Federal - Executive Branch
News releases, reports, statements and associated documents from the U.S. Executive Branch, covering all aspects of the Obama administration including cabinet departments, federal agencies, regulatory and independent agencies.
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USAID Partners With Ukrainian Railways to Support Integration Into European Rail Network
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 -- The U.S. Agency for International Development issued the following news release:
The United States, through USAID, and JSC Ukrainian Railways (UZ) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to mutually support the development of a 75-kilometer (47-mile) segment of dually gauged rail which will connect Lviv, a planned transportation hub in western Ukraine, to the Trans European Network for Transport. This partnership, which will result in $225 million in funding for this rail segment, underscores the United States' commitment to investing in alternative export routes for Ukraine's
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 -- The U.S. Agency for International Development issued the following news release:
The United States, through USAID, and JSC Ukrainian Railways (UZ) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to mutually support the development of a 75-kilometer (47-mile) segment of dually gauged rail which will connect Lviv, a planned transportation hub in western Ukraine, to the Trans European Network for Transport. This partnership, which will result in $225 million in funding for this rail segment, underscores the United States' commitment to investing in alternative export routes for Ukraine'sagricultural products, and emphasizes the critical importance of infrastructure such as rail to Ukraine's recovery.
Supported by a planned $225 million investment of USAID funding for this rail segment, the agreement underscores the United States' commitment to investing in alternative export routes for Ukraine's agricultural products, and emphasizes the critical importance of infrastructure like rail to advance Ukraine's recovery. By investing to improve land and rail border crossing points, grain export capacity could be increased by an estimated 2.5 million metric tons per year, boosting exports by up to $425 million. This project will help bolster Ukraine's connectivity to Europe, while enabling Ukraine's economic resiliency and helping to ultimately reduce its reliance on donor budget support. Ukraine's railway uses wide-gauge tracks. The European rail network, on the other hand, uses standard-gauge, narrower tracks, which requires cargo wagons to be unloaded and reloaded at border checkpoints, a process that often takes more than 5 hours per train and thereby limiting the number of trains that can pass from Ukraine into Europe each day.
This time consuming process often leads to inefficient transportation of grain and other agricultural products. USAID's technical support will enable UZ to develop this dually gauged rail segment, which will help speed up the transport of Ukraine's goods to the European Union and provide faster routes for displaced Ukrainian citizens to return home. By connecting European rail corridors to Lviv, agricultural products can be directly loaded onto narrow narrow gauge hoppers or rail cars, and fast tracked to European ports and markets.
On November 8, 2023, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Ambassador Bridget A. Brink met with UZ Chairman of the Board Yevhen Lyashchenko and Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov to discuss UZ's wartime successes and challenges, the importance of American/Ukrainian collaboration, and the importance of USAID's support in developing the Mostyska-Lviv Rail Segment.
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Original text here: https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases/dec-04-2023-usaid-partners-ukrainian-railways-support-integration-european-rail-network
Mechanics of breast cancer metastasis discovered, offering target for treatment
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 (TNSres) -- The National Science Foundation issued the following news release:
The most lethal feature of any cancer is metastasis, the spread of cancer cells throughout the body. New research, led by Penn State, reveals for the first time the mechanics behind how breast cancer cells may invade healthy tissues. The U.S. National Science Foundation-supported discovery, showing that a motor protein called dynein powers the movement of cancer cells in soft tissue models, offers new clinical targets against metastasis and has the potential to fundamentally change how cancer is treated.
"This
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 (TNSres) -- The National Science Foundation issued the following news release:
The most lethal feature of any cancer is metastasis, the spread of cancer cells throughout the body. New research, led by Penn State, reveals for the first time the mechanics behind how breast cancer cells may invade healthy tissues. The U.S. National Science Foundation-supported discovery, showing that a motor protein called dynein powers the movement of cancer cells in soft tissue models, offers new clinical targets against metastasis and has the potential to fundamentally change how cancer is treated.
"Thisdiscovery marks a paradigm shift in many ways," said Erdem Tabdanov, a pharmacologist at Penn State and a lead co-corresponding author on the study, published in the journal Advanced Science. "Until now, dynein has never been caught in the business of providing the mechanical force for cancer cell motility, which is their ability to move themselves. Now we can see that if you target dynein, you could effectively stop motility of those cells and, therefore, stop metastatic dissemination."
The researchers used live microscopy to watch the migration of breast cancer cells in two different systems modeled after the human body. The first system, a 2D network of collagen fibers, revealed how cancer cells move through an extracellular matrix that surrounds tumors and showed that dynein was key.
