Friday, Aug 21st, 2020

Airbnb bans house parties and limits almost all listed venues to 16 people as it tries to comply with gathering restrictions. (BBC)

American Airlines announces it will end service at 15 airports starting October 7. (CNN)

Weekly unemployment claims surpass 1 million again  The Labor Department on Thursday said that 1.1 million Americans filed new unemployment claims last week. There were 971,000 new claims a week prior, which was the first time since March the number of claims had been below one million. The rise in new claims came as a surprise after economists were expecting the number to decline to about 923,000 this week. CNN’s Christine Romans notes that according to this latest report, 28.5 million Americans are “receiving some sort of government unemployment assistance,” adding that the unemployment claims are “trending in the wrong direction,” while The Washington Post‘s Heather Long described the latest numbers as a “red flag that layoffs remain high.” Source:  CNBC

Uber and Lyft to continue California service after reprieve Uber and Lyft will no longer be immediately suspending service in California after being granted a temporary reprieve. The ride-hailing companies had threatened to shut down in the state this week after a judge recently ordered them to classify their drivers as employees rather than independent contractors by Friday, saying they were likely violating state law. But an appeals court on Thursday granted an eleventh-hour reprieve delaying the judge’s order. This came shortly after Lyft confirmed its suspension of rideshare operations in California was imminent, with the company arguing that classifying its drivers as employees would lead to “reduced service” and to 80 percent of its drivers losing work. Source: CNN

India reports the highest since day record of 69,672 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours with 977 new deaths. 2,096,664 people from the total 2,8 million people were recovered. (The Tribune)

The total number of COVID-19 infections in Vietnam surpass 1,000 with 25 deaths. More than half of them are linked to a new outbreak that began in late July in Da Nang. (Reuters)

Astronomers discover 95 brown dwarfs near the Sun through the Backyard Worlds project. (Space.com)

Russian anti-corruption activist and opposition leader Alexei Navalny falls ill on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow, and is rushed to a hospital in Omsk after an emergency landing. His spokesperson says he may have been poisoned in the airport café shortly before his flight. He is reported to be in a coma. (BBC)

Four defendants of the non-profit organization We Build The Wall, including former Trump advisor Steve Bannon and its founder Brian Kolfage, are arrested on charges of conspiring to commit wire fraud and money laundering. The charges were stated in an indictment announced by the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, which alleges that the four defendants defrauded the organization’s donors, using the funds intended for the construction of the wall along the Mexico–U.S. border for personal expenses instead. (Al Jazeera)

The South Korean National Intelligence Service reports that North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un has delegated some major responsibilities to his sister, Kim Yo-jong, that involves overseeing North Korea’s relations with South Korea and the United States. South Korean lawmakers describe her new role as a “de facto second-in-command” of North Korea who “steers overall state affairs.” (Fox News)

 

Thursday,  Aug 20th, 2020

Thousands in the San Francisco Bay Area flee their homes after several quick-moving wildfires, apparently sparked by lightning and the heatwave, sweep into the region. Around 50 structures have burned down with another 50 damaged in Vacaville. This group of fires, called the LNU Lightning Complex, has grown to 46,000 uncontained acres. (BBC)

Toulouse becomes the first major city in France to make face masks compulsory in all outdoor areas. The new rules will take effect on Friday and apply from 7:00 am to 3:00 am local time for all people ages 12 and up, including those on bikes and kick-scooters. (The Telegraph)

France registers 3,776 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, marking a new post-lockdown peak and bringing the total to 225,043. (France 24)

Italy reports 642 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, which is the highest number of reported cases since May 23, when the lockdown was eased. (ANSA)

Spain registered its highest number of new cases since the end of lockdown in June, with 3,715 new COVID-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours. (The Times)

The California Department of Public Health reports the state’s first case of plague in five years at South Lake Tahoe. The patient, believed to have been bitten by an infected flea, is under medical care recovering at home. The CDC says that America sees between one and 17 cases annually. (CBS News)

The End