Monday, May 18th, 2020

Chair of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell says U.S. economic recovery from the recession could take until the end of 2021. (Financial Times)

A jet from the Royal Canadian Air Force’s Snowbirds crashes into a house in Kamloops, British Columbia, killing one pilot and injuring another. (CTV News)

India extends its lockdown, which was set to expire today, until May 31. (Al Jazeera)

Chinese ambassador to Israel Du Wei is found dead in his home in Tel Aviv, aged 57. (Haaretz)

Investigators launch a criminal probe into yesterday’s fire and subsequent explosion at a hash oil manufacturing building in downtown Los Angeles, which injured a dozen responding firefighters. (The Associated Press)

Israel’s new unity government is sworn in, after 18 months of rule by a caretaker government. (The Jerusalem Post)

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah sign a power-sharing deal to end a months long political turmoil that hampered the peace process. (Reuters)

The United States Space Force successfully launches its X-37B robotic spacecraft on a classified mission from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station via an Atlas V rocket. Though little is known about the classified program, the spacecraft is expected to deploy a satellite into orbit, and test “power-beaming technology”. (BBC)

NASCAR becomes the first major American sports league to resume its season since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. (The Washington Post)

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick wins The Real Heroes 400 at Darlington Raceway, his 50th career Cup series victory. The race took place behind closed doors. (NBC Sports)

Obama criticizes ‘folks in charge’ for coronavirus response Former President Barack Obama offered what was possibly veiled criticism of his successor, President Trump, and the Trump administration Saturday during an online commencement address to graduates of historically black colleges and universities, whose ceremonies could not be held in person because of the coronavirus pandemic. “More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing,” Obama said. “A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge.” Obama had previously questioned the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic in a private phone call last week. During the commencement speech, Obama also said COVID-19 “spotlights the underlying inequalities and extra burdens that black communities have historically had to deal with in this country.” Source: The Guardian 

Spain records fewer than 100 coronavirus deaths for first time in 2 months Spain, one of the world’s hardest-hit nations, recorded 87 coronavirus-related deaths within the last 24 hours Sunday, the first time the daily fatality tally fell below 100 in two months. Since the outbreak began, there have been 27,650 confirmed COVID-19 deaths in Spain. Elsewhere, South Korea recorded just 13 new coronavirus cases, which have continued to decline again since the country experienced a brief uptick in new infections linked to re-opened nightclubs in Seoul. Shanghai announced classes for younger students will re-start June 2, while some restaurants and shops are set to re-open in Italy on Monday, the same day church services are scheduled to resume. In the United States, restaurants in New Orleans will begin allowing limited diners, and California began its second phase of re-opening, which includes more retailers offering curbside pickup. Source: BBC

 

The End

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“You take the blue pill,  the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.”

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Sunday,  May 17th, 2020

https://www.theweek.com/articles/914427/almost-time-pandemic-apologies

https://www.ibtimes.com/covid-19-testing-breakthrough-new-coronavirus-antibody-test-found-be-100-accurate-2976029

Air Canada announces it will lay off 20,000 employees starting June 7. (The Associated Press)

House passes $3 trillion coronavirus relief package  The House on Friday passed a $3 trillion coronavirus relief package by a vote of 208-199. The Democrat-crafted HEROES Act will now head to the Senate, where — along with the White House — it is expected to face opposition. The bill includes, among other things, nearly $1 trillion in aid to state and local governments, extending unemployment benefits expansion until January 2021, and another round of $1,200 to individual Americans. The bill wasn’t looked upon favorably by all Democrats. Some centrists were concerned that it had no chance of becoming law, while others in the progressive wing felt the package failed “to match the scale” of the crisis. In the end, though, only 14 Democrats voted against the bill, allowing it to advance. Source: NBC News

Italy to allow international, regional travel in June  The Italian government approved a decree Saturday which will allow travel to and from abroad beginning on June 3. The move is the latest development in the country’s emergence from one of the world’s stricter coronavirus lockdowns. Italy’s 31,600 COVID-19 deaths since the outbreak began in February is the third-highest total in the world after the United States and the United Kingdom, but its infection rate has declined steadily. The decree also allows for travel between regions on the same day. All sectors of the economy that might still be shuttered at the time will be allowed to re-open as long as they follow safety protocols. Source: Reuters