The second system was a 3D model developed by a team led by Amir Sheikhi, a chemical and biomedical engineer at Penn State. This system was designed to mimic soft tissue using a network of microscopic hydrogel particles or microgels linked together in tumor-like shapes. Like in the 2D model, the researchers found in the 3D model that dynein was "indispensable" in the spread or metastasis of cancer cells.
"Using these three-dimensional models that partially mimic a tumor, we discovered that if we block the dynein, the cancer cells cannot effectively move and infiltrate solid tissues," Sheikhi said. "In both models, we found that dynein is extremely important for cell locomotion, which suggests a whole new method for cancer management. Instead of killing the cancer cells with radiation or chemotherapy, we are showing how to paralyze them.
"This is great news because you don't really have to kill the cells, which is a harsh approach that targets both cancerous and healthy cells. Instead, you just must stop the cancer cells from moving."
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https://new.nsf.gov//news/mechanics-breast-cancer-metastasis-discovered
Join the Christmas Bird Count at Indiana Dunes National Park
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 -- The National Park Service Indiana Dunes National Park issued the following news release:
On December 23rd get outside and have fun helping with the Christmas Bird Count and make an important contribution to conservation. Now a long-standing program of the National Audubon Society, with 124 years of community science involvement, this count is an early-winter bird census, where thousands of volunteers across the U.S. and Canada go out over a 24-hour period to count birds.
Indiana Dunes National Park will facilitate this count in the "INDW" birding circle. Places in the national
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 -- The National Park Service Indiana Dunes National Park issued the following news release:
On December 23rd get outside and have fun helping with the Christmas Bird Count and make an important contribution to conservation. Now a long-standing program of the National Audubon Society, with 124 years of community science involvement, this count is an early-winter bird census, where thousands of volunteers across the U.S. and Canada go out over a 24-hour period to count birds.
Indiana Dunes National Park will facilitate this count in the "INDW" birding circle. Places in the nationalpark included in the circle area are Miller Woods, West Beach, Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk and Tolleston Dunes. Cities include portions of Gary, Hobart, Portage, Lake Station, Burns Harbor, Ogden Dunes and Merrillville.
For the exact count circle area, go to the Audobon's Christmas Bird Count webpage (https://www.audubon.org/conservation/science/christmas-bird-count). Volunteer birders will be assigned a location within the circle for that day, or they can do counts at their home bird feeders.
All counters must sign up beforehand to be placed on the counters list, assigned an area to count and receive the proper count forms for data collecting. Contact park ranger Christine Gerlach to register or learn more. She can be reached by email. Sign-up deadline is December 21.
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Original text here: https://www.nps.gov/indu/learn/news/christmas-bird-count-2023.htm
Federal Maritime Commission Issues Order Designating Administrative Law Judge Involving 20230930-DK-Butterfly-1 Vs. MSC Mediterranean Shipping
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 -- The Federal Maritime Commission issued the following order designating administrative law judge (Docket No. 23-12) on Dec. 4, 2023:
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20230930-DK-BUTTERFLY-1, INC., Complainant v. MSC MEDITERRANEAN SHIPPING CO. SA, Respondent.
ORDER OF: Erin M. WIRTH, Chief Administrative Law Judge.
ORDER DESIGNATING ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE
On November 28, 2023, the Commission issued a Notice of Filing of Complaint and Assignment, assigning this proceeding to the Office of Administrative Law Judges.
Pursuant to Commission Rule 25 (46 C.F.R. Sec. 502.25(d)), it is hereby ORDERED
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 -- The Federal Maritime Commission issued the following order designating administrative law judge (Docket No. 23-12) on Dec. 4, 2023:
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20230930-DK-BUTTERFLY-1, INC., Complainant v. MSC MEDITERRANEAN SHIPPING CO. SA, Respondent.
ORDER OF: Erin M. WIRTH, Chief Administrative Law Judge.
ORDER DESIGNATING ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE
On November 28, 2023, the Commission issued a Notice of Filing of Complaint and Assignment, assigning this proceeding to the Office of Administrative Law Judges.
Pursuant to Commission Rule 25 (46 C.F.R. Sec. 502.25(d)), it is hereby ORDEREDthat the Honorable Linda S. Harris Crovella will preside at such hearings and presentation of evidence as may be necessary to resolve this proceeding and to issue an initial decision or dispositive ruling.
