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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 27, 2018
WORLD IN BRIEF
Associated Press
Massive Northern
California wildfire
kills 2nd firefighter
REDDING, Calif. — An explosive wildfire
raged through several Northern California com-
munities, killing two firefighters and destroying
dozens of homes after thousands of terrified res-
idents fled in miles-long traffic jams.
Flames that turned the sky orange swept
through the communities of Shasta and Kes-
wick before jumping the Sacramento River on
Thursday and reaching Redding, a city of about
92,000 people and the largest in the region.
The so-called Carr Fire is “taking down
everything in its path,” said Scott McLean, a
CalFire spokesman for the crews battling the
blaze.
Sixty-five structures had been destroyed, and
500 other buildings were threatened, fire offi-
cials said.
A firefighter with the Redding Fire Depart-
ment was killed in Shasta County, officials said
today. Another firefighter hired to try to contain
the flames with a bulldozer was killed Thursday.
Residents in the western part of Redding
who had not been under evacuation orders
were caught off guard and had to flee with lit-
tle notice.
“When it hit, people were really scram-
bling,” McLean said. “There was not much of
a warning.”
Many fire crews turned their focus from the
flames to getting people out alive.
“Really, we’re in a life-saving mode right
now in Redding,” said Jonathan Cox, battalion
chief with Cal Fire. “We’re not fighting a fire.
We’re trying to move people out of the path of it
because it is now deadly, and it is now moving
at speeds and in ways we have not seen before
in this area.”
The 45-square-mile fire that began Monday
tripled in size overnight Thursday amid scorch-
ing temperatures, low humidity and windy con-
ditions. It was sparked by a mechanical issue
involving a vehicle.
US economy surges
to 4.1 percent growth
rate in Q2
WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy
surged in the April-June quarter to an annual
growth rate of 4.1 percent. That’s the fast-
est pace since 2014, driven by consumers who
began spending their tax cuts and exporters who
rushed to get their products delivered ahead of
retaliatory tariffs.
President Donald Trump told reporters at
Kim Hong-Ji
A soldier carries a casket containing remains of a U.S. soldier who was killed in the
Korean War during a ceremony at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea.
North Korea returns remains
of U.S. servicemen killed in war
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un
today for “fulfilling a promise” to return the remains of missing U.S. soldiers from the Korean
War, as a U.S. military plane made a rare trip into North Korea to retrieve 55 cases of remains.
North Korea returned the remains of what are believed to be U.S. servicemen killed during
the Korean War, a handover that followed through on a promise Kim made to Trump when the
leaders met in June in Singapore, the first tangible result from the much-hyped summit.
A U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft containing remains of fallen service members arrived at
Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, near the South Korean capital of Seoul. A formal repatriation
ceremony will be held there Wednesday.
At the air base, U.S. servicemen and a military honor guard lined up on the tarmac to
receive the remains, which were carried in boxes covered in blue U.N. flags.
About 7,700 U.S. soldiers are listed as missing from the 1950-53 Korean War, and 5,300 of
the remains are believed to still be in North Korea. The war killed millions, including 36,000
American soldiers.
U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, in a statement from the U.N. Com-
mand, called the retrieval mission successful. “Now, we will prepare to honor our fallen before
they continue on their journey home.”
Following the honors ceremony on Wednesday, the remains will be flown to Hawaii for sci-
entific testing. A series of forensic examinations will be done to determine if the remains are
human and if the dead were American or allied troops killed in the conflict.
Officials in North Korea had no comment on the handover today, the 65th anniversary of
the end of the Korean War, which the country celebrated as the day of “victory in the father-
land liberation war.”
The repatriation of remains could be followed by stronger North Korean demands for fast-
tracked discussions to formally end the war, which was stopped with an armistice and not a
peace treaty. South Korea’s Defense Ministry also said the North agreed to general-level mili-
tary talks next week at a border village to discuss reducing tensions across the countries’ heav-
ily armed border.
the White House that he was thrilled with what
he called an “amazing” growth rate and said it
wasn’t “a one-time shot.”
Private economists took issue with that fore-
cast, saying the second-quarter performance
isn’t likely to last in the months ahead.
The Commerce Department reported today
that the gross domestic product, the country’s
total output of goods and services, posted its
best showing since a 4.9 percent gain in the third
quarter of 2014.
Trump, who has repeatedly attacked the
economic record of the Obama administration,
pledged during the 2016 campaign to double
growth to 4 percent or better. But private fore-
casters cautioned that the April-June pace is
unsustainable because it stems from temporary
factors. The rest of the year is likely to see solid,
but slower growth of around 3 percent.
The latest GDP figure was nearly double
the 2.2 percent growth rate in the first quarter,
which was revised up from a previous estimate
of 2 percent growth.
Consumer spending, which accounts for 70
percent of economic activity, rose to a 4 percent
annual growth rate after turning in a lackluster
0.5 percent gain in the first quarter. Consumers
began spending their higher take-home pay on
autos and other big-ticket items, spurred by the
$1.5 trillion tax cut Trump pushed through Con-
gress in December.
Another factor that bolstered the second
quarter was a rush by exporters of soybeans and
other products to get their shipments to other
countries before retaliatory tariffs in response
to Trump’s get-tough trade policies took effect.
Exports rose at a 9.3 percent rate in the second
quarter, while imports grew at a tiny 0.5 percent
rate.
The narrowing trade deficit added a full per-
centage-point to growth in the second quarter,
though economists are concerned that a full-
blown trade war between the United States and
China, the world’ s two biggest economies, will
hurt growth going forward.
Officials: Over 1,800
migrant kids reunited
by deadline
SAN DIEGO — Shy children were given
a meal and a plane or bus ticket to locations
around the U.S. as nonprofit groups tried to
smooth the way for kids reunited with their
parents following their separations at the U.S.
Mexico border.
The Trump administration said Thursday
that more than 1,800 children 5 years and older
had been reunited with parents or sponsors
hours before the deadline. That included 1,442
children who were returned to parents who were
in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
custody, and another 378 who were released
under a variety of other circumstances.
But about 700 more remain separated,
including 431 whose parents were deported,
officials say. Those reunions take more time,
effort and paperwork as authorities fly children
back to Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
Homeland Security officials said this morn-
ing that they had reunified all eligible parents
with children — but noted many others were not
eligible because they have been released from
immigration custody, are in their home coun-
tries or chose not to be reunited.
A RE
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