Latest news with #Fifth
Business Recorder
4 hours ago
- Business
- Business Recorder
Duty relief on 479 items' import scrapped
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has withdrawn customs duty exemption on the import of 479 items including those covered under the category of miscellaneous goods from July 1, 2025. According to the FBR's instructions to the Collectors of Customs, to streamline and reduce the cost of exemptions, 479 entries in part-1, part-III, and part-II of the Fifth Schedule to the Customs Act, 1969, have been deleted. It has been taken care of to retain serial numbers in the Fifth Schedule to match previous year, or ease in data comparison and statistics. 'Disputed scrap' FBR directs Customs to enforce new law Second, Part-VII (miscellaneous goods) of the Fifth Schedule has been omitted. However, two entries first with the description, 'live (baby/brood stock) fish and shrimp/prawns for breeding and production in commercial farms and hatcheries', and the second with the description, 'Unmanufac-tured tobacco; tobacco refuse' have been shifted to Part-II of the Fifth Schedule at Sr Nos 153 and 154. Third, the condition for registration with erstwhile Ministry of Textile Industry (now Ministry of Commerce) under Part-IV of the Fifth Schedule has been done away with. It has been amended as 'Machinery and equipment, not manufactured locally, if imported by textiles and apparel industrial units registered as manufacturers-cum-exporters under Sales Tax Act, 1990,' the FBR's instructions added. The existing SRO 928(I)2024 dated 30th June2024, for levy of regulatory duty (RD), has been replaced with SRO 11520(I)2025, dated 30.06.2025. The FBR has further conveyed to the Collector of Customs that downward revision of regulatory duty (RD) has been made on 1011 PCT codes. The RD rate on 473 PCT codes has been reduced by 50 per cent and RD rate on 538 PCT codes has been reduced by 20 percent. The maximum rate of RD has been reduced from 90 per cent to 50 per cent. The RD on 970 PCT codes has been retained at previous year rates. The RD on plums (allocha) has been imposed at the rate of 28 per cent. This is to ensure that plums is charged RD at the rate of 28 percent irrespective of their PCT codes. The chief collectors of appraisement and collectors of appraisement are directed to ensure that RD is correctly charged on plums, the FBR's instructions added. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
The Hill
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Paul signals Jill Biden, Anthony Fauci could be looked at in autopen probe
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Sunday that former first lady Jill Biden and Anthony Fauci could be examined during Congress's autopen probe. President Trump has railed against his predecessor, former President Biden, for using the autopen to pardon individuals during his last few months in office. The president ordered a probe into the signatures on various pardons in June while GOP lawmakers requested interviews with several former White House staffers to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Some have pleaded the Fifth at some point during their testimonies. 'Even though Anthony Fauci has been pardoned, there is some question whether it's a legitimate pardon. His pardon wasn't signed by President Biden,' Paul said during an appearance on John Catsimatidis's radio show 'Cats Roundtable' on WABC 770 AM. 'It's unclear whether President Biden is mentally cognizant enough of the situation to know who he pardoned. Hundreds and hundreds of people were pardoned in a day by a mechanical signature from a machine. We do know there's been testimony from the people running the machine that they never talked to the president, that they talked to an assistant that works for the president's wife,' he added. Biden has previously argued that past administrations have used the autopen to sign government paperwork, proving its legality. However, Republicans have refused to let go of criticism regarding his signature on multiple pardons. 'Who knew that we weren't being run by Joe Biden, but we were being run by some kind of chief of staff that worked for his wife. That's something to a lot of Americans to know that that person was granting power of pardons and could have taken the country to war and was never elected,' Paul said. 'So I think the way the best way to sort this out is you have to go to court. And I think the easiest way to get this into court is they should indict Anthony Fauci for lying to Congress, and he will make a defense that he's been pardoned,' he added. Paul also pointed out that the autopen was not used to sign the pardon for Hunter Biden. 'I think there is a question whether these pardons are valid. Interestingly, when he had to do the pardon for his son, he didn't take any chances by running it for the auto pen,' Paul. 'The pardon for Hunter Biden for any crimes committed over the last 10 years, any crimes, was done by personal hand signature by Biden, not the auto pen.'
New York Post
4 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Biden's top aides lived in ‘fog of denial' over president's cognitive decline: insider
As lawmakers continue their investigation into what former President Joe Biden's inner circle knew about his alleged cognitive decline, one insider who's written about the issue says he continues to be stunned by the 'fog of denial' that surrounded the aging president. 'They [just] convinced themselves, in effect, they believed what they wanted to believe instead of their lying eyes, even during the debate when everything went south,' said Chris Whipple, author of the book 'Uncharted,' which chronicled the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election. Advertisement Whipple interviewed several members of Biden's inner circle in the aftermath of his widely criticized debate performance, which ultimately led to the suspension of his re-election campaign. Former chief of staff Ron Klain, who reportedly told House lawmakers this week that Biden had grown 'more forgetful' in office, was among sources who opened up for Whipple's book. 'Despite that devastating debate, which was lights out, game over, everybody knew it, Klain was still all in on Joe Biden's nomination and re-election and somehow thought he could beat Trump,' Whipple told 'America's Newsroom' Friday. 'He's been in the doghouse with Joe Biden and his inner circle ever since he was devastatingly candid to me about Joe Biden's condition in that pre-debate prep at Camp David.' Advertisement Author Chris Whipple said he was stunned by the denial he saw after interviewing former President Biden's top aides about his alleged cognitive decline. AP House Republicans have launched a probe into the former president's cognitive health and have called on former Biden administration officials to testify about what they witnessed. Most of those called have pleaded the Fifth and refused to answer lawmakers' questions, including the former president's physician. But based on his conversations, Whipple does not believe there was a secretive scheme to control the presidency. Advertisement Former Biden chief of staff Ron Klain leaving an interview with the House Oversight Committee Chairman on July 24, 2025. Getty Images 'The notion that this was somehow, you know, Biden's last year was 'Weekend at Bernie's' and that there he was non compos mentis and there was a cabal running the country with an autopen is just silly,' he said. 'The notion that they're [Republicans are] going to be able to prove that there was this dastardly cover-up on the part of Biden's inner circle is just crazy to me. I think the answer is that this thing goes nowhere.'
