Bank of Korea Holds Interest Rate Steady at 2.5%, As Expected - Jordan News
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Roya News
a day ago
- Roya News
Trump administration unveils plan to charge visa security deposit up to $15,000
In a controversial move aimed at reducing visa overstays, the Trump administration has unveiled a new pilot program requiring certain foreign visitors to pay bonds of up to USD 15,000 before entering the United States. The initiative, announced Monday by the State Department, will apply to tourists and business travelers from countries with historically high rates of overstaying visas. Under the 12-month trial, visitors from selected nations will be asked to post a bond ranging from USD 5,000 to USD 15,000. The sum would be refunded if the visitor leaves the US on time, but forfeited in cases of overstay. The list of countries included in the program has not yet been released, but officials say it will be determined using data from the Department of Homeland Security. 'This is a key pillar of the Trump administration's foreign policy to protect the United States from the clear national security threat posed by visa overstays and deficient screening and vetting,' the new rule states, as published in the Federal Register. The administration cited 2023 data estimating that more than half a million visitors likely remained in the country past their authorized stay. The initiative also applies to individuals from countries deemed to have inadequate security screening processes and to those who were granted US citizenship through investment programs or without meeting a residency requirement. Consular officers will be responsible for determining whether a visa applicant must pay the bond and, if so, how much. The department says the program is meant to evaluate whether collecting such bonds is feasible in practice, a concept previously dismissed as impractical. The rule is scheduled to take effect on August 20, with participating US airports announced two weeks in advance. A similar bond system had been considered during the first Trump administration but was shelved as international travel plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Roya News
5 days ago
- Roya News
Trump orders firing of US official as cracks emerge in jobs market
President Donald Trump said Friday he has ordered the firing of a key economic official, accusing her of manipulating employment data for political reasons after a new report showed cracks in the US jobs market. US job growth missed expectations in July, Labor Department data showed, and revisions to hiring figures in recent months brought them to the weakest levels since the Covid-19 pandemic. Without providing evidence, Trump lashed out at the department's commissioner of labor statistics, writing on social media that the jobs numbers "were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad." In a separate post on his Truth Social platform, he charged that Commissioner Erika McEntarfer had "faked" jobs data to boost Democrats' chances of victory in the recent presidential election. "McEntarfer said there were only 73,000 Jobs added (a shock!) but, more importantly, that a major mistake was made by them, 258,000 Jobs downward, in the prior two months," Trump said, referring to latest data for July. "Similar things happened in the first part of the year, always to the negative," Trump said, insisting that the world's biggest economy was "booming" under his leadership. He later told reporters "we need people that we can trust," accusing the economic official of inflating hiring figures under former president Joe Biden's administration. 'Dangerous precedent' The United States added 73,000 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.2 percent from 4.1 percent, said the Department of Labor earlier Friday. Hiring numbers for May were revised down from 144,000 to 19,000. The figure for June was shifted from 147,000 to 14,000. This was notably lower than job creation levels in recent years. During the pandemic, the economy lost jobs. The employment data points to challenges in the key labor market as companies took a cautious approach in hiring and investment while grappling with Trump's sweeping -- and rapidly changing -- tariffs this year. The numbers also pile pressure on the central bank as it mulls the best time to cut interest rates. With tariff levels climbing since the start of the year, both on imports from various countries and on sector-specific products such as steel, aluminum and autos, many firms have faced higher business costs. Some are now passing them along to consumers. William Beach, who previously held McEntarfer post at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, warned that her firing "sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the statistical mission of the Bureau." The National Association for Business Economics (NABE) condemned her dismissal, saying large revisions in jobs numbers "reflect not manipulation, but rather the dwindling resources afforded to statistical agencies." "Firing the head of a key government agency because you don't like the numbers they report, which come from surveys using long established procedures, is what happens in authoritarian countries, not democratic ones," slammed Larry Summers, former US Treasury secretary under Democratic president Bill Clinton. 'Gamechanger' Heather Long, chief economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union, said Friday's jobs report was a "gamechanger." "The labor market is deteriorating quickly," said Long, noting that of the growth in July, "75 percent of those jobs were in one sector: health care." "The economy needs certainty soon on tariffs," Long said. "The longer this tariff whiplash lasts, the more likely this weak hiring environment turns into layoffs." It remains unclear when the dust will settle, with Trump ordering the reimposition of steeper tariffs on scores of economies late Thursday, which are set to take effect in a week. A sharp weakening in the labor market could push the Federal Reserve toward slashing interest rates sooner to shore up the economy. On Friday, the two Fed officials who voted this week against the central bank's decision to keep rates unchanged warned that standing pat risks further damaging the economy. Both Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman and Governor Christopher Waller argued that the inflationary effects of tariffs were temporary. They added in separate statements that the bank should focus on fortifying the economy to avert further weakening in the labor market.
Roya News
11-07-2025
- Roya News
Rubio meets China's Wang on sidelines of ASEAN talks
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi Friday on the sidelines of ASEAN talks in Malaysia, where Washington's tariffs are in sharp focus. Rubio and Wang's first face-to-face meeting since US President Donald Trump returned to office comes as Washington and Beijing are locked in disputes ranging from trade to Taiwan -- and both powers vie for greater influence in the region. Wang and Rubio, a longtime China hawk, are in Kuala Lumpur for a gathering of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which Japan, South Korea and Australia and other nations are also attending. US officials said ahead of Rubio's first trip to the region as secretary of state that Washington was "prioritising" its commitment to East and Southeast Asia. Rubio said Thursday the United States has "no intention of abandoning" the Asia-Pacific region. But US tariffs have overshadowed the conference, and Rubio has sought to placate Asian trade partners, saying talks were ongoing and might result in "better" rates than for the rest of the world. Trump has threatened punitive tariffs ranging from 20 to 50 percent against more than 20 countries, many of them in Asia, if they do not strike deals with Washington by August 1. 'Indispensable relationship' This included long-time US ally Japan which faced a 25 percent across-the board levy, separate from similar charges for cars, steel and aluminium that have already been imposed. Seoul faced a similar tariff percentage. Earlier Friday Rubio met his Japanese and South Korean counterparts, with his spokeswoman Tammy Bruce calling it an "indispensable relationship." Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, however, said this week that tariffs were being used as "sharpened instruments of geopolitical rivalry". Wang on Thursday said the US tariff drive "undermines the free trade system". "The United States' imposition of high tariffs on Cambodia and Southeast Asian countries is an attempt to deprive all parties of their legitimate rights to development," Wang said. Tensions between Washington and Beijing have ratcheted up since Trump took office in January, with both countries engaging in a tariff war that briefly sent duties on each other's exports sky-high. At one point the United States hit China with additional levies of 145 percent on its goods as both sides engaged in tit-for-tat escalation. China's countermeasures on US goods reached 125 percent. Beijing and Washington agreed in May to temporarily slash their staggeringly high tariffs -- an outcome Trump dubbed a "total reset". Taiwan, South China Sea Before becoming Secretary of State in January, Rubio had already been one of the most vocal critics of China on the American political stage for many years. Rubio and Wang are also likely to discuss US concerns over China's expansionary behaviour in the South China Sea and Beijing's growing military pressure on Taiwan. China claims the democratic self-ruled island as part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control. Like most countries, Washington has no formal diplomatic relations with the island. However, the United States is Taiwan's biggest arms supplier and has shown increasing support for Taipei in the face of Beijing's growing military pressure on the island in recent years. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accused China in late May of "credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power" in the Asia-Pacific region. He also claimed that Beijing "trains every day" to invade Taiwan.
