The White House issued a proclamation Friday evening officially announcing the doubling of steel tariffs on Turkey, slated to go into effect Monday. Earlier Friday, the Turkish lira suffered its worst one-day loss in a decade after President Donald Trump announced the United States would hike metals tariffs, prompting investor confidence to slump. Trump announced the doubling of aluminum and steel tariffs in a tweet Friday morning, citing bilateral strains. Ties between the countries have been strained, as Washington is urging Ankara to release Andrew Brunson. The American pastor is currently held under house arrest on terrorism charges. The White House dismisses the charges as baseless and accused Ankara of hostage taking. Turkey wants Brunson to stand trial. The Brunson dispute triggered the collapse in the Turkish currency as investors feared U.S. financial sanctions. All week the lira has been under pressure, which accelerated with the failure of diplomatic talks in Washington this week. ‘Just the stick’ U.S. patience with Turkey is seen to have ended, experts say. “Most of the actors in the Washington scene think that carrots just don’t work with Turkey, just the stick,” said political analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners. Friday saw the lira falling more than 15 percent, bringing the decline to more than 40 percent since the beginning of the year. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed supporters in the provincial city of Bayburt. “We will not lose the economic war,” Erdogan said Friday. “Turkey will fight economic hitmen just as it …
Russia Not Expected to Stand Up for Tanking Ruble Amid Sanctions
A threat of more U.S. sanctions has sent the ruble tumbling to its weakest since mid-2016 but authorities are not expected to leap to the currency’s defense after weathering a similar storm in April, analysts said. The ruble crashed to 67.67 versus the dollar on Friday, losing more than 6 percent of its value in just one week, as the United States said it would impose fresh sanctions against Moscow. The ruble’s slide was akin to its drop in April when, also battered by sanctions from Washington, it lost 12 percent in just a few days. Lack of action The lack of action by authorities back then is convincing market players now that they will not intervene this time either. “When we think about what has happened in April, when sanctions were introduced and we saw a similar reaction in the ruble … this is not a move in the ruble that would make policy makers extremely worried,” said Tilmann Kolb, an emerging market analyst at UBS Global Wealth Management in Zurich. Liza Ermolenko, an economist at Barclays in London, said that given the central bank refrained from intervening in the market in April, it is clear that a more sudden and deeper drop in the ruble would be required to make it step in now. The authorities have made few public comments on the latest falls, which started on Wednesday, when the U.S. State Department announced a new round of sanctions that pushed the ruble to two-year lows and …
Після вихідних долар зросте на 13 копійок – НБУ
Курс долара у понеділок, 13 серпня, складе 27 гривень 24 копійки, свідчать дані на сайті Національного банку України. На 10 серпня НБУ встановлював курс 27 гривень 11 копійок за долар. За день до цього його вартість становила 26 гривень 96 копійок – саме тоді долар вперше з 2 серпня знизився в ціні нижче позначки 27 гривень. Читайте також – Очікування траншу МВФ: чому падає гривня і міжнародні резерви Водночас офіційний курс євро на 13 серпня встановлений на рівні 31 гривні 21 копійки – це на 22 копійки менше, ніж 10 серпня. …
US Consumer Prices Rise Modestly in July
Consumer prices in the U.S. rose a modest 2.9 percent in July from a year ago, as inflation rose gradually but slowly. Friday’s Labor Department report showed the Consumer Price Index, a broad measure of Americans’ living expenses, increased two-tenths of a percentage point from the previous month. Core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy prices, rose at the same pace. WATCH: Economy Doing Well, But Not All Americans See It That Way The main driver of inflation in July was higher housing costs. Food expenses increased slightly, while energy, medical care and clothing prices fell modestly. The data showed that prices were rising a little faster than wages, leaving the buying power of paychecks one-tenth of a percentage point lower today than a year ago, despite an otherwise healthy economy. Inflation increases and wage declines in the past 12 months can be blamed on higher oil, gasoline and transportation costs, which had remained at relatively low levels for the previous six years. Keeping inflation in check is the job of the Federal Reserve, the central bank system of the U.S. It tries to do that by raising interest rates, which makes it more expensive to borrow money and tends to cool economic activity. Lower levels of commerce tend to reduce the pressure to raise prices and wages that fuel inflation. The Fed already has raised interest rates twice this year, and many economists expect two more interest rate hikes this year. Higher borrowing costs, however, would make …
Trump Doubles Tariffs on Turkish Steel, Aluminum Imports
