Saturday,  May 30th, 2020

Former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin, who was recorded on video kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for several minutes and eventually causing his death, is taken into custody by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and charged with third-degree murder and second degree manslaughter. (KSTP)

Hundreds of Minnesota National Guard officers are deployed in Minneapolis–Saint Paul to enforce a night curfew, after Mayor Jacob Frey declared a state of local emergency amid civil unrest. (Star Tribune)

Protesters vandalize the CNN Center in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, while several Atlanta Police Department vehicles are attacked and set on fire as protests spread. Seven people are reportedly arrested. (Newsweek)

Several other mostly peaceful protests against police brutality and systemic racism take place in large cities across the United States. (CNN)

U.S. President Donald Trump says he is terminating the country’s relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO) over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the WHO has become a “puppet of China” and that American funding will be redirected to “other global public health needs”. (Reuters)

Protests against police brutality escalate nationwide  Protesters gathered in several cities across the U.S. on Friday night to demonstrate against police brutality and institutional racism. Protests in Brooklyn, New York; Atlanta, Georgia; San Jose, California; Washington, D.C.; and Minneapolis, Minnesota, started peacefully, with attendees demanding justice in the case of George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis after a police officer kneeled on his neck for several minutes on Monday. Some protesters clashed with police — in Brooklyn, where a heavy police presence awaited protesters, officers reportedly used tear gas on crowds, meanwhile in Atlanta, a police car was reportedly set on fire. In San Jose, protesters blocked freeway traffic; and in D.C., the White House was briefly on lockdown as demonstrators arrived in the area. The National Guard sought to enforce a curfew in Minneapolis. Source: CNN

Twitter labels Trump tweets about looting and shooting as ‘glorifying violence’  President Trump tweeted Friday that he “can’t stand back” and watch as protests in Minneapolis against the police killing of George Floyd bleed into looting and arson. Trump threatened to send in the National Guard, which Gov. Tim Walz (D) had activated Thursday, adding: “These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. … Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!” Twitter added a warning to that second tweet stating it “violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence,” but left it up because “it may be in the public’s interest for the tweet to remain accessible.” The official White House Twitter account later quoted and posted the tweet. Trump signed an executive order on Thursday “challenging the liability protections that have served as a bedrock for unfettered speech on the internet,” The Associated Press writes. The move comes after Twitter labeled two of Trump’s tweets on mail-in ballots as misleading. Source:  Axios

Consumer spending dropped record 13.6 percent in April  On Friday, the government reported that consumer spending in April plunged 13.6 percent from the month prior, which Bloomberg says is “the sharpest drop in Commerce Department records back to 1959.” Meanwhile, the personal savings rate, which describes the amount of a person’s disposable income that they are putting into savings, hit 33 percent in April, “by far the highest since the department started tracking in the 1960’s, and [surpassing the] consumer savings during the Global Financial Crisis,” CNBC reports. The high personal savings rate, combined with the extremely low consumer spending, reflects Americans’ jitters about spending money during the pandemic. Personal income, meanwhile, rose 10.5 percent in April, a record boost due to the federal stimulus payments and unemployment benefits, while economists had expected a decrease of 2.1 percent. Source: Bloomberg

A Minneapolis Police Department station is abandoned by police after being overran by protesters and is then looted and set on fire. An MPD spokesman confirmed the Third Precinct building had been evacuated “in the interest of the safety of our personnel”. (Politico)

The End

 

Friday, May 29th, 2020

The death toll from COVID-19 in the United States now exceeds 100,000. (CNN)

A manhunt is launched after hundreds of people, some with COVID-19, escape from quarantine centers in Zimbabwe and Malawi, with authorities worried that they will spread COVID-19 in countries whose health systems can be rapidly overwhelmed. (AP News)

More than 40 million Americans filed unemployment claims in 10 weeks  The Labor Department on Thursday said another 2.1 million initial unemployment claims were filed last week, which brings the total over 10 weeks to 40.7 million. This was the tenth week in a row that weekly unemployment claims totaled more than one million. Prior to the coronavirus crisis, weekly unemployment claims had never passed one million before; the record was 695,000. The number of first-time claims has, however, declined for the past eight weeks. This unfortunate milestone comes less than 24 hours after another grim milestone, as on Wednesday, the United States hit 100,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths. The U.S. unemployment rate in April reached 14.7 percent, the worst since the Great Depression. Source:  NBC News

