Thursday, June 25th, 2020
CDC estimates U.S. number of COVID-19 cases may actually be 10 times higher The United States has confirmed more than two million cases of COVID-19 — but the true number might be about ten times higher, the CDC says. “Our best estimate right now is that for every case that’s reported, there actually are 10 other infections,” said Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If this estimate is accurate, that would mean there have been more than 20 million cases of COVID-19 in the U.S, as about 2.3 million cases have been confirmed. Health officials have long said that the official number of confirmed COVID-19 cases is likely an undercount. Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has also said the COVID-19 death toll, which is currently more than 120,000, is “almost certainly” higher. Source: Reuters
SCOTUS: Undocumented immigrants can’t challenge fast-track deportation The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 on Thursday to bar undocumented immigrants from challenging their expedited deportation in federal court. The decision follows a Tuesday federal appeals court ruling the Trump administration could expand expedited removal, which allows for the fast-tracked deportation of undocumented immigrants without a lengthy court hearing. For the past 24 years, expedited removal has let immigration officials apprehend undocumented people found within 100 miles of a U.S. border, within 14 days of their arrival, and quickly deport them without a court proceeding or asylum hearing. People who arrived via air and are found within two years are also included. The case Department of Homeland Security v. Thuraissigiam concerned whether immigrants could challenge that removal in federal court to ensure their asylum claims weren’t rejected without reason.Source: Supreme Court
Texas pauses its reopening amid ‘massive outbreak’ of coronavirus Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) on Thursday announced a “temporary pause” of the state’s reopening amid a “massive outbreak” of new COVID-19 cases. “As we experience an increase in both positive COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, we are focused on strategies that slow the spread of this virus while also allowing Texans to continue earning a paycheck to support their families,” Abbott said. Businesses that were previously allowed to resume operations as part of Texas’ reopenings can still do so, however. Abbott said “the last thing we want to do as a state is go backwards and close down businesses.” Texas on Wednesday reported more than 5,000 new coronavirus cases. Now, Abbott says pausing the reopening will “help our state corral the spread.” Source: The Associated Press
Poll: Biden leads Trump in 6 swing states Former Vice President Joe Biden is leading among registered voters in six key battleground states Trump won in 2016: Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, a poll from The New York Times and Siena College released Thursday shows. Biden is up by double digits in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, and between six and nine percentage points in the other states. He was only leading by two percentage points across these states last October. If Biden were to carry these states, as well as those Hillary Clinton won in 2016, he would win the election with 333 electoral votes. A New York Times/Siena College poll released Wednesday showed Biden leading Trump by 14 percentage points nationally. Source: The New York Times
Another 1.48 million Americans file jobless claims The Labor Department on Thursday said 1.48 million Americans filed initial unemployment claims last week, which is down 60,000 claims from the week before. This was the second week in a row that the number of new claims came in higher than expected, as economists had been forecasting 1.35 million claims. It’s also the 14th week that the number of new jobless claims surpassed one million, a level that hadn’t been reached before the coronavirus pandemic. Continuing claims declined to 19.5 million, though, the first time in two months this number has been below 20 million. Source: CNBC
Wednesday, June 24th, 2020
The speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh Issa, asks Egypt to intervene in Libya if the armed forces of the Government of National Accord attempt to capture the city of Sirte. (Al Jazeera)
Bayer AG announces it has agreed to pay US$10 billion to resolve thousands of lawsuits regarding claims that the Monsanto herbicide Roundup causes cancer. Court-appointed mediator Kenneth Feinberg says the deal is a “constructive and reasonable” resolution. (NBC News)
Japanese manufacturing company Olympus announces it is exiting the camera business after 84 years, stating its financial losses caused by their inability to compete with smartphone cameras was a major factor in the decision. (BBC)
The Specialist Prosecutor’s Office announces that it has submitted for court approval an indictment against President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci and nine other former Kosovo Liberation Army fighters alleging that they committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Kosovo War. Following the announcement, President Thaci cancels his upcoming trip to the United States. (Sydney Morning Herald)
The U.S. Senate fails to invoke cloture on a 55–45 vote effectively tabling a police misconduct bill introduced by the Republicans, after the Democrats complained that it did not do enough to incentivize change. (Reuters)
