FED TOUTS ECONOMIC RECOVERY, VOWS TO KEEP INTEREST RATES LOW

The Federal Reserve kept its pledge to keep interest rates anchored near

zero and promised to keep rates there until inflation rises consistently.

As the central bank concluded its two-day policy meeting Wednesday, it said

short-term rates would remain targeted at 0%-0.25%. Officials also changed

their economic forecasts to reflect a smaller decline in GDP and a lower

unemployment rate in 2020.

Projections from individual members also indicated that rates could stay

anchored near zero through 2023. All but four members indicated they see

zero rates through then. This was the first time the committee forecast its

outlook for 2023.

In addition, officials addressed a new policy regime in which the Fed will

allow inflation to run somewhat above the 2% target rate before hiking rates

to control inflation.

"These changes clarify our strong commitment over a longer time horizon,"

Chairman Jerome Powell said at his post-meeting news conference.

The policymaking Federal Open Market Committee adopted specific language to

emphasize the inflation goal.

"With inflation running persistently below this longer run goal, the

Committee will aim to achieve inflation moderately above 2 percent for some

time so that inflation averages 2 percent over time and longer-term

inflation expectations remain well anchored at 2 percent. The Committee

expects to maintain an accommodative stance of monetary policy until these

outcomes are achieved," the post-meeting statement said.

The committee added that "it will be appropriate to maintain this target

range until labor market conditions have reached levels consistent with the

Committee's assessments of maximum employment and inflation has risen to 2

percent and is on track to moderately exceed 2 percent for some time."

AFTER SENATE DEFEATS, PAK GOVT PASSES ALL FATF-LINKED BILLS VIA JOINT

SESSION

Hours after being rejected by the Senate, Pakistan's parliament in a joint

sitting on Wednesday bulldozed three Financial Action Task Force-related

laws in an attempt to avoid being added to the task force's blacklist.

In the joint session, marred by opposition protests, the bills were passed

with a thin majority of 10 votes, with 200 lawmakers voting in its support

and 190 opposition legislators opposing the legislation.

The three bills passed with amendments were the Islamabad Capital Territory

Waqf Properties Bill, 2020; Anti-Money Laundering (Second Amendment) Bill;

and the Anti-Terrorism Act (Amendment) Bill, 2020.

Being passed thrice by the National Assembly in the past, these bills were

blocked three times by the opposition-dominated Upper House, prompting

President Arif Alvi to summon a joint session of parliament to make crucial

legislation.

Before the bills were passed in parliament's joint sitting, the Senate had

rejected the FATF-related anti-money laundering legislation, objecting to

some of its provisions.

According to the Anti-Terrorism Act(Amendment) Bill, 2020, the one

specifically aimed at addressing FATF's 27-point action plan given to

Islamabad last year, the investigating officer, with the permission of the

court, can conduct covert operations to detect terrorism funding and track

communications and computer systems by applying the latest technologies in

60 days.

YOSHIHIDE SUGA NAMED JAPAN'S PRIME MINISTER, SUCCEEDING ABE

Japan's Yoshihide Suga was voted prime minister by parliament's lower house

on Wednesday, becoming the country's first new leader in nearly eight years,

as he readied a "continuity cabinet" expected to keep about half of

predecessor Shinzo Abe's line-up.

Suga won 314 votes out of 462 cast by parliament's lower house members. The

chamber takes precedence in electing a premier over the upper house, which

was also expected to pick Suga because of a ruling bloc majority.

Suga, who won a ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership race by a

landslide on Monday, faces a plethora of challenges, including tackling

COVID-19 while reviving a battered economy and dealing with a rapidly aging

society.

Domestic media said that roughly half of the new cabinet would be people

from the Abe cabinet. There will be only two women and the average age,

including Suga, is 60.

Among those expected to retain their jobs are key players such as Finance

Minister Taro Aso and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, along with

Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto and Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi,

the youngest at 39.

US TARIFFS ON CHINA RULED TO BE ILLEGAL BY WORLD TRADE BODY

A World Trade Organization panel ruled Tuesday that Trump administration

tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods are illegal, vindicating

Beijing even if the United States has all but incapacitated the WTO's

ability to hand down a final, binding verdict.

The decision marks the first time that the Geneva-based trade body has ruled

against a series of high-profile tariffs that President Donald Trump's

government has imposed on a number of countries - allies and rivals alike.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that the WTO treats the U.S. unfairly.

