U.S. coronavirus death toll rises above 100,000 in world’s deadliest outbreak – CNBC
U.S. coronavirus death toll rises above 100,000 in world’s deadliest outbreak – CNBC

The U.S. has surpassed the grim milestone of 100,000 deaths as a result of the coronavirus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, significantly more than any other country in the world.

A tally from Johns Hopkins University showed 100,047 deaths as of Wednesday evening.

More than 5.6 million people have contracted the coronavirus across the globe, with the U.S. accounting for roughly 30% of total cases. 

The U.K. has recorded the second-highest number of coronavirus fatalities, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. As of Wednesday, it had reported at least 37,542 deaths due to Covid-19. 

Brazil and Russia are second and third, respectively, when it comes to the number of Covid-19 infections confirmed to date. South America’s largest country has reported 391,222 cases of the virus, while Russia has recorded 370,680 infections. 

President Donald Trump, who is running for re-election later this year, has encouraged state governors to reopen businesses in order to boost the pandemic-stricken economy. 

In the first three months of the year, U.S. GDP (growth domestic product) fell by 4.8%. It marked the biggest quarterly economic contraction since the global financial crisis in 2008.

Meanwhile, the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Labour showed that some 38.6 million people in the world’s largest economy had lost their jobs in just nine weeks.

The rate of job losses has slowed sharply in recent weeks, but it remains at a level unseen since the Great Depression. 

Almost all states in the country have started to ease lockdown restrictions in recent days.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/27/coronavirus-us-death-toll-rises-above-100000-in-worlds-deadliest-outbreak.html

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Police chiefs react with disgust to Minneapolis death, try to reassure their own cities – The Washington Post
Police chiefs react with disgust to Minneapolis death, try to reassure their own cities – The Washington Post

Floyd apparently was arrested after he was suspected of attempting to pass a counterfeit bill in a Minneapolis business Monday evening, police said. He was then held down on the street, handcuffed and unarmed, with one officer’s knee on his neck. Floyd complained he couldn’t breathe, as a bystander streamed the video live on Facebook. Floyd appears to become unconscious during the video. The Minneapolis Police Department identified the four officers involved as Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/crime-law/2020/05/27/police-chiefs-react-with-disgust-minneapolis-killing-try-reassure-their-own-cities/

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They didn’t all have to die — a moment of reflection as US Covid deaths reach 100,000 – CNN
They didn’t all have to die — a moment of reflection as US Covid deaths reach 100,000 – CNN

Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what’s happening in the world as it unfolds.

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/27/politics/100000-deaths-moment-of-reflection/index.html

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FISA renewal in jeopardy amid resistance from Republicans and progressives – POLITICO
FISA renewal in jeopardy amid resistance from Republicans and progressives – POLITICO

GOP opposition to the plan, meanwhile, has mounted. President Donald Trump issued his strongest statement yet against the bill, tweeting: “If the FISA Bill is passed tonight on the House floor, I will quickly VETO it.”

Earlier Wednesday, several senior Democratic aides were predicting leadership would yank the bill from the floor given the lack of support in both parties, or that the rule for considering the legislation would fail to win enough support to pass, tanking the underlying legislation.

But Pelosi remained steadfast that the legislation would see a vote on Wednesday, with hundreds of House members flying in from across the country during the pandemic for the vote.

“We’ll act upon it today one way or another,” Pelosi told reporters as she left the House floor, although she wouldn’t predict whether the measure would pass or what version of the legislation would be considered.

“We’ll see, we’ll see,” Pelosi added.

The House now plans to take up the Senate’s version of the bill — which passed by a massive bipartisan margin — though progressives and Republicans have indicated they won’t support it. The House passed its own version in March, with 152 Democrats and 126 Republicans voting yes.

The House had initially planned to vote on a bipartisan amendment to restrict the collection of internet search history, but that new language ran into trouble late Tuesday, with the threat of a veto from Trump. Soon after, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy personally asked House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to pull the bill.

Then there was a revolt from within the Democratic party itself, with a key senator forcefully coming out against the legislation. The opposition from Sen. Ron Wyden — a fierce supporter of privacy rights on the internet — quickly fueled angst among the party’s liberal wing, which had already been uneasy about the legislation.

And on Wednesday morning the Department of Justice formally came out against the legislation, a striking reversal given that Attorney General William Barr helped negotiate key privacy provisions in the bill, which passed the Senate earlier this month.

But Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), who had drafted the new language on search histories, dismissed Barr’s comments on Wednesday morning, arguing that he has a “very expansive view of executive power.”

“He’s entitled to his view, but we’re the legislative branch,” Lofgren said at the Rules hearing. “We are the ones who decide what protections to put in place, and I think if we’re able to come together to accomplish that, it would be a service to the country.

Hoyer told Democrats on the caucus call Wednesday morning that leadership still wants to pass the surveillance bill this week, noting he, Pelosi and others were still working to find a path forward, according to aides familiar with the call.

The latest rupture began over a proposal by Wyden to block the FBI from collecting the web browsing data of Americans. Wyden’s plan failed by a single vote in the Senate, but Lofgren negotiated with House leaders to bring it up for a House vote when the chamber considered the broader bill.

But Lofgren also negotiated a deal with House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff to tweak the language to narrow the restrictions on the FBI, a deal that infuriated Wyden and left him and other progressives calling for the defeat of the measure.

Opposition from the left resulted in an unusual alliance with Trump allies who oppose the FBI’s request for FISA reauthorization over claims it was abused to monitor figures on Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Some proponents of the current FISA bill — including conservative Republicans who have long sought to rein in government surveillance powers — said that the fierce backlash demonstrated the potential power of the reforms.

“You can tell we’re getting to actual reform, not just by the allies, but by the opponents,” Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) said at a remote hearing of the Rules Committee on Wednesday. “I’d vote for it.”

Kyle Cheney contributed.

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/27/fisa-renewal-limbo-284025

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Pompeo told Congress Hong Kong is no longer autonomous from China. Here’s what that means. – Vox.com
Pompeo told Congress Hong Kong is no longer autonomous from China. Here’s what that means. – Vox.com

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared Wednesday that Hong Kong is no longer autonomous from China — a dramatic step that could transform the US’s relationship with the territory.

Pompeo’s announcement comes one day before China is expected to pass a controversial national security law that will criminalize “treason, secession, sedition (and) subversion” against the government in Beijing, CNN reports. It will also allow Chinese security forces to operate in Hong Kong “to fulfill relevant duties to safeguard national security in accordance with the law.”

