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Exclusive: U.S. prepares new sanctions on Chinese firms over North Korea ties - officials Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Frustrated that China has not done more to rein in North Korea, the Trump administration could impose new sanctions on small Chinese banks and other firms doing business with Pyongyang within weeks, two senior U.S. officials said. The U.S. measures would initially hit Chinese entities considered "low-hanging fruit," including smaller financial institutions and "shell" companies linked to North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, said one of the officials, while declining to name the targets. It would leave larger...

Trump advisor Cohn asks South Korea's Moon to help with China's 'many predatory practices' •South Korean President Moon Jae-in met with the Trump administration Thursday and Friday. •The press was invited to view the start of the meeting between the South Korean leader and White House officials. •China has pressured South Korea economically for allowing the U.S. to deploy a missile defense system in South Korea. National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn asked South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday for help in working with China. "At some point we'd be interested to hear how you're dealing with the Chinese...

U.S. blacklists two Chinese individuals, one shipping firm for links to N. Korea 2017/06/30 03:25 WASHINGTON, June 29 (Yonhap) -- The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on two Chinese individuals and one shipping company for links to North Korea's weapons proliferation. The Treasury Department blacklisted Chinese nationals Wei Sun for links to the North's Foreign Trade Bank and Li Hong Ri for ties to North Korean banking executive Ri Song-hyok. Also blacklisted was Dalian Global Unity Shipping Co. The sanctions are the latest in a series of signs that the U.S. has begun to take action to pressure China...

North Korea latest news: Trump loses patience with China and threatens Eastern giant DONALD Trump is losing his patience with China over its inaction on North Korea and is considering trade action against Beijing, three senior administration officials revealed. By Thomas Hunt PUBLISHED: 09:19, Wed, Jun 28, 2017 | UPDATED: 09:42, Wed, Jun 28, 2017 The White House has repeatedly requested that China exert more economic and diplomatic pressure on Kim Jong-un’s regime and the US President is thought to be looking at a range of options, including tariffs on steel imports from Beijing. One US official said: “What's guiding...

North Korea's Berlin hostel targeted by German sanctions German authorities plan to terminate a North Korean business in the heart of Berlin - a big hostel next to the communist state's embassy. The move is in line with UN sanctions aimed at curbing Pyongyang's nuclear weapons capability. German media say City Hostel Berlin is run by a Turkish hotelier who pays more than €38,000 (£32,000; $41,000) a month in rent to North Korea. The embassy also derives income from a conference hall at the site. North Korea has conducted several nuclear tests and launched missiles, provoking fears that it could...

U.S. may begin to monitor Russia’s eastern ports over North Korean sanctions The administration of the White House plans to undertake special monitoring of several Russian ports in Primorsky Krai in light of the implementation of sanctions against North Korea. Such a provision is included in a bill adopted Thursday by the U.S. Congressional House of Representatives. If the law is passed, the U.S. president will be obliged to provide congressmen with a full report annually, for a period of five years, on the ports and airports involved in the violation of sanctions against North Korea by any countries. In...

China must be ready for worsened NK ties Source:Global Times Published: 2017/4/27 23:33:41 That China strictly implements the UN Security Council resolutions that sanction North Korea is seen by all. If Pyongyang continues with its nuclear and missile tests, China is bound to support more harsh resolutions on this country. The relationship between China and North Korea has already been severely affected. Since Kim Jong-un became the leader of North Korea, there have been no leadership meetings between the two sides. Although they maintain smooth diplomatic communication, strategic mutual trust between the two is scarce. As the situation in the...

NKorea warns China of sanction consequences Published: 6:36 pm, Saturday, 22 April 2017 North Korea has seemingly made a thinly veiled warning to China of catastrophic consequences to their bilateral relations, as it asked its historic ally not to step up sanctions. The warning on Saturday came in a commentary titled "Are you good at dancing to the tune of others", released by the state-owned KCNA news agency. While the commentary did not mention China by name, Pyongyang expressed its criticism of "a country around the DPRK", using the acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of...

Uplifting and patriotic ads are a staple of the Super Bowl, so last night the astonishing cynicism of that 84 Lumber ad really stood out. “Come on, illegal immigrants: Risk your lives, drag yourself across the harshest terrain and endure the most agonizing hardships. We need the cheap labor!” In the 90-second spot for the construction-materials company, a Latino mother and daughter who are apparently sneaking across the southern border of the U.S. rise in the dark, walk along a barbed-wire fence, clamber aboard the boxcar of a moving train and wade across a river. In the full-length, six-minute version,...

BDS Flounders Amid String of Humiliating Defeats How anti-BDS legislation has neutered the group and hampered its ability to function. May 31, 2016 Ari Lieberman    It’s been a really bad month for the anti-Semitic BDS movement, a strange alliance of radical leftists and Islamists who advocate the destruction of Israel through economic and cultural boycotts.  The hate group suffered a number of major setbacks in recent weeks. Some of these reversals represent mere moral victories but others have far reaching consequences that may well spell doom for BDS’s future operations and ability to function.  In May, the Strasbourg-based...

