USA ESTA Travel Pass News

A US State Department official has announced plans to close the Afghan embassy in the US next week.

25 diplomats representing the Afghan state in Washington have been directed to apply for a new visa to stay within the United States following the announcement of the embassy closure.
The U.S. diplomacy is working with them will facilitate an orderly operational closure from next week “to protect and preserve all assets of U.S. diplomatic missions until operations resume,” the senior official said. said on condition of anonymity.

The Taliban were not recognized by the international community and did not regain significant control over the diplomatic envoys of previous governments.

“We do not currently intend to recognize Taliban-appointed diplomats,” the US State Department source said. He states that there were no negotiations with the Taliban to close the embassy.
Earlier this year the Afghan ambassador to Beijing announced their resignation after months without funding from Kabul.

With air travellers returning, there are plenty of people who have earned more airline and credit card rewards program points than usual. And they have begun to started using them again. The Unite Airlines’ Mileage Plus program has set and broken multiple records in the past couple of weeks with customers cashing in their miles, said Michael Covey, the program’s head. “Demand is breaking records in an unprecedented way,” he said. The following are factors that are now becoming a good time to use points.

All Flights booked with the major airlines using points are fully refundable. If a traveller cancels their trip, they can get their points and other expenses back without loss or penalty. Tickets purchased with cash or credit card are usually treated as future credit rather than supplied a refund and there could also be fees be fees involved.
The difference between credit and refund becomes even greater the more expensive the family trip is. Some travellers are still anxious about overseas travel. That’s why using points to book international travel offers even more peace of mind, says Jamie LaLunis, who runs a website called Forward Cabin.

The biggest reason for using points now is that purchasing power may decrease in the future, LaLunis pointed out. Airline and hotel points are the currency owned by companies, so these companies can assign value to their liking by changing the cost of use. Aviation industry expert Helaine Becker points out that airlines have devalued points several times over the past few years and will continue to do so in the future.

Alaska Airlines has recently significantly increased the points required for some first-class seat reservations. Hyatt Hotels also increased their accommodation points through the recently launched off-season rate program. “Businesses know that people are accumulating huge points and demand for travel will skyrocket,” LaLunis said.
Airlines encourage customers to use points. Delta has stated that all purchases made by the end of this year will be counted toward raising customers’ loyalty program tiers. Previously, this was only done for cash purchase tickets. United is also joining “money plus miles,” which allows customers to purchase tickets using both cash and miles. This allows you to purchase tickets by adding cash to your miles without having to wait until you have enough miles to accumulate.

Travel has become less burdensome than before as many countries have eliminated coronavirus testing for vaccinated people. London, America’s most popular travel destination, repealed its mandatory testing on February 11. Thailand, Vietnam and Australia are also opening their doors to travellers. Allison Carpentier, customer loyalty manager for Alaska Airlines, said: “With international travel returning, redemption of tickets that can be purchased with points is very good.”

When the state of Hawaii announced plans to lift the mandatory indoor mask on the 8th, all 50 states in the United States have either eliminated or decided to abolish the mandatory mask rule.
Hawaii Governor David Igei said at a news briefing today that the mandatory wearing of masks will no longer take effect, the New York Times reported.

Hawaii is the last U.S. state to lift the mask mandate requirement.

“We have reduced the number of coronavirus infections (COVID-19) to a level where most people can be safely indoors without a mask,” Governor Igai said.
However, masks must still be worn indoors. The Hawaii State Department of Education lifted the mandatory wearing of masks outside schools on the same day but excluded them indoors.
Hawaii state health officials have also decided to repeal the compulsory requirement but recommend wearing a mask when indoors with crowds or with people with compromised immune systems.
It was also recommended to wear a mask in medical facilities/hospitals, schools and prisons.

In the United States, there is a movement to return to normal life before the pandemic (global pandemic of infectious diseases) after the spread of COVID-19 caused by omicron mutation has slowed significantly.

However, the use of masks in schools differs from region to region.

New York, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, and Dallas have either lifted or decided to lift the mandatory school mask, but are still in effect in Los Angeles (LA), Washington DC, Boston and Seattle.

Starting April 1, when applying for an application form (I-129) for a professional work visa (H-1B), the fee for supporting documents is paid by a separate check.