Critics fear it will be used to target not just protesters but also the media, international businesses, and anyone else in Hong Kong who tries to challenge Beijing’s authority.

And it may be what triggered Pompeo to decline to certify Hong Kong’s autonomy.

“Beijing’s disastrous decision is only the latest in a series of actions that fundamentally undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms and China’s own promises to the Hong Kong people under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a UN-filed international treaty,” Pompeo said in a statement on Wednesday, referring to China’s national security law.

The Sino-British Joint Declaration refers to a treaty between the United Kingdom and China that mapped out the future of Hong Kong, a former British colony. Britain agreed to return the territory to China on July 1, 1997, on the promise that China would give Hong Kong a “high degree of autonomy” for 50 years, until 2047. Pompeo, in his certification, is saying Beijing has reneged on this binding promise.

“After careful study of developments over the reporting period, I certified to Congress today that Hong Kong does not continue to warrant treatment under United States laws in the same manner as US laws were applied to Hong Kong before July 1997,” Pompeo’s statement continued. “No reasonable person can assert today that Hong Kong maintains a high degree of autonomy from China, given facts on the ground.”

Pompeo is required to assess Hong Kong’s autonomy annually to determine whether it still merits the special trading and economic benefits it enjoys from the US, which aren’t extended to mainland China.

The State Department had to make this assessment as part of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act signed by President Donald Trump late last year, an attempt by Congress to signal its support for the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. (The bill also includes provisions to sanction those who violate human rights in Hong Kong.)

But Beijing has increasingly encroached on Hong Kong’s semi-autonomy, trying to bring it closer under its control and stamp out dissent. Last year, the Hong Kong government — whose chief executive, Carrie Lam, is closely tied to Beijing — introduced an extradition bill that set off months of pro-democracy protests by Hongkongers who interpreted the legislation as another attempt to curtail Hong Kong’s freedoms and rule of law.

The Covid-19 outbreak tamped down the public resistance, but China’s attempt to impose this national security law reignited tensions. Thousands of protesters demonstrated against the law this weekend. Activists flooded the streets again on Wednesday, surrounding government buildings to agitate against a Hong Kong law that would criminalize disrespecting the Chinese national anthem, which pro-democracy groups see as yet another attempt to cripple Hong Kong’s autonomy and stifle dissent.

Pompeo cited some of these points in the official certification he sent to Congress. In it, Pompeo says that Beijing has slowly been eroding freedoms, but that since his last report, “China has shed any pretense that the people of Hong Kong enjoy the high degree of autonomy, democratic institutions, and civil liberties guaranteed to them by the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law.”

The secretary of state’s declaration doesn’t trigger any actions directly; it’s up to Trump to decide what steps to take and whether to formally revoke Hong Kong’s special status.

Such a move could have unpredictable consequences. The US could risk tens of billions in trade, and it could jeopardize Hong Kong’s standing as a global financial hub. “That status is really critical to Hong Kong’s economy, and that’s obviously very related to Hong Kong’s ability to protect that separate identity,” Jacob Stokes, a China analyst at the US Institute of Peace told me last week, before Pompeo’s decision.

Hong Kong — and its relatively strong rule of law — is a gateway for foreign companies who want to do business in China but without some of the risks. That’s also a boon to China that could go away if the Trump administration pursues this “nuclear option,” as Ho-Fung Hung, professor of political economy at Johns Hopkins, described it to NPR’s Marketplace.

Removing the status entirely might send the wrong signal, too: that Hong Kong is too far gone — something that could actually undermine the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong if the US sends the message that the territory is a lost cause.

Which is why the Trump administration is likely weighing several different options. The New York Times reports that the Trump administration is considering applying tariffs to goods coming from Hong Kong, taxes from which it had previously been exempt.

But Pompeo’s announcement is still an incredibly strong signal from Washington to Beijing, particularly as the Trump administration has vowed to punish China for its role in the pandemic. The declaration that Hong Kong is no longer autonomous is a powerful acknowledgment of the erosion of the territory’s freedoms under China’s control.

And it’s a clear show of support to the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, which has decried China’s encroachment even as pro-Beijing Hong Kong officials have dismissed concerns that it will diminish the territory’s freedoms.

China’s new national security law “tears down all the remaining pretension of ‘one country, two systems’”

Pompeo has previously described China’s new proposed national security law as a “death knell” for Hong Kong. Chinese officials claim the law is meant to target the alleged “foreign influence” China says is driving the unrest in Hong Kong. But that is largely disinformation; China has blamed outsiders for fueling violence in Hong Kong to deny the grassroots resistance.

The reality is that the law is very clearly targeted as a catchall against dissent and anyone challenging Beijing’s authority.

China has, at least rhetorically, honored the “one country, two systems” rule. In practice, though, it has sought greater and greater control over Hong Kong. The national security law is merely a much more direct and obvious step toward what Beijing has been trying to accomplish for years: one country, one system.

That’s because this law is coming directly from Chin, rather than from the Hong Kong government, which would at least give it the veneer of legitimacy. Ho-Fung Hung, a professor of political economy at Johns Hopkins University, told me last week that Beijing may have stepped in directly because it learned a lesson from the 2019 anti-extradition bill protests, which ultimately defeated the legislation and embarrassed China.

“It will be a huge embarrassment if it tried to push through the local legislature that is eventually shelved because of local protests,” Hung said. “Beijing didn’t want to reach that event. Beijing even didn’t trust the local legislature, so it adopted this kind of extreme route to directly legislate.”

“And it is a big, risky move,” he added, “because it tears down all the remaining pretension of ‘one country, two systems.’”

China’s dramatic escalation also comes as the whole world — and the media, which had devoted a lot of attention to the Hong Kong protests — is distracted by the pandemic and as Hong Kong itself is under social distancing restrictions. The imposition of those rules gave Hong Kong some cover to quell protests (while also helping to successfully control the outbreak there).

But China had long made it clear it had no tolerance for the protesters or even more peaceful challenges to its authority, such as when pro-democracy candidates in Hong Kong dominated local elections. And now China has at least hinted at how it plans to consolidate its control.

The introduction of the law has still sparked resistance in Hong Kong, with protesters congregating and defying social distancing rules that ban large gatherings last weekend. Police cracked down on the protests, arresting more than 100 people. But what happens when China implements the law — which could happen as soon as August, per CBS News — is still unclear.

