Monday morning news: July 25, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Yellen: Recession isn’t inevitable » The U.S. economy is slowing down, but the Biden administration says it’s too soon to use the R-word.

Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen …

YELLEN: A recession is a broad-based weakness in the economy. We’re not seeing that now, and I absolutely don’t think that’s necessary.

That from NBC’s Meet the Press.

Recession is widely defined as two straight quarters of decline. And many economists expect the numbers to show exactly that in the days ahead.

But Yellen noted that the job market is still strong, though she conceded that job growth is likely to slow. But she added that to get to a sustainable market …

YELLEN: That’s necessary and appropriate.

She said she’s confident that the Federal Reserve will succeed in beating back inflation. But rising costs are weighing on the White House. In a new Quinnipiac poll, 66 percent of respondents disapproved of the president’s handling of the economy.

Biden continues to improve after COVID infection » President Biden’s health continues to improve, despite a lingering sore throat from a COVID-19 infection.

White House virus response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said Sunday …

JHA: The president has an upper-respiratory infection. He’s doing better, thankfully, because he’s vaccinated, boosted, getting treated.

The 79-year-old president tested positive on Thursday. He has been isolating at the White House.

The president’s personal physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor said Biden “is responding to therapy as expected.” He’s been taking the antiviral drug Paxlovid.

Ashish Jha said it’s really hard to pinpoint where Biden contracted the virus.

JHA: He’s been meeting with people. He’s been meeting with Americans. So it’s going to be very difficult to trace back and figure out who gave it to him.

Officials say the president likely contracted the highly contagious subvariant BA.5 that has become dominant in the U.S.

COVID cases have tripled across Europe in 6 weeks » That strain and its cousin, BA.4, have continued to fuel a rise in new cases and hospitalizations.

Dr. Mark Woolhouse is an infectious disease expert at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

WOOLHOUSE: They’re highly transmissible and they’re also able to evade the immune responses we already have, whether it’s due to the vaccines or to exposure from previous variants.

While the uptick so far has been slow and steady in the United States, it has been bigger in Europe.

The World Health Organization said recently that cases had tripled across Europe in six week’s time, doubling hospitalization rates.

But intensive care admissions in Europe have remained low. And the new omicron subvariants are not causing the same severe spike as the original omicron strain or delta before it.

Dr. Paul Hunter with Norwich Medical School in England pointed out …

HUNTER: The highest number was about 2,000 new infections in hospital. And that compares to the peak last year of about 35-to-40,000 new admissions in a single day.

WHO declares monkeypox emergency » Meanwhile, the World Health Organization declared that monkeypox now qualifies as a global health emergency. Director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus said over the weekend …

GHEBREYESUS: We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly though new modes of transmission about which we understand too little.

He said the virus, which is transmitted by contact with the skin lesions of an infected person, is spreading most rapidly among homosexual men.

GHEBREYSUS: That means that this is an outbreak that can be stopped with the right strategies in the right groups.

The virus has spread to more than 70 countries. The United States has reported nearly 3,000 cases. He said the risk of monkeypox globally is moderate, except in Europe where it’s higher.

A global emergency is WHO’s highest level of alert, but it does not necessarily mean that virus is especially transmissible or lethal. There is a vaccine for monkeypox—the CDC has sent more than 370,000 doses to U.S. states reporting cases.

Zelenskyy condemns Odesa airstrike » Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned a Russian airstrike on Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa.

ZELENSKY: [Speaking in Ukrainian]

The attack happened just hours after Moscow and Kyiv signed deals to allow grain exports to resume from Odesa.

Russia and Ukraine last week pledged not to target vessels and port facilities involved in shipping grain. Turkey help facilitate those talks, amid a global food crisis.

Zelenskyy said the attack “destroyed the very possibility” of dialogue with Moscow.

Minions top global box office » At the weekend box office, Minions fever is still going strong worldwide.

AUDIO: [Minions trailer]

Minions: The Rise of Gru was the top international draw over the weekend, adding another $42 million in ticket sales for a total of $640 million.

Domestically, the new sci-fi flick Nope, took the top spot. The R-rated thriller hauled in more than $40 million in its opening weekend.

I’m Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org. 

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