The ruling, in theory, would allow China to impose retaliatory tariffs on

billions' worth of U.S. goods. But it is unlikely to have much practical

impact, at least in the short term, because the U.S. can appeal the decision

and the WTO's appeals court is currently no longer functioning - largely

because of Washington's single-handed refusal to accept new members for it.

The appeals court issues final rulings in trade cases and stopped

functioning last year when the terms of two of its last three judges expired

with no replacements. That means the United States can appeal the decision

"into the void,'' said Timothy Keeler, a lawyer at Mayer Brown and former

chief of staff for the U.S. Trade Representative.

"This panel report confirms what the Trump administration has been saying

for four years: The WTO is completely inadequate to stop China's harmful

technology practices," said U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer in a

statement. He said the U.S. had presented "extensive evidence" of China's

intellectual property theft and the WTO has offered no fixes for it.

"The United States must be allowed to defend itself against unfair trade

practices, and the Trump administration will not let China use the WTO to

take advantage of American workers, businesses, farmers, and ranchers," he

added.

The Chinese ministry of commerce said the ruling was "objective and fair"

and called on the U.S. to respect it.

HAFIZ AIDES INDICTED FOR FUNDING TERROR

An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan on Wednesday indicted four top leaders

of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), including the brother-in-law of Mumbai

attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, in four more cases of financing terror.

"Terror-financing charges were framed on Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki

(brother-in-law of Saeed), Yahya Mujahid (JuD spokesperson), Zafar Iqbal and

Muhammad Ashraf in four more cases," a court official said after the

hearing. The suspects were brought to the ATC-III amid high security from

the Kot Lakhpat Jail. The official said judge Ijaz Ahmad Buttar directed the

prosecution to present witnesses on next hearing on Thursday.

Last month, the Lahore ATC handed down over 16 years of imprisonment to

Zafar Iqbal and Hafiz Abdus Salam and one-and-a-half-year sentence to Makki

in another terror financing case. In February, Saeed was sentenced to a jail

term of 11 years for terror financing.

UNSC MEMBERSHIP, WORKING METHODS MUST REFLECT 21ST CENTURY'S REALITIES: UNGA

PRESIDENT

UN Security Council's membership and its working methods must reflect the

realities of the 21st century and reform of the 15-nation body is very

important for the United Nations, according to the new President of the 75th

session of the General Assembly.

Volkan Bozkir, who assumed charge as General Assembly President on Tuesday,

told reporters that the Security Council reform is very important, not only

for the member states but also to the United Nations as a whole.

"Of course, it is a complex challenge that is closely linked to one of the

main pillars of the organisation - peace and security. There is no doubt

that the membership of the Security Council as well as its working methods

must reflect the realities of the 21st century. This process is an

inter-governmental one and thereby member states-driven," the Turkish

diplomat and politician said.

India will sit in the UN Security Council as an elected non-permanent member

for a two-year term beginning January 1, 2021.

MIKE POMPEO INSISTS UNITED STATES TO ENFORCE 'UN' SANCTIONS ON IRAN

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted Wednesday the United States will

enforce new 'UN' sanctions on Iran starting next week, despite overwhelming

consensus that Washington is out of bounds.

"The United States will do what it always does. It will do its share as part

of its responsibilities to enable peace, this time in the Middle East,"

Pompeo told a joint news conference with British Foreign Secretary Dominic

Raab.

"We'll do all the things we need to do to make sure that those sanctions are

enforced," he said.

Pompeo last month headed to the United Nations to announce the "snapback" of

sanctions under a 2015 Security Council resolution after failing to extend

an embargo on conventional arms sales to Iran.

The resolution allows any participant in a nuclear accord with Iran

negotiated under former president Barack Obama to reimpose sanctions, which

would take effect one month afterward.

President Donald Trump pulled out of the accord, which he has repeatedly

denounced, but Pompeo argues that the United States remains a "participant"

as it was listed in the 2015 resolution.

The sanctions are authorized by a "valid UN Security Council resolution,"

Pompeo said.

ASTRAZENECA'S COVID-19 VACCINE TRIAL IN US REMAINS ON HOLD PENDING FDA

REVIEW

AstraZeneca Plc's Covid-19 vaccine study remains paused in the US pending a

regulatory review of an incident in which a UK participant became ill,

federal officials said.

The British drugmaker and its partner, the University of Oxford, put

research into the shot on hold last week after the volunteer suffered

neurological symptoms. Trials resumed in the UK over the weekend, while

researchers in South Africa also restarted tests, saying that an independent

safety committee concluded that the event was unlikely to be related to the

vaccination.

