Latest news with #pall
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
ICE says Club World Cup attendees should carry proof of citizenship, sparking concerns
The Trump administration's anti-immigrant crackdown is casting a pall over the FIFA Club World Cup soccer tournament kicking off in Florida this weekend. The Club World Cup is an international tournament that features some of the world's top professional soccer clubs. The United States is hosting it this year, with the first game scheduled for Saturday in Miami Gardens. On Tuesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection tweeted that it will be 'suited and booted and ready to provide security for the first round of games.' It later deleted the tweet without explanation. And ICE told NBC News 6 in Miami that all non-American citizens will need to carry proof of their legal status. When asked to clarify that comment, an ICE spokesperson told The Miami Herald in a statement: 'As is customary for an event of this magnitude with national security implications, ICE will be working alongside our Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice partners to help ensure the safety and security of the event.' As the Herald noted, CBP's presence at major sporting events is not uncommon. For instance, the agency promoted its participation during the Super Bowl in New Orleans earlier this year. But the remark from ICE about proving legal status and the now-deleted CBP tweet against the backdrop of Trump administration's anti-immigration crackdown have raised concerns among some soccer fans. It's as if the government is warning attendees to keep their 'freedom papers' on hand to avoid harassment from Trump's immigration officials, whose crackdown has already ensnared American citizens and produced disturbing images, like that of ICE agents chasing farmworkers through a California field. Some people in heavily-Latino, Trump-friendly Miami-Dade County may indeed choose to forgo this event — no matter their citizenship status — rather than potentially subject themselves to the administration's xenophobic scrutiny. The Wall Street Journal recently reported, citing people familiar with the matter, on efforts by Trump White House adviser Stephen Miller to have federal agents 'just go out there and arrest illegal aliens' at places like 7-Eleven and The Home Depot, where undocumented laborers have, at times, looked for work. 'Keeping President Trump's promise to deport illegal aliens is something the administration takes seriously,' a White House spokesperson told the Journal. The apparent plan to confirm attendees' legal status at a soccer match seems like a similar attempt by the Trump administration to cast a net in a place where immigrants are likely to be. And creating uncertainty around the event surely won't help with reports on slow-moving ticket sales for the tournament. In a recent discussion on 'The Dan Le Batard Show' podcast hosted by sports journalist Dan Le Batard, soccer reporter Tom Bogert talked about the fear among some attendees. The discussion begins around the 3:20 mark below: This article was originally published on
NDTV
a day ago
- General
- NDTV
Reunion After 15 Years, Then Disaster: Couple, 2 Children Killed In Crash
The brother remembers it as a perfect celebration. All four siblings had gathered in Ahmedabad with their families to celebrate Eid al-Adha with their mother and it was a reunion that had been awaited for 15 years. That was last Friday. Less than a week later, the family's world came crashing around them. 37-year-old Javed, his wife Maryam, their five-year-old son and four-year-old daughter were among the 242 people aboard Air India flight AI 171, which crashed into a building in Ahmedabad on Thursday. Javed's mother, who is a heart patient and was slated to undergo a surgery soon, has still not been told that she has lost not just her son, but her daughter-in-law and two young grandchildren. Speaking to NDTV on Friday at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, where samples are being collected to carry out DNA tests to identify the victims, Javed's brother, Imtiaz, said the family is devastated. "He was my brother. He had come to Ahmedabad to celebrate a happy moment. Now we have lost four family members. Who is responsible for this? Over 240 people have died. Will we keep losing people from our families... The plane had just taken off and crashed in a few seconds, how can this happen?" he asked. Javed, Imtiaz said, had gone to the UK to study 11 years ago, met Maryam there and eventually became a British citizen. "Javed had come here to celebrate Eid with our mother. She has stents in her heart and another was supposed to be inserted in two weeks. We are four brothers and sisters and have not gathered together for 15 years. Sometimes two of us would meet, sometimes three. This time, all of us got together and met our mother. Everything was perfect, just perfect," he said in Hindi. Asked whether their mother had been informed about the deaths, Imtiaz's brother said, "She hasn't been told yet. She has heart issues. We have told her that an investigation is on, she has probably been told they have been admitted to a hospital." "There's a pall of gloom over the family. They had two small children with them. I am sure you can understand..." he trailed off. Wait For Body Imtiaz said he had given his blood sample to identify Javed's body on Thursday night. "I have been searching every hospital, hoping some mistake had been made with the names and they are there. We are being told the bodies have been charred beyond recognition, which I am not being able to accept. Only once the DNA report comes will we know... We are being told we will be given the report by Sunday, I wonder how they will do that for so many people by then," he said. Of the 242 passengers on the plane, 241 were killed. At least 10 people also died at the BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad's Meghani Nagar, where the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed.