Japan aims for investment pact with Iran "as soon as possible" TOKYO, Sept 4 Japan will begin negotiations with Iran on a bilateral investment pact next week, Japan said on Friday, and aims for agreement as soon as possible to allow Japanese companies to rebuild a presence in the oil-rich country. Iran reached a landmark pact in July with the United States, Germany, France, Russia, China and Britain on limiting it nuclear programme to ensure it is not put to making bombs in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Since then, international delegations have been flocking to Teheran seeking...

Israel denounced Saturday a possible decision to lift sanctions on Iran if a nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers is reached. “As soon as sanctions will be lifted, tens or hundreds of billions of dollars are going to fuel the Iranian economy,” a statement released by the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu read, according to Agence France Presse. “There will be no possibility to go back,” the statement added. “The Iranian terror machine that is active in the entire world will become stronger.” World powers and Tehran are in the midst of negotiations to finalize a deal...

Russia’s ban on many western food products presents a massive opportunity for meat and grain exports from Brazil and a smaller one for its Latin American neighbors. Around 90 new meat plants in Brazil were immediately approved to export beef, chicken and pork to Russia and the South American nation is already working to increase its exports of corn and soybeans sales to Russian buyers, Brazil’s secretary of agricultural policy, Seneri Paludo, said on Thursday. Brazil’s enthusiasm for Russia comes after President Vladimir Putin ordered retaliation for sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine crisis. “Russia has huge potential as a...

Putin is set to respond to Obama's sanctions of Russian officials with his own list. Several U.S. Senators and officials will be banned from visiting Russia, including Sen. Dick Durbin. U.S. senators, congressmen and top Obama administration officials are sure to be on Vladimir Putin’s sanctions list; a response to the Obama Administration’s announcement on Monday that 7 Russian officials and 4 Ukrainian officials would be barred from holding assets or traveling to the United States.

The administration of US President Barack Obama reacted sharply to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s recent comment that Obama had “thrown allies like Israel under the bus” regarding Iran’s nuclear weapons program. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters that assistance “… provided to Israel by the United States has never been greater than it has been under President Obama. We have an extremely close relationship with Israel, which is appropriate given our unshakable commitment to Israel’s security.” Barack Obama an erstwhile supporter of the Zionist enterprise? Such drivel may stick with Hollywood’s glitterati, but outside of Tinseltown, the...

The threat by the Islamic regime in Iran to close down the Strait of Hormuz and of Revolutionary Guards Navy boats harassing U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf has caused President Obama to send secret messages to the regime stating his concerns over the closure of the strait and the possibility of an accidental war. Since then, Iranian officials have been revealing the contents of President Obama’s letter to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which indicates a deep desire by the U.S. president for a dialogue with the radical leaders of Iran. However, on Saturday, Iranian officials also...

Beijing snubs Geithner's appeals for cooperation on sanctions against Iran REUTERS BEIJING - China gave no hint on Jan. 11 of giving ground to U.S. demands to curb Iran's oil revenues, rejecting Washington's sanctions on Tehran as overstepping even as Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner lobbied for Beijing's support. Geithner met Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Jan. 11, before Wen's trip starting on Jan. 14 to top oil supplier Saudi Arabia, whose output could be important if China turns elsewhere for crude it would otherwise buy from Iran. "On economic growth, on financial stability around the world, on non-proliferation, we have...

Defense Minister Ehud Barak reiterated on Wednesday that a nuclear Iran would have dangerous consequences on the Middle East and the entire world. In an interview on the Charlie Rose Show on PBS, Barak said that the recent IAEA report on Iran’s nuclear program left no room for mistakes regarding Iran’s intentions. “It’s clear that they are determined to reach nuclear capability,” Barak said. “None of the series of experiments that they were running can be explained other than their pursuing a nuclear military capability. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

Animated Penguin Could Fall Victim to U.S. Sanctions The popular South Korean animated series "Pororo the Little Penguin" could fall victim to new U.S. sanctions against North Korea, Radio Free Asia reported Wednesday. The U.S. government announced a new set of sanctions against the North that bans not only imports of finished goods produced there but also products made using its technology. Eighteen of the 104 episodes of the "Pororo" series, which is hugely popular among children in South Korea, were made by North Korea-based subcontractor Samcholli General Corp. between 2002 and 2005. "U.S. imports of 'Pororo' episodes that were...

Barack Hussein Obama is conceivably the most anti-Israel president the United States has had since the State of Israel was formed, yet American Jews voted in large numbers for him. In a stunning, shameless act of naked hate and bigotry, Barack Hussein Obama will align with the Organization of the Islamic Conference at the UN to ethnically cleanse Israel of the Jewish people. This would be the first time a US President did not veto a critical resolution in what is now an interminable stream of Islamic anti-semitic resolutions introduced by an increasingly Islamicized United Nations. Anyone with even so...