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Bloomberg May 29, 2019 China Gears Up to Weaponize Rare Earths Dominance in Trade War Beijing is gearing up to use its dominance of rare earths to hit back in its deepening trade war with Washington. A flurry of Chinese media reports on Wednesday, including an editorial in the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party, raised the prospect of Beijing cutting exports of the commodities that are critical in defense, energy, electronics and automobile sectors. The world’s biggest producer, China supplies about 80% of U.S. imports of rare earths, which are used in a host of applications from smartphones to electric vehicles and wind turbines. The threat to weaponize strategic materials ratchets up the tension between the world’s two biggest economies before an expected meeting between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump at the G-20 meeting next month. It shows how China is weighing its options after the U.S. blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co., cutting off the supply...

Indian Defence News May 30, 2019 US blocks over USD 46-mn in funds of terrorist groups including Pak based outfits The US blocked more than USD 46 million in funds of designated terrorist groups, including Pakistan-based outfits, until the last year as part of its crackdown on foreign terrorist organisations and individuals, according to an annual report. The report released by the US Department of Treasury states the US blocked nearly USD 400,000 in funds of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and USD 1,725 of the Jaish-e Mohammed. The Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is the leading US Government agency responsible for implementing sanctions against the assets of international terrorist organisations and terrorism-supporting countries. The federal body implements these sanctions as part of its general mission to administer and enforce economic and trade sanctions based on US foreign policy and national security goals. According ...

DNA Pakistan to stay on FATF's greylist The grouping, which looks into money laundering& terrorism financing meets from 16th to 21st June in Orlando, Florida. Pakistan is certain to stay on the greylist when the next meet of Financial Action Task Force or FATF, an official from FATF member countries told WION on Wednesday. The grouping, which looks into money laundering and terrorism financing meets from 16th to 21st June in Orlando, Florida. During the meet, it will be discussing Pakistan's listing and if the country has taken any action to combat terror financing. FATF's Asia-Pacific Group (APG) which met in China in mid may wasn't impressed by Pakistan's action on terror financing. Islamabad was put on the greylisted last year which means the country comes under financial jurisdiction with “structural deficiencies” in anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) or simply-- supports the financing of...

Hindustan Times May 29, 2019 India to appoint experts in Maldives to work on financial crime, money laundering The officials appointed by the Centre would look into financial crime, fraud investigation, money laundering and preventing corruption. India had earlier appointed officers in Mauritius and Singapore in order to intensify its effort in checking money laundering and tax evasion. India has decided to appoint experts in the Maldives to work on financial crime and money laundering matters, officials said Wednesday. The officers, who would be deputed in the island nation for an initial period of one year, would prepare strategies to establish close coordination between agencies, both local and international, working on law enforcement, anti-corruption and anti-money laundering activities, they said, citing an official order. These officers would suggest methods to access operational support from Interpol, the London metropolitan police and the FBI amo...

Hindustan Times May 29, 2019 India removed from US currency monitoring list, China stays India, along with China, Japan, Germany, Switzerland and South Korea, was placed in the bi-annual currency watch list in October last year. The US Treasury Department has removed India from its currency monitoring list of major trading partners.(AFP) The US Treasury Department has removed India from its currency monitoring list of major trading partners. In its semi-annual report to US Congress on International Economic and Exchange Rate Policies, the department on Tuesday removed India and Switzerland from the previous currency watch list of countries with potentially questionable foreign exchange policies. India, along with China, Japan, Germany, Switzerland and South Korea, was placed in the bi-annual currency watch list in October last year. The US, however, continued to keep China on its watch list, while urging the Asian nation to take necessary steps to avoid a “pe...

Saudi Gazette May 22, 2019   Saudi tech investments to hit $135b by 2030 Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt will gain the most from AI AI is going to be a big game changer in the global economy, and much of the value potential is up for grabs. A PwC 2018 report estimated that AI could contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy in 2030, more than the current output of China and India combined. Of this, $6.6 trillion is likely to come from increased productivity and $9.1 trillion is likely to come from benefits to consumers. The annual growth in the contribution of AI is expected to range between 20-34% per year across the Middle East, with the fastest growth in the Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Egypt. To meet the demand for having a global platform gathering world class technology experts, the Saudi Emerging Technologies Forum will take place from 11-13 of November 2019 in Kempinski Hotel in Riyadh to be the first conference in the Kingdom to address the deploymen...

CNN May 22, 2019 Senator warns Trump may use 'obscure loophole' to sell bombs to Saudi Arabia Chris Murphy warned Wednesday that President Donald Trump is considering using an "obscure loophole" in arms control law that would allow his administration to sell a new batch of bombs to Saudi Arabia without congressional approval. Circumventing Congress in order to sell munitions to the Saudis "would be a complete abuse of power," Murphy told CNN, adding that the administration could put its plan in motion as early as this week. "Arms control law allows Congress to reject a sale to a foreign country. But Trump would claim the sale constitutes an 'emergency' which means Congress can't take a vote of disapproval. It would go through automatically," the Connecticut Democrat and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said in a tweet. "To state the obvious, there is no new emergency reason to sell bombs to ...

CNN Business May 22, 2019 Saudi Arabia wants to buy tons of American natural gas Saudi Arabia has placed a huge bet on American natural gas. In a sign of shifting energy fortunes, Saudi Aramco announced a mega preliminary agreement on Wednesday to buy 5 million tons of liquefied natural gas per year from a Port Arthur, Texas export project that's under development. If completed, the purchase from San Diego-based Sempra Energy (SRE) would be one of the largest LNG deals ever signed, according to consulting firm Wood Mackenzie. "This is a major statement about the Saudis entering the LNG market and about how price competitive the outlook is for US gas," said Ira Joseph, head of gas and power at S&P Global Platts. Although the agreement calls for Saudi Arabia to purchase LNG from the United States, Joseph said it's unlikely the fuel would end up being used to meet the kingdom's vast electricity needs. More likely, Aramco will try to s...

Aljajeera May 20, 2019 Saudi, UAE see sufficient oil supplies despite Iran tensions Saudi official says OPEC+ nations favour 'gently' driving down oil inventories despite uncertainty over Iran exports. Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said OPEC members would not make hasty decisions about output before a meeting of the cartel scheduled for June. Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said OPEC members would not make hasty decisions about output before a meeting of the cartel scheduled for June.   Top officials from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have said oil supplies were sufficient and stockpiles were still rising despite anticipated drops in output from Iran and Venezuela. Speaking at the start of a meeting of top crude producers in Jeddah on Sunday, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said the market was in a "delicate situation" but "inventories are rising and supplies are plenty". ...