Whether the US’s decision will have ramifications for China’s power grab is also uncertain. China has previously resisted any interference by the State Department into what it considers its internal affairs. “As to the erroneous foreign interference in Hong Kong affairs, we will take necessary measures to fight back,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Wednesday, after Trump said Tuesday that the US might “do something” about Hong Kong.

How China responds will depend on what the Trump administration does following this certification. Some lawmakers have cautioned the administration against trying to use Hong Kong as a cudgel in its separate battle with China. “The U.S. response to the Chinese government’s actions must be decisive, clear, and taken to protect U.S. national interests and to support autonomy and democratic freedoms in Hong Kong provided under international law,” House Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-NY) said in a statement. “US policy toward Hong Kong should not be a pawn in whatever games Secretary Pompeo or President Trump is playing with Beijing.”

But Pompeo’s announcement today risks further souring relations between Washington and Beijing, with Hong Kong caught in the precarious middle.

Alex Ward contributed reporting to this story.

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Source Article from https://www.vox.com/2020/5/27/21272201/hong-kong-pompeo-autonomy-congress-china

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Coronavirus rules for reopening California gyms coming soon – Los Angeles Times
Coronavirus rules for reopening California gyms coming soon – Los Angeles Times

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday said his administration will release guidelines “in a week or so” for allowing gyms, yoga studios and other fitness facilities to reopen, though stringent safeguards will need to be adopted to protect customers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Newsom cautioned that the state directives will be tailored to the unique characteristics of each business, from large fitness chains to small studios, and will rely heavily on the advice of public health officials in each county.

The governor made the comments during an online roundtable with fitness professionals and business owners Wednesday morning, saying he hopes to allow them to be back in business as soon as possible.

“We also recognize your sector is multifaceted and we don’t want to be naive and just put out something that’s bland and that doesn’t meet your unique criteria and your unique considerations,” Newsom said.

The news comes as Dr. Sara Cody, Santa Clara County’s public health officer who was a key figure in crafting the San Francisco Bay Area’s shelter-in-place order, the first of its kind in the U.S., said she was concerned with the Newsom administration’s decision to allow gatherings of up to 100 people for religious, cultural or political reasons and the “increased frequency” with which the state is lifting coronavirus restrictions.

Newsom said that 47 of California’s 58 counties had met the state’s regional standards to ease his stay-at-home order, which include preparations to increase hospital capacity, testing and supplies of protective equipment. That has allowed retailers in most of the state to open, as well as hair salons and barbershops.

The governor‘s chief of staff, Ann O’Leary, said the draft guidelines to reopen the fitness industry are currently being reviewed by state public health officials and that she expects those directives to be released within a week.

Adam Attia, owner of Fitness Rangers in Sacramento, told the governor that the closure, put in place in March to stem the spread of the coronavirus, has been financially and personally devastating. He told the governor he needs to reopen soon — within a week or so — if he hopes to stay in business.

“We’re desperate. We want to go back into the gym. We’re doing everything we can to keep our members engaged,” Attia told Newsom during the meeting, which streamed on YouTube. “We’re at a point where I’m going to have to lay everyone off. I may have to close my doors permanently if we can’t reopen soon. We really need your support.”

Francesca Schuler, chief executive of In-Shape Health Clubs, also emphasized how essential the fitness industry is to Californians.

“We’re one of the only industries that’s really in preventative healthcare of the community so impacted by COVID-19. Many of them are individuals who struggle with chronic illnesses., usually, diabetes, high blood pressure,” Schuler told the governor.

This week, Newsom unveiled the new directive for salons and issued statewide guidelines for religious services, calling on houses of worship to limit attendance to 25% of capacity of their buildings, conduct health screenings of congregants and take other precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The Newsom administration on Monday also allowed retail stores to reopen, shifting away from an earlier patchwork approach that permitted in-person shopping only in counties that met the state’s criteria. Retailers are advised to limit the number of patrons in stores at one time, urge employees and customers to wear face masks, and provide hand sanitizer, in addition to other guidelines.

Under Newsom’s original four-stage reopening plan, hair salons, barbershops, nail salons and other grooming services, gyms, sports competitions in empty stadiums and religious services were set to open in Stage 3.

The fourth and final stage would mark the end of the stay-at-home order and all restrictions, allowing people to return to concerts and sporting events, which the governor previously noted was unlikely to occur until a vaccine became widely available.

Source Article from https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-05-27/gavin-newsom-california-reopening-fitness-centers-guidelines

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Pandemic Has Taken 100,000 Lives Across the United States – NPR
Pandemic Has Taken 100,000 Lives Across the United States – NPR

A volunteer artist sets up a memorial May 20 in Brooklyn. Artists and volunteer organizers across New York City put up memorials throughout the five boroughs to honor those who died of COVID-19.

Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images


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A volunteer artist sets up a memorial May 20 in Brooklyn. Artists and volunteer organizers across New York City put up memorials throughout the five boroughs to honor those who died of COVID-19.

Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images

The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 has reached a somber milestone: As of Wednesday afternoon, the highly infectious viral disease has taken more than 100,000 lives nationwide.

Soaring from two known coronavirus fatalities in February to more than 58,000 in April, the tally of U.S. deaths — in a country with fewer than 5% of the world’s inhabitants — now accounts for nearly one-third of all the known lives lost worldwide to the pandemic.

According to a mortality analysis by Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center, about 6% of the nearly 1.7 million people who have tested positive for the coronavirus in the U.S. have succumbed to the disease.

Public health experts said the coronavirus has exposed the vulnerability of a wide range of Americans and the shortcomings of a U.S. health care system faced with a deadly pandemic.

“What is different about this is, it is affecting all of us in a variety of ways, even if some of us are able to social distance in more effective ways than others,” said sociology professor Kathleen Cagney, who directs the University of Chicago’s Population Research Center. “But we all feel at risk.”

Even some who are well-acquainted with earlier health scourges in the U.S. were caught off guard by this one.

“I think anybody who understands anything about infectious disease recognizes that we were going to sooner or later face something like this,” said John Barry, a professor at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and author of The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History, on NPR’s Fresh Air earlier this month. “But, you know, intellectually understanding it is one thing, and having it hit you is something quite different.”