English football club Leeds United F.C. issue an apology after a cardboard cutout of former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was displayed in the stands at their Elland Road stadium. (BBC)
The End
Thursday, June 25th, 2020
Segway Inc. announces that production of its personal transporter will end on July 15. Production began in 2001. (BBC)
Ambassadors for EU member states meet today to develop criteria for reopening external borders to travelers on July 1. European Commission guidance is that non-EU countries whose COVID-19 status, e.g., the number of new infections, the trend in new infections, and testing and tracing, are comparable or better than the EU average will make the safe list. Other factors, such as reciprocity and links to the EU, will also be considered. Travelers from countries such as Brazil, Russia, and the United States may be barred based on these rules. (BBC)
Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred unilaterally implements a 60-game season. Players will report to training camps on July 1 in order to resume spring training and prepare for a July 23 or 24 Opening Day. (ESPN)
7 states report new highs in COVID-19 hospitalizations Data tracked by The Washington Post shows that seven states — Arizona, Arkansas, California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas — are reporting record highs for current coronavirus hospitalizations. As of Tuesday, there are 3,868 people in California hospitalized with coronavirus, a 5.9 percent increase over the previous peak bed usage on April 29. Of those patients, nearly 1,200 are in intensive care units. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said the state is not facing a hospital bed shortage. On Tuesday, California and Texas each reported more than 5,000 new coronavirus cases over a 24-hour period, records for both states. More than 800 COVID-19 deaths were also reported in the United States on Tuesday, the first time the number of fatalities has gone up since June 7. The U.S. has more than 2.3 million confirmed coronavirus cases, with at least 119,000 deaths. Source: KCRA
Democrats block GOP Senate’s police reform bill Senate Democrats followed through on their threat to block the advancement of the GOP’s police reform bill Wednesday, and the legislation fell five votes short of the 60 required to move forward. “The harsh fact of the matter is, the bill is so deeply, fundamentally and irrevocably flawed, it cannot serve as a useful starting point for meaningful reform,” said Senate Minority Leader (D-N.Y.). Democrats believe the bill, which was championed by Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), was particularly lacking in terms of holding law enforcement accountable for misconduct. For example, it didn’t seek to change qualified immunity standards. Three members of the Democratic caucus — Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.), and Angus King (I-Maine) — voted in favor of the bill. Source: The Washington Post
IMF predicts 2-year recovery for world economy amid pandemic The International Monetary Fund updated its World Economic Outlook on Wednesday, and predicted that — largely due to the coronavirus pandemic — the world’s economy would contract not by three percent, as previously estimated in April, but by 4.9 percent, leading to a $12 trillion hit. Gita Gopinath, the IMF’s chief economist, said there would be a fall of living standards in 95 percent of the world’s countries this year. The IMF does see growth going forward, although it now expects it’ll be slightly slower than initially thought in April. Ultimately, the IMF believes it will take two years until world economic output returns to the levels seen at the end of 2019 before the pandemic truly took hold. Source: The Guardian
Fulton County authorities charge a woman with arson in relation to an Atlanta Wendy’s restaurant being burnt down the day after police killed Rayshard Brooks there after he fled when they tried to arrest him for DUI. The woman’s lawyer said she was Brooks’ girlfriend. (The New York Post)
The End
841 – In the Battle of Fontenay-en-Puisaye, forces led by Charles the Bald and Louis the German defeat the armies of Lothair I of Italy and Pepin II of Aquitaine.
1741 – Maria Theresa is crowned Queen of Hungary.
1848 – A photograph of the June Days uprising becomes the first known instance of photojournalism.
1876 – Battle of the Little Bighorn and the death of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer.
1910 – The United States Congress passes the Mann Act, which prohibits interstate transport of women or girls for “immoral purposes”; the ambiguous language would be used to selectively prosecute people for years to come.
1943 – The Holocaust: Jews in the Częstochowa Ghetto in Poland stage an uprising against the Nazis.
1948 – Cold War: The Berlin airlift begins.
1950 – The Korean War begins with the invasion of South Korea by North Korea.
1960 – Cold War: Two cryptographers working for the United States National Security Agency left for vacation to Mexico, and from there defected to the Soviet Union.
1976 – Missouri Governor Kit Bond issues an executive order rescinding the Extermination Order, formally apologizing on behalf of the state of Missouri for the suffering it had caused to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
1996 – The Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia kills 19 U.S. servicemen.
1997 – An unmanned Progress spacecraft collides with the Russian space station Mir.
2017 – The World Health Organization estimates that Yemen has over 200,000 cases of cholera.
artificial stupid 