America passes a grim milestone: 100,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths  The United States on Wednesday surpassed 100,000 reported deaths from COVID-19. The grim milestone comes after the U.S. passed 50,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths on April 24. In March, the White House had warned that the U.S. might be facing between 100,000 and 200,000 coronavirus deaths even if Americans did everything “almost perfectly,” as Dr. Deborah Birx said, although President Trump in April suggested the death toll could be between 50,000 and 60,000. Later, Trump said “we’re going to lose” up to 100,000 people total. Reported cases and hospitalizations are still on the upswing in many states. Every U.S. state has now begun the process of reopening their economies, even as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country stands at over 1.6 million. Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center

Minnesota governor activates National Guard as protests continue over death of George Floyd  As demonstrators continue to protest the death of George Floyd, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) on Thursday declared a state of emergency in Minneapolis and St. Paul and activated the Minnesota National Guard. Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died on Monday after a white police officer kneeled on his neck for several minutes. Protesters have filled the streets of Minneapolis, demanding justice for Floyd and calling on authorities to arrest the officer, who was fired on Tuesday. On Wednesday night, the peaceful protests turned chaotic, with about 30 buildings set on fire and others damaged. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets into crowds, and some protesters threw bricks and bottles at squad cars. Walz said in a statement Floyd’s death “should lead to justice and systemic change, not more death and destruction.” Source: Star Tribune

Protests continue for a second day in Minneapolis and two other U.S. cities after an unarmed man, George Floyd, died while being arrested. Some of them have escalated into a riot, including looting and arson. A protester is shot dead by a man, who has been arrested. (CNN)

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-japan-tackled-coronavirus-without-a-lockdown-2020-5

https://www.businessinsider.com/mitch-mcconnell-face-masks-comments-american-obligation-trump-coronavirus-2020-5

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/mega-billionaires-gained-net-worth-amid-coronavirus-pandemic-market-rout-2020-5-1029247771

https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-did-not-jump-wuhan-market-chinese-cdc-says-2020-5

 

 Thursday,  May 28th, 2020 

Rioting and looting takes place in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, following the death of African-American man George Floyd during his arrest by Minneapolis Police Department officers. Several buildings are looted and burned down, and riot police have been deployed. (Fox News)

LATAM Airlines, the largest air carrier in Latin America, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. (Bloomberg)

Huge swarms of desert locusts destroy crops in central and western India prompting authorities to step up their response to the country’s worst plague in nearly three decades. (Al Jazeera)

Biden responds to Trump mocking face masks: He’s an ‘absolute fool’  Former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday fired back at President Trump for sharing a tweet that mocked Biden for wearing a mask during a Memorial Day event, calling him an “absolute fool.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that people wear masks to slow the spread of coronavirus, but Trump has opted out of wearing a face covering during visits to factories, despite the companies requiring masks for the safety of their employees. This is irresponsible, Biden told CNN’s Dana Bash, and Trump’s refusal to listen to health experts is “costing people’s lives.” Presidents, Biden added, “are supposed to lead, not engage in folly and be falsely masculine.” Source: CNN

Human trials begin for Novavax’s coronavirus vaccine  Biotechnology company Novavax rolled out its first human trials for its coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday. Novavax already tested its vaccine on animals in low doses and found it successful. The Maryland-based company will inject 131 volunteers in the Australian cities of Melbourne and Brisbane, with results of the clinical trial expected to be made public in July. Phase 1 of the trial is a “randomized, observer-blinded, placebo-controlled trial” that assesses two different dosage sizes of the vaccine among healthy participants age 18 to 59. Novavax shares spiked when markets reopened Tuesday, up from $46.11 per share to $54.20. Novavax is among several pharmaceutical companies racing to develop coronavirus vaccines, with Pfizer and Moderna launching human trials earlier this month. Source: Axios, Novavax

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe lifts the state of emergency in all remaining parts of the country, including Tokyo. (Associated Press)

The End