Boeing's win in Airbus trade dispute paves way for more US tariffs

Boeing Co. claimed a victory Tuesday in a long-running dispute with its biggest rival, Airbus, over claims that the planemakers' respective governments have provided subsidies banned under international trade agreements.

An appeals panel of the World Trade Organization, which mediates such arguments, ruled that members of the European Union have provided more than $22 billion in support for the planemaker, enabling it to produce the super-jumbo A380 model far more quickly than would have been possible otherwise, a decision that Boeing said paves the way for the U.S. to request punitive tariffs on European imports.

"Today's final ruling sends a clear message: Disregard for the rules and illegal subsidies is not tolerated," said Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg. "The commercial success of products and services should be driven by their merits and not by market-distorting actions."

Airbus also characterized the WTO ruling as a win, since the panel determined that its narrow-body A320 and twin-aisle A330 programs were in compliance and modifications were needed only for the carbon-fiber A350 and the even-larger A380.

The U.S. initially brought its claim against the European Union in 2004, after years of trying to convince Germany, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom to halt subsidies that gave Airbus what Washington considered an unfair edge, according to the U.S. Trade Representative's Office. Europe retaliated by contesting what it said were even larger U.S. subsidies for Boeing.

In a 2011 ruling on the U.S. claims, the WTO found that Europe had provided about $18 billion in subsidized financing from 1968 through 2006, helping Airbus bring every one of its commercial planes to market and costing Boeing sales of 300 aircraft, the trade representative said.

Europe subsequently stopped two comparatively small subsidies while leaving most of its aid initiatives unchanged and adding another $5 billion in "launch aid" financing for Airbus's then new and more fuel-efficient A350, the agency said. The trade bloc claimed, however, to have removed the $18 billion in subsidized financing altogether.

The U.S. disagreed, and a WTO compliance panel backed the country up, determining that only two of the 36 steps the region claimed to have taken were even "actions."

“This report confirms once and for all that the EU has long ignored WTO rules, and even worse, EU aircraft subsidies have cost American aerospace companies tens of billions of dollars in lost revenue," Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement. "It is long past time for the EU to end these subsidies. Unless the EU finally takes action to stop breaking the rules and harming U.S. interests, the United States will have to move forward with countermeasures."

Boeing said the authorized tariffs might begin as soon as 2019 and amount to billions per year.

A separate appeal by the U.S. of a ruling on Europe's complaint has yet to be decided, with Airbus and Boeing each convinced that the determination will be in its favor. Airbus argues Boeing received $5 billion in benefits from a tax break on the composite plastic 787 jetliner in Washington state, where the bulk of its manufacturing operations are located, and another $8.7 billion for its upgrade of the twin-aisle 777.

"Airbus pays back its loans," CEO Tom Enders said. "Boeing pays back nothing and continues to exploit the generosity of the U.S. taxpayer. Despite Boeing’s rhetoric, it is clear that their position today is straightforward healthy: They have half the market and a full order book. They have clearly not been damaged by Airbus repayable loans.”

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/business/boeings-win-in-airbus-trade-dispute-paves-way-for-more-u-s-tariffs

DC judge denies motion to dismiss Paul Manafort charges

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson has denied former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's motion to dismiss criminal charges against him brought by special counsel Robert Mueller in Washington.

“The indictment falls squarely within that portion of the authority granted to the Special Counsel that Manafort finds unobjectionable,” Berman Jackson wrote Tuesday afternoon.

She added that it is “logical and appropriate” for investigators looking at coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign to look at him.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/dc-judge-denies-motion-to-dismiss-paul-manafort-charges

Taxpayer-Funded Childcare Fraud Scheme Appears to Fund Terrorists

Millions of taxpayer dollars appear to be going to support terrorists in the Middle East and Africa by using childcare centers as fronts, according to an investigation in Minnesota.

Local Fox affiliate Fox 9 KMSP tracked the flow of the money and found it was going to parts of the world that raised serious red flags.

The investigation revealed suitcases with millions of dollars, an estimated $100 million in 2017 alone, have been taken through Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport and to destinations in the Middle East and Africa, including parts of Somalia controlled by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group al-Shabaab.

The funds have originally come from daycare centers that receive funding from the government for child care benefits. However, the daycare centers in many cases are not actually watching children, with video footage from outside one center showing a mother taking children in, only to leave minutes later. The center billed the government as though the children were there all day. Another video appears to show a payment from a man to a mother as a cut for her assistance with the scheme.

The money appears to be moved by "hawalas," people who carry out the transfer of money to people from the United States to places where there is no formal banking system. After the money is brought out of the country, it is often brought to relatives. Glen Kerns, a retired Seattle Police detective and former member of the FBI’s joint terrorism task force, said at least some of the money is going to al-Shabaab and other terrorist groups.

"I talked to a couple of sources who had lived in that region and I said, ‘If money is going to this Hawala do you think it is going to al-Shabaab?'" Kerns said. "And he said, ‘Oh definitely, that area is controlled by al-Shabaab, and they control the Hawala there.’"

A number of daycare centers in Minnesota are currently under investigation or being considered suspicious. In previous daycare fraud schemes in Minnesota, funds used to be transferred out of the United States electronically, but authorities cracked down on the practice.

Money may legally be carried out of the country in luggage, but it must be declared on government forms.

In response to the Fox 9 investigation, the Minnesota State Senate scheduled a hearing to take up the matter Tuesday.

http:// freebeacon.com/national-security/taxpayer-funded-childcare-fraud-scheme-appears-fund-terrorists-middle-east-africa/

>>1423425

The corruption is just endless, nothing left un touched by them.

Iranian Ayatollah: ‘We Will Turn Tel Aviv And Haifa To Rubble’

A leading Iranian ayatollah vowed in weekly prayer service in Tehran that the Islamic Republic "will turn Tel Aviv and Haifa to rubble," according to a translation of his remarks.

Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a member of the Iranian Assembly of Experts, which answers to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said that Iran is "strengthening its missile power on a daily basis" and is on the verge of turning "Tel Aviv and Haifa to rubble," according to a translation of his remarks by the Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI, a regional monitoring organization.

Khatami also took aim at President Donald Trump, saying the Iranian people are "more unified and stronger than ever" in their commitment to the slogan, "Death to America."

U.S. allies such as Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia will become "America's cannon fodder," Khatami claimed.

"The Islamic Republic is strengthening its missile power on a daily basis, so that Israel, that plundering regime, will not be able to sleep, and nightmares will constantly be present before its eyes. If Israel makes a mistake, we will turn Tel Aviv and Haifa to rubble," the ayatollah said.

"Mr. Trump! A few days ago, you said that the ‘Death to America' [slogan] was fading in Iran," Khatami said. "This is Tehran, the heart of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the people here, more unified and stronger than ever, say: ‘Death to America!'"

In response to these remarks, a crowd of Iranian chanted in unison, "Death to America!"

http:// freebeacon.com/national-security/iranian-ayatollah-will-turn-tel-aviv-haifa-rubble/