Demographic disparities in deaths
People have died from the disease in all 50 states and most U.S. territories. But the impact has been felt unevenly. Demographic statistics that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has posted of the first nearly 69,000 fatalities show some striking disparities:

— The disease has been far deadlier for males than females. For age groups up to 75 years old, about twice as many men and boys have been killed by COVID-19 as have women and girls.

— Older people have died in much greater numbers than those who are younger. Eighty percent of the known fatalities were at least 65.

— Racial and ethnic disparities in who is dying have also become apparent, even while tracking data that Johns Hopkins has compiled remain incomplete.

In Alabama, for example, 44% of those killed by COVID-19 were black in a state where fewer than 27% of its residents are African American. Similarly, while African Americans make up 14% of Michigan’s population, they account for 40% of that state’s COVID-19 fatalities.

Nurses and health care workers mourn colleagues who died during the pandemic at a demonstration in April outside Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan.

Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images


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Nurses and health care workers mourn colleagues who died during the pandemic at a demonstration in April outside Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan.

Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images

Native American communities have also been hit especially hard by the pandemic. In Arizona, Native Americans account for about 5% of the population but make up nearly 17% of that state’s COVID-19 fatalities.

The University of Chicago’s Cagney said that differences in socioeconomic status — and thus the ability to practice social distancing — are contributing to COVID-19’s uneven lethal impact.

“If you look at the locations where people are disproportionately dying, they are in places that are lower income,” Cagney said. “They are places that likely have multiple residents in a single-unit space. They are places where people rely on public transit and rely on services like big-box locations, where by entry alone you’re putting yourself at risk.”

The degree of devastation wrought by the pathogen has taken even some public health experts by surprise.

“Back in March, I did not think this would be possible — I was not expecting 100,000 deaths,” said Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

“I really believed we as a nation would have taken the decision to put in place social distancing and accepted the economic hardship that it’s creating, and that we would have stuck to it to get transmission down to a very low level.”

A study done this month by a Columbia University research team suggests the number of coronavirus deaths in the U.S. could have been considerably lower had Americans been told sooner to stay home and maintain social distancing.

A “pre-print” version of the report — meaning it has yet to be peer-reviewed — finds that “55% of reported deaths as of May 3, 2020, could have been avoided if the same control measures had been implemented just one week earlier.”

By that measure, the nationwide death toll on that date of 65,307 could have instead stood at 29,410 — meaning nearly 36,000 lives might have been saved.

“The lesson isn’t what this means for the next time we have a pandemic with a new virus,” said Jeffrey Shaman, one of the study’s co-authors. “The lesson is really what are we doing with this virus as we move forward that it isn’t going anywhere and that we still have to contend with it.”

Asked about the Columbia University study, President Trump dismissed it last week as “just a political hit job.”

A roller-coaster ride of presidential predictions

The number of Americans killed by the pandemic appears to be a sensitive subject for a president seeking reelection in November. His predictions have gone up and down several times.

“We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China,” Trump told CNBC on Jan. 22, one day after the CDC confirmed the first COVID-19 case in the United States. “We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”

President Trump speaks to reporters May 19 after meeting with Senate Republicans at their weekly luncheon on Capitol Hill. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stand at Trump’s side.

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President Trump speaks to reporters May 19 after meeting with Senate Republicans at their weekly luncheon on Capitol Hill. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stand at Trump’s side.

Patrick Semansky/AP

Five weeks later, on Feb. 27 — almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern” — Trump continued to downplay the threat posed by the coronavirus.

“You have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero,” Trump declared at a White House coronavirus task force briefing. “That’s a pretty good job we’ve done.”

But the numbers kept rising. By the end of March, with the WHO having already declared a global pandemic, Johns Hopkins was reporting more than 188,000 confirmed coronavirus infections in the U.S. and some 5,500 deaths.

That was when Trump executed an abrupt U-turn in his effort to manage public expectations: For the first time, he broached the possibility that the pandemic — far from nearing zero — could indeed end up claiming 100,000 U.S. lives.

Speaking from the White House Rose Garden on March 29, Trump cited new mortality projections by Dr. Deborah Birx, response coordinator for the White House coronavirus task force, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The two had predicted that if no preventive measures were taken, the pandemic could cause 2.2 million deaths in the U.S.; if such measures were taken, the toll could be between 100,000 and 200,000 deaths over an unspecified period of time.

“And so, if we can hold that down, as we’re saying, to 100,000 — that’s a horrible number — maybe even less, but to 100,000,” Trump said, “so we have between 100- and 200,000 — we all, together, have done a very good job.”

Three weeks later, amid mounting pressure from supporters to reopen the economy, Trump was back to lowering public expectations about how many lives the pandemic might claim.

“One is too many. But we’re going toward 50- or 60,000 people,” Trump declared on April 20. “That’s at the lower — as you know, the low number was supposed to be 100,000 people. We — we could end up at 50 to 60.”

Trump appeared to be relying on one of the lowest of a dozen fatality estimates at the time, a range of 60,000 to 115,000 deaths modeled by the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

Family and friends lay flowers on the casket of Bishop Carl Williams Jr. last week at Hollywood Memorial Park and Cemetery in Union, N.J. Only a few family members were permitted to attend the service in person due to the pandemic.

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Family and friends lay flowers on the casket of Bishop Carl Williams Jr. last week at Hollywood Memorial Park and Cemetery in Union, N.J. Only a few family members were permitted to attend the service in person due to the pandemic.

Seth Wenig/AP

But a week later, with social distancing measures being eased, the institute practically doubled those projected numbers, forecasting that nearly 135,000 — and possibly as many as 242,890 — people would die by August in the U.S. from COVID-19.

The institute’s Murray said the earlier calculations had been made assuming every state would hold off on loosening social distancing measures until new infections had dropped to a very low level.

“But even before people started relaxing the mandates, people start changing their behavior as the national discussion about reopening the economy became pretty dominant,” said Murray, adding that his team realized keeping those mandates in place until early June “was just not going to happen. And so that’s what led to our major change in the modeling’s strategy and assumptions.”

Trump, for his part, once again raised his predictions about how many lives in the U.S. the pandemic would claim.

“I used to say 65,000,” he declared May 3 during a Fox News interview held at the Lincoln Memorial. “And now I’m saying 80 or 90, and it goes up and it goes up rapidly. But it’s still going to be, no matter how you look at it, at the very lower end of the plane.”