U.S. President Donald Trump further escalated tensions with Turkey Friday by announcing a sharp increase in tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in an early morning post on Twitter. In announcing 20 percent tariffs on aluminum and 50 percent tariffs on steel, Trump said “the Turkish Lira, slides rapidly downward against our very strong Dollar!” Trump’s announcement came two days after a Turkish diplomatic delegation visited Washington in a bid to to ease tensions between the two countries. Analysts have warned that rising U.S.-Turkish tensions are threatening a financial crisis in Turkey. On Monday, the Turkish lira suffered its most significant drop in a decade following reports the Trump administration was considering ending Turkey’s duty-free access to the U.S. market. Trump’s Friday tweet caused a further drop in the Turkish currency. U.S.-Turkish tensions began to escalate last week, with Trump targeting two Turkish ministers with sanctions over the detention of U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson. Brunson is currently under house arrest in Turkey while standing trial on terrorism charges. The White House dismisses the charges as baseless and accused Ankara of hostage taking. Saying Friday Turkey faced “an economic war,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged citizens to support the lira by exchanging foreign money for the local currency. “If you have dollars, euros or gold under your pillow, go to banks to exchange them for Turkish lira,” he said on national television. “It is a national fight.” Erdogan called on Turks to not be concerned about exchange rate movements, mockingly …
Ціни на продукти в Україні знижуються – Держстат
Ціни на продукти харчування в Україні продовжують тенденцію до зниження, заявляють у Кабінеті міністрів із посиланням на дані Державної служби статистики. За даними, наведеними 9 серпня, в липні порівняно з червнем ціни на продовольство знизилися на 1,9%. Найбільше (12,4 – 7,6%) подешевшали сезонні продукти – овочі, фрукти й яйця. Також знизилися ціни на молоко, молочні продукти, сало і свинину. При цьому, за повідомленням, на 0,7 – 1,9% так само сезонно подорожчали вироби із зернових, в тому числі хліб і макаронні вироби, та деякі крупи. У цілому споживчі ціни в липні, за даними Держстату, знизилися на 0,7%. Порівняно з липнем 2017 року ріст цін склав 8,9%. У Національному банку України прогнозували, що у 2018 році інфляція складе понад 8%. …
Brazil Surpasses 2020 Target to Cut Deforestation Emissions
Brazil cut its greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation in 2017 to levels below its internationally agreed 2020 climate change targets, the country’s Environment Ministry said Thursday. Brazil reduced its emission from deforestation in the Amazon rainforest by 610 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), compared to its 2020 target of 564 million tons. In the Cerrado savanna, emissions were reduced 170 million tons of carbon dioxide versus a target of 104 million tons. The Amazon, the world’s largest tropical rainforest, and the Cerrado, South America’s biggest savanna, soak up vast amounts of carbon dioxide, and their preservation is seen as vital to the fight against climate change. But destruction of the forest releases large quantities of CO2, one of the main greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. Large-scale Amazon deforestation has made Brazil one of the world’s top greenhouse gas emitters, because of fires and the spread of agriculture and cattle ranching. The 2020 emission goals were set out in the 2009 Copenhagen Accord to combat climate change. Under the more ambitious Paris Agreement in 2015 on climate change, Brazil has set goals for further steep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions for 2025 and 2030. “The policy message is that we can and should remain in the Paris Agreement (because) it is possible to effectively implement the commitments that have been made,” said Thiago Mendes, secretary of climate change in the Environment Ministry. …
Wildlife Official Who Stirred Fears on Species Law Will Leave Post
The head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is stepping down after a 14-month tenure in which the agency proposed broad changes to rules governing protections for thousands of species and pushed for more hunting and fishing on federal lands, officials said Thursday. Greg Sheehan will leave the agency next week to return to his family and home in Utah, spokesman Gavin Shire said. He has led the wildlife service since last June as the senior political official appointed under President Donald Trump in a newly created deputy director position. Under his tenure, the wildlife service moved recently to end a long-standing practice that automatically gave the same protections to threatened species as it gives more critically endangered species. The proposal also limits habitat safeguards meant to shield recovering species from harm and would require consideration of the economic impacts of protecting a species. That’s alarmed wildlife advocates who fear a weakening of the Endangered Species Act, which has been used to save species as diverse as the bald eagle and the American alligator. The proposed changes were cheered by Republican lawmakers and others who say the endangered species law has been abused to block economic development and needs reform. A request to interview Sheehan was declined. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke had sought to make Sheehan acting director of the 9,000-employee wildlife service, which would have given him certain legal authorities. However, Sheehan was barred from that role because he did not have the science degree required for the …
