Senator probes CBP nominee's alleged interference in migrant death investigation
A leading Senate Democrat said in a letter Wednesday that he is seeking records to determine if President Donald Trump's nominee to lead U.S. Customs and Border Protection improperly intervened in the criminal probe into the 2010 death of an undocumented immigrant in federal custody.
In a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) said nominee Rodney Scott was a top Border Patrol official in the San Diego sector when agents battered Anastasio Hernandez Rojas with batons and shocked him with a taser, leaving him unconscious and bloody. His subsequent death led to investigations that shadowed CBP for years and are likely to undergo fresh scrutiny as Scott's Senate confirmation hearing approaches.
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Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Bill to amend medically assisted suicide law draws emotional debate from Maine lawmakers
Jun. 9—AUGUSTA — A proposal to allow doctors to waive the waiting period for terminally ill patients who want to be given life-ending drugs drew an emotional debate from lawmakers in the Maine Senate Monday before it was rejected by one vote. The fate of the bill is unclear after the Senate voted the proposal down 18-17. It passed 74-64 in the House of Representatives last week and faces another round of votes in each chamber before it could be sent to Gov. Janet Mills for her signature. The bill would amend a 2019 law known as the Death with Dignity Act, which legalized physician-assisted suicide in Maine. It allows certain terminally ill patients to have the option to receive life-ending medication so they have control over their death. Maine's law currently requires a 17-day waiting period from when a person requests the medication to when they can receive the prescription. The change under consideration, LD 613, would allow a doctor to waive all or a portion of the waiting period if they determine it would be in the patient's best interest. Mills supported the original Death with Dignity Act, but it's unclear if she would support the change. Spokespeople for the governor did not respond Monday to questions about whether she has taken a position on the bill. The proposal allowing for the waiting period to be waived drew emotional debate from lawmakers who spoke about how they've personally been affected by illness and death. "This is not an abstract issue for me," said Rep. Kathy Javner, R-Chester, who has metastatic breast cancer, during last week's House debate. "I am living this reality and stand before you today, not in despair, but in hope that we can preserve the dignity and meaning of life, even in the shadow of death." Javner, who was against the change, said removing the waiting period would take away the time that families and physicians currently have to reflect and consider alternative options. "Let us not respond to suffering with surrender," Javner said. "Let us respond with compassion, with presence, with resources for pain management, with palliative care, with love." Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart, R-Presque Isle, talked about his mother, who died at age 50 from colorectal cancer, during Monday's Senate debate. Stewart said his mother "broke out" of hospice care in order to be at home with her family at the end of her life. "I will always be grateful for that extra month we got," Stewart said. "I worry about the scenarios about what if they don't get it right and what opportunities are we forestalling through this," he added. "This was the promise that was made originally with this policy, that there wouldn't be that knee-jerk opportunity because of this protection." Maine is among 10 states and Washington, D.C., where physician-assisted suicide is legal for people with terminal illnesses, according to Death With Dignity, an organization in Portland, Oregon, that advocates for the laws as a means of improving how people with such diagnoses die. Waiting periods for medication vary state to state and can range from one day to more than two weeks, according to Death With Dignity. Some states do allow waiting periods to be waived if the patient is unlikely to survive. Maine's Death with Dignity Act has been used by 218 people since it was enacted, according to Michele Meyer, D-Eliot, the sponsor of LD 613. But another nine people have died during the waiting period because their illnesses progressed too rapidly, Meyer said last week. She said the bill does not change the law's criteria that the patient be terminally ill with a six-month prognosis confirmed by two doctors and that they have the capacity to make informed decisions. "This is simple and straight forward," Meyer said. "It corrects a rare situation that never should have existed in the first place. Some of us will not know the gift of a long, healthy life. ... Medical aid in dying offers decisionally capable adults an option to avoid prolonged suffering." In the Senate Monday, Sen. Tim Nangle, D-Windham, talked about his father's lung cancer and the pain he suffered. Nangle said he didn't know if his father, who lived in another state, would have used the Death with Dignity Act, but he said the option for the time waiver should be there. "This is about their choice," Nangle said. "What do they want to do?" Copy the Story Link
CNBC
21 minutes ago
- CNBC
'Collateral damage': Fund managers lobby Congress over Section 899 to avert foreign investors leaving the U.S.
