While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, March 1
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FILE PHOTO: Flags of China and U.S. are displayed on a printed circuit board with semiconductor chips, in this illustration picture taken February 17, 2023. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo
REUTERS
Biden admin grilled over $30b in licences for blacklisted firms
The Biden administration approved more than US$23 billion (S$30 billion) worth of licences for companies to ship US goods and technology to blacklisted Chinese companies in the first quarter of 2022, a Republican lawmaker said on Tuesday.
The data comes amid growing pressure on the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden to further expand a broad crackdown on shipments of sensitive US technology to China from Republican lawmakers, who now control the House of Representatives.
“Overwhelmingly, (the Commerce Department) continues to grant licences that allow critical US technology to be sold to our adversaries,” Republican Representative Michael McCaul, chair of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, said at a hearing on combating the generational challenge of Chinese aggression, as he grilled US officials for allowing the licences to be approved.
“How does this align with your statement that ‘we’re doing everything within (the Commerce Department’s) power to prevent sensitive US technologies from getting in the hands of (Chinese) military, intelligence services or other parties?”
Iran can make fissile material for a bomb ‘in about 12 days’
Iran could make enough fissile for one nuclear bomb in “about 12 days,” a top US Defence Department official said on Tuesday, down from the estimated one year it would have taken while the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was in effect.
Under Secretary of Defence for Policy Colin Kahl made the comment to a House of Representatives hearing when pressed by a Republican lawmaker why the Biden administration had sought to revive the deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
US officials have repeatedly estimated Iran’s breakout time - how long it would take to acquire the fissile material for one bomb if it decided to - at weeks, but have not been as specific as Dr Kahl was.
Russia bans govt officials from using most foreign words
Russian government officials will be banned from using most foreign words when carrying out their duties, according to an amended law on the formal use of Russian that President Vladimir Putin signed on Tuesday.
Since launching the invasion of Ukraine a year ago, Mr Putin has said he wants to protect Russia from what he calls a degenerate West that he alleges is trying to destroy the country.
The amendments to the 2005 law are designed to protect and support the status of Russian, according to a text posted on the government’s website.
Man City stroll into FA Cup quarters, Leicester crash out
Phil Foden struck twice as Manchester City eased into the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 3-0 win against Bristol City, while 2021 winners Leicester suffered a shock 2-1 defeat against second-tier Blackburn on Tuesday.
Pep Guardiola’s side were never in danger of a giant-killing in the fifth round tie at Ashton Gate thanks to Foden’s brace and a late strike from Kevin De Bruyne.
City will hope for another boost on Wednesday when Premier League leaders Arsenal, two points ahead of the champions, face Everton in their game in hand.
Dior spins 1950s styles into modern looks at Paris Fashion Week
Dior designer Maria Grazia Chiuri dove into archives from the 1950s for the French fashion house’s fall women’s catwalk show, adding a modern spin to the era’s feminine mainstays.
Models strode around a hulking, fantastical set parading familiar silhouettes – neat, short-sleeved button-up shirts paired with full skirts, bustier dresses, trim cardigans and cropped jackets – in sombre colours and stylised floral prints.
Chiuri softened structured jackets and drew on fabrics woven with metal thread to give a new, creased texture to classically-cut dresses – pushing styles into a sporty direction, for daywear.
