KABUL, Afghanistan Taliban – Yunis Safi, a Kabul businessman, understands how important it is to show off your phone if you want something done.

“In Afghanistan, your phone is your personality,” he remarked, beaming, his hands adorned with jewel-encrusted rings. One has an emerald, the other a large Russian diamond. “When you go to a meeting with the government, the better your phone, the more they respect you.”

Safi owns a phone business in the exclusive Shar-e-Naw area. An armed guard stands outside. The iPhone 15 Pro Max is now on store shelves, priced at $1,400. He has customers willing to part with this amount of money, which may surprise some, considering the country’s economic troubles and that more than half of the population relies on humanitarian help for survival.

Afghanistan’s finances were precarious even before the Taliban took power in 2021. The budget relied significantly on foreign help, and corruption was rampant. The seizure shattered Afghanistan’s economy, freezing billions of dollars in international finances and forcing tens of thousands of highly skilled Afghans to flee the country with their money.

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Phones, Islamic Books And Currency Exchange. Some Businesses Are Making Money Out Of Taliban Rule

Despite the terrible conditions, some businesses benefit under the Taliban administration. Women are relegated to customers, however, because authorities have forbidden them from most jobs, including retail. None of Safi’s 78 employees are female.

He has tapped into a varied client base, including those eager for the latest iPhone release and those who prefer simple devices. The latter account for the majority of his sales and range in price from $20 to $200.

The Taliban used to target phone towers and threaten telecom companies, accusing them of working with the United States and other international forces to detect insurgent movements via mobile phone signals. Now, they’re investing in 4G mobile networks.

The Communications Ministry reports that 2 million new SIM cards have been issued in the last two years, and subscriber numbers are increasing. Enayatullah Alokozai, a ministry official, stated that the government is investing $100 million in telecom and has completely rebuilt hundreds of towers.

There are 22.7 million active SIM cards in a country with a population of 41 million. Ten million are for phone calls, with the remainder for mobile internet.

According to Trade Ministry estimates, phone imports have increased. More than 1,584 tons of phones entered Afghanistan in 2022. Last year, it weighed 1,895 tons.

Safi said he had many Taliban customers, and the younger ones prefer iPhones. “Of course, they need smartphones. They use social media and enjoy making videos. The iPhone offers stronger security than Samsung. The camera’s resolution, CPU, and memory are all improved. Afghans use smartphones like everyone else.”

Safi has the iPhone 15 Pro Max, an Apple Watch Ultra, and three automobiles.

Business was difficult shortly after the Taliban took power, but it is improving, according to Safi. “The people buying the new release iPhones are the ones with relatives abroad sending money to Afghanistan.”

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Phones, Islamic Books And Currency Exchange. Some Businesses Are Making Money Out Of Taliban Rule

Remittances are a lifeline, but less than half of what they were before the Taliban took power and the financial system collapsed.

At Kabul’s rowdy Shahzada Market, hundreds of money changers clutch stacks of the local currency, the Afghani, and noisily hawk their wares. They occupy every floor, stairwell, corner, and cranny.

According to Abdul Rahman Zirak, a senior official at the money exchange market, $10 million changes hands every day. The diaspora sends largely U.S. cash to family, which they convert for Afghani.

Before the Taliban took control, there were more ways to donate money to Afghanistan. However, there are no longer any linkages to SWIFT or international banking, which is one of the main reasons why business is brisk in the market, he said.

“The work of money exchangers has increased and strengthened,” he stated. “Money transfers come from Canada, the U.S., Europe, Australia, Arab nations and other neighboring countries.”

Trade becomes extremely chaotic during the holidays. During the holy month of Ramadan, 20,000 people visited the market daily, and it took more than 90 minutes to enter, he claimed.

Our business may suffer if the restrictions are lifted and the assets are unfrozen. But I don’t see this happening. Many do not have bank accounts. Unemployment is rising, therefore people send money to Afghanistan. Our company will be needed for years to come.”

Irfanullah Arif, who owns Haqqani Books, a specialist retailer of Islamic manuscripts, is likewise pleased with his fortunes. His consumers are primarily religious school professors and pupils.