By mid-May, all of the dozen forecasting models for COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. tracked by the CDC surpassed Trump’s latest predictions.

“All forecast an increase in deaths in the coming weeks,” CDC Director Robert Redfield, in his first public comment on expected deaths, tweeted on May 15. Every one of those models, he added, predicted “a cumulative total exceeding 100,000 by June 1.”

Many more deaths expected — and funerals

With all 50 states now separately dropping some or all of their social distancing restrictions, health experts warn that the U.S. coronavirus death toll could climb much higher than the approximately 140,000 by August that many of them have been predicting.

A man sets a candle outside the Otay Mesa Detention Center during a “Vigil for Carlos” on May 9 in San Diego. The vigil was held to commemorate Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejia, who died of COVID-19-related symptoms at the detention center.

Sandy Huffaker/AFP via Getty Images


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A man sets a candle outside the Otay Mesa Detention Center during a “Vigil for Carlos” on May 9 in San Diego. The vigil was held to commemorate Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejia, who died of COVID-19-related symptoms at the detention center.

Sandy Huffaker/AFP via Getty Images

“Now we’re almost getting the worst of both worlds — we’re getting the economic hardship and we’re relaxing,” Murray said. “And it seems either now or in the fall, we’re going to have a big second wave, and we’ll be right back to dealing with pressure on the hospital system and dealing with, when is the peak surge coming?”

Columbia University’s Shaman said the U.S. has to keep suppressing the spread of COVID-19 while having an acceptable level of a functioning economy.

“That’s the hard problem we’re trying to address as we try to figure that out and we loosen restrictions,” Shaman said. “If we have these flare-ups, we have to be willing to immediately recognize them and tamp back down and not wait and not dither. And that goes both for communities that have experienced the virus already and those that have not experienced it as much.”

And there’s another challenge: Many of the 100,000 who have died have not yet had proper send-offs.

“It’s been stunning to me that we have had as much death as we’ve had, with as little attention to all those deaths,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute. “I think one of the reasons we’ve had so little attention to all of this is because we’ve not had the kind of public mourning that comes with mass casualties like this.”

Jha said he expects that as the U.S. opens up from its social isolation, those who have grieved privately will be holding postponed funerals, burials and other commemorations.

“I think the sort of the weight of this calamity is going to become much more apparent to people in the upcoming days and weeks,” Jha added. “So people are going to, I think, really come to grips with how awful these last couple of months have been.”

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2020/05/27/860508864/we-all-feel-at-risk-100-000-people-dead-from-covid-19-in-the-u-s

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‘Enough already’: Romney blasts Trump for pushing conspiracy theory about Joe Scarborough – CNN
‘Enough already’: Romney blasts Trump for pushing conspiracy theory about Joe Scarborough – CNN

Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what’s happening in the world as it unfolds.

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/27/politics/mitt-romney-joe-scarborough-trump-conspiracy-theory/index.html

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Pompeo declares that Hong Kong is no longer autonomous from China, threatening trade with U.S. – CNBC
Pompeo declares that Hong Kong is no longer autonomous from China, threatening trade with U.S. – CNBC

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reported to Congress on Wednesday that Hong Kong was no longer autonomous from China, a move that could jeopardize the special administrative region’s favorable trade relationship with the U.S. and open up Chinese officials to sanctions. 

The State Department was required to issue a determination on Hong Kong’s autonomy under pro-democracy legislation passed late last year. The law also requires the president to impose sanctions on foreigners who undermine “fundamental freedoms and autonomy in Hong Kong.”

Pompeo’s move comes amid a controversy in Hong Kong over a proposed national security law from Beijing that has spurred protests in the streets of the former British colony. 

The proposed law from China’s National People’s Congress would effectively bypass Hong Kong’s own legislature and targets acts of sedition against the central government in Beijing. Fears over China’s encroachment on the business center’s independence have roiled the region for months and contributed to sending Hong Kong’s economy into recession last year. 

“No reasonable person can assert today that Hong Kong maintains a high degree of autonomy from China, given facts on the ground,” Pompeo said in a statement. 

“Hong Kong and its dynamic, enterprising, and free people have flourished for decades as a bastion of liberty, and this decision gives me no pleasure. But sound policy making requires a recognition of reality,” Pompeo said. “While the United States once hoped that free and prosperous Hong Kong would provide a model for authoritarian China, it is now clear that China is modeling Hong Kong after itself.”

Hong Kong has so far been exempted from the punishing tariffs on exports to the U.S. that the Trump administration has imposed on China as part of President Donald Trump’s multiyear trade war with the country.

That exemption could be eliminated, though it’s far from certain it will be. Business groups have warned of negative consequences if Hong Kong were to lose its special status, and experts have expressed skepticism that the U.S. will impose substantial costs on China over Hong Kong. 

The U.S. has a significant financial relationship with Hong Kong. Trade in goods and services between the U.S. and Hong Kong totaled more than $66 billion in 2018, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The State Department has said that there are more than 1,300 U.S. firms doing business in the special administrative region. 

Natasha Kassam, a research fellow at Australian think tank the Lowy Institute, told CNBC’s “Capital Connection” that the U.S. could revoke some of Hong Kong’s privileges, but said such an action was the “nuclear option.”

“You can only pull that lever once and it’s not clear that will necessarily work,” Kassam said. 

China hawks in Congress have pressed the administration to move forward with sanctions on Chinese officials. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has said that if China moves forward with its national security legislation, the State Department would have no choice but to certify that Hong Kong was no longer autonomous and “sanctions should follow.”

“I applaud the Trump Administration for taking the necessary step, as required under my Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, to protect American interests and safeguard the rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong,” Rubio said in a statement Wednesday.

Trump’s own intentions remain unclear, making it difficult to predict the administration’s next steps. The president has expressed only limited interest in the Hong Kong protests, and has so far shown little appetite for actions that could jeopardize his nascent trade deal with Beijing. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tensions between the U.S. and China have been rising as a result of the spreading coronavirus pandemic, which was first reported in Wuhan, China, last year. Officials in both countries, the world’s two largest economies, have sought to pin blame for the deadly virus on each other. 