US Court Orders Trump EPA to Pull Pesticide
A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the Trump administration endangered public health when it overturned an Obama-era rule banning a dangerous pesticide. In a 2-to-1 decision, the Seattle-based court gave the Environmental Protection Agency 60 days to pull chlorpyrifos from the market, one of the most widely used pesticides in the country. The judges said the administration was unjustified in overturning the ban and ignored the science proving that residue of it on food is linked to brain damage in babies. Former EPA chief Scott Pruitt reversed the Obama decision to extend an earlier ban on the product from general household use to its use on food. Pruitt called it a return to “sound science” and a move away from “predetermined results.” Dow Chemical, which manufactures chlorpyrifos, has in the past defended the pesticide as a product helping farmers feed the world while respecting “human health and the environment.” “The court has made it clear that children’s health must come before powerful polluters,” the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Erik Olson said Thursday. “This is a victory for parents everywhere who want to feed their kids fruits and vegetables without fear it is harming their brains or poisoning communities.” …
Kenya Banks on Human Milk to Reduce Newborn Mortality
Joshua Okumu’s wife, Mary Mwanja, died during childbirth 18 years ago at Pumwani Maternity Hospital in Nairobi. But their daughter survived. When he picked up his newborn baby at the nursery, grief-stricken and shocked, Okumu was not entirely sure how to feed her. “So when I reached home, I started feeding her with a packet of milk called Tuzo,” he said. “By that time, Tuzo was not diluted like nowadays. So, that is what I was using to feed the small baby when I took her from the hospital. If the mum was there it would have been healthier to be fed by her mum.” For Kenyan widowers like Okumu, there will soon be another option: human donor milk. Pumwani is getting Kenya’s first breast milk bank, which will be only the second of its kind on the continent. The other one is in South Africa. The bank is a joint initiative by Kenya’s Ministry of Health and PATH, a U.S.-based nonprofit health organization. It will open in September for donations and offer free breast milk by prescription for babies who cannot get it from their mothers. ‘Next best option’ Dr. Elizabeth Kimani Murage, head of maternal and child well-being at the African Population and Health Research Center, is behind the project. “The World Health Organization recommends that if the mother’s own breast milk is not available for the baby for any reason, the best next option would be the donor milk,” she said. “So the recommendation is to make donor milk available …
Долар зріс до гривні на 15 копійок – НБУ
Курс долара до гривні зріс на 15 копійок, свідчать дані на сайті Національного банку України. Згідно з інформацією на порталі регулятора, курс долара 10 серпня встановлений на рівні 27,11 гривні. 9 серпня вартість долара вперше від 3 серпня становила менше 27 гривень – 26,96 гривні. Читайте також – Очікування траншу МВФ: чому падає гривня і міжнародні резерви Крім того, на 19 копійок зріс курс євро – з 31,24 до 31,43 гривні. 2 серпня Національний банк України оголосив про вихід на міжбанківський ринок із продажем валюти для стримування зростання курсу долара. …
Pence: Space Force Needed to Meet New Threats
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence says President Donald Trump’s proposed Space Force is necessary to “meet the emerging threats on this new battlefied.” “Now the time has come to write the next great chapter in the history of our armed forces, to prepare for the next battlefield … The time has come to establish the United States Space Force,” Pence said in a speech at the Pentagon. In June, Trump called for the creation of the Space Force, a new military branch that Trump said is needed to ensure U.S. dominance in space. Defense Secretary James Mattis expressed skepticism last year over the need for a seperate Space Force, citing more bureaucratic bloat and higher costs. On Thursday, though, Mattis said he supported the creation of a new command that would utilize members of existing military branches. “We’ve got to be able to compete, deter and win,” Mattis said. The Pentagon is to submit a report to Congress soon detailing plans to create the Space Force. Congress is the only branch of government that has the authority to approve the creation of a new military division. …
Kids + Screen Time = Dry Eyes
If you’ve ever spent a lot of time in front of a computer, you’ve probably come away bleary eyed. That’s because you don’t blink as much when you are working on a computer, which could lead to dry eyes. With the popularity of video games and online activities, dry eye is becoming increasingly common in children and teens glued to their screens. The condition can cause permanent eye damage, but fortunately, as VOA’s Carol Pearson reports, there’s an app for that. …
