logo
US targets Iran-backed Hezbollah with new sanctions, Treasury Departments says

US targets Iran-backed Hezbollah with new sanctions, Treasury Departments says

Straits Times15-05-2025

U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters aboard Air Force One, en-route to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, May 15, 2025. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
US targets Iran-backed Hezbollah with new sanctions, Treasury Departments says
WASHINGTON - The United States targeted two senior Hezbollah officials and two financial facilitators with new sanctions on Thursday for their role in coordinating financial transfers to the Iran-backed group, the Treasury Department said.
The latest sanctions come as President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States was getting very close to securing a nuclear deal with Iran, and Tehran had "sort of" agreed to the terms.
The people targeted were based in Lebanon and Iran and worked to get money to Hezbollah from overseas donors, the department said in a statement.
Treasury said overseas donations make up a significant portion of the group's budget.
Thursday's action highlights Hezbollah's "extensive global reach through its network of terrorist donors and supporters, particularly in Tehran," said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Michael Faulkender.
"As part of our ongoing efforts to address Iran's support for terrorism, Treasury will continue to intensify economic pressure on the key individuals in the Iranian regime and its proxies who enable these deadly activities." REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

WWDC: Apple faces AI, regulatory challenges as it woos software developers
WWDC: Apple faces AI, regulatory challenges as it woos software developers

CNA

time17 minutes ago

  • CNA

WWDC: Apple faces AI, regulatory challenges as it woos software developers

CUPERTINO, California :Apple is facing an unprecedented set of technical and regulatory challenges as some of its key executives are set to take the stage on Monday at the company's annual software developer conference. On the technical side, many of the long-awaited artificial-intelligence features Apple promised at the same conference a year ago have been delayed until next year, even as its rivals such as Alphabet's Google and Microsoft woo developers with a bevvy of new AI features. Those unfulfilled promises included key improvements to Siri, its digital assistant. On the regulatory front, courts in the U.S. and Europe are poised to pull down the lucrative walls around Apple's App Store as even some of the company's former supporters question whether its fees are justified. Those challenges are coming to a head at the same time U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened 25 per cent tariffs on Apple's best-selling iPhone. Apple's shares are down more than 40 per cent since the start of the year, a sharper decline than Google and also lagging the AI-driven gains in Microsoft shares. Apple has launched some of the AI features it promised last year, including a set of writing tools and image-generation tools, but it still relies on partners such as ChatGPT creator OpenAI for some of those capabilities. Bloomberg has reported that Apple may open up in-house AI models to developers this year. But analysts do not believe Apple yet has what technologists call a "multi-modal" model - that is, one capable of understanding imagery, audio and language at the same time - that could power a pair of smart glasses, a category that has become a runaway hit for Meta Platforms. Google said last month it would jump back in to this category, with partners. Such glasses, which are far lighter and cheaper than Apple's Vision Pro headset, could become useful because they would understand what the user is looking at and could help answer questions about it. While Apple has focused on its $3,500 Vision Pro headset, Google and Meta have seized on the smart glasses as a cheaper way to deploy their AI software prowess against Apple in its stronghold of hardware. Meta Ray-Bans all sell for less than $400. Analysts say Apple needs to answer that challenge but that it is not likely to do so this week. "I'm not trying to replace my phone - this is a complementary thing that gives me more world context, because it's got a camera and it sees what I see, and I can talk to it in natural language," said Ben Bajarin, CEO of technology consultancy Creative Strategies. "Apple is not positioned to do that." To be sure, Apple's rivals are not decisively ahead in smart glasses. Anshel Sag, principal analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy, said Meta's Ray-Bans still lack some features and Google has not yet landed its "Gemini" model in a mass-market pair of glasses yet. "Meta has the undisputed lead, but Google is catching up fast and probably has the best-suited AI for the job," Sag said. "Vision Pro is great, but it's a showroom product that developers can use." But Bob O'Donnell, CEO of TECHnalysis Research, said it remains far from clear that smart glasses will gain wide acceptance. O'Donnell also said it is not certain that Apple is at any particular disadvantage if it partners with a company such as Google, OpenAI or even a smaller firm like Perplexity for core AI technology. So far, O'Donnell said, there is not yet strong evidence that consumers are basing major hardware-purchasing decisions on AI features. "There's an argument to be made that it's OK that (Apple) is behind because, except for the bleeding edge, most people don't care," O'Donnell said.

What sparked the Los Angeles protests and is Trump allowed to deploy the National Guard?
What sparked the Los Angeles protests and is Trump allowed to deploy the National Guard?