An email to the Chinese Embassy in Washington was returned with a message that said the mailbox was over its capacity. The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

— CNBC’s Christina Wilkie contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/27/pompeo-declares-hong-kong-no-longer-autonomous-from-china.html

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‘George Floyd’s life mattered’: Biden condemns death of black man in Minneapolis police custody – POLITICO
‘George Floyd’s life mattered’: Biden condemns death of black man in Minneapolis police custody – POLITICO

Police said Floyd matched the description of a suspect in a forgery case at a grocery store, and that he resisted arrest, according to the Associated Press.

Biden on Wednesday compared the circumstances surrounding Floyd’s arrest to the 2014 death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who was placed in a chokehold by police in New York and whose final plea — “I can’t breathe” — evolved into a rallying cry for protests against police brutality.

“Watching [Floyd’s] life be taken in the same manner, echoing nearly the same words … is a tragic reminder that this was not an isolated incident, but a part of an ingrained, systemic cycle of injustice that still exists in this country,” Biden said.

“It cuts at the very heart of our sacred belief that all Americans are equal in rights and in dignity, and it sends a very clear message to the black community and to black lives that are under threat every single day,” he added.

Although Biden said he was “glad” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey “stepped up right away” by announcing Tuesday the firings of the four officers involved in the arrest, the former vice president insisted “they have to be held more fully accountable” — referencing the ongoing FBI investigation into Floyd’s death and his call for a separate Justice Department probe.

“We have to get to the root of all this. You know, we have to ensure that the Floyd family receive the justice they’re entitled to,” Biden said. “And as a nation … we have to work relentlessly to eradicate these systemic failures that inflict so much damage on not just one family, one community, but on the people of color all across this nation.”

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/27/george-floyd-joe-biden-minneapolis-284237

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Brit Hume says Biden likely didn’t need mask at Memorial Day appearance: ‘On top of that, it looks absurd’ – Fox News
Brit Hume says Biden likely didn’t need mask at Memorial Day appearance: ‘On top of that, it looks absurd’ – Fox News
Video

Brit Hume: Joe Biden looked ridiculous, didn’t need to wear his mask to Memorial Day event

President Trump and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden trade barbs over wearing masks during coronavirus pandemic; reaction from Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume.

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Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume told “The Story” Tuesday that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden looked “ridiculous” by wearing a black face mask when he made his first public appearance in more than two months on Monday.

“He is with his wife, with whom he’s been quarantined for, what, 10 weeks? Something like that. Nine weeks?” Hume told host Martha MacCallum. “He’s not a COVID carrier. So the idea you’re wearing a mask to protect someone else doesn’t seem to apply here, especially the fact that [he] is outdoors, where there’s very little empirical data indicating that the virus spreads very easily outdoors …”

BIDEN WEARS MASK AT MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY, AS HE LEAVES HIS HOME FOR FIRST TIME IN TWO MONTHS

“If you look at all the other video of the event,” Hume added, “he [Biden] sat well in his six-foot range for nearly everybody he comes in contact with, and you really don’t get it by simply passing somebody.”

Hume tweeted Monday evening that Biden’s masked appearance “might help explain why Trump doesn’t like to wear a mask in public.” The president retweeted that tweet, causing a minor furor.

“It’s amazing to me that this issue of whether to mask or not mask has become a huge flashpoint,” Hume said. “And it’s breaking down on the same lines that every controversy around this whole COVID-19 outbreak has broken down. And that is, it’s largely political.

“People who tend to be conservative and/or support Donald Trump tend to think that the danger of this outbreak has been overblown. And people who think it’s absolutely terrifying and we’re all likely to die, I think, tend to be people who do not support Mr. Trump and are not conservatives. And that’s just the way it goes. And it’s remarkable because, you know, there’s a lot of hard data out there that one can look up and read.”

Biden blasted Trump for not wearing a mask in public during an interview on CNN Tuesday.

“The president’s supposed to lead by example,” Biden said. “I watched the president yesterday wearing no mask – and some making fun of the fact that I wore a mask. The truth of the matter that I think you’re supposed to lead by example.”

THE LATEST FROM FOX NEWS ON THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN

Hume disagreed, arguing that Biden was not in a situation that merited wearing a mask.

“I don’t think it makes much of an example to wear a mask … in a situation where nearly all the data we have indicated that is not necessary. And on top of that, it looks absurd,” Hume said. “And of course, you know, as vain as Donald Trump is — I mean, think of what he goes through every day to prepare himself to be seen.

“You know, he goes through this whole ritual with his hair, [which] he sprays into submission and he’s got it combed up in a certain way so that it covers his forehead. He’s obviously very, very concerned about his appearance. A lot of people don’t think he has very good taste. But this is the way he wants to look and he cares a lot about it and doesn’t like to look any other way.”

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/media/brit-hume-joe-biden-public-appearance-mask

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Dr. Anthony Fauci says a second wave of coronavirus is ‘not inevitable’ – CNBC
Dr. Anthony Fauci says a second wave of coronavirus is ‘not inevitable’ – CNBC

A second wave of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States “could happen” but is “not inevitable,” White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday.

The U.S. can prevent another wave of Covid-19 as long as states reopen “correctly,” Fauci said Wednesday morning in an interview on CNN. “Don’t start leapfrogging over the recommendations of some of the guidelines because that’s really tempting fate and asking for trouble.”

Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force, has previously warned that Americans need to prepare for the possibility of a second wave of the coronavirus in the fall, which would run alongside the flu season.

“We will have coronavirus in the fall,” Fauci said in April. “I am convinced of that.”

He told The Washington Post this month that he has “no doubt” there will be new waves of cases.

Fauci’s comments came days after he told CNBC that stay-at-home orders intended to curb the spread of the coronavirus could end up causing “irreparable damage” if imposed for too long.

“I don’t want people to think that any of us feel that staying locked down for a prolonged period of time is the way to go,” Fauci said during an interview Friday with CNBC’s Meg Tirrell on “Halftime Report.” 

He said the U.S. had to institute severe measures because Covid-19 cases were exploding then. “But now is the time, depending upon where you are and what your situation is, to begin to seriously look at reopening the economy, reopening the country to try to get back to some degree of normal.”

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/27/dr-anthony-fauci-says-a-second-wave-of-coronavirus-is-not-inevitable.html

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Trump mocks reporter who rejects his order to remove face mask: “You want to be politically correct" – Salon
Trump mocks reporter who rejects his order to remove face mask: “You want to be politically correct" – Salon

At Tuesday’s White House coronavirus press briefing, President Donald Trump got into an argument with Reuters correspondent Jeff Mason, when he commanded him to take off his protective face mask.

