The Treasury Department announces a set of designations targeting the Government of Iran's support for terrorism and terrorist organizations, including Hizballah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) and the Taliban, pursuant to Executive Order 13224. All transactions involving the designees and any U.S. person are prohibited, and any assets the designees may have under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen. Treasury also identified 21 entities in Iran's banking, insurance and investment, mining, and engineering industries determined to be owned or controlled by the Government of Iran, with which transactions are prohibited under the Iranian Transactions Regulations, in a press release available here.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is advising the public that it is adding new approved phytosanitary treatment schedules to the Plant Protection and Quarantine Treatment Manual for sweet cherries imported from Australia into the U.S. APHIS is also adding to the treatment manual a new approved irradiation dose for Mediterranean fruit fly of 100 gray.
The State Department, World Health Organization, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recently issued the following travel warnings, travel alerts, country specific information sheets, and disease outbreak-related information:
Various U.S. government agencies are seeking comments on the following information collections for which they have requested or intend to request Office of Management and Budget approval or extension of approval (see notices for specific details):
On July 30, 2010, the Department of Agriculture amended the availability of the following credit guarantees for sales of U.S. agricultural commodities under the Commodity Credit Corporation's Export Credit Guarantee Program (GSM-102) for fiscal year 2010, as follows :
The International Trade Administration, in conjunction with the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is announcing a kick-off conference on September 14, 2010 for its services trade data initiative. Primary goals include enhancements to services data to ensure that it is effective for commercial decision-making, policy planning, and is relevant for trade agreements in support of increased US services exports.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service is announcing an August 30, 2010 meeting on the 25th Session of the Codex Committee on Processed Fruits and Vegetables, to be held in Washington, D.C. from 1 pm. - 4 pm. The call-in number is 1-866-692-3158. The Pass code is 5986642.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is issuing a safety advisory notice to remind offerors and carriers of hazardous materials of the risks associated with the use of personal electronic devices (PEDs) by individuals operating motor vehicles that contain hazardous materials.
The Department of Energy gives notice of the decision and order (Case No. RF-014) that grants to Samsung Electronics America, Inc. a waiver from the DOE electric refrigerator and refrigerator-freezer test procedure for certain basic models of residential refrigerator-freezers containing relative humidity sensors and adaptive control antisweat heaters. Samsung shall be required to test and rate these refrigerator-freezers using an alternate test procedure that takes this technology into account when measuring energy consumption.
U.S. Trade Representative Kirk spoke at the opening ceremony of the Ninth U.S.-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum, better known as “the AGOA Forum.” In attendance were cabinet ministers and senior officials from the 38 sub-Saharan African countries that benefit from the AGOA trade preference program, as well as representatives of African regional economic communities, the American and African private sector, and civil society. The ministerial portion of the event is being held in Washington, D.C. from August 2-3, 2010. A separate session focused on the private sector and opportunities for U.S.-African trade in the agribusiness sector, is being held in Kansas City, Missouri from August 4-6. A transcript of Kirk's speech is available here.