Erin M. Wirth, Chief Administrative Law Judge
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Original text here: https://www2.fmc.gov/readingroom/docs/23-12/23-12%20Order%20Designating%20Administrative%20Law%20Judge.pdf/
FTC Sues 7-Eleven for Anticompetitive Acquisition in Violation of 2018 Consent Order
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 -- The Federal Trade Commission issued the following news release on Dec. 4, 2023:
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7-Eleven faces $77 million civil penalty for consent order violation
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The Federal Trade Commission today sued 7-Eleven, Inc. alleging the convenience store chain violated a 2018 FTC consent order by acquiring a fuel outlet in St. Petersburg, Fla. without providing the Commission prior notice.
According to the Commission's federal complaint, which also names 7-Eleven's parent company, Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd., 7-Eleven's acquisition of the St. Petersburg outlet plainly violated
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 -- The Federal Trade Commission issued the following news release on Dec. 4, 2023:
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7-Eleven faces $77 million civil penalty for consent order violation
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The Federal Trade Commission today sued 7-Eleven, Inc. alleging the convenience store chain violated a 2018 FTC consent order by acquiring a fuel outlet in St. Petersburg, Fla. without providing the Commission prior notice.
According to the Commission's federal complaint, which also names 7-Eleven's parent company, Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd., 7-Eleven's acquisition of the St. Petersburg outlet plainly violatedthe consent order, was anticompetitive, and likely allowed 7-Eleven to charge higher fuel prices at locations near the St. Petersburg location. The FTC is seeking a civil penalty for a four-year violation period, starting when 7-Eleven acquired the outlet without giving the required notice. 7-Eleven faces a maximum penalty of over $77 million.
The consent order stems from 7-Eleven's $3.3 billion acquisition of more than 1,000 retail fuel outlets with attached convenience stores from Sunoco in 2018. 7-Eleven and its parent company agreed to a consent order to settle FTC charges that its proposed acquisition would harm competition for retail gas and diesel fuel in certain local markets, resulting in consumers paying higher fuel prices. The consent order, among other conditions, prohibited 7-Eleven from acquiring Sunoco fuel outlets in many of these local markets, including in the local market surrounding the St. Petersburg location in the Tampa, Fla. metropolitan area, and required 7-Eleven to provide the FTC with notice before acquiring any interest in specific third-party retail fuel outlets in certain local markets for a period of 10 years.
According to the complaint, 7-Eleven's acquisition of the St. Petersburg outlet was an undisputed violation of the 2018 consent order since this location was specifically listed as an outlet that could not be acquired without first providing prior notice to the FTC. 7-Eleven submitted false compliance reports to the FTC related to this acquisition. The FTC is seeking civil penalties for 7-Eleven's violation of the Commission's consent order to protect the public interest and deter 7-Eleven, a serial acquirer of retail fuel outlets across the United States, and others from flouting future consent orders, the FTC's complaint states.
The Commission vote authorizing staff to file a complaint and seek civil penalties was 3-0. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
NOTE: The Commission files a complaint when it has "reason to believe" that the named defendants are violating or are about to violate the law, or a Commission order, and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest.
The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition, and protect and educate consumers. You can learn more about how competition benefits consumers or file an antitrust complaint.
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Original text here: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/12/ftc-sues-7-eleven-anticompetitive-acquisition-violation-2018-consent-order
DOD: Austin Praises U.S.-Romania Defense Ties
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 -- The U.S. Department of Defense issued the following news:
By Joseph Clark, DOD News
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III underscored the importance of the U.S.-Romania defense relationship today as he met with Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and Defense Minister Angel Tilvar.
The two countries' strategic partnership has continued to strengthen amid Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Austin said, adding that Romania has been a key ally among the international coalition united in defense of its neighbor.
"After 26 years, that partnership that has never
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 -- The U.S. Department of Defense issued the following news:
By Joseph Clark, DOD News
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III underscored the importance of the U.S.-Romania defense relationship today as he met with Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and Defense Minister Angel Tilvar.
The two countries' strategic partnership has continued to strengthen amid Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Austin said, adding that Romania has been a key ally among the international coalition united in defense of its neighbor.
"After 26 years, that partnership that has neverbeen stronger or mattered more, especially in the wake of Russia's cruel and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine," the secretary said.
"Romania has been a strong defender of Ukraine, including [making] robust donations of military aid and their vital participation in the Ukrainian defense contract," he said. "We're especially grateful to the Romanian people for welcoming more than 5 million Ukrainian refugees and providing critical humanitarian assistance."
Spotlight: Support for Ukraine (https://www.defense.gov/Spotlights/Support-for-Ukraine/)
Austin also highlighted Romania's role in hosting the European F-16 Fighting Falcon training center, which he said will enhance critical capabilities among NATA allies.
"We're also grateful to you for hosting an increased U.S. and allied presence," he said. "That's bolstering deterrence along NATO's eastern flank."
