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Real-time News
The U.S. State Department announced a significant expansion of an existing visa restriction policy that targets individuals working for U.S. adversaries. Measures have been taken to impose visa restrictions on 26 individuals in the hemisphere engaged in related activities.The Federal Reserve accepted a total of $158 million from five counterparties in its fixed-rate reverse repurchase operations.On April 17th, former US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson called on the US government to develop contingency plans to prevent a potential collapse in demand for US Treasury bonds. He warned that such a scenario would have "extremely serious" consequences. Paulson stated, "We need an emergency response plan that is targeted, short-term, and prepared in advance, ready to be activated once a tipping point is reached." Paulson said that if the $31 trillion US Treasury market were to fail, its nature would be different from the financial crisis he dealt with two decades ago. "Back then, the situation was already bad, but the government still had fiscal space to deal with the credit crisis. But if a US public debt crisis occurs, reaching a tipping point, and when trying to issue Treasury bonds, only the Federal Reserve is a buyer, while Treasury bond prices fall and interest rates rise, it will be a very dangerous situation." For years, US budget experts have warned of a potential "vicious cycle": as government debt continues to expand, investors demand higher yields, pushing up government interest payments and further widening the fiscal deficit. In extreme cases, if the Treasury cannot raise enough funds to pay interest or principal, the market generally believes that the Federal Reserve will have to intervene as an emergency buyer. Paulson stated, "If it happens, the impact will be very severe, so we must prepare for that possibility."On April 17, CNBC reported that U.S. Federal Judge Richard Leon issued a revised order on Thursday prohibiting the Trump administration from carrying out above-ground construction on the controversial White House banquet hall project, but allowing the government to continue underground construction, including works related to national security facilities. According to the injunction issued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the judge also allowed “strictly necessary” above-ground construction to cover, reinforce, and protect these national security facilities, provided that such construction does not “lock down the floor size and volume of the banquet hall.” The order was issued five days after the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit asked Leon to clarify its March 31 ruling, which prohibited the Trump administration from proceeding with the planned $400 million, 90,000-square-foot banquet hall construction project. The appeals court specifically asked Leon to reconsider the potential national security implications of the construction ban. The administration had told the appeals court that the ban “poses a serious national security risk to the White House, the President and his family, and presidential staff.”ECB Governing Council member Nagel: The ECB must maintain flexibility in its choices and cannot make any commitments at this time.
