Free Republic

Furthering California’s long-standing collaboration with China on climate change, Governor Gavin Newsom today renewed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to advance ongoing cooperation on initiatives to protect the environment, reduce carbon emissions and air pollution, and promote clean energy development. The Governor and China’s Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu signed the MOU in a virtual meeting joined by Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, who serves as the Governor’s Representative for International Affairs and Trade Development, and senior climate officials from California and China.

A top U.S. biosecurity lab is assuming responsibility for signing “poorly drafted” agreements with three high-level biosecurity labs in China that they concede may have broken the law.The three contracts, including one with the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), gave the Chinese labs powers to destroy “secret files” from any stage of their collaboration.“The party is entitled to ask the other to destroy and/or return the secret files, materials, and equipment without any backups,” stated the 2017 memorandum of understanding (MOU) that the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) signed with the Wuhan lab, which first came to light in...

The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and the Securities and Exchange Commission have signed an interagency Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) to foster cooperation and communication between the agencies with the aim of enhancing competition in the securities industry. Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Antitrust Division announced the first-ever MOU between the Antitrust Division and the SEC, which was executed with SEC Chairman Jay Clayton before a discussion on equity market structure hosted by MIT’s Golub Center for Finance and Policy this afternoon.“The Antitrust Division and the SEC have prioritized close cooperation with one another in recent years...

The President of the United States of America, the Honorable Donald J. Trump, paid a State Visit to India on February 24-25, 2020, at the invitation of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.Comprehensive Global Strategic PartnershipAs the leaders of sovereign and vibrant democracies recognizing the importance of freedom, equal treatment of all citizens, human rights, and a commitment to the rule of law, President Trump and Prime Minister Modi vowed to strengthen a United States-India Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, anchored in mutual trust, shared interests, goodwill, and robust engagement of their citizens.President Trump and Prime Minister Modi pledged to deepen defense...

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is spearheading an effort to force Israel to give back $75 million in aid allocated by Congress last year, the Washington Free Beacon reported Friday. The funds were awarded in defiance of the Obama Administration’s Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which increased military aid to Israel from around $3 to $3.8 billion for the next ten years, with several provisos, one of which was a commitment on Israel’s part not to seek additional military aid from Congress. The other, even more devastating, was an eventual block on the money going to Israeli companies, essentially keeping all...

Just a fortnight after the revelation that Switzerland conducted a spying mission in Germany in 2012, media in the two countries have reported that the neighboring nations recently signed an agreement to stop all such espionage. Citing sources close to the Swiss government, Swiss paper Tages Anzeiger and the German Süddeutsche Zeitung said that in January 2017 the two countries concluded a “Memorandum of Understanding” to forbid each country’s intelligence service from carrying out espionage activities against the other. From now on, Switzerland will tell the German government if it wishes to conduct an anti-crime operation in Germany, and vice-versa....

The MoU (memorandum of understanding) was signed on the sidelines of the Berne Union Meeting which is underway in Lisbon, Portugal. The agreement envisaged cooperation on economic, trade, banking ties, reinsurance coverage, joint insurance and training.

As part of a 10-year U.S.-Israel security aid agreement, the Israeli government has signed a letter promising to give back any additional money that Congress appropriates, effectively preventing Congress from giving Israel any more money than President Obama wants it to have. The White House will sign today a new 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Israel that would increase U.S.-Israel security aid from $3.1 billion a year to $3.3 billion, starting in 2018. The deal would also include, for the first time, $500 million of annual missile defense funding, bringing the annual total to $3.8 billion. But Congress, in...

Interstate 11 is getting another boost with execution of a memorandum of understanding between Arizona and Mexico. One of the four international cooperation agreements to be signed by Gov. Doug Ducey and the Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs Jose Antonio Meade extends I-11 from Nogales into Mexico to Hermosillo and Mexico City. The international commerce corridor MOU grew out of a conversation between Arizona business leaders, Ducey and Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim at the Phoenix Business Journal’s Global Market Discovery series earlier this year. People on the Move Victor Foggie Victor Foggie Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Arizona Brian...

KRAKOW, Poland, Feb. 19, 2009 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Klich signed a memorandum of understanding today that will increase cooperation between the two countries’ special operations forces. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, right, signs a memorandum of understanding with Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Klich at Poland's II Mechanized Corps Headquarters in Krakow, Poland Feb. 19, 2009. Gates was in Poland to attend to Krakow Defense Ministry Conference. DoD photo by Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jerry Morrison  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The two men signed the document during a ceremony before...

Turkey will have twice as many troops as U.S. in northern Iraq SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COMFriday, February 28, 2003 ANKARA — On Thursday, Turkey's government formally agreed to a six-month deployment of more than 60,000 U.S. troops as well as hundreds of aircraft. Turkish sources said Ankara and Washington have also reached understanding on troop levels in northern Iraq. They said Turkey would be allowed to have twice the number of U.S. troops in the area. Under the agreement, officials said, the United States would be allowed to deploy 62,000 troops in Turkey for six months, Middle East Newsline...