Top Stories Today – August 13, 2019
Top Stories Today – August 13, 2019
US budget deficit rises 27% through July
The US budget deficit widened to $867 billion for the first 10 months of the fiscal year, an increase of 27% over this time last year, the Treasury Department reported Monday. The current shortfall exceeds the full-year deficit for fiscal 2018, which was $779 billion.
President Donald Trump, who promised during the 2016 campaign to eliminate the federal debt, has instead overseen a dramatic increase in deficits. The White House’s Office of Management and Budget has predicted that the deficit will exceed $1 trillion for the entire fiscal year, which ends on September 30. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office in May had predicted a slightly smaller shortfall of $896 billion for the year, with deficits rising above $1 trillion starting in 2022. CNN
China gets tougher after new tariff threat
Facing another US tariff hike, Chinese President Xi Jinping is getting tougher with Washington instead of backing down. Beijing fired what economists called a “warning shot” at Washington by letting its yuan currency weaken in response to President Donald Trump’s latest threat of more punitive import duties on Sept. 1. Chinese buyers canceled multibillion-dollar purchases of US soybeans. Regulators are threatening to place American companies on an “unreliable entities” list that might face curbs on their operations.
Both sides have incentives to settle a trade war that is battering exporters on either side of the Pacific and threatening to tip the global economy into recession. But Xi’s government is lashing out and might be, in a revival of traditional Chinese strategy, settling in for prolonged wrangling in response to what it deems American bullying and attempts to handicap China’s economic development. The Associated Press
Hong Kong airport cancels flights 2nd day
Protesters severely crippled operations at Hong Kong’s international airport for a second day Tuesday, forcing authorities to cancel all remaining flights out of the city after demonstrators took over the terminals as part of their push for democratic reforms.
It said it did not expect arriving flights to be affected, though dozens were already canceled. The authority advised people not to come to the airport, one of the world’s busiest transport hubs. On Monday, more than 200 flights were canceled, and the airport was effectively shut down with no flights taking off or landing. Passengers have been forced to seek accommodation in the city while airlines struggle to find other ways to get them to their destinations.
The airport disruptions are an escalation of a summer of demonstrations aimed at what many Hong Kong residents see as an increasing erosion of the freedoms they were promised in 1997 when Communist Party-ruled mainland China took over what had been a British colony. The Associated Press
Radiation levels rose in the Russian city after accident
Radiation levels in the Russian city of Severodvinsk rose by up to 16 times on Aug. 8 after an accident that authorities said involved a rocket test on a sea platform, Russia’s state weather agency said on Tuesday, the TASS news agency reported.
The defense ministry initially said background radiation had remained normal after the incident on Thursday, but city authorities in Severodvinsk in northern Russia said there had been a brief spike in radiation levels. Greenpeace has said radiation levels rose by 20 times. Reuters
Epstein guards severely overworked before death
Staffing shortages at the prison where financier Jeffrey Epstein was found dead left gaps in his supervision, said the union for the facility’s employees. The justice department and the FBI have both launched investigations into the cause and circumstances of his death in New York. Epstein, 66, was facing sex-trafficking and conspiracy charges, which carried jail sentences of up to 45 years.
Guards at New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center had been forced to work overtime to make up for the staffing shortages, according to the union representing the prison guards. A hiring freeze by the Trump administration has left thousands of staff vacancies across the Bureau of Prisons, creating “dangerous conditions” for both staff and inmates, said Eric Young, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council of Prison Locals in a statement. BBC
Kremlin downplays Russia protests
The Kremlin on Tuesday downplayed recent protests in Russia and rejected the suggestion they have created a political crisis in the country. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that President Vladimir Putin has not commented on the demonstrations because he does not see them as “exceptional.” Peskov also defended the actions of police, saying their firm actions at the protests was justified.
In the latest protest Sunday, tens of thousands of people gathered in central Moscow as they criticized the exclusion of several opposition candidates from upcoming local elections. The protest was one of the largest in Russia in eight years. Police have arrested several thousand protesters at rallies during the past month. The Voice of America
US to penalize migrants reliant on public benefits
The Trump administration on Monday announced a policy that seeks to block some migrants from obtaining a green card or US citizenship if they are deemed likely to become reliant on government benefits. The “Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds” policy, set to take effect in two months, will tighten restrictions on immigration for legal migrants who use benefits like Medicaid, food stamps, or housing assistance.
The State Department denied 5,343 Mexicans visas on “public charge” grounds between October and July, a significant uptick from the seven denied applicants in 2016. The practice is now official policy, and will reportedly factor in wealth, education, age, and English-language skills more than before. The policy will likely dramatically reduce family-based legal immigration, though it’s unclear how “public charge” will be defined. The Washington Post via The Week
New Ebola treatments offer hope of cure
Scientists announced Monday that two experimental antibody-based treatments for Ebola work so well that doctors will offer them to all patients in the Democratic Republic of Congo. “Now we can say that 90 percent can come out of treatment cured,” one scientist said. Patients might feel “more comfortable about seeking care early” now that there is real hope for a cure, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said as the World Health Organization and the Congolese government made the announcement. The development boosted the chances that health officials will be able to stop the deadly epidemic in eastern Congo, and prevent the spread of future outbreaks. Until now, Ebola has been widely viewed as a likely death sentence. The New York Times via The Week