The United States Immigration Services (USCIS) currently reviews each fee separately when an H-1B applicant files separate applications, such as an application to change immigration status (I-539) or an application for a work permit (I-765) during however On the 25th, it was announced that from April 1st you would have to pay a separate check for all of them separately.

Since USCIS is introducing an electronic processing system for all immigration benefits applications, USCIS explained the background is that if the fee for each application is added up and submitted as one check, processing becomes impossible.

Separate announcements have been made by Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean International, and Norwegian Cruise Line this week of their plans to remove mask mandates for passengers and staff traveling on board. These plans will come into action within the coming weeks.
Royal Caribbean announced their plans to remove the requirement of indoor masks for passengers who are fully vaccinated as of Friday. The announcement comes after Carnival Cruise Line’s introduced their new policy, which eliminates the need for face masks at most venues, going into effect on March 1st.
Oceania Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Regent Seven Seas Cruises have also made an announcement that they have joined the volunteer COVID-19 cruise line program and they will be removing facemask requirements for passengers beginning March 1st.

Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise Line’s announced their updated policies shortly after The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention released updated information for the volunteer opt-in COVID-19 program for cruise lines. According to the updated guidelines made by The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, cruise ships who opt into the program may lift mask mandates on board if 95% of their passengers and crew are fully vaccinated.

Both cruise lines plan to join the federal agency’s COVID-19 program.

In a Facebook post, last week the Royal Caribbean CEO and President Michael Bailey announced that 95% of its cruise ship crew and passengers over the age of 5 will be fully vaccinated in order to comply with the program and remove facemask mandates on board.

Carnival Cruise Line announced on Friday that it will also join the CDC program for cruise lines operating in the United States.

The number of people who immigrated to the United States from overseas last year was 245,000, down 48.7% from the previous year and the biggest decline in ten years according to US News & World Report citing data from the Federal Bureau of the Census.

The number of immigrants in the United States has grown steadily since it rose from 180,000 in 2010 to 795,000 in 2011. The number of people peaked at 1 million in 2016 and began to decline in 2017, but last year’s decline was particularly large following the COVID-19 pandemic.
States such as New York, California, Massachusetts, Florida and Texas are no exception which annually receive a record number of immigrants. Last year the decline in immigration in New York was 48% and in the rest of the states excluding New York it was 50%.

Declines in immigration were seen across all US states with Nevada and Arizona having the highest decline rates at 52%.
Wyoming and Idaho posted relatively small declines of 33% and 39% respectively.

The Census Bureau analyzed that travel restrictions by countries around the world in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis have played a major role in the rapid reversal of immigration trends in the United States.

Reasons for immigrating to the United States last year were related to work, family and school according to USAFacts, a government data analysis company.
Meanwhile, the number of refugees admitted by the federal government in fiscal year 2021 (October 2020 to September 2021) was 11,445.

The possibility of a rematch between the 46th President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump is being discussed in the 2024 US presidential election however polls show supporters lack of support.
From the 10th to the 6th of January 2022 CNN broadcast a public opinion poll on the re-election of two former and current presidents in 2024 through the opinion polling agency SSRS in which 1,527 adults took part.

President Joe Biden has expressed his intention to run for re-election while former President Trump has also strongly hinted at re-election.
According to a poll 45% of Democratic supporters said they would like Biden to run again however 51% said they preferred another candidate.
Among Republican supporters and GOP supporters 50 percent said they wanted Trump renominated while 49 percent said they wanted another candidate.

CNN explained that this is different from the investigation conducted at the end of the first year of his first term in the past. For example, in a March 2010 poll about a year after former President Barack Obama’s first term 79% of Democratic-leaning voters said they would like Obama to be renominated as the Democratic nominee in the next presidential election.
In a March 2018 poll more than a year after taking office, Trump received responses from 77% of Republican-leaning voters who said they wanted to be renominated.
Among those who said they did not want to be re-nominated, President Biden was the most common “because I thought I couldn’t win” (35%), followed by “because I didn’t want to be president” (31% ). %) and “because I was old” (19). %). Biden, the oldest elected president in history, is now 79 years old.
Former President Trump responded: “Because he didn’t want to be president” (39%), “because he thought he couldn’t win” (22%), “need a new man” (9%) and “too much polarization and division” . (7) %) and so on.
Of the respondents who said two former and current presidents do not want to run for president again, only 12% of Democrats and 19% of Republicans said they had other candidates in mind.
CNN said that “a large majority of bipartisan are looking to find other alternatives,” but the fact that few have a specific alternative candidate in mind shows that the 2024 presidential election is still a long way off and has a lot of potential for change.