Mason refused to do so, at which point Trump mocked him, saying “You want to be politically correct.”

Trump also repeated a line previously made by his press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, asking why former Vice President Joe Biden wore a mask when he was in public but not standing close to anyone, when he wasn’t wearing a mask at home with his wife right next to him.

Watch below:

Source Article from https://www.salon.com/2020/05/27/trump-mocks-reporter-who-rejects-his-order-to-remove-face-mask-you-want-to-be-politically-correct_partner/

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Satellites track Tropical Storm Bertha ahead of historic SpaceX launch – Space.com
Satellites track Tropical Storm Bertha ahead of historic SpaceX launch – Space.com

As SpaceX counts down to its historic first launch of astronauts for NASA, weather is a concern. Now, satellites are tracking the newly formed Tropical Storm Bertha just off the South Carolina coast. 

NASA and SpaceX were already eyeing potential thunderstorms and foul weather in Florida for today’s (May 27) historic launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. There is currently a 50% chance of bad conditions at liftoff, which is scheduled for 4:33 p.m. EDT (2033 GMT). 

Source Article from https://www.space.com/tropical-storm-bertha-spacex-demo-2-launch.html

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LeBron James, Colin Kaepernick among athletes speaking out on George Floyd’s death – ESPN
LeBron James, Colin Kaepernick among athletes speaking out on George Floyd’s death – ESPN

LeBron James and other high-profile athletes have taken to social media to voice their outrage over the death of a black Minnesota man who was pinned down by police.

George Floyd, 46, died Monday night while in Minneapolis police custody. A bystander’s video showed an officer kneeling on the handcuffed Floyd’s neck, even after he pleaded that he could not breathe and stopped moving.

James weighed in Tuesday night on Instagram with a post referencing Colin Kaepernick, the NFL quarterback who famously kneeled during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial injustice.

James’ post includes a photo of the officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck alongside a photo of Kaepernick kneeling during the anthem, topped with the caption: “This … … Is Why.” The Los Angeles Lakers star wrote in the post: “Do you understand NOW!!??!!?? Or is it still blurred to you?? #StayWoke”

James has been vocal about social issues such as police brutality throughout his career. He also posted an Instagram story Tuesday that included a photo and video of Floyd’s arrest along with the caption: “We’re hunted.”

Former NBA player Stephen Jackson was friends with Floyd and has shared a number of social media posts about his death. Jackson, who currently works as an ESPN analyst, called Floyd by the nickname “Twin” and noted that “both of our names will live forever.”

NFL stars Odell Beckham Jr. and DeMarcus Lawrence, NBA stars Jaylen Brown and Donovan Mitchell, and Basketball Hall of Famer Lisa Leslie also tweeted their frustration over Floyd’s death.

Kaepernick also shared on his Instagram stories the split image of the officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck and Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem. His post came from a tweet made by former NFL wide receiver Nathan Palmer. Formula One star Lewis Hamilton shared James’ post on his Instagram stories.

Four Minneapolis officers involved in Floyd’s arrest were fired Tuesday after video of the incident gained national attention. Mayor Jacob Frey announced the firings on Twitter, saying, “This is the right call.”

Floyd’s death was under investigation by the FBI and state law enforcement authorities. It immediately drew comparisons to the case of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who died in 2014 in New York after he was placed in a chokehold by police and pleaded for his life, saying he could not breathe.

Following Garner’s death, James, Kyrie Irving and Derrick Rose were among the players to wear “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirts during pregame warm-ups as a display of protest and to show support for Garner’s family.

Protesters in Minneapolis filled the intersection Tuesday night in the street where Floyd was arrested. They eventually marched about 2½ miles to a city police precinct, with some protesters damaging windows and a squad car and spraying graffiti on the building.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/29229092/lebron-james-colin-kaepernick-athletes-speaking-george-floyd-death

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After Twitter Fact-Checks Donald Trump’s Tweet, President Threatens to Close Down Social Media Platforms – Newsweek
After Twitter Fact-Checks Donald Trump’s Tweet, President Threatens to Close Down Social Media Platforms – Newsweek

President Donald Trump has threatened to “strongly regulate” or close down social media platforms if they curb the speech of conservative users.

The commander-in-chief said on Wednesday morning that his administration would consider the measures if the tech platforms were to “totally silence conservative voices.”

He also urged social media firms to “clean up” their acts a day after Twitter labeled two of his tweets as “potentially misleading.”

Posting on social media, Trump said: “Republicans feel that Social Media Platforms totally silence conservatives voices. We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen.

“We saw what they attempted to do, and failed, in 2016. We can’t let a more sophisticated version of that happen again.”

After claiming that voting by mail would lead to a “free for all on cheating” and electoral fraud, the president added: “Whoever cheated the most would win. Likewise, Social Media. Clean up your act, NOW!!!!”

Newsweek has contacted the White House and Twitter for further comment. This article will be updated with any response.

Trump issued his warning to social media companies after Twitter fact-checked posts he made claiming that mail-in voting increased instances of fraud.

The social media platform tagged the president’s two tweets with a message that linked to a page with statements refuting a connection between mail-in voting and increased voter fraud.

One of the president’s tweets read: “There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed.

“The Governor of California is sending Ballots to millions of people, anyone living in the state, no matter who they are or how they got there, will get one.”

Twitter’s action prompted Trump to accuse the company of “interfering” in the upcoming presidential election.

“They are saying my statement on Mail-In Ballots, which will lead to massive corruption and fraud, is incorrect, based on fact-checking by Fake News CNN and the Amazon Washington Post,” the president tweeted on Tuesday night.

“Twitter is completely stifling FREE SPEECH, and I, as President, will not allow it to happen!”

The social media platform announced that it would be marking “potentially harmful and misleading content” with warning labels on May 11.

A spokesperson for the firm told CNN Business that the decision to mark Trump’s tweets was “in line” with the announced approach.

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Source Article from https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-threatens-close-down-social-media-platforms-twitter-1506769

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Live updates: America’s mental health is suffering; Trump mocks reporter over ‘politically correct’ mask – The Washington Post
Live updates: America’s mental health is suffering; Trump mocks reporter over ‘politically correct’ mask – The Washington Post

Live updates: The latest in the U.S.