Chinese Media Say US Tariff Moves Reflect ‘Mobster Mentality’
Chinese state media on Thursday accused the United States of a “mobster mentality” in its move to implement additional tariffs on Chinese goods and warned that Beijing had all the necessary means to fight back. The comments marked a ratcheting up in tensions between the world’s two largest economies over a trade dispute, which is already affecting industries including steel and autos and is causing unease about which products could be targeted next. Beijing late on Wednesday said it would slap additional tariffs of 25 percent on $16 billion worth of U.S. imports, in retaliation against news the United States plans to begin collecting 25 percent extra in tariffs on $16 billion worth of Chinese goods beginning August 23. “The two countries’ trade conflict, which is merely push and shove at the moment, is likely to escalate into more than just a scuffle if the U.S. administration cannot marshal its mobster mentality,” state newspaper China Daily said in an editorial. “China continues to do its utmost to avoid a trade war, but in the face of the U.S.’s ever greater demand for protection money, China has no choice but to fight back,” it said. So far, China has now either imposed or proposed tariffs on $110 billion of U.S. goods, representing the vast majority of its annual imports of American products. Big-ticket U.S. items that are still not on any list are crude oil and large aircraft. “China has confidence in protecting its own interests [and] has many means,” state broadcaster CCTV said on its early-morning news show. Another commentary, written by China Institute of International Studies research fellow …
Scientists: Tunnels in Thai Garnets Might Be Due to Microbes
Life has found a way to survive in some of the most extreme conditions imaginable. Now, scientists believe they might have found a new habitat for hardy microbes — inside garnets. New research found unusual patterns of tunnels in Thai garnets with deposits of fatty acids in the burrowed pathways, indicating a microbe caused the damage. Magnus Ivarsson, lead researcher on the study at the University of Southern Denmark, said the research started with an exchange student from Thailand who was studying the gem quality of the garnets. She discovered the tunnels that branched and changed directions, unlike previously described environmental weathering, and consulted Ivarsson. “When I first saw these structures, these tunnels, I was sort of intrigued by the complexity of them,” Ivarsson told VOA. “I have previously studied other microbial boring in minerals and materials, but I’ve never seen anything with this complexity.” The garnets are an unexpected habitat for microbes because of their hardness. In fact, according to Ivarsson, this is the hardest mineral yet discovered to be bored by microbes. “Who knows what we’ll find next. Maybe a diamond bored by microbes. Who knows?” Ivarsson said. Researchers are careful to point out that no living organisms were discovered within the gemstones. Dawn Cardace, a researcher in the department of geosciences at the University of Rhode Island, studies how geology and biology interact. She told VOA that while this study didn’t find any DNA of the organisms, “This wasn’t troubling to me, largely because they chose to …
New York Moves to Cap Uber, App-Ride Vehicles
New York’s city council on Wednesday dealt a blow to Uber and other car-for-hire companies, passing a bill to cap the number of vehicles they operate and impose minimum pay standards on drivers. The city of 8.5 million is the biggest app-ride market in the United States, where public transport woes and astronomical parking costs have helped fuel years of untamed growth by the likes of Lyft, Uber and Via. But that growth has brought New York’s iconic yellow cabs to their knees. Since December, six yellow cab drivers have committed suicide. Those deaths have been linked, at least in part, to desperation over plummeting income. The bill stipulates a 12-month cap on all new for-hire-vehicle licenses, unless they are wheelchair accessible, as well as minimum pay requirements for app drivers — regulated by the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC). It makes New York the first major city in the United States to limit the number of app-based rides and to impose pay rules for drivers. A recent TLC-commissioned study recommended a guaranteed income of $17.22 an hour for drivers — $15, plus a supplement to mitigate against rest time. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, a progressive Democrat, vowed to sign the bill into law, proclaiming that it would “stop the influx of cars contributing to the congestion grinding our streets to a halt.” “More than 100,000 workers and their families will see an immediate benefit from this legislation,” de Blasio said. Around 80,000 drivers work for at least …
Argentine Abortion Campaigners Brace for Crucial Senate Vote
