Top Stories Today – August 20, 2019
Top Stories Today – August 20, 2019
White House insists US economy is strong
The “fundamentals” of the US economy are solid, the White House asserted, invoking an ill-fated political declaration of a decade ago amid mounting concern that a recession could imperil President Donald Trump’s reelection. Exhibiting no such concern, senior adviser Kellyanne Conway declared to reporters on Monday, “The fact is, the fundamentals of our economy are very strong.”
A case can be made for the White House position. The US job market is setting records for low unemployment, and the economy has continued uninterrupted growth since Trump took office. But growth is slowing, stock markets have swung wildly in recent weeks on recession fears, and indicators in the housing and manufacturing sectors have given economists pause. A new survey Monday showed a big majority of economists expecting a downturn to hit by 2021 at the latest, according to a report from the National Association of Business Economics. The Associated Press
US tests ground missile previously banned in treaty with Russia
Russia on Tuesday criticized the United States for testing a ground-based missile that until three weeks ago had been banned under an arms treaty between the two nations. The missile, launched Sunday at San Nicolas Island, California, “accurately impacted its target after more than 500 kilometers of flight,” the Pentagon announced in a news release Monday.
The United States previously was unable to pursue ground-based missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers because of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, a decades-old arms control pact with Russia. Washington withdrew from that pact on Aug. 2, citing years of Russian violations. The Pentagon stressed that the cruise missile was configured to carry a conventional payload, not a nuclear weapon. New Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has said that if the US military develops a fully operational mobile ground-launched cruise missile system, he wants to see American ground-based intermediate-range conventional missiles deployed to Asia. The Voice of America
Huawei expects no relief from US sanctions but is confident
The founder of Chinese tech giant Huawei said Tuesday he expects no relief from US export curbs due to the political climate in Washington but expressed confidence the company will thrive because it is developing its own technology.
Ren Zhengfei also said he doesn’t want relief from US sanctions if it requires China to make concessions in a tariff war, even if that means his daughter, who is under house arrest in Canada on US criminal charges, faces a longer legal struggle. The Associated Press
Pompeo: N Korea talks have not resumed as quickly as hoped
The United States has not returned to the negotiation table with North Korea as quickly as it had hoped, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday, but he added that Washington knew there would be ‘bumps on the road’ in the denuclearization talks. Speaking in an interview with CBS, Pompeo said Washington was concerned about North Korea’s firing of short-range missiles. “I wish they would not,” he said, referring to the tests.
The latest of the missile tests by North Korea was carried out on Friday as Pyongyang fired two more short-range projectiles into the sea off its east coast. The launches have complicated attempts to restart talks between US and North Korean negotiators over the future of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. Reuters
Urgency for vaccine grows as virus ravages China’s pigs
Scientists are working to develop a vaccine to help guard the world’s pork supply as a deadly virus ravages Asia’s pig herds. Farmers have long contained its spread by quarantining and killing infected animals, but the disease’s devastating march into East Asia is intensifying the search for another solution.
The virus hadn’t been considered as high a priority for researchers until it turned up last year in China, home to half the world’s pig population, likely by way of Eastern Europe and Russia. Since then, it has spread to other Asian countries including Vietnam and Taiwan, killing millions of pigs along the way. Though it does not sicken people, the disease is highly contagious and deadly to pigs. The Associated Press
WH mulling payroll tax cut amid recession concerns
The White House is actively considering pushing for a payroll tax cut to bolster consumer spending, currently the brightest spot in an economy showing other signs of economic malaise, multiple officials tell The Washington Post and The New York Times. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow is also reportedly advocating a capital gains tax cut, which, unlike a payroll tax cut, would mostly benefit wealthy investors and wouldn’t require approval by Congress.
Payroll tax cuts either drain money from Social Security and Medicare accounts or add to the ballooning deficit, already up 27 percent from last year. The White House, which is publicly dismissive of recession fears, said Monday that “cutting payroll taxes is not something under consideration at this time.” The Washington Post, The New York Times via The Week
Planned Parenthood leaves federal family planning program
Planned Parenthood said Monday that it would withdraw from the federal family planning program that provides birth control and other health services to poor women rather than comply with a new Trump administration rule that forbids referrals to doctors who can perform abortions.
Planned Parenthood receives about $60 million annually through the federal program, known as Title X. The funds have enabled the group to provide more than 1.5 million low-income women each year with services like birth control and pregnancy tests, as well as screenings for sexually transmitted diseases and breast and cervical cancer. In some rural communities, Planned Parenthood is the only provider of such services. The New York Times
Pompeo says ISIS strong in some areas
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo acknowledged on Tuesday that Islamic State militants are gaining strength in some areas but said the militant group’s capacity to conduct attacks has been greatly diminished. He said the Islamic militant group was gaining new strength in Iraq and Syria.
President Donald Trump said in December that US troops succeeded in their mission to defeat Islamic State in Syria and were no longer needed in the country. “We won,” he said at the time. Islamic State claimed responsibility for a wedding suicide attack that killed 63 people and wounded 182 on Saturday in the Afghan capital of Kabul. Reuters