The Supreme Court ruled that the vaccination mandate was outside the scope of the Biden administration. However, the Supreme Court decided that mandatory vaccination measures for public health facilities could be maintained. The Biden administration said mandatory vaccinations would help respond to the pandemic. President Biden, whose approval ratings have recently declined, expressed disappointment, saying, “(This decision) does not accept the requirement of common sense to protect the lives of employees.” “I hope that business leaders can follow the example of many other companies to protect their employees, customers, and society by making vaccination mandatory,” he added. Former President Donald Trump hailed the Supreme Court’s ruling and said mandatory vaccines “would have further devastated the economy.” “We are proud that the Supreme Court did not back down,” Trump said in a statement. Under the Biden administration’s mandatory workplace vaccination measures, employees must be vaccinated against COVID-19 or wear a mask if they are not vaccinated, as well as undergo weekly diagnostic tests at their own expense. The measure targets private enterprises with 100 or more employees and covers 84 million workers. Employers force their employees to get vaccinated. Opposition groups, including Republican-backed states and businesses, raised legal questions as soon as the government announced details last November, saying the administration was using excessive power.

The Supreme Court judges, in a 6 to 3 opinion, said workplace safety rules for large businesses are too broad to be regulated by the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA), the opposing party said. According to the majority of the Supreme Court, “Covid-19 can spread wherever people gather, such as at home, at school and at sporting events.” The Supreme Court said the Biden administration’s mandate to vaccinate was not a “routine exercise of power” by the federal government, but “gravely threatened the lives and health of vast numbers of employees.” However, the Supreme Court judges, 5 votes to 4, concluded that this would not be a problem if an executive order limiting the number of employees in public health facilities to 10 million people. The court said it was “correct” to impose conditions on recipients of public funds. Chief Justice John Roberts & Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who has been known for their conservative centrist tendencies joined the progressive camp. This decision was made because some rules were supposed to come into force this week. A public hearing at The Supreme Court was held on the 7th January 2022.

This decision can also be seen as the result of a trend in the Supreme Court in that most justices are appointed by the Republican President. Three progressive judges oppose the cancellation of the vaccination mandate, saying the decision “could prevent the federal government from effectively responding to a situation where the coronavirus poses an unprecedented threat to workers.” The decision was made in the context of the resurgence of COVID-19 in the United States. Due to the Omicron strain, he has the highest number of infections and the highest hospitalization rate ever recorded. The Biden administration estimates that mandatory vaccination at large businesses could reduce 6,500 deaths and 250,000 hospitalizations in six months. More than 60% of Americans have already been vaccinated. In addition to government regulations, some companies such as Google, Citibank, and IBM have begun preparing their own mandatory regulations. However, the National Federation for Self-Employment (NFIB), a lobbying group and major plaintiff challenging the government’s policy of mandatory workplace vaccines, said the new rules are more expensive and harder for small business owners to comply with. Employment, which led to a reduction in sales and profits, for fear that this will decrease. “The Supreme Court’s decision is good news for small businesses in the United States,” said Karen Haned, general counsel for the NFIB.

As US inflation picks up, it is more likely that the US central bank, the Federal Reserve System (FRS), could accelerate monetary tightening, such as raising its key interest rate earlier than initially expected. According to the November 24 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes released by the Federal Reserve on the 24th, many participants said: “If inflation continues to exceed the target, we should adjust the rate of asset purchases faster than currently expected. and prepare for an increase in the base rate. ” He hinted at such a possibility. The protocol emphasizes that “maintaining flexibility should be a principle when making appropriate policy adjustments (in relation to a gradual transition),” the protocol says.

