US budget deficit is nearly $1tn, highest since 2012
WASHINGTON: America’s budget deficit soared to nearly $1 trillion in the 2019 fiscal year as government borrowing swelled, the US Treasury announced Friday.
The fourth straight year of broadening budget gaps underscored a new tolerance for yawning fiscal imbalances in the current political era.
Republican lawmakers’ oftstated fears of weak fiscal discipline under the prior administration have fallen by the wayside and trillion-dollar annual deficits look set to become a new normal.
The increase in government borrowing runs counter to US President Donald Trump’s campaign pledges in 2016 to eliminate America’s $19 trillion debt load.
TRUMP RUES IPHONE HOME BUTTON LOSS
When Apple removed the home button on some iphone models starting in 2017, the change upset some of its customers because it forced them to swipe upwards, rather than tap a button, to unlock the device or return to its home screen. Trump, who uses an iphone, is among those who do not like the change.
“To Tim: The Button on the Iphone was FAR better than the Swipe!” Trump tweeted on Friday. The tweet appeared to be directed at Apple chief executive Tim Cook, who has dined with Trump at least twice and has discussed trade issues with the US president on multiple occasions.
US TO END FLIGHTS TO SOME CUBAN AIRPORTS The US will suspend all scheduled flights to Cuba except to its capital Havana, authorities said on Friday, as Trump pushes to dismantle the rapprochement begun by his predecessor Barack Obama. The suspension goes into effect on December 10.
US JUDGE VALIDATES IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY A US judge validated the legality of the impeachment inquiry against Trump and ordered his administration to hand over an unredacted copy of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report detailing Russian meddling in the 2016 election. With the move, district judge Beryl Howell handed a major victory to the Democratic-led US House.
BAGHDAD: Iraqi security forces fired tear gas to force protesters away from Baghdad’s Green Zone on Saturday ahead of a planned parliament session, AFP correspondents said, a day after 42 demonstrators were killed.
In the capital and across the south, protesters died on Friday from live rounds, wounds sustained from tear gas canisters and in fires set to government and paramilitary offices.
On Saturday morning, demonstrators tried to reach Baghdad’s high-security Green Zone, where parliament is scheduled to “discuss protesters’ demands, cabinet’s decisions and the implementation of reforms” later in the day, according to its agenda.
Security forces fired tear gas to force protesters away from Tahrir (Liberation) Square and the adjacent Al-jumhuriya bridge, which leads to the Green Zone, home to government offices and foreign embassies.
67 KILLED IN ANTI-ABIY PROTESTS, VIOLENCE ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA: Violence in Ethiopia that began with protests against Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Abiy Ahmed and quickly morphed into ethnic clashes has left 67 people dead in Oromia state, a police official said on Friday.
The spike in the death toll came as the high-profile activist at the centre of the violence accused Abiy, this year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate, of acting like a dictator and suggesting he might challenge him in elections planned for next year.
“The total number dead in Oromia is 67,” said Kefyalew Tefera, the regional police chief, adding that five of the dead were police officers.