After Ireland voted to legalize abortion in May, will Argentina, another traditionally Catholic country, do the same? The country’s senators will make the decision Wednesday, amid fiercely polarized campaigns on both sides of the hot-button issue. The bill was passed by Congress’ lower house in June by the narrowest of margins, but it is widely expected to fall short of the votes needed to pass in the Senate — 37 of the 72 senators have made it known they will say no. If the measure does fail, lawmakers must wait a year to resubmit the legislation. As the lawmakers settled in for what was expected to be a marathon session that could stretch past midnight, demonstrators on both sides rallied outside Congress. Abortion rights supporters wore green scarves while anti-abortion activists donned baby blue. A partition was set up to keep them separated. Scores of buses have brought people into Buenos Aires from other parts of Argentina, city hall said. Despite the negative projections and strong opposition from the highly influential Catholic Church in the homeland of Pope Francis, abortion rights proponents are not giving up hope. “We’re doing everything so that the initiative passes. We have faith in the street movement,” leading campaigner Julia Martino told AFP. “We believe many senators will show their support when the vote happens.” Currently, abortion is allowed in Argentina in only three cases, similar to most of Latin America: rape, a threat to the mother’s life or if the fetus is disabled. If …
China, Germany Defend Iran Business Ties as US Sanctions Grip
China and Germany defended their business ties with Iran on Wednesday in the face of President Donald Trump’s warning that any companies trading with the Islamic Republic would be barred from the United States. The comments from Beijing and Berlin signaled growing anger from partners of the United States, which reimposed strict sanctions against Iran on Tuesday, over its threat to penalize businesses from third countries that continue to operate there. “China has consistently opposed unilateral sanctions and long-armed jurisdiction,” the Chinese foreign ministry said. “China’s commercial cooperation with Iran is open and transparent, reasonable, fair and lawful, not violating any United Nations Security Council resolutions,” it added in a faxed statement to Reuters. “China’s lawful rights should be protected.” The German government said U.S. sanctions against Iran that have an extra-territorial effect violate international law, and Germany expects Washington to consider European interests when coming up with such sanctions. The reimposition of U.S. sanctions followed Trump’s decision earlier this year to pull out of a 2015 deal to lift the punitive measures in return for curbs on Iran’s nuclear program designed to prevent it from building an atomic bomb. Iran’s highest authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said meanwhile the country had nothing to be concerned about, a report on his official website said in an apparent reference to the imposition of the U.S. sanctions “With regard to our situation do not be worried at all. Nobody can do anything,” Khamenei said recently, the website reported. “There is no …
Study: Online Daters Aim ‘Out of Their League’
Most people who use online dating websites seek partners who are out of their league, said a study Wednesday based on heterosexuals in four big US cities. “Both men and women pursued partners about 25 percent more ‘desirable’ than themselves,” said the report in the journal Science Advances. Hardly anyone reached out to people who ranked significantly lower than themselves. People’s desirability was determined using a ranking algorithm based on how many messages they received from other popular users on a dating site in New York, Seattle, Boston and Chicago. “If you are contacted by people who are themselves desirable, then you are presumably more desirable yourself,” said the study. Using this PageRank algorithm, which is employed by web search engines, researchers could establish a person’s “league,” which they scientifically coined “hierarchies of desirability.” For some at the pinnacle of the dating game, the flurry of messages from would-be suitors was dizzying. “The most popular individual in our four cities, a 30-year-old woman living in New York, received 1,504 messages during the period of observation, equivalent to one message every 30 min, day and night, for the entire month,” said the study. While researchers did not reveal the end to this lady’s love story, they did find that the majority of daters on the site tended to reach out to people who were ranked higher than themselves. They also tended to send lengthier messages to people deemed higher on the desirability ladder. In most cases, these long-shots fell short. When …
4,5 млрд доларів становив обсяг приватних переказів до України у перші 5 місяців року – НБУ
Обсяг приватних грошових переказів до України в січні – травні 2018 року становив 4,5 мільярда доларів, заявив голова Ради Національного банку України Богдан Данилишин на своїй сторінці у Facebook 7 серпня, розмірковуючи про українську еміграцію. За його словами, кількість приватних грошових переказів до України за перші п’ять місяців цього року на 30% перевищила минулорічний показник. «І теорія, і практика доводять, що на короткостроковому горизонті міграція може принести дуже великі вигоди як для мігрантів та їхніх родин, так і для країни походження. Зменшення безробіття і неповної зайнятості, скорочення масштабів бідності, підвищення доходів і добробуту – далеко не повний перелік позитивних наслідків міграції для мігрантів та їх сімей. Часто вони включають поліпшення інших аспектів людського розвитку, таких як освіта та охорона здоров’я», – заявив Данилишин. Він додав, що держава, зі свого боку, отримує більші обсяги грошових переказів, які зазвичай є менш волатильними і надійнішими джерелами іноземної валюти, ніж інші потоки капіталу в багатьох країнах, що розвиваються. Водночас, на його думку, довгострокові наслідки є «набагато менш позитивними». «По факту держава отримує менше населення працездатного віку, втрачає освічену молодь та кваліфікованих спеціалістів, відчутно зростає тиск на державні фінанси», – пише Данилишин. 7 березня віце-прем’єр-міністр України Павло Розенко в ефірі телеканалу ZIK заявив, що залежно від сезону за кордоном працює від 2,5 до 4 мільйонів українців. …