There are at least 20,000 madrasas in Afghanistan. The Taliban intends to build more. Last year, the supreme commander allegedly directed the recruiting of 100,000 madrassa teachers.

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Phones, Islamic Books And Currency Exchange. Some Businesses Are Making Money Out Of Taliban Rule

While Arif’s business suffered, along with everyone else’s, from the chaos that followed the takeover, there was another cause. “All the students left the madrassas and went to work for the (Taliban) government,” Arif claimed.

The Taliban’s push for Islamic education has brought him some relief. Last year, he sold 25,000 textbooks.

Success, however, comes with a price. Arif imports everything, and the Taliban are just concerned with collecting revenue, even from Islamic literature.

Arif pays a tax of 170 Afghanis ($2.36) for a carton of 100 books, with a shipping cost of 500 Afghanis ($6.95). His bookstore’s taxes have increased under the Taliban administration.

“That’s why books are expensive in Afghanistan,” he sighed. “With the increase of madrassas, our trade has gone up, but so have the taxes.”

SOURCE – (AP)

Washington — The United States Narcotic Enforcement Administration is considering reclassifying marijuana as a less harmful narcotic. The Justice Department’s proposal would recognize cannabis’ medical purposes but not legalize it for recreational use.

The proposal would shift marijuana from the “Schedule I” category to the less stringent “Schedule III.”

So, what does this mean, and what are the implications?

Technically, nothing has happened. The White House Office of Management and Budget must first examine the idea, followed by a public comment period and an administrative judge’s assessment, which could be a lengthy process.

Nonetheless, the change is considered “paradigm-shifting, and it’s very exciting,” Vince Sliwoski, a Portland, Oregon-based cannabis and psychedelics attorney who runs well-known legal blogs on those topics, told The Associated Press when the federal Health and Human Services Department recommended it.

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What Marijuana Reclassification Means For The United States

“I can’t emphasize enough how big of news it is,” he said.

It came after President Joe Biden last year requested that HHS and the attorney general, who controls the DEA, investigate how marijuana was classified. Schedule I legalized it alongside heroin, LSD, quaaludes, and ecstasy, among other substances.

Biden, a Democrat, is in favor of legalizing medical marijuana “where appropriate, consistent with medical and scientific evidence,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Thursday. “That is why it is important for this independent review to go through.”

No. Schedule III medicines, such as ketamine, anabolic steroids, and several acetaminophen-codeine combos, are still considered controlled narcotics.

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What Marijuana Reclassification Means For The United States

They are subject to a variety of restrictions that allow for some medical usage as well as federal criminal punishment of anyone who traffics in the medications illegally.

Medical marijuana programs, which are already regulated in 38 states, and legal recreational cannabis markets in 23 states are expected to remain unchanged, but they are unlikely to meet federal production, record-keeping, prescribing, and other Schedule III drug criteria.

There haven’t been many federal prosecutions for simply possessing marijuana in recent years, even with marijuana’s existing Schedule I designation, but reclassification would have no immediate impact on those currently in the criminal justice system.

“Put simply, this shift from Schedule I to Schedule III is not keeping people out of jail,” said David Culver, senior vice president of public relations of the United States Cannabis Council.

However, rescheduling would have an impact, especially on research and marijuana business taxes.

Because marijuana is classified as a Schedule I substance, it has been extremely difficult to undertake permitted clinical trials involving its administration. This has produced a Catch-22 situation: there is a need for further study, but there are hurdles to doing so. (Sometimes, scientists rely on people’s claims of marijuana use.)

Schedule III medications are easier to study, although reclassification would take time to remove all hurdles to research.

“It’s going to be really confusing for a long time,” says Ziva Cooper, director of the University of California, Los Angeles Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoids. “When the dust has settled, I don’t know how many years from now, research will be easier.”

Among the unknowns include whether academics will be permitted to study marijuana from state-licensed shops and how the federal Food and Drug Administration would regulate this.

Some researchers remain optimistic.

“Reducing the schedule to schedule 3 will allow us to conduct research with human subjects using cannabis,” said Susan Ferguson, director of the University of Washington’s Addictions, Drug, and Alcohol Institute in Seattle.

