Tuesday, March 9, 2021

White House News (白宮消息) | Mar. 9, 2021

 2 - White House News in Chinese (weebly.com)

Champ and Major are pet German Shepherd dogs that belong to President of the United States Joe Biden, and his wife, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden.[3][4]

Major is the first shelter dog living in the White House.[5][6] There were no pets living in the White House during the four years of the Trump administration; this, and the Polk administration were the only extended periods without presidential pets in the White House.
​President John F. Kennedy, and wife Jackie, also owned two German Shepherd dogs, named Shannon and Clipper.[7]


Following closely on the heels of the Sunday drone and missile attack fired from Yemeni Houthi territory targeting the heart of Saudi Arabia's oil industry, specifically on the Saudi Aramco facility at Ras Tanura, the Saudi-led coalition is reporting Monday a new ballistic missile attack on Saudi soil.
Saudi Arabia: Houthi Rebels Launched New Ballistic Missile Strike


Mar. 9 - ..."The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has strongly condemned and denounced sabotage attacks that attempted to target one of the petroleum tank farms at Ras Tanura Port in the Eastern Region and Saudi Aramco facilities in Dhahra," SPA wrote.

It further condemned what it called the "cowardly attack" that "targets energy supplies and security"....     quoted from


开启中国外交新征程 构建人类命运共同体 20210307 |《今日关注》CCTV中文国际
Mar 8, 2021


Biden is not ‘getting tougher’ on China, will remain positive in China-US tie: AmCham China chairman

Mar. 9 - The Biden administration is not getting tougher on the bilateral relationship, while to the contrary, people can expect some more “normalized and more traditional measures of diplomacy,” chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham China) told the Global Times during an online press conference on Tuesday.

“I don’t think the new administration is increasing its pressure on the bilateral relationship, I think that to the contrary, we can expect some more normalized and more traditional measures of diplomacy,” AmCham China Chairman Greg Gilligan, said in response to questions from the Global Times addressing concerns about a worsening bilateral relationship.

Last week, US President Joe Biden singled out a “growing rivalry with China” as a key challenge facing the US, with his top diplomat describing the Asian country as “the biggest geopolitical test” of this century, according to a Reuters report.

The fact that Biden administration has not removed some of the measures or restrictions put in place by the previous administration doesn’t mean they’re getting tougher, said the chairman, adding that he will “remain optimistic,and has the reason to do so.”     continue to read

Monday, March 8, 2021

White House News (白宮消息) | Mar. 8, 2021

 2 - White House News in Chinese (weebly.com)

The logo of Aramco is seen as security personnel walk before the start of a news conference at the Plaza Conference Center in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia on Nov. 3, 2019
Houthis strike Saudi oil giant’s facilities in the kingdom’s east

Mar. 8, BEIRUT — Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed that they hit an Aramco oil facility in eastern Saudi Arabia on Sunday, the first time the group has reached the company's facilities in that area.

In a televised statement, a spokesman for the rebel group, Brig. Gen. Yahya Sarea, said ballistic missiles and drones hit the oil giant’s facilities in Ras Tanura, a major port on Saudi Arabia’s Persian Gulf coast and one of its largest refineries, and military positions in nearby Dammam.

Saudi state media later confirmed the Ras Tanura attack, quoting an unnamed Energy Ministry official saying that one petroleum tank farm was attacked Sunday morning. The official said shrapnel from a ballistic missile fell near Aramco’s residential area in Dhahran, which hosts thousands of employees and their families, but there were no casualties or loss of property. The Saudi-led coalition, which has been fighting the Iranian-backed rebels since 2015, then said both attacks were intercepted and the drones downed.     continue to read
美俄军舰苏丹“同框” 俄再添“大杀器” 冷战场景重现? 20210306 |《今日关注》CCTV中文国际
Mar 7, 2021


Saudi Arabia's Abqaiq facility, which came under attack in 2019.
Saudi-led coalition faults Biden’s Yemen policy shift for refinery attack


The attacks are the most serious against Saudi oil installations since a key processing facility and two oil fields came under fire in September 2019, cutting oil production for several days and exposing the vulnerability of the Saudi petroleum industry. That was claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, although Riyadh pointed the finger at arch-rival Iran.