China Exports Accelerated in July Despite Rise in US Tariffs
China’s exports to the United States surged last month as its merchants rushed to fill orders ahead of a jump in U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods. Its shipments to the United States climbed 13 percent in July from a year earlier, to $41.5 billion, after a roughly similar rise in June, customs data show. At the same time, Beijing’s trade surplus with the United States — a frequent source of anger and threats from President Donald Trump — grew 11 percent to $28 billion. Chinese exporters appear to be trying to ship their goods to the United States before tariffs that Trump is imposing in a fight over technology policy take full effect. The trade war between the world’s two biggest economies has forced many multinational companies to reschedule purchases and rethink where they buy materials and parts to try to dodge or blunt the effects of tit-for-tat tariffs between Washington and Beijing. Beijing has warned that its exporters face “rising instabilities” after Washington slapped 25 percent duties on $34 billion of Chinese goods last month in response to complaints that China steals or pressures foreign companies to hand over technology. Beijing has retaliated against the U.S. tariffs with higher duties on a similar amount of American goods. On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced that it would proceed with previously announced 25 percent tariffs on an additional $16 billion of Chinese imports starting Aug. 23. On Wednesday, China hit back by saying it would impose identical 25 percent punitive duties …
Red-hot Voyage to Sun Will Bring us Closer to our Star
A red-hot voyage to the sun is going to bring us closer to our star than ever before. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will get nearly seven times closer to the sun than previous spacecraft. It will hurtle through the sizzling solar atmosphere and come within nearly 4 million miles of the surface. It’s designed to take solar punishment like never before, thanks to its revolutionary heat shield that’s capable of withstanding 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. To snuggle up to the sun, it will fly past Venus seven times over seven years. Liftoff is set for the pre-dawn hours of Saturday. …
Ebola Vaccinations Begin in Congo’s Latest Deadly Outbreak
The World Health Organization says experts are starting to carry out Ebola vaccinations in Congo’s latest deadly outbreak. Health officials have warned that containing the outbreak is complicated by the presence of multiple armed groups in the northeast region that borders Uganda and Rwanda. Congo’s health ministry says at least nine people have died in the country’s tenth Ebola outbreak, which was declared Aug. 1. There have been 16 confirmed Ebola cases, 27 probable cases and 46 suspected ones. The experimental vaccine was used in an earlier, unrelated outbreak in Congo’s northwest that was declared over last month. The first to be vaccinated are health workers, contacts of confirmed Ebola cases and their contacts. Genetic analysis has confirmed the virus strain in this latest outbreak is the Zaire strain. …
Trump Says He Wants China to Treat US ‘Fairly’ on Trade
U.S. President Donald Trump predicted Tuesday the United States and China will have a “fantastic trading relationship” but one that will be different from the way it has been under previous presidents. Speaking to a group of invited business leaders, Trump said he wants China to do well, but also wants Chinese policies to treat the United States fairly. Trump has frequently highlighted China as a target of what he says are unbalanced trade relationships he wants to alter in order to benefit American workers. He has implemented more than $30 billion in new tariffs on Chinese goods, and on Tuesday his administration said another $16 billion in tariffs would go into effect later this month. China has said it plans to counter with tens of billions of dollars in tariffs on U.S. exports. It also released its latest trade figures Tuesday showing a surge in exports in July despite the U.S. actions. Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at the Johns Hopkins University and a former Reagan Administration trade official, told VOA the U.S. trade deficit with China is “really not a problem.” He compared the situation to the trade deficit the United States had with Japan in the 1980s that prompted President Ronald Reagan to institute the type of protectionist policies Trump is now supporting. But Hanke said he expects China to have a stronger response than the Japanese did. “China is a big power and they’re going to play hard ball with the United States, so …