Firms involved in “trafficking” marijuana or any other Schedule I or II substance are not allowed to deduct rent, payroll, or other expenses that other firms can. (Yes, despite the federal government’s prohibition on marijuana, at least some cannabis firms, particularly those permitted by states, pay federal taxes.) According to industry associations, tax rates frequently reach 70% or more.

The deduction regulation does not apply to Schedule III medications, so the proposed amendment would significantly reduce cannabis companies’ taxes.

They claim it would treat them like other industries and let them compete with unlawful competitors that frustrate licensees and officials in locations like New York.

“You’re going to make these state-legal programs stronger,” says Adam Goers, an executive at Columbia Care, a medicinal and recreational cannabis provider. He co-chairs a group of corporate and other stakeholders advocating for rescheduling.

According to Beau Kilmer, co-director of the RAND Drug Policy Center, deducting those expenditures could result in greater cannabis marketing and advertising.

Rescheduling would have no direct impact on another marijuana business issue: limited access to banks, particularly for loans, due to federally regulated institutions’ concerns about the drug’s legal status. Instead, the sector has focused on the SAFE Banking Act. It has frequently passed the House but is stuck in the Senate.

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What Marijuana Reclassification Means For The United States

Yes, there are, notably the national anti-legalization organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana. President Kevin Sabet, a former Obama administration drug policy official, said the HHS suggestion “flies in the face of science, reeks of politics” and gives a disappointing nod to an industry “desperately looking for legitimacy.”

Some legalization supporters argue that rescheduling marijuana is too modest. They want to keep the focus on totally removing it from the controlled substances list, which does not include alcohol or tobacco (although they are regulated).

According to Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, simply reclassifying marijuana would be “perpetuating the existing divide between state and federal marijuana policies.” According to Kaliko Castille, President of the Minority Cannabis Business Association, rescheduling simply “re-brands prohibition,” rather than giving state licensees the green light and bringing an end to decades of arrests that disproportionately affected people of color.

“Schedule III is going to leave it in this kind of amorphous, mucky middle where people are not going to understand the danger of it still being federally illegal,” the senator stated.

Peltz reported from New York. Associated Press writers Colleen Long in Washington and Carla K. Johnson in Seattle contributed to this story.

SOURCE – (AP)

With the cost of living consistently on the rise, more Canadians are continually turning to credit. Canadian’s owe more debt relative to their income than they did before Justin Trudeau and his liberals came to power in 2015.

Many Canadians are on the verge of going bankrupt due to increased debt carrying costs, living expenses, and concerns about the possibility of further interest rate and price increases.

Higher interest rates may have deterred Canadians from borrowing, but they remain optimistic. I’m hoping that interest rates will be reduced and the debt they’re collecting will become more affordable.

According to Bank of Canada data, household credit increased in February and has accelerated slightly since then. This raises some concerns for the country, which is already experiencing slowing economic growth as a result of its enormous debt levels.

Canadian households have recently reduced their borrowing, yet they have nonetheless accrued a significant amount of debt. Household debt increased by 0.3% (+$10.1 billion) to $2.94 trillion in February.

This boosted yearly growth to 3.4% (+$96.1 billion), marking the fourth consecutive month of acceleration.

Canadians Under Mountains of Household Debt

The roughly $3 trillion in debt sounds monstrous, and it is. Between March 2020 and the most recent figures, consumers added $541 billion to their debt load. After just under four years, accumulation was 50% faster than in the years prior rate reduction.

According to the most recent data, Canada’s household debt-to-GDP ratio was around 132% in February. Statistics Canada announced Wednesday that Canada has the highest household debt-to-disposable income ratio of any G7 countries.

According to Canada’s 2023 Financial Stress Index, money is the top stressor for Canadians, with 40% citing it as their primary source of stress, surpassing personal health, relationships, and job for the sixth year in a row.

And financial problems are affecting people’s quality of life and sleep.

Leger’s poll of more than 2,000 Canadians discovered that 48% of adults had lost sleep and 36% have experienced mental health issues as a result of financial stress. Nearly half of poll respondents (48%) reported having less disposable income than a year ago.