Mar. 8 - Saudi Arabia said one of the most protected crude facilities in the world came under missile attack on Sunday, in a clear escalation of hostilities that sent oil prices surging.

...
A Saudi-led coalition has been fighting the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen’s civil war since 2015.
On Sunday, it carried out retaliatory air strikes on Yemen’s capital, Sana’a. It said it intercepted missiles and drones launched at the kingdom from neighboring Yemen, just as the Houthi rebels claimed a series of attacks -- including one on Ras Tanura.
The group launched eight ballistic missiles and 14 bomb-laden drones at Saudi Arabia, a spokesman for the Houthis, Yahya Saree, said in a statement to Houthi-run Al Masirah television.

The Houthis have stepped up assaults on Saudi Arabia and last week claimed they hit a Saudi Aramco fuel depot in Jeddah with a cruise missile. It wasn’t clear how much damage had been caused. While such assaults rarely result in extensive damage, their frequency has created unease in the Gulf.


The Houthis have been fighting Yemen’s United Nations-recognized government since 2014. The Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year to back the government. The UN has called the conflict -- in which tens of thousands have died -- the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The Saudi-led coalition said a recent U.S. decision to revoke the designation of the rebels as terrorists had fueled the rise in attacks. The Biden administration has moved to ditch the designation, which was adopted toward the end of President Donald Trump’s time in office and was seen as a way of increasing pressure on Iran.     quoted from

Biden May Host Suga at White House in April: Report 
Washington, March 7 (Jiji Press)--U.S. President Joe Biden is planning to host Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga at the White House in April at the earliest, Axios, a U.S. news website, reported on Sunday.

   If the visit is realized, Suga will be the first foreign leader to hold talks with Biden in person after the president took office in January.

   According to the report, the White House declined to confirm the upcoming meeting, which has not been finalized and could slide to later in the spring depending on the state of the COVID-19 pandemic.     source from


Chinese naval vessels are carrying out a new military exercise in the South China Sea.
China tells Biden to reverse 'dangerous practice' on Taiwan

​Mar. 8 - ...​The State Department later reiterated that the Biden administration's support for Taiwan was rock-solid and that the US stood with its regional friends and allies, including "deepening our unofficial ties with democratic Taiwan."

"We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure against Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan's democratically elected representatives," said the statement issued late Sunday in Washington.

Wang's comments in a wide-ranging, two-hour news conference reflected Beijing's increasing assertiveness abroad and rejection of criticism over Hong Kong, the northwestern region of Xinjiang and other sensitive topics....     quoted from



Friday, March 5, 2021

White House News (白宮消息) | Mar. 6, 2021

 2 - White House News in Chinese (weebly.com)


Janet Louise Yellen (born August 13, 1946) is an American economist serving as the United States secretary of the treasury since January 26, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the 15th chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018. She is the first woman to hold either role. She is also a professor emerita at Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and formerly a distinguished fellow in residence at the Brookings Institution.

Yellen was a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors from 1994 to 1997 and again from 2010 to 2018. She chaired the Council of Economic Advisers in the President Bill Clinton administration from 1997 to 1999 and was the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco from 2004 to 2010. She served as vice-chair of the Federal Reserve from 2010 to 2014. Yellen was nominated by President Barack Obama to succeed Ben Bernanke as chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018.[1] She served one term and was not re-appointed by President Donald Trump.

...Yellen is a Keynesian economist and has been described as a "Keynesian to her fingertips"; during the Great Recession, she "warned against an over-hasty removal of stimulus"; "insisted that the Fed pay as much attention to unemployment as to inflation"; and "believes the state has a duty to tackle poverty and inequality."[83] When her appointment as Treasury secretary was announced in December 2020, Yellen was viewed by Wall Street "as a Treasury secretary who will push hard for expansionary policies aimed at boosting growth, profits and share prices," although the ability of Yellen to push through her preferred fiscal policies was seen as likely to be constrained by congressional gridlock.[83]...​     from Wikipedia
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says Congress needs to 'go big' for relief package

Mar. 6 - WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Friday that despite the strong job gains last month, Congress still needs to "go big" by passing President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion relief package to get millions of people back to work sooner.