American fund managers are lobbying Congress over a provision tucked inside President Donald Trump's tax bill that they say could lead to foreign investors "quickly" pulling investments out of the U.S. The "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," which passed through the U.S. House of Representatives in May, aims to penalize foreign-owned firms operating in the U.S. and that are from countries with "unfair foreign taxes" under a provision known as Section 899. It is currently being considered by the Senate. The Investment Company Institute (ICI), which represents fund houses in the U.S., is lobbying Congress for an amendment as it warns the bill in its current form also impacts most foreign investments in U.S. stock markets, according to documents seen by CNBC. "In order to avoid the impact of section 899, portfolio investors are likely to retreat quickly from US equities, leading to capital outflows from the United States," the ICI said in a letter sent to Senator Mike Crapo, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, on June 5. "If sustained selling by foreign investors depresses US equity markets, this would harm both US companies and investors." Section 899 aims to introduce retaliatory tax measures against entities from countries that have levies such as the Digital Services Taxes and the OECD's global minimum tax rules. If signed into law, it could impact investors from the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Switzerland, among others. The tax would start at 5% and escalate by five percentage points annually to a maximum of 20%, on top of existing taxes, which vary by country and tax treaties. That could dent returns for foreign investors in U.S. equities. In the letter, the ICI also suggests that the U.S. fund management industry, which has collectively invested around $18 trillion in U.S. stock markets, would be "collateral damage" due to the impact of Section 899. "We do believe, however, that the current drafting of proposed section 899 should clarify its scope and avoid discouraging foreign investment in US equity markets through 'investment funds' such as US mutual funds and ETFs and their foreign counterparts (e.g., UCITS funds)," the ICI said. The letter to Senators goes on to say, "section 899 would penalize these funds and their shareholders by taxing passive income from US equity investments. To this end, investment funds would be collateral damage to the intended focus of section 899." Funds typically charge fees as a percentage of assets under management, and a withdrawal by foreign investors, over Section 899 concerns, could lead to lower earnings for the investment management firm. The Senate Finance Committee declined to comment, and Senator Mike Crapo's office did not respond to CNBC's request for comment. Foreign investors own $19 trillion in the U.S. stock markets, $7 trillion in U.S. government bonds, and $5 trillion in U.S. credit, according to data compiled by Apollo Global Management. The ICI said it's largely in support of the U.S. government's attempt to "protect US business interests overseas and to address discriminatory foreign taxes." However, it cautions that the current draft of the bill does the opposite. "Some foreign governments may actually cheer this capital flight from the United States because it benefits their local equity markets, which is not the behavioral incentive that Section 899 seeks to achieve," it said. Yuri Khodjamirian, chief investment officer for Tema ETFs, said investors in Europe who are focused on dividend-distributing U.S. companies would be "thinking quite carefully" about their holdings at this stage. "If suddenly you have to pay tax on that income, why would you hold that?" Khodjamirian questioned. Tema ETFs runs the American Reshoring ETF that is available to both U.S. and foreign investors. Tax experts suggest earnings paid out to foreign investors are more likely to be hit by Section 899 than capital gains and other methods of shareholder distributions. The Tema ETFs investment chief cautioned that the impact on the U.S. equities market would be relatively minimal as U.S. companies, say in the S&P 500, are typically not known for their dividends. "In the US, dividend yields are quite low. There's not a lot of companies paying. And most of the capital gets returned to share buybacks," Khodjamirian told CNBC. "Is that actually going to be that big of an issue then?"
Newsweek
35 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Iran Sends Defiant Warning to US on Nuclear Program: "Delusional President"
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Ahead of a next round of nuclear talks with the United States, Iran has issued a defiant warning—cautioning Washington to take its red lines seriously on uranium enrichment and sanctions relief, announcing an expansion of its nuclear power program and threatening to curtail cooperation with the UN watchdog IAEA. One top Iranian official described U.S. President Donald Trump as "delusional". Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. State Department for comment. Why It Matters Recent remarks by Iranian officials come amid heightened tensions over discussions on a potential nuclear agreement with Washington as Tehran faces growing pressure from Western powers and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), alongside threats of military action by Israel. As it prepares to respond to a U.S. proposal following five rounds of Oman-mediated talks, Iran says its advancing nuclear program is strictly for civilian purposes and non-negotiable, while demanding meaningful relief from the sanctions reimposed under Trump. Iranian citizens protest against the current Iranian government outside the Omani Embassy in Rome during the closed-door meeting between U.S. and Iranian delegations to discuss Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program, Friday, May 23, 2025. Iranian citizens protest against the current Iranian government outside the Omani Embassy in Rome during the closed-door meeting between U.S. and Iranian delegations to discuss Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program, Friday, May 23, 2025. Andrew Medichini/AP Photo What To Know "We strongly recommend the American side not to waste this opportunity — it's in their own interest to take it seriously," Iran's Foreign Ministry's Spokesperson Esmail Baqaei said about the upcoming round of talks, according to Mehr News Agency. The ministry has also criticized plans for a resolution from the United States and European allies to the IAEA board that would declare Iran non-compliant with its nuclear non-proliferation obligations, according to Reuters. After years of good cooperation with the IAEA—resulting in a resolution which shut down malign claims of a "possible military dimension" (PMD) to Iran's peaceful nuclear program—my country is once again accused of "non-compliance". Instead of engaging in good faith, the E3 is… — Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) June 6, 2025 Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said his country will "powerfully advance its nuclear program in clear response to Western lies," the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) says, with Baqaei warning that any IAEA confrontation would trigger Iranian countermeasures, not more cooperation. While enrichment has been at the heart of disagreements, Iranian officials have further expressed skepticism over Washington's recent proposal, saying it did not address sanctions relief—a central demand in the negotiations. Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf called Trump the "delusional president of the United States" pursuing a policy of "imposition," according to the semi-official Tasnim News Agency. Under the Trump administration's maximum pressure policy, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned over 30 Iranian individuals this week for operating a shadow banking network that allegedly facilitated billions of dollars in illicit transactions for the Iranian government. What People Are Saying U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House, as quoted by Reuters on Tuesday: "They're just asking for things that you can't do. They don't want to give up what they have to give up. They seek enrichment. We can't have enrichment." Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Majid Takht-e-Ravanchi said Monday in an interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA): "We are preparing the response, which has not yet been finalized... Our proposal is certainly not a one-sentence or one-paragraph text that can be easily dismissed. It contains elements that demonstrate our seriousness, show that our position has a defined framework, and indicate that we intend to work based on established principles. Our approach is logical." What Happens Next Iran will send its reply to Washington within days, according to media reports, with the date of the next round of talks with the U.S. yet to be officially confirmed by all parties. Members of the IAEA board are due to vote this week.
