Monday, Aug. 31st, 2020

New Jersey is expected to allow their movie theaters to reopen on September 4. (Variety)

South Korean boy band BTS become the first all-South Korean act to top the United States record chart, after their single “Dynamite” debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. (The Guardian)

India’s economy contracts by 23.9% in the April–June quarter, the country’s worst recession on record since the government started releasing quarterly data in 1996. The lockdown caused massive disruptions to economic activity during the quarter. (BBC)

Argentina announces a deal with its creditors, allowing a way out of its ninth sovereign default. (Irish Times)

Amazon Prime Air wins Federal Aviation Administration approval to operate a drone delivery service in the United States. Amazon becomes the third drone delivery service to win flight approval, after UPS and Wing. (AP)

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announces that the state will reopen indoor dining at a one-quarter capacity. (The Hill)

AstraZeneca begins Phase III clinical trials of its potential COVID-19 vaccine, AZD1222, which it developed with the University of Oxford, to some 30,000 adults in the United States. (Bloomberg)

Maryland-based vaccine development company Novavax signs a deal with Canada to supply up to 76 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine. (CBC)

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health launches a digital contact tracing app in an effort to combat the spread of COVID-19 in the country. (CNA)

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite discovers TOI-824b, a Hot Neptune exoplanet that orbits dwarf star TOI-824, which is located 210 light-years away from the constellation Circinus. (Sci-News)

More than 1,700 people in the United Kingdom are reported to have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the largest weekend number since the middle of May, and the highest number of reported cases since June 4. (The Guardian)

 

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Sunday,  Aug 30th, 2020

Dutch police report that Two Laughing Boys with a Mug of Beer, a painting by Dutch golden age painter Frans Hals, was stolen from the Hofje van Mevrouw van Aerden in Leerdam. This is the third time the painting had been stolen. (Reuters)

American neurotechnology company Neuralink unveils a pig, named “Gertrude”, that has been living with a brain-implanted chip for two months at an event in San Francisco. (Reuters)

Trump blasts protesters, Harris in New Hampshire rally speech At a campaign rally in Londonderry, New Hampshire, on Friday night, President Trump gave a speech in which he called protesters demonstrating against police brutality “thugs” and “anarchists” who are just “looking for trouble” and “don’t even know who George Floyd is.” Trump said that Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was attacked by protesters Friday near the White House and claimed Paul and his wife would be “in very bad shape, or dead” if not for the police presence in the area. During the speech, the president also targeted the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). Trump said he wants “to see the first woman president also,” but “I don’t want to see a woman president get into that position the way she’d do it, and she’s not competent.” Source: Reuters

Delta Air Lines has banned 240 passengers for refusing to wear masks since a policy requiring them went into effect in June. (CNN)

Kenosha police union releases account of Jacob Blake shooting The Kenosha Professional Police Association, the union representing police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin, released what they called “the actual and undisputed” account of the events that preceded the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was shot by officers multiple times on Sunday, CNN and NPR report. The account says Blake had a knife and “forcefully fought” the officers trying to arrest him, putting one in a headlock. The statement also said the officers failed to subdue Blake after twice shooting tasers at him. Blake’s uncle, Justin Blake, said the union’s version was “garbage” and his nephew didn’t have a weapon, while legal defense called the statement “overblown.” Raysean White, a witness who recorded a brief video of the incident, said Blake did not pose a threat and that officers put Blake in a headlock while one “punched him in the ribs.” Source: CNN

Police in Berlin disperse around 18,000 anti-lockdown protesters massed in the Brandenburg Gate, despite a ruling from the city’s administrative court the previous day that overturned the government’s ban on public demonstrations. Police claim “most” of the protesters failed to observe “the minimum” social distancing measures implemented in the city. (AFP via Bangkok Post)

The Liberal Democratic Party in Japan is set to pick the next Prime Minister around September 15 after the sudden resignation of current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Former defense minister Shigeru Ishiba and former foreign minister Fumio Kishida announce they intend to run but Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga and defense minister Taro Kono are considered the potential candidates. Environment minister Shinjiro Koizumi is also a candidate but deemed “too young” by party’s veterans. (Reuters)

Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates issues a decree abolishing a law that mandated an economic boycott on Israel following the approval of the historic peace deal between the two countries. On the Israeli side, the first El Al commercial flight from Israel to the UAE is expected on Monday. (Al Arabiya English)

A senior advisor to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev accuses Russia of arming Armenia since the start of the recent border clashes. (Reuters)