Business Mayor
03-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
China says it's evaluating the possibility of trade talks with the U.S.
China said it is evaluating U.S. overtures to initiate trade negotiations, potentially paving the way for the world's two largest economies to start talks to resolve a trade war that has rumbled financial markets and cast a pall on global economic activity. Senior U.S. officials have reached out recently 'through relevant parties multiple times,' hoping to start negotiations with China on tariffs, a spokesperson for the Commerce Ministry said in a statement Friday. While assessing the possibility of starting any negotiations, Chinese authorities reiterated Beijing's request for the U.S. to remove all unilateral tariffs. Failure to do so would indicate 'an outright lack of sincerity' from Washington and 'further compromise mutual trust,' according to a CNBC translation. 'If the U.S. wants to talk, it should show its sincerity and be prepared to correct its wrong practices and cancel the unilateral tariffs,' according to the statement. U.S. President Donald Trump has slapped tariffs of 145% on imported Chinese goods this year, prompting China to impose retaliatory levies of 125%. So far, both sides have sought to blunt the economic impact of tariffs by granting exemptions on certain critical products. The Chinese offshore yuan strengthened 0.14% to 7.2665 against the U.S. dollar following the statement. While China's onshore markets are closed for a holiday, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index jumped 1.6%. The latest comments from Beijing follow a flurry of conflicting statements from the Trump administration and Chinese leadership on whether talks were underway, with both sides wanting to avoid being seen as the first to back down. Separately, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News' Hannity Program that the 'Chinese want to meet and talk,' according to Reuters, while indicating that such talks will come up soon. Stumbling blocks While Beijing appears to signal its readiness to engage in talks with the Trump administration, analysts cautioned that reaching a comprehensive deal will be a complex and time-consuming endeavor. The wild card Beijing must contend with before entering any negotiations is the unpredictability of Trump, said Dan Wang, China director at risk consultancy firm Eurasia Group. 'The negotiation is difficult to start because Trump is chaotic. China will not risk losing control of the situation just for the negotiation's sake,' Wang said. She anticipates that both sides will only arrange open negotiation after all details are agreed privately. 'A more likely scenario is just a long-lasting painful truce with both sides doing their own type of rolling back in practice without backing down politically in public. It can easily last the entire Trump term,' Wang said. That said, the substance of such talks — if they happen — will also hinge on both sides' strategic priorities and economic red lines, with both sides showing little appetite for compromise. 'The process is likely to be delicate, as both sides will be reluctant to make concessions on issues they deem vital to their national economic security,' said Alfredo Montufar-Helu, senior advisor to the China Center at think tank The Conference Board. 'One of the major asks of China will be for tariffs to go back to pre-'liberation day' levels, at least during the negotiation period. Such a move could provide significant relief to businesses on both sides; however, it remains uncertain how receptive the Trump administration would be to this proposal,' said Montufar-Helu. Weekly analysis and insights from Asia's largest economy in your inbox Subscribe now Mixed messages U.S. officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, have indicated that there could be an easing in tensions with China. Bessent, who has largely backed Trump's broad tariff policy, said in a Fox Business Network interview Thursday that U.S.-China tariffs at their current levels are 'not sustainable on the Chinese side,' and a 'big deal' could be made between the two economies. 'Everything is on the table for the economic relationship. I am confident that the Chinese will want to reach a deal. And as I said, this is going to be a multistep process,' Bessent said. 'First, we need to de-escalate, and then over time, we will start focusing on a larger trade deal.' In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett said 'there have been kind of loose discussions all over both governments,' adding that China's recent easing of duties on some U.S. products indicated 'they were very close to making the kind of progress we need to move the ball forward.' 'We need to look at these exchanges of words with a pinch of salt,' said Tianchen Xu, senior economist at Economist Intelligence Unit, adding that both sides are 'waiting for the other side to blink first.' Xu believes that certain working-level engagements may have already occurred, or are about to occur, which could result in tariff rates being lowered to 'less devastating' levels of 40% to 50% over the next one or two quarters. Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday exempting imported cars and parts from the lofty levies, following the rollback of tariffs on a range of electronic products earlier in April. According to Reuters, China has also granted tariff waivers on imports of certain U.S. goods, such as pharmaceuticals, aerospace equipment, semiconductors and ethane, while seeking opinion from businesses on items they need to be able to import without paying extra duties. 'Although in practice, the effective tariffs on both sides have gone down, the political stance [from Beijing] has not changed,' Eurasia Group's Wang said, as Beijing made it clear that the U.S. has to roll back all tariffs for it to participate in any meaningful trade negotiation. 'China is actively managing this decoupling, not taking the bait from the U.S.,' she added.
