国务院解释取消朝鲜之行：目前时机不妥
据美国有线电视新闻网(CNN)和《华盛顿邮报》报道，朝鲜上周致信美国，警告去核化会谈“可能处于危机并瓦解”。
报道说，信中的严厉词汇使得特朗普政府突然取消了美国国务卿蓬佩奥对朝鲜的计划之行，他原本于上周五出发。
这本将是国务卿蓬佩奥第四次朝鲜之行，但是总统特朗普在推特上突然宣布取消行程，并指责中国没有对去核化会谈提供帮助。
国务院发言人诺尔特拒绝证实是否有来自朝鲜的信函，据报道，信中警告特朗普会谈处于破裂的边缘。
然而她对蓬佩奥国务卿取消行程做出了这样的解释。她说：“整个国家安全团队对此进行了讨论。根据他们的判断，他们认为现在并不是最好的访问时机。总统对此表示赞同，于是他决定发推特公布这个决定。”
美国驻联合国大使黑利说，朝鲜可能会改变在去核化方面的立场，但是说美国不会改变在制裁上的态度。她说：“好的一面是，我们的制裁基本已经阻碍了他们90%的贸易和30%的原油交易。我们坚持这些制裁，他们就会需要财政帮助，就会来寻求它。”
国防部长马蒂斯说，他正与国务卿蓬佩奥紧密合作，探讨恢复美韩联合军演。他说：“你知道，我们本着新加坡峰会的精神发出善意的信息，中止几个大型军演。现在我们没有计划继续中止任何演习。”
民主党籍参议员本·卡登对美国之音说，他支持特朗普与金正恩会面，但是不赞成结束联合军演。
他说：“起初我就认为中止联合军演是一个错误，我并不支持这个决定。我支持他们会面，我认为外交努力是必要的。但是我认为在我们看到实质结果之前，不应当对朝鲜作出任何让步。”
会谈显然陷入僵局，目前还不清楚美朝两国高层何时会再次进行会晤。
US State Dept. on Cancelled Trip to North Korea: ‘Not the Right Time to Travel’
CNN and the Washington Post are reporting that North Korea sent a letter to the United States last week warning that talks on denuclearization are ‘at stake and may fall apart.”
According to those reports, harsh rhetoric in the letter prompted President Donald Trump to abruptly cancel a planned trip to Pyongyang by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, just hours before he was set to depart last Friday.
It was supposed to be Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s fourth trip to North Korea. But President Donald Trump abruptly pulled the plug in a Tweet and accused China of not helping with the denuclearization talks.
State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert declined to confirm or deny the existence of a letter from North Korea, that reportedly warns Trump that talks were on the brink. Instead, she gave this reason for the sudden cancellation: “The entire national security team discussed this. In their judgment, they made the judgment that now is not the right time to travel. The president agreed with that and that is when the president made the decision to send out some tweets announcing that decision.”
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said it's possible that North Korea has changed its mind on denuclearization, but says the U.S. will not change its mind on sanctions. She said: “The positive is that we have sanctions that basically cut off 90% of their trade, 30% of their oil. We are holding tight on those sanctions so they still need financial relief and they are begging for it.”
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said he is coordinating closely with Secretary Pompeo about resuming joint military exercises with South Korea. He said: “As you know, we took the step to suspend several of the largest exercises as a good faith measure coming out of the Singapore Summit. We have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises.”
Senator Ben Cardin told VOA he supports Trump's meeting with Kim Jong Un, but not ending the joint military exercises.He said: “Well, I thought it was a mistake to end the military exercises in the beginning, I did not support that. I did support the meeting - I think using diplomacy makes sense. But I don’t think there should be concessions made to North Korea unless we see tangible results.”
With talks apparently stalled, it is not clear when the world is likely to see the next images of another top-level meeting between the U.S. and North Korea.
美国经济增长加快，超出预期
美国经济在4月、5月和6月以4.2%的速度增长，这一增速较此前公布的第二季度初值的增速高出0.1个百分点。
“经济状况良好，” PNC银行首席分析师福奇尔表示。他写道，这创下“三年来最好的同比增长。”
但福奇尔也表示，超过4%的增速是“不可持续的”，经济“将在2018年下半年有所放缓”，全年增速将达到3.4%。他预计，随着“减税和支出增长的刺激措施逐渐消退”，美国经济增速将在2019年和2020年进一步放缓。
美国商务部周三发布的报告是例行修订，因为收集到了更完整的数据。
经济数据增长是受到了进口下降的提振，尤其是石油进口下降，以及一些暂时性因素的影响。
其中一个暂时性因素是大豆出口激增。为了避免赶上中国对特朗普政府新关税的报复性关税，中国以比往常更快的速度进口大豆。
第二季度修正值几乎是1月、2月和3月经济增速的两倍。
US Economy Grows a Bit Faster Than First Thought
The U.S. economy expanded at a 4.2 percent annual rate in April, May, and June. The second-quarter growth figure is one-tenth of a percent higher than initial estimates.
"The economy is in good shape," according to PNC Bank Chief Economist Gus Faucher. He writes that this is the best "year-over-year increase in three years."
But Faucher also says growth above four percent is "unsustainable" and the economy is "set to slow somewhat in the second half of 2018," and hit 3.4 percent for the whole year. He predicts U.S. economic growth will slow further in 2019 and 2020 as the "stimulus from tax cuts and spending increases fades."
Wednesday's report from the Commerce Department is a routine revision made as more complete data becomes available.
Growth figures were boosted by a decline in imports, particularly petroleum, and by some temporary factors.
One of them is a surge in soybean exports, which were rushed at a faster-than-usual pace to beat tariffs imposed by China, in retaliation for new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on Chinese goods.
The new second quarter figures are nearly double the performance in January, February, and March.
