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After US President Donald Trump and Congress failed to reach a funding deal by Wednesday's deadline, the government shutdown began. As a result, hundreds of thousands of federal employees face furloughs, and many offices will be closed. H-1B visas will also face a pause until the shutdown ends, says immigration attorney Nicole Gunara. She said that H-1B visa filings will not be processed until the Congress can agree on federal funding allocations.

Apoorva arrived in New York in 2018 on an H-1B visa, fresh from one of India’s top graduate schools and brimming with hope of building a life in the United States. She soon joined an architecture firm, eager to contribute her skills and establish roots. But her dreams were quickly dashed — because Apoorva, like many other immigrants on an H-1B, soon experienced some visa-related issues. She recalled being stuck at her minimum wage architecture job for over three years. Changing jobs on an H-1B visa is famously difficult, and often means enduring months of bureaucratic limbo and steep United...

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) are reintroducing bipartisan legislation to reform and close loopholes in the H-1B and L-1 visa programs. The H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act targets fraud and abuse in our immigration system, provides protections for American workers and visa holders and enhances transparency in the foreign worker recruitment process. Grassley and Durbin have long partnered to improve the H-1B visa system and first introduced their bipartisan legislation in 2007. Last week, the senators sent letters to 10 major U.S. employers, including Amazon, Google and Meta, scrutinizing their heavy...

Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today introduced the Visa Cap Enforcement Act. This bill restricts the ability of universities, research institutions, and non-profits to hire an unlimited number of foreign workers. “Colleges and universities shouldn’t get special treatment for bringing in woke and anti-American professors from around the world. My bill closes these loopholes that universities have abused for far too long,” said Senator Cotton. Text of the bill can be found here. The Visa Cap Enforcement Act would: Eliminate four exemptions to the H-1B visa cap, including one for foreigners who hold a master’s degree or higher from a U.S....

United States lawmakers continued tightening rules for the H-1B and L-1 worker visa programmes Monday after three senators introduced two separate pieces of legislation to target "loopholes" used by for- and non-profit employers. The top Republican and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee - Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, and Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois - tabled a bill to raise wage and hiring standards, mandate public job postings, and narrowing visa eligibility, among others. "Congress created the H-1B and L-1 visa programs as limited pathways for businesses to acquire top talent when it can't be found at home....

U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg will travel to Kyiv on July 14 for a week-long visit, he confirmed during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome. The visit comes at a critical time, as confusion surrounds the Trump administration's stance on future military aid to Ukraine. Kellogg’s trip follows reports that President Donald Trump may authorize his first new weapons package for Ukraine since taking office, potentially using NATO funding. Until now, the administration has allowed only shipments approved under former President Joe Biden, News.Az reports, citing foreign media. The situation remains tense after the Pentagon unexpectedly paused deliveries...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived on Friday in the coastal city of Wonsan, North Korea, according to RIA Novosti. The visit comes ahead of the second round of the strategic dialogue between Moscow and Pyongyang, with Lavrov scheduled to meet his North Korean counterpart, Choe Son Hui, to discuss bilateral ties. Earlier this week, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova announced the meeting would take place, adding that the first round of the dialogue took place in Moscow in January 2024.

President Trump said Friday he plans to make a “major statement” on Russia early next week — as the Senate considers legislation to force his hand on sanctions after months of threats from the commander-in-chief. “I think I’ll have a major statement to make on Russia on Monday,” Trump told NBC News in a phone interview Thursday. “You’ll be seeing things happen,” Trump told a reporter Friday morning on the White House lawn when asked about an overnight Russian drone attack that damaged a maternity hospital in Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv.

Russia has seen a huge spike in butter theft as inflation and Western sanctions send Moscow's economy into crisis. The BBC's Russia Editor, Steve Rosenberg, highlighted reports in Russian media outlining how "people are stealing butter because of high prices." He added: "Some shops have decided to sell packs of butter in security boxes to reduce theft." -snip- Meanwhile, the government newspaper in Moscow warns that interest rates could go up again despite the Russian Central Bank's already-record hike to 21%. The paper warns they could rise to 23% in December.

Florida Governor and Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis has now been tied for second place in the GOP race by Nikki Haley – but while some in the GOP establishment and corporate media are hailing her as a “rising star” and urging DeSantis donors to defect to her, both are in single digits.Donald Trump, on 59 percent, remains far ahead of his supposed rivals, who are each on just eight percent, with Haley having gained five points, and DeSantis having lost four.This gives them twice as many points as third-placed Chris Christie, but with everyone other than Trump polling so...

Check it out. United America: 2014, by Ben Maxwell, is now available on-line at both Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. Here are URLs: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/104-5043457-9654302?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=united+america%3A+2014&Go.x=12&Go.y=9 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1424152739/sr=8-1/qid=1174668532/ref=olp_product_details/002-5395432-2642427?ie=UTF8&qid=1174668532&sr=8-1&seller= http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=united+america%3A+2014&z=y&r=1&cds2Pid=9481 http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9781424152735&itm=1

Sunday, January 07, 2007 The LARK Program THE LARK PROGRAM A Lady liberal wrote a lot of letters to the White House complaining about the treatment of a captive insurgent (terrorist) being held in Guantanamo Bay. She received back the following reply: The White House1600 Pennsylvania AvenueWashington , D.C. 20016 Dear Concerned Citizen, Thank you for your recent letter roundly criticizing our treatment of the Taliban and Al Quada detainees currently being held at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba. Our administration takes these matters seriously and your opinion was heard loud and clear here in Washington .. You'll be pleased to...