to incorporate climate change risk in disaster planning and includes more than $1.2 billion above 2021 levels to boost U.S. resilience to more frequent and intense climate disasters like wildfires, floods and drought.

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The president’s budget is intended in part to fund his sweeping infrastructure package, called the American Jobs Plan. That proposal involves record spending on climate change mitigation and a nationwide clean energy transition, and if passed, would be one of the largest federal efforts ever to reduce emissions.

While Senate Republicans recently released an infrastructure counteroffer that slashed Biden’s electric vehicle and climate spending, the White House has so far not budged on its climate policies throughout negotiations.

The president’s budget request depends on Congress to pass it. But since Democrats control both chambers this year, Biden could have a good chance to enact major parts of it.

The budget and infrastructure proposals come as the U.S. rejoins international efforts to combat climate change after former President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement and halted all federal efforts to reduce emissions.

The budget also includes a $1.2 billion contribution to the Green Climate Fund, which aims to help developing countries lower their emissions and adapt to climate change.

The president’s target to reduce domestic emissions in half by 2030 more than doubles the country’s prior commitment under the Paris accord. The Obama administration set out to cut emissions 26% to 28% below 2005 levels by 2025. However, the U.S. is not yet halfway to meeting that goal.

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Business

Mondelez CEO calls $2 billion Chipita acquisition a win for each corporations

Mondelez CEO calls $2 billion Chipita acquisition a win for both companies

Dirk Van de Put, CEO of Mondelez, described the latest acquisition on Thursday as a “win win” for both companies involved in the deal.

The oreo maker announced on Wednesday that it had acquired Chipita, a Greek company whose croissants and baked snacks contributed to sales of $ 580 million last year. The purchase will give Mondelez back approximately $ 2 billion, which will be funded through new debt issuance and existing cash on hand.

“We can use their sales and presence to build our sales, but also to bring our brands to their products,” Van de Put told CNBC’s Jim Cramer about Mad Money. “Imagine a Cadbury chocolate or Milka chocolate croissant.”

Van De Put said that while Chipita’s products are mostly popular in Eastern Europe, they have growth potential around the world, particularly in emerging markets.

“I think it’s a real win-win,” he said.

Mondelez’s shares are up 8% this year for a market value of $ 89.2 billion.

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Business

Twitter Calls on Indian Authorities to Respect Free Speech

Twitter Calls on Indian Government to Respect Free Speech

NEW DELHI – Twitter on Thursday opposed India’s increasingly persistent efforts to control online language, urged the government to respect freedom of expression and criticized the country’s police force “intimidating” tactics.

The statement comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Indian government faces mounting pressure to deal with a devastating second wave of the coronavirus. Many of these complaints have been broadcast on Twitter and elsewhere online.

The government has tried hard to get the narrative back. On Thursday, Twitter said it had received a notice of non-compliance with Indian information technology laws. The notice asked the company to remove content critical of the government’s handling of the coronavirus and farmers’ protests, including some published by journalists, activists and politicians.

Under Indian law, Twitter executives in India could face up to seven years’ imprisonment if the company fails to follow government instructions to remove content it deems subversive or a threat to public order and national security adheres to.

In its statement, the San Francisco-based social media service said it plans to persuade India’s leaders to change new regulations that give authorities more leverage over online platforms.

“At the moment we are concerned about recent events regarding our workforce in India and the potential threat to freedom of expression for the people we serve,” the statement said.

Citing the new information technology regulations, he added, “We have concerns, along with many in civil society in India and around the world, about the police’s use of intimidation tactics in response to enforcement of our global terms of use, as well as core elements of the new IT rules. “

Twitter’s statement came just days after officers from an elite counter-terrorism police force visited the company’s New Delhi offices. They protested the way the company had labeled posts by high-ranking officials from India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

These officials had posted documents on Twitter that provided evidence that opposition politicians were planning to use the country’s coronavirus crisis as a political stick. Twitter described them as “manipulated media” in response to allegations that the documents were forged.

