Top Stories Today – August 12, 2019
Top Stories Today – August 12, 2019
Goldman Sachs warns of rising trade-war recession threat
Goldman Sachs said Sunday that the danger that the US-China trade war could lead to a recession is rising. In a note to clients, Goldman analysts led by chief US economist Jan Hatzius said the investment bank no longer expects the US and China to reach a deal to settle their differences before the 2020 presidential election. Goldman raised its estimate of the trade dispute’s drag on economic growth to 0.6 percent from its earlier estimate of 0.2 percent. The report said businesses rattled by uncertainty could lower their spending until the trade war is settled. “The business sentiment effect of increased pessimism about the outlook from trade war news may lead firms to invest, hire, or produce less,” Hatzius wrote. MarketWatch via The Week
Hong Kong airport authority cancels all flights for Monday
Hong Kong’s Airport Authority has canceled all flights not yet checked in by Monday afternoon, the agency said, as anti-government protesters peacefully demonstrated at the airport for a fourth day. Traffic on roads to the airport was very congested and car park spaces were full, the authority said.
The increasingly violent protests have plunged Chinese-ruled Hong Kong into its most serious crisis in decades and presented a serious challenge to Beijing. Reuters
South Korea to remove Japan from preferred trade list
South Korea said Monday that it has decided to remove Japan from a list of nations receiving preferential treatment in trade in what was seen as a tit-for-tat move following Tokyo’s recent decision to downgrade Seoul’s trade status amid a diplomatic row.
It wasn’t immediately clear how South Korea’s tightened export controls would impact bilateral trade. Seoul said some South Korean companies exporting to Japan will be able to receive exceptions from case-by-case inspections that are normally applied on sensitive shipments to nations with lower trade status and go through the same fast-track approval process that they currently enjoy. Masahisa Sato, Japan’s vice minister for foreign affairs, said he believes the impact of Seoul’s move would likely be limited as Japan doesn’t import much sensitive materials from South Korea. The Associated Press
Details of Jeffrey Epstein’s death not yet revealed
The details of how Jeffrey Epstein died in his Manhattan jail cell over the weekend have yet to be released, but medical officials have performed an autopsy on the high-profile inmate accused of sexually abusing underage girls. Epstein’s abrupt death Saturday cut short a criminal prosecution that could have pulled back the curtain on the inner workings of a high-flying financier with connections to celebrities and presidents, though prosecutors have vowed to continue investigating.
Epstein, 66, had been denied bail and faced up to 45 years behind bars on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges unsealed last month. He had pleaded not guilty and was awaiting trial. The Associated Press
Epstein wasn’t being closely monitored prior to death
Mr. Epstein was supposed to have been checked by the two guards in the protective housing unit every 30 minutes, but that procedure was not followed on the night he hanged himself, a law-enforcement official with knowledge of his detention said.
In addition, because Mr. Epstein may have tried to commit suicide three weeks earlier, he was supposed to have had another inmate in his cell, three officials said. But the jail had recently transferred his cellmate and allowed Mr. Epstein to be housed alone, a decision that also violated the jail’s procedures, the two officials said. The disclosures about these seeming failures in Mr. Epstein’s detention at the Metropolitan Correctional Center deepened questions about his death and are very likely to be the focus of inquiries by the Justice Department and the FBI. The New York Times
Giammattei wins Guatemala presidential election
Conservative candidate Alejandro Giammattei has won the presidential runoff election in Guatemala. The election commission said late Sunday that with more than 90% of the polling places counted, Giammattei had won nearly 60% of the vote. His opponent, former first lady Sandra Torres garnered 40%.
Just moments after declaring victory, Giammattei said he would seek to revise a deal that current president Jimmy Morales made with US President Donald Trump, requiring Hondurans and Salvadorans to seek asylum in Guatemala when crossing through the country to reach the US. It will be up to Guatemala’s new president, who takes office in January, to sign or nullify the agreement. The controversial migration pact is highly unpopular in Guatemala.
Giammattei is a 63-year-old doctor. He has campaigned for the presidency three times before this year, finally winning it on his fourth run. His opponent Torres is a business woman who has operated a textile and apparel company. She married and divorced former President Alvaro Colom who was Guatemala’s president from 2008 to 2012. The Voice of America
Mysterious nuclear accident in Russia
Russia held a memorial service on Monday for five scientists killed in a mysterious explosion last week after an official at their research institute suggested they had been working on developing a small nuclear reactor. Authorities have been drip-feeding information about a blast during a rocket test on a platform in the White Sea off northern Russia that Greenpeace has said caused a 20-fold increase in radiation in a nearby city.
US-based nuclear experts have said they suspect the explosion occurred during the testing of a nuclear-powered cruise missile vaunted by President Vladimir Putin last year. In a video interview published late on Sunday, Russian officials at the nuclear research institute where the scientists had worked said the accident had caused a two-fold rise in radiation levels that had only lasted an hour. Reuters