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With 54-46 vote, US Senate confirms Trump’s nominee Pam Bondi as attorney general

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The Republican-led U.S. Senate confirmed Pam Bondi as the new U.S. attorney general on Tuesday, propelling one of President Donald Trump’s staunchest political allies to the top perch of American law enforcement.

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The 54-46 vote to confirm of the former Florida state attorney general will help Trump solidify his control over the U.S. Justice Department, which has recently seen sweeping cuts targeting prosecutors and FBI agents who investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by the president’s supporters.

Democratic Senator John Fetterman joined all 53 Republicans in voting for Bondi.

Bondi, 59, vowed to maintain the department’s independence during a confirmation hearing last month, telling lawmakers she will not inject politics into criminal or civil investigations.

US Postal Service suspends incoming packages from China, Hong Kong

(Reuters) — The U.S. Postal Service will temporarily suspend accepting inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong Posts until further notice, the USPS website showed.

The change, effective from Feb. 4, will not impact the flow of letters and ‘flats’ from China and Hong Kong, according to the website.

USPS did not immediately comment on whether this was tied to U.S. President Donald Trump’s change to ending ‘de minimis’ shipments from China and other countries.

Trump’s halt to Section 321 de minimis is part of his implementation of an additional 10% tariff on China and 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, which were paused for a month.

Iran is developing plans for faster, cruder atomic weapon

(NYT) — New intelligence about Iran’s nuclear program has convinced U.S. officials that a secret team of the country’s scientists is exploring a faster, if cruder, approach to developing an atomic weapon if Tehran’s leadership decides to race for a bomb, according to current and former U.S. officials.

The development comes even amid signals that Iran’s new president is actively seeking a negotiation with the Trump administration.

SEC moves to scale back its crypto enforcement efforts

(NYT) — The Securities and Exchange Commission is moving to scale back a special unit of more than 50 lawyers and staff members that had been dedicated to bringing crypto enforcement actions, five people with knowledge of the matter said.

The move is one of the first concrete steps by President Donald Trump and his administration to pull back on the regulation of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets. One of Trump’s first executive orders was aimed at promoting the growth of crypto and “eliminating regulatory overreach” on digital assets.

Some of the lawyers in the crypto unit are being assigned to other departments in the SEC, the people said. One of the unit’s top lawyers was moved out of the enforcement division. Some of the people briefed on the shake-up described that move as an unfair demotion.