Even before the coronavirus hit, Mr Modi’s government and the BJP had taken ever stronger steps to contain disagreements in the 1.4 billion country.

In February, Twitter blocked over 500 accounts and removed an unspecified number of other accounts in India after the government accused those accounts of making inflammatory remarks about Mr Modi in connection with protests by angry farmers. Farmers have been camping outside of New Delhi for at least six months to protest the farming laws.

Twitter previously said it would not take action against accounts owned by media organizations, journalists, activists or politicians, and it did not believe the order to block those accounts was “in accordance with Indian law.”

However, on Thursday the company admitted that it had withheld some unverified accounts in these categories from India despite believing the content was “legitimate free speech” under Indian and international law. The company announced last week that it was reopening its review process to allow government officials, media organizations, journalists and activists to apply for a blue tick, a token of credibility online, a process that has been on hold since 2017.

In April, Mr Modi’s government ordered Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to remove dozens of social media posts that were critical of how the pandemic was being handled. The order was addressed to around 100 opposition politicians and included calls for Mr. Modi to step down.

Under the new Internet rules in India, social media companies are required to appoint India-based executives who may be criminally liable for violations and create systems to track and identify the “first author” of posts or messages sent by as The government is classified as “offensive”.

The rules apply to a wide variety of media, including digital news agencies, streaming services like Netflix and Amazon, and social media platforms. According to the regulations announced in February, social media companies were given Tuesday to identify the executives who could be held liable. Streaming services and news agencies were not affected by this particular rule.

Twitter called the requirement “dangerous overreach that is inconsistent with open, democratic principles”. On Wednesday, WhatsApp sued the Indian government in a highly unusual move by Facebook’s own messaging platform, arguing that the guidelines were unconstitutional. Digital rights advocates and groups say the rules could fundamentally change the way Indians use the internet.

“The IT rules violate India’s democratic framework and constitutional guarantees,” said Apar Gupta, executive director of the Internet Freedom Foundation, a rights group. “Several requirements among them are unconstitutional and undermine freedom of expression and privacy for millions of Internet users in India.”

Understand India’s Covid Crisis

India isn’t the only country that has tried to enforce stricter regulations on the internet. The steps have raised questions about how freedom of speech can be reconciled with security and privacy.

In the US, politicians have targeted big tech companies like Facebook and Amazon to influence what people buy and read and how companies treat users’ personal information. European officials are working on new laws that would give the government more powers to remove misinformation and other material deemed toxic.

On Thursday, the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, the Indian branch of government that pressured Twitter to remove material, released a response to the companies’ statement on Koo, a competing service.

“The new rules are only intended to prevent abuse and abuse of social media,” Ravi Shankar Prasad, India’s Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, said in the statement. “The government welcomes criticism, including the right to ask questions.”

In a separate statement on Thursday, the ministry criticized Twitter for its comments, calling them “completely unfounded, false and an attempt to defame India”. The protection of freedom of expression in India is not the “prerogative” of the company.

Last week, the government urged social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook, to remove all content related to coronavirus variants in India, especially those that indicated the variants were spreading in other countries. Twitter confirmed that it had received the request but had not removed the posts until Thursday evening. Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At least one of the variants first seen in India, known as B.1.617.2, now outperforms all other versions of the virus in the UK, scientists in the UK have said, and is present in at least 48 other countries. The government request called this claim “totally wrong”.

Free speech attorneys said the government has no legal basis to ask social media platforms to remove this content, which could apply to news reports and major scientific discussions about the virus in India, where it continues to kill thousands of people every day The country’s health system far beyond its borders.

“The new rules are like a choke collar,” said Devdutta Mukhopadhyay, a lawyer working on freedom of speech in India. “The government will pull on it if it wants to.”

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Politics

U.N. Safety Council requires full adherence to Gaza cease-fire

U.N. Security Council calls for full adherence to Gaza cease-fire

A woman gestures after finding her home collapsed after the cease-fire brokered by Egypt between Israel and Hamas in Beit Hanoun, Gaza on May 21, 2021.