CNA

time17 minutes ago

  • CNA

What sparked the Los Angeles protests and is Trump allowed to deploy the National Guard?

Protests have rocked Los Angeles since last Friday (Jun 6) as federal agents faced off against hundreds of demonstrators following immigration raids. Over the weekend, US President Donald Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard troops to the city, a rare deployment that goes against the wishes of California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has called it "purposely inflammatory" and unlawful. This is what we know so far about the clashes in the United States' second-largest city. HOW THE PROTESTS STARTED AND GREW Trump has made clamping down on illegal migration a key goal for his second term in office. Officers from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency executed search warrants at multiple locations in Los Angeles on Jun 9, and arrested immigrants in LA's fashion district, in a Home Depot parking lot and at several other locations. The weeklong tally of immigrant arrests in the LA area has climbed above 100. By Friday night, protests had kicked off in the city. More than 100 demonstrators gathered at the immigration services building and detention centre in downtown Los Angeles. On Friday night, the Los Angeles Police Department declared it an unlawful assembly and ordered the crowds to leave. Multiple police vehicles and officers in riot gear arrived, and flashbangs were used to disperse the crowd. The Department of Homeland Security said that there were about "1,000 rioters" at the protests on Friday. On Saturday, federal security agents faced off against a few hundred protesters in southeast Los Angeles, while a second demonstration broke out in downtown Los Angeles, drawing about 60 people. Los Angeles police said in a post on X that multiple people were detained for failing to disperse despite multiple warnings. Trump on Saturday signed a presidential memorandum to deploy the National Guard to "address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester", said the White House in a statement. These troops were deployed on Sunday, guarding federal government buildings as further clashes broke out between police and protesters. The police declared several rallies in the city to be "unlawful assemblies", accusing some protesters of throwing concrete projectiles, bottles and other items at officers. While ICE raids in other US cities have triggered small-scale protests in recent months, the Los Angeles unrest is the biggest and most sustained against the president's immigration policies so far. CAN TRUMP CALL IN THE NATIONAL GUARD? The National Guard serves both the state and federal interests. It is a state-based force that is part of the US Armed Forces Reserve, and is usually activated by the governor. But Trump has circumvented this and said the protests interfered with federal law enforcement and framed them as a possible "form of rebellion" against the authority of the government. He cited Title 10 of the US Code – a federal law that outlines the role of the US Armed Forces – in his order to call members of the California National Guard into federal service. A provision of Title 10 allows the president to deploy National Guard units into federal service if the US is invaded, if there is a 'rebellion or danger of rebellion', or if the president is 'unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States'. An 1878 law generally forbids the US military, including the National Guard, from taking part in civilian law enforcement. But the troops are allowed to protect federal agents who are carrying out law enforcement duties and to protect federal property. For example, National Guard troops cannot arrest protesters, but they can protect ICE officers. Legal experts have cast doubt on Trump's use of Title 10, calling it "inflammatory and reckless", especially without Newsom's support. The protests in California do not rise to the level of 'rebellion' and do not prevent the federal government from executing the laws of the US, they added. Trump on Sunday said that there were 'violent people' in Los Angeles, "and they're not gonna get away with it'. He could take a more far-reaching step and invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows troops to directly participate in civilian law enforcement, but there is little recent precedent. That law was last invoked by President George H W Bush in 1992, when the governor of California requested military aid to suppress unrest in Los Angeles following the Rodney King trial. TRUMP VS NEWSOM Newsom has denounced Trump's move to call in the National Guard, formally requesting that the administration rescind "its unlawful deployment of troops" and return them to his command. He also called the deployment a 'serious breach of state sovereignty' and has said that California authorities had the situation under control. The last time a president deployed the National Guard in a state without a request from that state's governor was 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson sent troops to protect civil rights demonstrators in Montgomery, Alabama. Newsom mocked Trump for posting a congratulatory message to the National Guard on social media before troops had arrived in Los Angeles, and said that Trump never floated deploying the National Guard during a Friday phone call. He also called the president a "stone cold liar". Trump's administration hit back, with a spokesperson saying: "It's a bald-faced lie for Newsom to claim there was no problem in Los Angeles before President Trump got involved. "Everyone saw the chaos, violence and lawlessness."

