This is People's Daily Tonight, your news source from China.
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US tariffs on China borne by Americans, unlikely to resolve trade imbalances, IMF experts say
The International Monetary Fund warned that American importers and consumers are footing the bill for the U.S. administration's tariffs on Chinese goods.
It said imposing tariffs is a counterproductive policy to tackle currency overvaluation because "tariffs and exchange rates work differently."
IMF researchers said the depreciation of China's currency, the renminbi, is largely "a result of these trade actions and associated uncertainties.”
US President Donald Trump announced on Twitter on Aug. 1 that the US will impose an additional 10 percent tariff on some 300 billion dollars in Chinese imports, effective Sept. 1. (Xinhua)
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Natural disasters affect over 70 mln people in China since June
Frequent natural disasters including floods and typhoons have affected about 71.8 million people in China since June, leaving 627 dead or missing, according to data from the Ministry of Emergency Management.
Destroying houses and damaging crops, natural disasters have caused direct economic losses of 215.3 billion yuan since June 1, the ministry said at a press conference Thursday.
Rounds of rainstorms and floods have wreaked havoc in the south, while strong typhoons have caused substantial damage to the country's east.
The ministry said the impact of natural disasters was less than the average level of the same period over the past five years. (Xinhua)
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Ethics body set to improve oversight of tech
Chinese experts said the establishment of a national ethics committee on science and technology will improve supervision and ensure they develop along the right path.
They said the rapid development of science and technology in China, including life sciences and artificial intelligence, had created an urgent need to establish a top-level body to ensure effective ethical supervision of different sectors.
China announced a plan to establish a national science and technology ethics committee on July 24, but details have not been released. (China Daily)
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Amendments coming to criminal law
A draft amendment to the Chinese Criminal Law and a draft law on administrative punishments are expected to be unveiled this year, according to a legislative official.
"We're taking the time to study and draft the two laws, and try to submit them to the top legislature, for review at a certain time of this year in line with the legislative procedures," said Zang Tiewei, the first-ever spokesman of the committee's Legislative Affairs Commission.
Over the next few months, the commission will also promote the legislative affairs on draft sections of the civil code, as well as on draft amendments to the drug administration law, the securities law, the land administration law and the urban real estate administration law, he added. (Xinhua)
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World Bank urges countries to improve water quality
The World Bank has urged countries to improve their water quality as part of a strategy to achieve economic growth.
World Bank Group President David Malpass said deteriorating water quality is stalling economic growth, worsening health conditions, reducing food production, and exacerbating poverty in many countries.
A World Bank report on water quality said countries must move faster and put in place environmental policies and standards to safeguard water treatment and management. (Xinhua)
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US has 501,000 fewer jobs than first reported
The US job market isn't quite as strong as originally believed — with revised figures showing that the economy had 501,000 fewer jobs this March than initially reported.
The Labor Department said Wednesday that nearly two-thirds of the downward revision came from the retail and leisure and hospitality sectors, the industries most associated with consumer spending.
These preliminary revisions complicate the Trump administration's message of a strong economy, as they suggest that job growth was slowing as the expansion approached its tenth anniversary. Some of this slowdown would be natural given the length of the expansion.
Business services, health care, construction and manufacturing were also lower than first reported. But other sectors had their jobs upwardly revised. This was the sharpest downward revision in jobs totals since 2009, when the economy was just starting to emerge from the Great Recession. (AP)
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Traveling exhibition to recognize British settlement's impact on indigenous Australians
And the Australian government has launched an initiative to commemorate Captain James Cook's arrival in the country and its impact on indigenous peoples.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Ken Wyatt announced the Encounter 2020 program on Thursday, saying it would commemorate the 250th anniversary of Cook's arrival while also acknowledging the lasting impact it had on the country's First Peoples.
Cook's arrival in 1770 is considered by many indigenous Australians to be the beginning of the invasion of the continent by white Europeans. (Xinhua)
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And that's People's Daily Tonight. Thanks for joining us.
(Produced by David Nye and Bai Yuanqi)