Friday, May 22nd, 2020

The number of worldwide cases of COVID-19 surpasses five million. The United States remains the global epicenter, accounting for approximately 31% of all reported and confirmed cases in the world. (CNN)

The Trump administration announces it will withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty within six months, alleging continuous violations by Russia. (BBC)

The European Court of Justice rules that Hungarian authorities circumvented EU law by holding Afghan and Iranian asylum-seekers in unlawful detention at a camp near the Serbian border (DW)

A military court in Vietnam sentences former deputy defense minister Nguyễn Văn Hiến to four years in prison for allowing three plots of land in Ho Chi Minh City to be illegally transferred from the Navy to private investors. He is also stripped of his Communist Party credentials. (Reuters)

The Regents of the University of California votes unanimously to scrap the use of SATs and ACTs for admission to any of the college system’s campuses, effective 2025. (The New York Times)

Beijing moves to crack down on Hong Kong with new security law

China’s Communist Party announced Thursday it will move forward with a new security law for Hong Kong, cracking down on dissent in the region and taking one of its most aggressive steps yet in asserting control over Hong Kong’s relative autonomy. The law is somewhat vague at this point, but a spokesperson in Beijing said “the law would improve legal and enforcement mechanisms for safeguarding national security in Hong Kong,” writes The Wall Street Journal. It will reportedly likely define and criminalize seditious behavior. The crackdown follows persistent wide-scale protests in Hong Kong, led by pro-democracy opposition groups. A similar security law was shelved in 2003 after mass protests. The law will reportedly take effect as soon as next week. Source: The Wall Street Journal, NPR

2.4 million Americans file jobless claims, bringing pandemic total to 38.6 million

Approximately 2.44 million Americans filed unemployment claims last week, Labor Department figures released Thursday show. The new numbers added to previous weeks make for a total of 38.6 million initial jobless claims since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. “That two-month total is roughly equivalent to all of the initial claims filed during the Great Recession,” writes Bloomberg. However, the pace of the filings has slowed since the previous week. Despite stock futures falling ahead of the report, major indexes turned positive at opening, rising marginally. Analysts say investor optimism may come from possible progress on a COVID-19 vaccine, and a sense jobless numbers have nearly bottomed out. Source: Bloomberg, CNBC

Senate confirms Ratcliffe as new director of national intelligence

The Senate voted on Thursday to confirm Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) as the new director of national intelligence. Senators voted 49-44 to confirm Ratcliffe, after the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday voted to advance his nomination to a full Senate vote. Ratcliffe, who was first nominated by President Trump last year, had garnered some Republican skepticism over his propensity toward right-wing conspiracy theories. During his nomination hearing, however, Ratcliffe was more dismissive of so-called “deep state” conspiracies, leading all eight Republicans on the subcommittee to vote in his favor. Ratcliffe will take over for acting DNI Richard Grenell, who began filling in after the departure of Joseph Maguire. Maguire was also acting DNI, holding the role after Dan Coats was seemingly pushed out in August. Source: NBC News

Bolivian Minister of Health Marcelo Navajas is dismissed and arrested in graft probe over ventilators bought in a Spanish company. (Bloomberg)

The End Thursday

Thursday,  May 21st, 2020

In a hearing over Zoom, a court in Singapore sentences a 37-year-old Malaysian man to death for a 2011 heroin transaction. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is the first time a death sentence was imposed by a remote hearing in Singapore. (Reuters)

U.S. authorities in Massachusetts arrest two men, a father and son aged 59 and 27, wanted by Japan on charges of helping former Chairman of Nissan Carlos Ghosn escape from Japan to Lebanon last year. (Reuters)

Citizens of Burundi head to the polls to elect their president and the members of the National Assembly. After violent campaigns, the elections take place amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and a social media blackout. Regional and international election observers are blocked from overseeing the elections, raising doubts about its fairness. (DW)

Earlier lockdowns might have prevented 36,000 U.S. COVID-19 deaths  Disease modelers at Columbia University estimate that if the U.S. had started implementing social distancing and lockdown measures one week earlier in March, roughly 36,000 coronavirus deaths could have been prevented. The first imported case of COVID-19 in the U.S. was reported on Jan. 20, with community transmission established in the weeks following. Federal social distancing measures, which asked Americans to avoid unnecessary travel and social gatherings, were enacted in mid-March. The researchers estimate that if action was taken even earlier than a week before that, with cities going on lockdown and people limiting contact with others beginning on March 1, about 83 percent of the country’s deaths could have been avoided. As of Wednesday night, there are more than 1.5 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. and 93,383 deaths. Source: The New York Times

WHO reports 106,000 new coronavirus cases, biggest 1-day increase  The World Health Organization on Wednesday reported the largest daily increase in COVID-19 cases since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The organization said 106,000 new cases of COVID-19 were reported worldwide in the past 24 hours. “We still have a long way to go in this pandemic,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned, saying the WHO is “very concerned about rising cases in low and middle income countries.” He said nearly two-thirds of the new cases came from four countries, but didn’t specify which. The United States has reported more than 1.5 million coronavirus cases and over 90,000 deaths. Wednesday marked the day when all 50 states in the U.S. had started to reopen their economies. More than 4.9 million COVID-19 cases have been reported worldwide. Source: Reuters

The End 

 

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Wednesday,  May 20th, 2020

Michigan becomes the fourth state in the U.S. to pass 5,000 deaths from COVID-19. As of this date, the state has 5,017 reported deaths and 52,350 total cases. (MLive.com)

WHO members agree to review coronavirus response despite Trump During the World Health Organization’s annual meeting in Geneva on Tuesday, representatives of the member nations agreed to conduct an “impartial, independent” and “comprehensive evaluation” of the organization that would review “experience gained and lessons learned from the WHO-coordinated international health response to COVID-19.” On Monday, President Trump made public a letter he sent to WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, which accused the agency of protecting China and threatened to cut off U.S. funding. The other WHO member nations pushed back against this on Tuesday, with a spokesperson for the European Commission saying now is “the time for solidarity, not the time for finger pointing.” Source: The New York Times

Top officials warn of ‘permanent damage’ to economy, need for major policy effort Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Tuesday the U.S. economy could sustain “permanent damage” if state shutdown measures continue for months longer. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell agreed the economic outlook is dire amid the coronavirus pandemic, and suggested large-scale federal and state policy efforts will be necessary to slow the downturn and ignite recovery. Powell said the Fed may expand its program to buy municipal debt. “We may need to do more, and Congress may, as well,” he said. Mnuchin deflected blame on the administration’s handling of the crisis, saying the government has provided “enormous amounts” of support to states. He said if shutdown measures continue, some unemployed Americans may no longer have jobs to return to. Source: The Washington Post

Global carbon dioxide emissions see historic drop The worldwide drop in carbon emissions due to coronavirus shutdowns could be the largest in recorded history, scientists say. As of early April, daily global carbon dioxide emissions decreased by 17 percent compared to last year’s levels, corresponding with emission levels of 2006, according to a study published Tuesday. Scientists estimate an annual decrease of 4 to 7 percent. Researchers analyzed 69 countries, representing 97 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, and found 43 percent of the decrease stemmed from reduced surface transportation, including cars, trucks, and buses. All sectors examined had a decrease in emissions, except the residential sector, which saw a growth of 2.8 percent, likely from people staying home. The decline isn’t likely to significantly combat climate change, as carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for a long time. Source: NBC News

The End