The Florida Legislature’s special session began Monday, with lawmakers aiming to work through several issues facing the state.
Florida lawmakers will be tackling a series of bills ranging from disaster relief to the expansion of school vouchers for children with disabilities. Other bills could impose sanctions on businesses involved with Iran.
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The Treasury Department unveiled sanctions on a number of Hamas operatives and financial facilitators Wednesday in the wake of terrorist attacks on Israel.
Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas carried out attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, resulting in the deaths of over 1,400 Israelis and the kidnapping of over 100 people, including Americans. The Biden administration has taken steps to castigate Hamas since the attacks, including imposing sanctions against Hamas operatives and financial actors in an effort to throttle the group’s funding, according to a press release from the Treasury.
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Within days of Hamas attacking Israel, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state plans to increase sanctions against the Iranian regime. The new sanctions include expanding the industries on Florida’s scrutinized companies list and strengthening Florida’s position against states that sponsor terror.
DeSantis said that as the federal government has eased sanctions on Iran and funded state-sponsored terrorism by sending billions of U.S. taxpayer money to Iran and restoring hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Palestinians that was previously halted by the Trump administration, Florida is taking the opposite approach.
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The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday announced sanctions against a migrant-trafficking gang based in Mexico that has operated since at least 2018.
The Hernandez Salas organization, based in the border city of Mexicali, Mexico, across the border from Calexico, California, has organized travel for countless migrants seeking to cross into the United States, the Treasury Dept. said in a statement.
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China announced sanctions against CEOs of two major U.S. defense contractors Friday for their role in an arms package the State Department approved for Taiwan on Sept. 2.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the sanctions against Raytheon CEO Gregory J. Hayes and Boeing Defense CEO Ted Colbert will “defend China’s sovereignty and security interests” against U.S. “military contact” with Taiwan. The Biden administration notified Congress of its intent to transfer $1.1 billion worth of military equipment to Taiwan earlier this month, including 60 anti-ship missiles Boeing Defense agreed to produce and 100 air-to-air missilescontracted with Raytheon.
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Joe Biden is set to sign an executive order that will begin the process of regulating the trading of cryptocurrency, as crypto becomes a viable alternative for Russians seeking to avoid the impact of economic sanctions.
According to ABC News, at least two anonymous Biden Administration officials said that the order will be issued this week, and has allegedly been in the planning stage since before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February. The order will outline the various steps that government agencies, including the Treasury Department, are to take to begin the process of imposing regulations on the buying and selling of digital currencies.
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Russia’s financial markets remain closed Wednesday for the third day in a row as the country’s economy continues to take massive hits caused by Ukraine-related sanctions from Western countries.
The closure of the Russian exchanges is the longest since since 1998, according to Bloomberg News.
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Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07) introduced a bill Wednesday to sanction Russia for their invasion of the Donbas region of Ukraine.
If enacted, the Restraining Russian Imperialism Act would instruct the Biden administration to impose sanctions if Russia does not completely withdraw from the region within a year.
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President Joe Biden will reportedly keep a rule proposed by the previous administration that would allow government officials to stop some Chinese technology transactions, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Biden will allow the Commerce Department to impose the rule even as his administration continues its broad review of former President Donald Trump’s outstanding executive orders related to China, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.
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