In an interview with the PBS NewsHour on Friday, Yellen said Biden's package should not be trimmed just because the February jobs report showed 379,000 new jobs had been created, the best showing since October.

At that pace it would still take the country more than two years to get back to full employment, she said. But with the administration's package, she said the country could see a return to full employment by next year.

Yellen said the unemployment rate, which fell to 6.2% in February, was overstating the improvement in the labor force because it does not count the 4 million people who have stopped looking for work and have dropped out of the job market. She said the real unemployment rate is 10%.

After House approval last week, the Senate is now debating the 
$1.9 trillion relief package with supporters trying to keep Democrats on board in the 50-50 chamber since no Republican is expected to vote for the measure.     continue to read

White House News (白宮消息) | Mar. 5, 2021

 2 - White House News in Chinese (weebly.com)

Alan Stuart Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an American comedian, former politician, media personality, and author who served as a United States senator from Minnesota from 2009 to 2018. He became well known in the 1970s and 1980s as a staff writer and performer on the television comedy show Saturday Night Live. After decades as a comedic actor and writer, he became a prominent liberal political activist, hosting The Al Franken Show on Air America Radio.

Franken was first elected to the United States Senate in 2008 as the nominee of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL, an affiliate of the Democratic Party), defeating incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman by 312 votes out of nearly three million cast (a margin of just over 0.01%). He won reelection in 2014 with 53.2% of the vote over Republican challenger Mike McFadden. Franken resigned on January 2, 2018, after several allegations of sexual misconduct were made against him.

In September 2019, Franken announced he would be hosting The Al Franken Show Saturday mornings on SiriusXM radio. It covers topics such as global affairs, politics, the 2020 presidential election, and entertainment.[1]     source from Wikipedia


Double standard? Gillibrand in spotlight after Cuomo scandal

Mar. 5, WASHINGTON (AP) — Kirsten Gillibrand was the first Democratic senator to call for her colleague Al Franken’s resignation in 2017 as he faced allegations of sexual misconduct, building a profile as a leading advocate for women that became the centerpiece of her 2020 presidential bid.


But the New York senator is taking a different approach when it comes to sexual harassment allegations hitting closer to home, those against her state’s Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo.

In a series of statements, Gillibrand has said accusations of offensive behavior by Cuomo are “serious and deeply concerning” and that the three women “who have come forward have shown tremendous courage.” She has said that the claims against Cuomo are “completely unacceptable” and called for a full investigation — but stopped short of demanding his resignation.     continue to read



The Plea to “Stop Al Franken-ing” Cuomo Is Exactly What We Don’t Need
The New York governor is not the former Minnesota senator. He’s worse


Mar. 3 - On Monday, a third woman came forward with accusations of sexual harassment and predatory behavior against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Anna Ruch, a former member of the Obama administration, told the New York Times that Cuomo had approached her during a wedding in September 2019 and asked, “Can I kiss you?” The question allegedly took place shortly after she brushed his hand away as he touched her back—she had been wearing a dress with an open back design. A photograph, taken by a friend, showed Ruch looking visibly tense as Cuomo held her face in his hands, apparently at the moment when he had asked to kiss her.
Ruch’s story comes after two former aides detailed allegations of sexual harassment against Cuomo: On Saturday, Charlotte

Bennett accused him of sexually suggestive behavior—which included repeated questions about her views on monogamy and older men—and, perhaps most disturbingly, expressed an unsettling interest in her experience as a sexual assault survivor. Earlier last week, Lindsey Boylan, a former special adviser to the governor, accused Cuomo in a Medium post of forcibly kissing her and overseeing a toxic work climate in which, she wrote, “sexual harassment and bullying is so pervasive that it is not only condoned but expected.” 

Since the second allegation surfaced, calls for Cuomo to resign have gained momentum. But these serious and credible allegations have been countered by what, at the moment, appears to be an even larger sentiment to stop “Al Franken-ing him,” an exhortation that has since exploded on social media. Al Franken has been trending on Twitter ever since.

The warning refers to the former Democratic senator from Minnesota who, in 2017, was forced to resign amid allegations of groping and sexual harassment.     continue to read
澳反潜巡逻机首入东海 我海军多海域密集演兵 20210303 |《今日关注》CCTV中文国际
Mar 4, 2021
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