Nation and World briefs for July 16

Trump moves to effectively end asylum at southern border

WASHINGTON — Reversing decades of U.S. policy, the Trump administration said Monday it will end all asylum protections for most migrants who arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border — the president’s most forceful attempt yet to block asylum claims and slash the number of people seeking refuge in America.

The new rule, expected to go into effect Tuesday, would cover countless would-be refugees, many of them fleeing violence and poverty in Central America. It is certain to face legal challenges.

According to the plan published in the Federal Register , migrants who pass through another country — in this case, Mexico — on their way to the U.S. will be ineligible for asylum. The rule also applies to children who have crossed the border alone.

The vast majority of people affected by the rule are from Central America. But sometimes migrants from Africa , Cuba or Haiti and other countries try to come through the U.S.-Mexico border, as well.

There are some exceptions, including for victims of human trafficking and asylum-seekers who were denied protection in another country. If the country the migrant passed through did not sign one of the major international treaties governing how refugees are managed (though most Western countries signed them) a migrant could still apply for U.S. asylum.

China’s growth cools further as tariff war pressures mount

BEIJING — China’s economic growth sank to its lowest level in at least 26 years in the quarter ending in June, adding to pressure on Chinese leaders as they fight a tariff war with Washington.

The world’s second-largest economy grew 6.2% from a year ago, down from the previous quarter’s 6.4%, government data showed Monday.

Hopes for an early growth rebound faded after U.S. President Donald Trump raised tariffs on Chinese imports in May to turn up pressure on Beijing over the aggressive tactics it’s using to challenge American technological dominance. Now, economists say the slowdown might extend into next year.

Weaker Chinese activity carries global repercussions. China is the world’s second-biggest export market behind the United States. Countries that feed raw materials to Chinese factories — from Chilean copper to Indonesian coal — are especially vulnerable to decelerating growth in China.

Besides hurting countries that export raw materials to Beijing, the Chinese slowdown also could come back to squeeze American companies such as Procter & Gamble and General Motors that sell into the vast Chinese consumer market. Slowing demand in China could depress their revenue, earnings and stock market value, said Mary Lovely, a Syracuse University economist who studies trade.

Eventually, weaker stock prices could undermine U.S. consumer confidence and the American economy, she said.

Trump abortion restrictions effective immediately

WASHINGTON — Taxpayer-funded family planning clinics must stop referring women for abortions immediately, the Trump administration said Monday, declaring it will begin enforcing a new regulation hailed by religious conservatives and denounced by medical organizations and women’s rights groups.

The head of a national umbrella group representing the clinics said the administration is following “an ideological agenda” that could disrupt basic health care for many low-income women.

Ahead of a planned conference Tuesday with the clinics, the Health and Human Services Department formally notified them that it will begin enforcing the ban on abortion referrals, along with a requirement that clinics maintain separate finances from facilities that provide abortions. Another requirement that both kinds of facilities cannot be under the same roof would take effect next year.

The rule is widely seen as a blow against Planned Parenthood, which provides taxpayer-funded family planning and basic health care to low-income women, as well as abortions that must be paid for separately. The organization is a mainstay of the federally funded family planning program and it has threatened to quit over the issue.

Planned Parenthood President Leana Wen said in a statement that “our doors are still open” as her organization and other groups seek to overturn the regulations in federal court. “We will not stop fighting for all those across the country in need of essential care,” Wen said.

Harris blasts, and takes money from, Epstein’s law firm

WASHINGTON — Kamala Harris bemoaned the influence of the powerful and connected elite last Tuesday when she called on top Justice Department officials to recuse themselves from any matter related to Jeffrey Epstein. She said their former law firm’s work on behalf of the financier accused of sexual abuse “calls into question the integrity of our legal system.”

Yet the same day, Harris’ husband headlined a Chicago fundraiser for her presidential campaign that was hosted by six partners of that firm — Kirkland and Ellis, according to an invitation obtained by The Associated Press.

Harris, a California senator and Democratic presidential candidate, was one of several White House hopefuls to blast the handling of Epstein’s case in Florida a decade ago, when his lawyers negotiated a deal with federal prosecutors that allowed him to avoid the possibility of years in prison. But her decision to move ahead with the fundraiser hosted by Kirkland and Ellis partners while criticizing the firm underscores the tension that can arise when a politician’s rhetoric collides with his or her need to raise money to sustain a presidential campaign.

“If any connection with Kirkland and Ellis is a stain on (senior Justice Department officials), why isn’t a connection with the law firm for the receipt of campaign contributions a stain on her own campaign?” said Paul S. Ryan, an attorney for the good-government group Common Cause.

Ian Sams, a Harris spokesman, said there wasn’t a problem with accepting the campaign contributions because the firm is big and the partners who hosted the fundraiser didn’t work on Epstein’s plea agreement.

‘Chatgate’ scandal throws Puerto Rico governor into crisis

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Nearly two years ago, Hurricane María exposed the raw dysfunction of Puerto Rico, collapsing long-neglected infrastructure and leaving several thousand dead on Gov. Ricardo Rosselló’s watch. Last week, two of his top former officials were arrested by the FBI on corruption charges.

But the scandal that is threatening to buckle the boyish 40-year-old governor centers on a profanity-laced and at times misogynistic online chat with nine other male members of his administration in which some of the U.S. territory’s most powerful men act like a bunch of teenagers. The leak of at least 889 pages of the private chat has sunk Rosselló into the deepest crisis of his career.

In the chats on the encrypted messaging app Telegram, Rosselló calls one New York female politician of Puerto Rican background a “whore,” describes another as a “daughter of a bitch” and makes fun of an obese man he posed with in a photo. The chat also contains vulgar references to Puerto Rican star Ricky Martin’s homosexuality and a series of emojis of a raised middle finger directed at a federal control board overseeing the island’s finances.

For many Puerto Ricans still recovering from one of the United States’ worst-ever disasters, on the back of the island’s biggest public financial collapse, the scandal analysts and ordinary people are calling “Chatgate” has proven to be too much.

Protesters marched in the capital for the third day on Monday to call for Rosselló’s resignation. The leaders of the U.S. territory’s house and senate said they weren’t planning impeachment proceedings, but an influential association of mayors from Rosselló’s pro-statehood party said he had lost their support. Puerto Rican artists Benito A. Martínez Ocasio, known Bad Bunny, and René Pérez, known as Residente, both said on Twitter they planned to return to Puerto Rico to join the protests.

Treasury chief: Facebook currency plan ripe for illicit use

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration came out strongly Monday against Facebook’s ambitious plan to create a new digital currency, as the Treasury chief warned it could be used for illicit activity such as money laundering, human trafficking and financing terrorism.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin expressed “very serious concerns” about the currency proposed by the social network giant, to be called Libra. “This is indeed a national security issue,” Mnuchin told reporters at the White House.

His comments came a few days after President Donald Trump tweeted that Libra “will have little standing or dependability.”

Trump, fresh off a “social media summit” he led at the White House that gathered conservative critics of Big Tech, tweeted last week: “I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity.”

If they want to get into the financial business, Facebook and its dozens of partner companies in the venture will have to accept the kind of tight regulation that banks are under, the president said.