Czech Senate President Miloš Vystrčil travels to Taiwan on an official visit to “promote business links” between the two countries, despite the Czech Republic maintaining unofficial relations with Taiwan as it recognizes the One-China policy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), to which the European country maintains official relations with. Vystrčil’s predecessor, Jaroslav Kubera, had planned the trip but died in January 2020. In response to the visit, the PRC’s foreign ministry warned the Czech government of “possible consequences” for Czech companies with operations in mainland China, having previously written a threatening letter addressed personally to Jaroslav Kundera before his death. The neighboring country of Slovakia is reported to be closely monitoring the trip amid warming ties with Taiwan themselves. (Reuters)

Sweden bans far-right Danish leader Rasmus Paludan from entering the country for two years in response to last night’s unrest in the city of Malmö, in which hundreds of Muslim youths clashed with police, following the burning of a Quran. Malmö police say his behaviour posed “a threat to the fundamental interests of society”. (Euronews)

UAE leader issues decree formally ending economic boycott against Israel Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the ruler of Abu Dhabi and leader of the United Arab Emirates, issued a decree Saturday formally ending the federation’s economic boycott against Israel. The order comes on the heels of the U.S.-brokered deal opening up relations between the UAE and Israel earlier this month. Israelis and Israeli firms can now do business in the UAE, and the decree also allows for the purchase and trade of Israeli goods. As was the case when the deal was originally announced, some Palestinians criticized the order of undermining the efforts of the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions movement which targets Israel. Historically, UAE law stated the recognition of Israel would only occur if Palestine became its own independent state. Source: The Associated Press

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Saturday,  Aug 29th, 2020

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe announces his intention to resign due to his deteriorating health. (CNN)

50,000 people gather in Washington, D.C. to commemorate the 1963 civil rights march and in protest against police violence. The event is called the “Commitment March: Get Your Knee Off Our Necks”, a reference to George Floyd’s death. The relatives of Jacob Blake, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Eric Garner deliver speeches at the march alongside civil rights leaders Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III. (BBC)

The International Monetary Fund reaches an agreement with the government of Ecuador to lend $6.5 billion to help fund the country’s economy amid the pandemic and the subsequent fall in oil prices and finalize a debt restructuring deal with its international investors. (Financial Times)

The death toll of dolphins in Mauritius rises to 38, according to a government official. The dolphins showed signs of wounds but no trace of hydrocarbons in their bodies. Greenpeace urged yesterday the government to launch an “urgent investigation to determine the cause of the deaths and any ties to the Wakashio oil spill”. (Reuters)

A polar bear kills a 38-year-old Dutch man at campsite near Longyearbyen, on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. The bear was then shot dead near Svalbard Airport. It is the first fatal bear attack on Svalbard since a British student was attacked and killed in 2011. (BBC)

Canada extends emergency orders that place restrictions on international travel and make mandatory two-week quarantines for anyone entering the country until September 30. (Global News)

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun announces that the country’s level 2 restrictions, set to expire on August 30, would be extended for at least another week until September 6 as the Ministry of Health and Welfare reports over 370 new infections over the past 24 hours. (Anadolu Agency)

The health ministry says that France is seeing an “exponential” rise in cases as the country records its second-highest record of reported cases since March, with 7,379 new cases in the last 24 hours, raising the possibility of another nationwide lockdown. (BBC)

The Ministry of Citizen Protection announces changes to Greece’s travel restrictions, effective August 31 until at least September 19, due to a rise in cases in recent weeks. Changes include requiring visitors from a list of countries to show a negative test result to enter and a suspension of flights to and from Catalonia, Spain, but lifting restrictions on the Netherlands. (Reuters via CNA)

Hungary announces that it will close its borders to foreigners on September 1 in an attempt to curb a rise in infections, and Hungarians returning from abroad will have to go into two-week quarantine. Hungarians can only leave if they have provided two negative tests. (Reuters)

The Russian foreign ministry announces the expulsion of a senior diplomat at the Norwegian embassy in Moscow and declared him persona non grata as a “retaliatory measure” after the Norwegian foreign ministry had expelled the deputy trade representative of the Russian embassy in Oslo on August 19 for alleged espionage. (AFP via The Moscow Times)

Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell threatens Turkey with sanctions unless it and Greece reconcile their differences over maritime borders and gas drilling rights near Cyprus. (Al Jazeera)

An administrative court in Berlin overturns the city government’s ban on protests and demonstrations, citing “no indication” that the government’s rationale for the ban of protesters breaching social distancing measures would occur. (AFP via Bangkok Post)

A 40-year-old haulier from County Armagh, Northern Ireland, pleads guilty in the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales to the manslaughter of 39 Vietnamese people, as well as conspiring to assist unlawful immigration. (AAP via Wellington Times)

Rioting erupts in Malmö, Sweden, following a Quran book burning event by far-right Danish politician Rasmus Paludan in the city. Police say as many as 300 people gathered to protest the anti-Islam activities, which then became violent as protesters set fires and attacked police. (Reuters)

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