According to writer and political commentator David Moscrop, Canada’s housing problem is unprecedented, and half the country lives paycheck to paycheck.

In a classic example of disconnect, some Trudeau Liberals believe the party’s biggest problem is that people don’t realize how terrific a job they’re doing.

According to Moscrop, half of the country is living paycheck to paycheck, suffering from crippling debt, and dealing with a housing and homelessness crisis, while working families are increasingly reliant on food banks to get by.

Inflation and Interest Rates Rising

More than half of Canadians feel their personal finances are worse now than they were in 2015, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau campaigned on a promise to support the middle class and those aspiring to it.

A jump in inflation, and the interest-rate hikes intended to combat it, have pinched deeply indebted Canadians, who have also stated that the high cost of living is the most important factor influencing how they intend to vote.

According to a Nanos Research study for Bloomberg News, 53% of people say their personal finances are worse now than they were eight years ago, while 24% say they are better off and 21% say nothing has changed.

Those aged 35 to 54 were the most likely to be experiencing financial difficulties, with 61% reporting a worsening situation.

The poll explains why Trudeau’s government is finishing the year with low ratings. “When the economy is flat and people are concerned about paying their bills, they become agitated and seek to punish the incumbent government,” said Nik Nanos, the polling firm’s chief data scientist. “If you are struggling to pay for housing or the groceries, you might think, ‘What do I have to lose with a change in government?'”

If an election were conducted today, over 45% of Canadians indicated the cost of living, including housing, groceries, and energy costs, would be the most important factor influencing their vote. The environment (14%) and health care (12%) are next on the list.

Between November 30 and December 2, Nanos conducted a telephone and online poll of 1,069 Canadians. The margin of error is 3 percentage points (19 times out of 20).

Soaring Inflation in Canada

In Canada, inflation is certainly easing. It remained constant at 3.1% annually in November, down from 8.1% in June 2022. While this is improvement, it is cold consolation for some Canadian households, which have experienced one of the most precipitous declines in purchasing power in history.

According to Bloomberg calculations, Canada’s consumer price index is 10% higher than it would have been if inflation had remained at its pre-pandemic pace. Shelter and food inflation are both roughly 14% higher.

Prices rose at an annual rate of roughly 1.8% during the time the Bank of Canada introduced inflation targeting in the early 1990s and 2020.

According to the central bank, property prices in Canada have not been this high since the early 1980s.

Though an election isn’t due until 2025, Trudeau’s biggest adversary, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, has launched campaign-style advertising attacking the prime minister for rising housing, food, and energy costs. “After eight years, Justin Trudeau is not worth the cost,” Poilievre frequently states.

Majority of Canadians Can’t Afford a Home

Despite a rush of affordability announcements from Trudeau’s Liberals, including a $4-billion fund for cities to develop housing and competition-law revisions aimed at decreasing supermarket prices, most polls place the Tories roughly 10 points ahead.

“The Conservative party continues to vote against funding for housing,” Trudeau said Thursday in Toronto, where he unveiled $471 million to accelerate home building. “If it were up to them, we wouldn’t be here today.” But our Liberal strategy is to collaborate with municipalities. Our strategy is to invest in individuals. It is to invest for the future.”

Trudeau is not alone in facing an angry electorate frustrated by the loss of purchasing power. Many US voters do not appear to be buying President Joe Biden’s economic message, despite the fact that price rises have slowed since last year.

“Inflation kills governments,” said Mike Moffatt, senior policy director at the Smart Prosperity Institute and Trudeau’s former economic adviser from 2013 to 2015.

Moffatt stated in an interview that U.S. President Jimmy Carter lost his campaign for a second term by a landslide in 1980 when the Federal Reserve aggressively raised interest rates to combat inflation.

In the midst of recent price increases, voters in Australia and New Zealand ousted their incumbent administrations, and the ruling Conservative Party in the United Kingdom is now polling poorly.

“There is unrest. “People see costs going up and up, but they don’t see their paychecks going up,” he said. “It’s going to be a very difficult thing for the federal government to deal with because so many of these factors are global in nature.”