Mustafa Hassona | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

The U.N. Security Council on Saturday called for a “full adherence” to the cease-fire in Gaza and urged immediate humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians in its first statement on the 11-day war between Israel and Hamas.

The cease-fire, which took affect at 2 a.m. Friday local time, has held so far despite clashes in Jerusalem outside Al Aqsa mosque between Israeli police and Palestinians just hours after the truce officially began.

Al Aqsa mosque is one of the most sacred places in Islam and sits in a site known in Judaism as the Temple Mount, the religion’s holiest site. Clashes at the complex were one of the factors that sparked the war.

The security council urged a “restoration of calm in full” and emphasized “achieving a comprehensive peace based on the vision of a region where two democratic States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace with secure and recognized borders.”

The U.S. had previously blocked the U.N’s most powerful body from calling for an end to the conflict, arguing that doing so would hinder diplomatic efforts by the Biden administration to help achieve a cease-fire.

Israel hit Gaza with scores of airstrikes and Hamas militants fired more than 4,000 rockets at Israel. Palestinian medical officials said at least 248 people were killed in Gaza, including 66 children and 39 women. At least 12 people were killed in Israel, all civilians except one soldier.

The security council “mourned the loss of civilian lives resulting from the violence” and expressed support the U.N. Secretary General’s call to develop an “integrated, robust package of support for a swift, sustainable reconstruction and recovery.”

More than 77,000 Palestinians have been displaced and reconstruction costs in Gaza could amount to tens of millions of dollars, according to Palestinian officials, with damage to infrastructure affecting water, sanitation and hygiene services.

The U.N. said Friday that it released $22.5 million in humanitarian aid to Gaza. A day earlier, President Joe Biden promised the U.S. would work with the U.N. to provide humanitarian assistance to Palestinians and help rebuild Gaza.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to travel to Israel and the West Bank next week to build on the cease-fire, according to Reuters. Egyptian mediators are also continuing talks with Hamas and Israel to secure longer-term calm after the truce

— Reuters contributed reporting

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World News

U.S. Treasury requires stricter cryptocurrency compliance with IRS

U.S. Treasury calls for stricter cryptocurrency compliance with IRS

Treasury announced Thursday that it is taking steps to crack down on cryptocurrency markets and transactions and that a transfer of $ 10,000 or more must be reported to the Internal Revenue Service.

“Cryptocurrency already poses a significant identification problem as it makes illegal activities by and large, including tax evasion, easier,” the finance department said in a press release.

“Because of this, the president’s proposal includes additional resources for the IRS to address the growth of cryptoassets,” the department added. “The new financial account reporting system would cover cryptocurrencies and cryptoasset exchange accounts, as well as payment service accounts that accept cryptocurrencies. As with cash transactions, companies receiving cryptoassets with a fair market value of more than $ 10,000 would also be reported.”

Bitcoin reversed course shortly after the Treasury Department’s announcement and was last traded 1.6% according to Coin Metrics. Before that, it was up more than 9% in the session.

A growing number of Wall Street analysts raised the alarm last month that regulators from the Treasury Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission could soon play a more active role in regulating cryptocurrency.

The Treasury Department’s release came as part of a broader announcement of the Biden government’s efforts to fight tax evasion and promote better compliance. Among the proposals officials are considering include strengthening IRS funding and technology, as well as stricter penalties for those who evade their commitments.

The Treasury Department estimates the difference between taxes owed by the U.S. government and taxes actually paid was nearly $ 600 billion in 2019.

Tighter regulation is likely to anger some cryptocurrency investors, who have seen Bitcoin drop around 25% in the last month and talk about surrender creeping in online forums.

With longtime cryptocurrency expert Gary Gensler at the helm of the SEC, Raymond James expects it will only be a matter of time before Congress gives the regulator broader jurisdiction.

He told lawmakers earlier this month that allowing the SEC to regulate the exchange of cryptocurrencies will help keep investors safe and prevent market manipulation.

“Chairman Gensler is seen as a potential ally for cryptocurrencies as a former professor on the subject, but these statements are likely to reopen the debates over regulatory risk for cryptocurrencies and exchanges,” Raymond James analyst Ed Mills wrote in early May.