Romania hosts more than 3,000 U.S. and allied forces.
Additionally, he said Romania's leadership in the Black Sea has been crucial in the face of repeated Russian drone attacks against Ukrainian grain infrastructure.
As the three leaders met in the Pentagon, Austin previewed further discussions on Russia's war in Ukraine, security in the Black Sea and the broader region, and Romania's investments in its defense modernization.
Austin praised Romania for its continued commitment to spending 2% of its gross domestic product on defense and its investments in NATO interoperable military equipment, according to a summary of the discussion.
The meeting comes on the heels of last month's meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, where Austin underscored the group's unwavering commitment to assisting Ukraine.
Collectively, the more than 50 countries that comprise the group have committed more than $80 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia launched its unprovoked invasion. Convening the latest meeting, Austin said the group will remain steadfast in its support.
Ahead of today's meeting, Ciolacu pledged that Romania would continue to stand in support of its neighbor for "as long as it takes until Ukraine achieves victory."
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Original text here: https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3606003/austin-praises-us-romania-defense-ties/
Bureau of Land Management to begin the FY2024 Nevada Wild Horse Range Herd Management Area Wild Horse Gather
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 -- The U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management issued the following news release:
LAS VEGAS - On or about Dec. 8, 2023, the Bureau of Land Management plans to begin a wild horse gather on the Nevada Wild Horse Range Herd Management Area located about 30 miles southeast of Tonopah, Nev., using the helicopter-assisted method.
The Nevada Wild Horse Range Herd Management Area encompasses over 1.3 million acres of public lands and lies entirely inside the Nevada Test and Training Range. The Herd Management Area has an Appropriate Management Level of 300-500 wild
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 -- The U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management issued the following news release:
LAS VEGAS - On or about Dec. 8, 2023, the Bureau of Land Management plans to begin a wild horse gather on the Nevada Wild Horse Range Herd Management Area located about 30 miles southeast of Tonopah, Nev., using the helicopter-assisted method.
The Nevada Wild Horse Range Herd Management Area encompasses over 1.3 million acres of public lands and lies entirely inside the Nevada Test and Training Range. The Herd Management Area has an Appropriate Management Level of 300-500 wildhorses. Based on the March 2023 population stats, 438 wild horses are estimated to be within the management area.
The BLM plans to gather approximately 350 wild horses, remove approximately 138 excess wild horses, treat up to 106 mares with GonaCon Equine, a population suppression fertility control vaccine, and release approximately 212 wild horses.
The purpose of the gather is to prevent wild horse numbers from exceeding high-end Appropriate Management Level and to restore a thriving natural ecological balance and multiple-use relationship on public lands, consistent with the provisions of Section 1333(b) of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The action is also necessary to reapply fertility control to mares within the HMA to help reduce the overall population growth of wild horses in the management area.
"This gather will allow us to manage wild horses on the Nevada Wild Horse Range at an appropriate management level for the area," said Nicholas Pay, Pahrump Field Manager. "As always, the BLM is committed to conducting safe and humane gather operations as we work to bring herd size more in line with what the resources of the area can support."
The BLM's priority is to conduct safe, efficient, and successful wild horse and burro gather operations while ensuring humane care and treatment of all animals gathered. The BLM and its contractors are committed to using the best available science and handling practices for wild horses and burros while meeting overall gather goals and objectives in accordance with the Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program.
All animals identified for removal will be transported to the Ridgecrest Regional Wild Horse and Burro Corrals in Ridgecrest, Calif. Upon arrival to the facility, all animals will be checked by a veterinarian and readied for the BLM's wild horse and burro Adoption and Sales Program.
The Nevada Wild Horse Range is entirely inside the Nevada Test and Training Range; therefore, only essential gather operations personnel will be allowed at the trap site during gather operations.
The BLM is conducting the gather under DOI-BLM-NV-S030-2020-0003-EA Nevada Wild Horse Range HMA Wild Horse Gather Plan signed in November of 2020. Access to the Decision Record is available at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/1504061/510.
Gather reports and additional information will be posted on the BLM website at https://www.blm.gov/programs/wild-horse-and-burro/herd-management/gathers-and-removals/nevada-southern-nevada-do. For technical information, contact Tabitha Romero, Wild Horse and Burro Specialist at tromero@blm.gov.
For information on how to adopt or purchase a wild horse or burro, visit http://www.blm.gov/whb.
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Original text here: https://www.blm.gov/press-release/bureau-land-management-begin-fy2024-nevada-wild-horse-range-herd-management-area-wild