New York Post
4 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Ghislaine Maxwell still mulling whether to testify before Oversight Committee, her attorney says
Ghislaine Maxwell is still weighing whether she will testify before Congress even though the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed her to do so. Earlier this week, the powerful Oversight panel subpoenaed Maxwell for a deposition on Aug. 11 due to the 'immense public interest and scrutiny' surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein case. 'Congress has asked her to testify, we have to make a decision about whether she will do that or not,' her attorney David Oscar Markus told reporters Friday. 'We haven't gotten back to them on whether we'll do that.' The statement signals Maxwell is still mulling whether to plead the Fifth Amendment or other privileges to fend off the subpoena. Should she take the Fifth, the Oversight panel could offer her some type of immunity in a bid to get her to talk. 4 Ghislaine Maxwell could plead her Fifth Amendment rights to avoid testifying before the House Oversight Committee. 4 Attorney David Oscar Markus has argued that Ghislaine Maxwell was unfairly convicted. AP On Thursday and Friday, Maxwell spoke with US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, President Trump's former defense attorney, about the Epstein case. The unusual meeting between Maxwell and Blanche for a type of interview that is typically left for lower-level Justice Department officials comes amid a public firestorm over the infamous pedophile, who committed suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019. Maxwell, a British socialite, was found guilty in 2021 of child sex trafficking and engaging in a scheme to exploit minors with Epstein and sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in prison. Markus, who previously did a podcast episode with Blanche before the latter became the US deputy attorney general, said he was proud of his client's performance when asked if the interview altered the calculus of whether she would comply with the Oversight Committee's subpoena. 'I think Ghislaine did a wonderful job. She literally answered every question. She didn't say that 'I'm not going to talk about this person,' ' Markus said. 'She was asked maybe about 100 different people. She answered questions about everybody, and she didn't hold anything back.' 4 Ghislaine Maxwell is serving out a 20-year prison sentence. REUTERS Markus also claimed 'there have been no asks and no promises' made to get her to agree to the interview with Blanche, including the possibility of a pardon from Trump. Earlier Friday, Trump said he hasn't yet contemplated a pardon, but noted, 'I'm allowed to do it.' Maxwell is currently serving out her sentence, something that her legal team has been appealing all the way up to the Supreme Court. Former Epstein attorney Alan Dershowitz has publicly claimed Maxwell 'knows everything' about the convicted child sex offender's crimes. The Trump administration and Republicans have come under intense pressure from the MAGA base to give the public more answers about Epstein. The push for information comes after a July 6 memo from the DOJ and FBI memo said there was insufficient evidence to suggest Epstein even had an 'incriminating client list.' Democrats have sought to exploit the Epstein scandal and put Republicans on the spot with attempts to force a vote to publicly divulge the documents on the notorious sex predator. 4 House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has pursued testimony from Ghislaine Maxwell. Getty Images Those efforts resulted in the floor of the House of Representatives effectively becoming frozen due to GOP leadership's efforts to scuttle a Democratic effort to force a vote on Epstein. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and his deputies have been keen to stick with Trump on the Epstein controversy. As a result, Republican leadership decided to send the lower chamber home for the August recess a day early. 'We want full transparency,' Johnson (R-La.) told CBS News' 'The Takeout with Major Garrett' Wednesday. 'We want everybody who is involved in any way with the Epstein evils — let's call it what it was — to be brought to justice as quickly as possible.' 'We want the full weight of the law on their heads.' Meanwhile, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) have cooked up a discharge petition, which will allow them to get a vote without GOP leadership's blessing, on a bill to force the release of the Epstein files. That discharge petition is poised to ripen when the House reconvenes in September from the August recess. Trump has expressed support for additional public disclosures in what he has dubbed the 'Epstein hoax' and backed a push by US Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue court approval for releasing grand jury testimony.
New York Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
For Late Night, Epstein-Trump Is the Comedy Gift That Keeps On Giving
Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night's highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now. The Hits Keep Coming New footage of Jeffrey Epstein being questioned by the government in 2010 emerged this week — 'and you'll never guess whose name came up,' Josh Johnson said on Thursday. 'Go ahead — guess.' In the video, the multimillionaire financier and convicted sex offender is asked if he'd ever 'socialized with Donald Trump in the presence of females under the age of 18,' and responds by asserting his Fifth, Sixth and 14th Amendment rights. 'I'm going to put that down as a 'yes,'' Johnson said. 'I'll be honest, I've never heard anybody plead anything other than the Fifth before. But this guy's so guilty, he's calling out every amendment he can think of, like, 'No, no, no, what's the one with the women voting? Uh, 19th? Throw that in, too.'' — JOSH JOHNSON 'Wow. Not a great sign when the pedophile is being asked if you're doing a pervert ride-along, and their response is, 'I'd like to invoke the entire Constitution, the Magna Carta, the Napoleonic Code, and just to cover my bases, let's throw in the entire Cheesecake Factory menu.' — STEPHEN COLBERT 'So, we don't know if he was doin' the creepy crimin', but we do have a cover-up. And just like the cover-up on his face, it is patchy, and there's something really ugly under there.' — STEPHEN COLBERT 'Jeffrey Epstein died back in 2019, but not since Tupac Shakur has a dead man dropped so many bangers.' — JOSH JOHNSON Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