“In the short term, this could create a headline risk,” he added. “In the medium to long term, however, regulation of the asset class would give the asset class further legitimacy and could form a regulatory ditch around existing cryptocurrency exchanges.”

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks during the daily press conference on May 7, 2021 in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC.

Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images

While the Treasury and SEC involvement can ultimately be a boon for cryptocurrency investors, short-term regulatory hurdles for investors in Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and the like are likely to present another problem.

These assessments were confirmed by Miller Tabak last month when the company told its customers that “the cryptocurrency markets do not adequately account for legal risk.”

“Gary Gensler’s confirmation as SEC chairman and the volatility of the cryptocurrency over the weekend following rumors of stricter regulation underscore the regulatory risks this industry is facing,” wrote strategic economist Paul Shea in April.

“The difference in regulatory risk and advancement as a means of payment raises an important question: Are the recent successes of other coins a result of good news, or piggybacking them on the positive sentiment around Bitcoin?” he added.

Democrats and Republicans have made regulating cryptocurrency a top priority in 2021 as the price hike for Bitcoin and other digital assets over the past year sparked concerns of market manipulation and uninformed retail investment.

– CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to the coverage.

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Politics

Pelosi requires ‘diplomatic boycott’ of 2022 China Olympics on human rights grounds

Pelosi calls for 'diplomatic boycott' of 2022 China Olympics on human rights grounds

A Chinese man wears a protective mask as he stands in front of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics logos at the National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China on April 9, 2021.

Lintao Zhang | Getty Images

House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., On Tuesday called for a “diplomatic boycott” of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in response to China’s human rights record.

“We cannot pretend there is nothing wrong with the Olympics in China,” Pelosi told the Congress Human Rights Commission and the Congressional Executive Commission for China during a hearing on the Games.

Pelosi suggested in her remarks that athletes should still be able to take part in the Games, but that the leaders and kings of the world should not travel to attend them in person.

“When heads of state go to China in the face of a genocide that is going on while you are in your seats, the real question is, what moral authority do you need to speak about human rights anywhere in the world when you are ready, the Chinese government? To show her respect when she commits genocide? “

Pelosi has beaten corporate sponsors of the Games, who “look the other way at China’s abuses out of concern for their bottom line.” She specifically called on companies that are allegedly committed to weakening parts of a bipartisan law aimed at the use of forced labor in the Xinjiang region.

“If we do not speak out against human rights violations in China for commercial reasons, we will lose all moral authority to stand up for human rights anywhere,” said Pelosi.

China has labeled “lies and disinformation” allegations that it violates the human rights of Muslims in Xinjiang.

The games are scheduled to open on February 4, 2022.

Pelosi acknowledged that their proposed diplomatic boycott may not work. “I don’t know if it’s possible because we haven’t done it in the past,” she said.

In 2008, Pelosi called on then-President George W. Bush to boycott the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Beijing to protest against China’s human rights record, which at the time was largely marred by the government’s actions in Tibet.

Bush attended the opening of these games along with more than 80 other heads of state.

Activists and lawmakers from both parties have called on President Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2022 Olympics in protest. They cite China’s reported treatment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang – which has been labeled genocide by both the Trump and Biden administrations – and Beijing’s response to protests in Hong Kong.

The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee has said it opposes boycotts, including because they affect athletes who have trained for years to compete.

The White House previously left the door open for a boycott, but press secretary Jen Psaki said last month that such a move would not be discussed.

“While China has changed in some ways over 30 years, it is appalling that its human rights record has deteriorated,” Pelosi said in the virtual hearing on Tuesday afternoon.

Pelosi stressed that she is a dedicated Olympic fan and that the athletes’ performance in the Games is a source of pride.

“Let’s honor them at home,” said Pelosi. “Let’s not honor the Chinese government by letting heads of state go to China to show their support for their athletes.”

“Silence on this issue is unacceptable. It enables China’s abuse,” Pelosi said.