Bundesliga becomes the first major sports league to resume its season since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. (NBC News)

Amid growing disillusionment with Puerto Rico’s territorial status, Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced announces a referendum in November to decide whether Puerto Rico should be made a U.S. state. (The Associated Press)

The End 

Saturday, May 16th, 2020

New coronavirus vaccine official is ‘confident’ vaccine possible within 2020 President Trump on Friday appointed pharmaceutical conglomerate GlaxoSmithKline’s former chair Moncef Slaoui and Army Gen. Gustave Perna to lead the administration’s development of a coronavirus vaccine. The officials, who will lead the effort called Operation Warp Speed, will seek to develop a vaccine within 12 to 18 months, which some officials say is an overly optimistic timeline, though others say it could be possible if efforts go smoothly. Slaoui said he’s “confident that we will be able to deliver a few hundred million doses of vaccine by the end of 2020.” Trump said the federal government will provide additional funding to help “accelerate” the development and manufacturing of a vaccine. The White House also added five new members to its coronavirus task force. Source: ABC News

 

Michigan passes 50,000 cases of COVID-19. As of this date, this state has 50,079 reported cases, causing 4,825 deaths. The city of Detroit, which has 10,230 reported positive tests, accounts for more than 20% of the state’s cases, and 1,240 deaths, 25% of the state’s total. (MLive.com)

United States President Donald Trump announces the officials for Operation Warp Speed in an effort to develop a vaccine by the end of 2020. (Politico)

American retail chain J. C. Penney files for chapter 11 bankruptcy.(USA Today)

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo extends the stay-at-home order for New York until June 13. (Business Insider)

The Dubai Road Transport Authority announces that the elevators on the Dubai Metro will be restricted to two people at a time. (Gulf News)

The death toll from COVID-19 exceeds 300,000 worldwide. (TimesnowNews)

Nelson Teich resigns as Brazil’s Minister of Health less than a month into office amid disagreements with President Jair Bolsonaro over the federal government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. (BBC)

DOJ, state AGs reportedly planning to target Google in major antitrust cases The Justice Department and the attorneys general of several states are expected to bring antitrust suits against Google focusing intensely on the company’s ad business, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The DOJ case could reportedly be brought as soon as this summer, while the state attorneys general are expected to file a case closer to the fall. It’s unclear whether states will file separate complaints or join the federal case. Google’s ad business has long been a source of criticism. CNBC noted in late 2019 that the tech giant was on track to surpass 20 percent of U.S. ad spending both online and offline by the end of the year. The Journal says the potential lawsuits could “rank among the most significant antitrust cases in U.S. history.” Source: The Wall Street Journal

Biden lays out path to ‘318 electoral votes’ Former Vice President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign laid out what it sees as a “clear” path to winning 318 electoral votes in this year’s presidential election in a Friday call with reporters. Biden’s camp is convinced it can win back states that went for former President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 but flipped to Trump in 2016, including Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. In addition, it’s considering the red states Arizona, Georgia, and Texas as flippable, with Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon saying she’s “bullish about Arizona” in particular. Biden’s strategy for winning those states relies on young, black, and Latino voters; suburban, college-educated voters; and disaffected Trump voters; though his campaign has struggled to bring in Latino voters so far. Source: The Daily Beast

 

Friday, May 15th, 2020

Gunmen opened fire against two social workers delivering aid for people amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Van Province, Turkey, killing them at the scene. (Xinhua)

Save the Children reports a surge in deaths of people with coronavirus-like symptoms in Aden, with at least 380 in the last week. Officially, Yemen has only reported 13 COVID-19 deaths. (BBC)

The U.S. Senate unanimously passes a bill placing visa and property sanctions on Chinese officials involved in the persecution of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. (Al Jazeera)

Burundi expels the country’s top World Health Organization representative and three other experts coordinating the COVID-19 response. The government says they are persona non grata and must leave Burundi. They accused them of “interfering with the government response to the pandemic”. (Al Jazeera)

The United States Navy’s Naval Safety Center discloses “hazard reports” of Navy pilot encounters with unidentified aerial phenomena, including an incident in March 2014, in which a fighter jet pilot encountered an “unknown aircraft”, which was “approximately the size of a suitcase, and silver in colour.” (Sky News)

 

The End