Coronavirus maps: Cases and deaths in the U.S. | Cases and deaths worldwide | Which states are reopening

What you need to know: Your life at home | Personal finance guide | Make your own fabric mask | Follow all of our coronavirus coverage and sign up for our daily newsletter.

How to help: Your community | Seniors | Restaurants | Keep at-risk people in mind

Have you been hospitalized for covid-19? Tell us whether you’ve gotten a bill.

Show More

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/05/27/coronavirus-update-us/

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Biden: Trump’s ‘an absolute fool’ for stoking face mask controversy – POLITICO
Biden: Trump’s ‘an absolute fool’ for stoking face mask controversy – POLITICO

While Trump didn’t add his own comment to the retweet, the president has been accused of stoking a culture war over the kind of face coverings now recommended — but not required — by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Several weeks ago, when two White House aides tested positive for the virus, masks became mandatory in the West Wing for nearly everyone — except the president. Trump has repeatedly eschewed masks on his growing number of public outings. Instead, he said he is taking a malaria drug that is not proven to treat or prevent coronavirus.

Trump finally donned a face mask for the first time last week when he visited a Ford plant in Michigan where masks are required, though he only wore his mask in private, telling the press traveling with him that he didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of seeing him wear it.

Biden had sharp words for the president over what he called a lack of leading by example, accusing Trump of “stoking deaths.”

“He’s a fool, an absolute fool to talk that way,” Biden told CNN’s Dana Bash in his first in-person interview since having to hit pause on traditional campaigning due to the virus. “I mean every leading doc in the world is saying you should wear a mask when you’re in a crowd, and especially when you know you’re going to be in a position where you’re going to inadvertently get closer than 12 feet to somebody.”

He accused Trump of caving to “macho stuff,” the argument advanced by some opposed to wearing masks that doing so is a sign of weakness. “That’s not going to increase the likelihood that people are going to be better off,” he added later.

Asked Tuesday how he viewed wearing a face covering, Biden said he believes doing so projects “leadership.”

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/26/biden-trump-mask-fool-282950

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NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he will meet with Trump Wednesday to discuss coronavirus, infrastructure plans – CNBC
NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he will meet with Trump Wednesday to discuss coronavirus, infrastructure plans – CNBC

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that he will meet with President Donald Trump on Wednesday in Washington to discuss coronavirus response efforts and plans to jump-start the economy, including ideas for large-scale infrastructure projects.

The Democratic governor, whose state has reported a multibillion-dollar revenue shortfall amid the pandemic, announced the meeting Tuesday during remarks at the New York Stock Exchange in Manhattan.

“I’m going to go to Washington tomorrow, scheduled to meet with the president to talk about a number of things, but this is one of the things I want to talk to the president about,” Cuomo said at the news conference. “You want to restart the economy? You want to reopen the economy? Let’s do something creative, let’s do it fast, let’s put Americans back to work and let’s make America better. It is common sense.”

Cuomo laid out a number of infrastructure proposals, including an expansion of New York City’s subway tunnels, while noting that federal approval would be required for the plans to move forward.

New York’s state and city governments are “hard-stretched,” Cuomo said at the press conference. “That’s why I think the real answer is, the federal government has to step up and provide state and local aid.”

White House spokesman Judd Deere confirmed to CNBC that Trump and Cuomo will meet Wednesday. The president was scheduled to travel to central Florida on Wednesday to watch an astronaut launch at the Kennedy Space Center, the White House said over the weekend.

Trump and Cuomo previously met in April at the White House, where they agreed to work toward doubling New York’s rate of testing for the virus.

The Empire State, which was the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in the U.S., has seen a steady decline in cases, hospitalizations and deaths in recent weeks. Some areas of the state have begun lifting their strict social distancing rules, while other regions, especially the New York metropolitan area, are moving more slowly.

Cuomo warned Tuesday that the economy is not going to “just bounce back” from the damage caused by the pandemic.

“You’re going to see pain in this new economy and let’s start to dissipate that and let’s start to deal with that now,” he said.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/26/coronavirus-cuomo-says-he-will-meet-with-trump-wednesday.html

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EU unveils plan to borrow 750 billion euros to aid economic recovery – CNBC
EU unveils plan to borrow 750 billion euros to aid economic recovery – CNBC

However, there are four European countries that still broadly oppose issuing grants as a way to mitigate the economic fallout from the Covid-19 crisis, preferring instead loans that will be repaid. Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark also want strong economic reform commitments in return for any financial help.

By including a component of grants and loans, the Commission is seeking to bridge these differences among the 27 EU countries.

A Dutch official, who didn’t want to be named due to the sensitivity of the negotiations, told CNBC Wednesday that “the positions are far apart and this is a unanimity file, so negotiations will take time. It’s difficult to imagine this proposal will be the end-state of those negotiations.”

Wednesday’s proposal kicks off a discussion among the 27 EU member states. The leaders will meet, likely via video call, on June 18 in the hope of finding a consensus over the exact details of the recovery fund. 

The European Parliament, the only directly-elected EU institution, will also have to approve any new financial aid as well.

In the meantime, there are other short-term measures available across Europe. The European Central Bank is buying government bonds as part of its 750 billion euro program and there are 540 billion euros available in unemployment schemes, business investments and loans to governments. 

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/27/eu-unveils-plan-to-borrow-750-billion-euros-to-aid-coronavirus-recovery.html

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Amy Cooper Is Fired After Calling Police on Black Birder in Central Park – The New York Times
Amy Cooper Is Fired After Calling Police on Black Birder in Central Park – The New York Times

Amy Cooper: “Would you please stop? Sir, I’m asking you to stop.” Christian Cooper: “Please don’t come close to me.” “Sir, I’m asking you to stop recording.” “Please don’t come close to me.” “Please turn your phone off.” “Please don’t come close to me.” “If you’re taking pictures, I’m calling the cops.” “Please, please call the cops. Please call the cops.” “I’m going to tell them there’s an African-American man threatening my life.” “Please tell them whatever you like.” “Excuse me. I’m sorry. I’m in the Ramble, and there’s a man, African-American, [inaudible]. He is recording me, and threatening me and my dog. There is an African-American man — I am in Central Park. He is recording me, and threatening myself and my dog. I’m sorry. I can’t hear you either. I’m being threatened by a man in the Ramble. Please send the cops immediately. I’m in Central Park in the Ramble — I don’t know.” Christian Cooper: “Thank you.”

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/26/nyregion/amy-cooper-dog-central-park.html

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