Temporary pauses in clinical trials aren't unusual. However, the reported

event has heightened worry that the global campaign to find a Covid-19

vaccine is moving too quickly. AstraZeneca is among several drugmakers who

have agreed to work with and supply shots to Operation Warp Speed, the Trump

administration's effort to expedite the development of an inoculation.

Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, told CNN it's probably

just a matter of time before they restart in the US Moncef Slaoui, who is

leading the Warp Speed initiative, said the trial would resume when

independent safety monitors and the Food and Drug Administration determine

it's safe.

"This pause while the adverse event is fully investigated means the

science-based, data-driven process is working as it should," he said in a

statement.

SATELLITES SHOW SMOKE FROM US WILDFIRES REACHES EUROPE

Satellite images show that smoke from wildfires in the western United States

has reached as far as Europe, scientists said Wednesday.

Data collected by the European Union's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring

Service found smoke from the fires had traveled 8,000 kilometers (almost

5,000 miles) through the atmosphere to Britain and other parts of northern

Europe.

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which operates some

of the Copernicus satellite monitoring systems, said the fires in

California, Oregon and Washington state have emitted an estimated 30.3

million metric tonnes (33.4 million tons) of carbon.

"The scale and magnitude of these fires are at a level much higher than in

any of the 18 years that our monitoring data covers, since 2003," Mark

Parrington, a senior scientist and wildfire expert at Copernicus Atmosphere

Monitoring Service, said.

Parrington said the smoke thickness from the fires, known as aerosol optical

depth or AOD, was immense, according to satellite measurements.

"We have seen that AOD levels have reached very high values of seven or

above, which has been confirmed by independent ground-based measurement," he

said. "To put this into perspective, an AOD of one would already indicate a

lot of aerosols in the atmosphere."

UK PARLIAMENT TO PROBE CHINA'S UIGHUR DETENTION CAMPS IN XINJIANG

Britain has launched a new parliamentary enquiry into detention camps in

China's Xinjiang province, where Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minority

groups have been reportedly incarcerated.

Rights groups say that crimes against humanity and genocide are taking place

against Uighurs in the remote region, where more than 1 million people are

held in camps, which China describes as 're-education centres', and

allegedly used for forced labour.

The inquiry announced by the influential Foreign Affairs Committee of the

House of Commons on Wednesday will examine the ways in which the UK

government can prevent British companies from benefiting from forced labour

in Xinjiang, support the Uighur diaspora and strengthen the atrocity

prevention mechanisms of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

The committee would also examine what mechanisms the government can use to

discourage private sector companies from contributing to human rights

abuses.

NEPAL WAKES UP TO 6.0 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE, NO DAMAGE REPORTED

An earthquake of magnitude 6.0 on the Richter scale jolted central Nepal on

Wednesday morning. The epicentre of the tremor has been recorded at Ramche

of Sindhupalchok district which has already been ravaged by flood and

landslide and earthquake of 2015.

"An earthquake of magnitude 6.0 occurred around Ramche of Sindhupalchok

district at 5:19 am," the National Seismological Centre tweeted minutes

after the tremors.

The tremors were felt in the most eastern part of the country as well. "It

is a continued aftershock of 2015's earthquake," Chief Seismologist of NSC

Lok Bijay Adhikari confirmed to ANI over the phone.

No damages have been reported yet from the epicentre of the earthquake.

HURRICANE SALLY: HALF A MILLION LEFT WITHOUT POWER AMID STORM

Tropical Storm Sally has left more than half a million Americans without

power as its torrential rains and storm surges lashed the US Gulf coast.

Winds slowed after Sally made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane on

Wednesday, but the storm continues to batter the US states of Florida and

Alabama as it moves at a glacial pace over the area.

Flooding has caused major damage.

Pensacola, in Florida, was badly hit, with a loose barge bringing down part

of the Bay Bridge.

The storm has brought "four months of rain in four hours" to the city,

Pensacola fire chief Ginny Cranor told CNN.

Sally made landfall at Gulf Shores, Alabama, at 04:45 local time on

Wednesday, with maximum wind speeds of 105mph (169 km/h).

The latest speeds are put at about 60mph, but it has been the torrents of

rainfall and high storm surges that have caused most damage.

As the storm moved north from the coast, some 550,000 residents in affected

areas were left in the dark on Wednesday night, according to local reports.

Sally is one of several storms in the Atlantic Ocean, with officials running

out of letters to name the hurricanes as they near the end of their annual

alphabetic list.