WASHINGTON, July 23 (TNSrep) -- The Congressional Research Service issued the following In Focus white paper on the Dominican Republic-Central America-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (No. IF10394) on July 22, 2022, by M. Angeles Villarreal, international trade and finance specialist. Here are excerpts: * * * Overview CAFTA-DR is a free trade agreement (FTA) among the United States, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. It eliminated on a reciprocal ba  more

BRUSSELS, Belgium, July 20 -- The European Commission issued the following news release: The European Union faces the risk of further gas supply cuts from Russia, due to the Kremlin's weaponisation of gas exports, with almost half of our Member States already affected by reduced deliveries. Taking action now can reduce both the risk and the costs for Europe in case of further or full disruption, strengthening European energy resilience. The Commission is therefore proposing today a new legisl  more

WASHINGTON, July 21 -- The International Monetary Fund issued the following news release: The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Article IV consultation/1 with Germany. This also included a discussion of the findings of the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) exercise for Germany./2 The publication of the Staff Report and Financial System Stability Assessment (FSSA) bundles will be followed by publication of the FSAP Technical Notes underpinning the FS  more

WASHINGTON, July 23 -- The U.S. Department of the Treasury issued the following news release: On Thursday, July 21, Climate Counselor to U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen, John Morton, and Treasury staff concluded a visit to Pretoria, South Africa, where they met with South African officials and international partners to discuss continued progress on the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP). First announced at COP 26, the JETP supports South Africa's accelerated transition to  more

WASHINGTON, July 23 -- Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Arizona, issued the following statement on July 22, 2022: * * * "The recent executive action by President Biden is a step forward, but underwhelming. These actions aim to mitigate our current climate crisis that will help working people with its impacts, but there's significant work to be done to address the root causes of climate change. States are experiencing sweltering temperatures. Catastrophic drought, wildfires and hurricanes are intensifying  more

WASHINGTON, July 18 (TNSRep) -- The U.S. Department of the Interior's U.S. Geological Survey issued the following report entitled "Indiana and Landsat." Here are excerpts: * * * ABSTRACT Natural resources have always been a strength for Indiana. Once largely covered by forest, the State now includes a mix of forest, farmland, wetlands, and small lakes. In fact, farms and forested areas make up more than 80 percent of the land. The Ohio River forms the southern border, and the south shore of   more

WASHINGTON, July 20 (TNSRep) -- The U.S. Department of the Interior's U.S. Geological Survey issued the following report entitled "Occurrence of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances and Inorganic Analytes in Groundwater and Surface Water Used as Sources for Public Water Supply in West Virginia." Here are excerpts: * * * ABSTRACT Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are widely observed anthropogenic compounds found in water supplies worldwide and increasingly linked with adverse health e  more