Argentine leader Milei licking his chops ahead of October elections
Argentine leader Milei licking his chops ahead of October elections

Straits Times

time17 minutes ago

  • Straits Times

Argentine leader Milei licking his chops ahead of October elections

FILE PHOTO: A demonstrator gestures as members of the women's movement Ni Una Menos \"Not one (woman) less\", health care workers and social organizations join the weekly protest of pensioners against Argentine President Javier Milei's austerity policies, outside the National Congress, in Buenos Aires, Argentina June 4, 2025. REUTERS/Alessia Maccioni/File Photo FILE PHOTO: Argentina's President Javier Milei reacts onstage at the Libertad Avanza party headquarters on the day of the legislative elections of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, May 18, 2025. REUTERS/Tomas Cuesta/File Photo BUENOS AIRES - Argentina's firebrand right-wing President Javier Milei has largely tamed runaway inflation with a ruthless austerity plan and he aims to solidify power when his party and its allies take on a divided opposition in legislative elections in October. The trash-tweeting, shaggy-haired economist, who famously handed tech billionaire Elon Musk a chainsaw at an event in Washington earlier this year, has overseen a steady dollar-peso peg but relies on legislative allies in Congress to pass his agenda. Many of the changes he has implemented have been through presidential decrees, like his ideological ally, U.S. President Donald Trump, who called Milei his favorite president. Voters will choose about half the seats in the lower chamber of Argentina's Congress and a third of the upper Senate on October 26. A big victory would not give Milei a legislative majority, but it would offer him leverage to make deals to sell off government-owned companies, cut social spending, change tax and labor policy and embrace social conservatism. That plan is in stark contrast to the program of the parties that are the ideological descendants of General Juan Peron, who ruled the country from 1946-1955 and 1973-1974, and his wife Evita. Their governments nationalized industries, unveiled pro-labor policies and rolled out social programs including free health care. The economic stability spurred by Milei, who took power in late 2023 and quickly slashed spending as part of a shock therapy program to pull the South American country out of a deep crisis, has not translated into across-the-board improvements. Prices of basic goods like jeans and tennis shoes are reportedly double what they are in other parts of the Americas. Pensioners continue to protest the cost of living, and anger over the relatively poor salaries of healthcare workers at a respected pediatric hospital has turned into a months-long saga. Nearly 40% of Argentines remain in poverty, and many of them reject Milei's policies. "I'm not a Peronist, but I'll vote for them because I'd vote for anyone before Milei," said Jorge, a 42-year-old "cartonero" who collects cardboard for recycling, an extremely poor living. The man, who declined to give his last name, said one of his four children was treated at the pediatric hospital where staff are protesting. Posing another threat to Milei's popularity is the possibility that he may in coming months have to further tighten economic policy to meet the terms of a $20 billion International Monetary Fund loan that has boosted Argentina's reputation among investors, whose dollars the country desperately needs. 'RUPTURE IS INEVITABLE' Up for grabs in the election is the vast province surrounding the capital, Buenos Aires, which is the geographic heart of Peronism and home to 40% of the country's voters. A government source told reporters Milei has vowed to defeat Peronist Governor Axel Kicillof there. Milei's candidate unexpectedly placed first in a recent Buenos Aires local election, and consulting firm Observatorio Electoral shows Milei's Libertad Avanza party with a slim 37%-36% advantage over the center-left Peronists. Nationally, 42% of voters favor Milei against 23% for the Peronists. Beating the standard-bearers of Juan Peron's legacy would have seemed impossible a few years ago, but with inflation down to a projected 30% this year, from 118% last year, and Milei credited with cutting corruption, some voters are ready to give the political firebrand more power. "I'll vote for Milei again because he's achieved a degree of normality in the economy," said Federico Segovia, a 22-year-old university student who blamed the last Peronist president, Alberto Fernandez, for leaving the economy in disastrous shape. A recent survey by the consulting firm Synopsis found that the share of those who viewed Milei positively rose to 43.4% in May from 40.9% in April. Perhaps the biggest wind in Milei's sails comes from the power struggle that has pitted Kicillof and his one-time mentor, former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Kicillof, who served as economy minister in Fernandez de Kirchner's government from 2013 to 2015, is expected to run for president in the 2027 election. "The rupture is inevitable," a Peronist source told Reuters. The two opposition politicians are still debating whether they will join forces for the congressional elections. "If there is no agreement for the legislative elections and Peronism is divided, La Libertad Avanza will win the elections in the province of Buenos Aires," the source said. Milei, meanwhile, has patched over divisions with his closest ideological neighbor, agreeing to offer a combined list of candidates with the center-right PRO party. The Peronists make up the largest party in Congress and have dozens of governors and mayors across the country. Observatorio Electoral pollster Julio Burdman, however, thinks that power base won't be enough to stop Milei's forces. "The ruling party has all the conditions" to win the most votes, he said. "I can't imagine any other result." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store