Some participants noted that “a decrease in asset purchases of more than $15 billion per month might be justified, the Committee will have more room to adjust its target rate target range, especially in light of inflationary pressures.” Earlier, after the FOMC meeting, which took place on the 2nd and 3rd of this month, the Fed announced the start of a reduction in asset purchases, saying that the scale of the reduction could be adjusted accordingly. Judging by the minutes released today, it appears that the Fed is planning to accelerate the rate of decline in inflation if inflation persists. In particular, the minutes showed that there was a discussion in the FOMC that the rate hike should be accelerated if inflation continues. This contradicted what Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said at a press conference at the time that “the decision to start rate cuts is not a direct signal for a rate hike. “Members of FOMC stressed the need for a “patient” approach to upcoming economic data, however said they “will not hesitate to take appropriate action to counter inflationary pressures that could harm long-term price stability and employment targets.”

Since the US CPI announced after the FOMC meeting in November more than doubled the Fed’s 2% target, the FOMC’s regular meeting on the 14-15th of next month will further discuss the rate of decline and timing of the next annual rate hike. Seems The October Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) Price Index, released by the US Department of Commerce on the same day, rose 5.0% over the same month last year, recording the largest increase in 31 years since November 1990. In addition, it significantly exceeded the growth rate of the previous month (4.4%), which indicates an exacerbation of the inflation trend. Excluding energy and food, the core PPI price index rose 4.1% y-o-y, also exceeding the growth rate in September (3.6%). The index, the Fed’s favorite inflation indicator, also rose the most in nearly 31 years.

Employment, another component of the Fed’s monetary policy objective, is also improving. According to the US Department of Labor, last week (November 14-20) the number of new jobless claims was 199,000, down 71,000 from the previous week. It was the lowest level in 52 years since the second week of November 1969, even when President Joe Biden issued a welcoming statement calling it “historic economic progress.” The outlook for sustained inflation is now expected to determine the Fed’s course of action. In the November minutes, the Fed predicted that inflation could decline over the next year. “While participants predict that significant inflationary pressures will last longer than previously estimated, they generally predicted that inflation could be significantly lower in 2022 as the supply-demand imbalance eases,” the minutes said.

The American department store chain Sears, which once dominated as “the world’s largest retailer,” is closing its last store in Illinois, where it is headquartered. According to Chicago media reports on the 12th, Sears plans to permanently close its last Illinois store at the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Chicago’s northwest suburb, from the 14th. It has been three years since filing for bankruptcy protection in 2018, 125 years after its inception due to changing times.

This store was first opened in September 1971, 50 years ago, and was one of the largest stores in the United States (about 39,000 square meters). It was the closest store to the headquarters in neighboring Hoffman state and had a lot of symbolic significance. Transformco, the current owner of Sears Holdings, parent company of Sears, said: “Following the refurbishment and renovation of the building, we plan to introduce popular retailers that cater to the tastes of shopping center users. We are trying to maximize our sales. Sears currently focuses on the Sears.com and Sears Home Service franchise online shopping mall business that provides home appliance repair and maintenance services. Sears began operations in Chicago in 1893 as “the world’s first mail order supplier” and opened its first store in Chicago on the West Side in 1925.

In 1974, the tallest building in the world, Sears Tower (now Willis Tower, 108 stories, 442 m), was built in downtown Chicago and reached its heyday, operating 3,500 stores in the United States. However, in the 2000s, it faced financial difficulties due to the growth of a giant online mall, and in 2004 it was acquired by hedge fund manager Edward Lampert (ESL Investments) and eventually filed for bankruptcy protection in October 2018. of the year.

Lampert then founded Transformco and received a court-approved plan to revitalize the selective acquisition of 425 excellent Sears stores with personal money. At the time, some criticized that Lampert, who had served as Sears CEO since 2013, was in fact the axis of the Sears collapse and that he was only interested in real estate. Sears said in April 2019, according to CNN Business and others, that “Lampert stole billions of dollars in company assets, instigated bankruptcy, and monopolized Sears.” He also filed a lawsuit against Chicago NBC reported that there are currently about 30 Sears stores in the United States. As online shopping exploded in the wake of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) pandemic, upscale department store chain Nieman Marcus, mid-range department stores JC Penny and 200-year-old Road & Taylor filed for bankruptcy protection one after another. In the past year.