AP News
Nearly 39 million have lost jobs in US since virus took hold
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits in the two months since the coronavirus took hold in the U.S. has swelled to nearly 39 million, the government reported Thursday, even as states from coast to coast gradually reopen their economies and let people go back to work.
More than 2.4 million people filed for unemployment last week in the latest wave of layoffs from the business shutdowns that have brought the economy to its knees, the Labor Department said.
That brings the running total to a staggering 38.6 million, a job-market collapse unprecedented in its speed.
NPR News
U.S. Could Have Saved 36,000 Lives If Social Distancing Started 1 Week Earlier: Study
The U.S. could have prevented roughly 36,000 deaths from COVID-19 if broad social distancing measures had been put in place just one week earlier in March, according to an analysis from Columbia University.
Underlining the importance of aggressively responding to the coronavirus, the study found the U.S. could have avoided at least 700,000 fewer infections if actions that began on March 15 had actually started on March 8.
The U.S. currently has more than 1.5 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, and more than 93,000 people have died from the disease, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
New Zealand's Prime Minister Touts 4-Day Week To Boost Domestic Tourism
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has floated the idea of a four-day work week to encourage domestic travel in the wake of the country's coronavirus lockdown.
Ardern raised the potential of a shortened work week and more flexibility around leave in the workplace after meeting with local officials and tourism operators in the North Island-city of Rotorua.
"How can we support New Zealanders to make the most of traveling around the country?" the prime minister said in a Facebook Live video. "Some have been saying, 'Well, if they had a bit more flexibility in terms of their travel and their leave they might be ought to do that.' I've heard lots of people suggesting we should have a four-day week."
The Washington Post
China to impose sweeping national security law in Hong Kong, bypassing city’s legislature
China's Communist Party will impose a sweeping national security law in Hong Kong by fiat during the annual meeting of its top political body, officials said Thursday, criminalizing "foreign interference" along with secessionist activities and subversion of state power.
The move is the boldest yet from Beijing to undercut Hong Kong’s autonomy and bring the global financial hub under its full control, as it works to rewrite the “one country, two systems” framework that has allowed the territory to enjoy a level of autonomy for the past 23 years.
After steadily eroding Hong Kong’s political freedoms, Beijing signaled that the national security law will be a new tool that allows it to directly tackle the political dissent that erupted on Hong Kong’s streets last year. The months-long and sometimes violent protests began last June and fizzled out only over public health concerns related to the coronavirus outbreak.
Trump uses official trip to Ford factory to make case for reelection
The president’s trips, in particular, have taken on clear campaign overtones as he pushes for states to move beyond the pandemic and restart their economies despite continuing public health concerns and the rising death toll. Supporters have lined the streets to greet his motorcade as they hold American flags and Trump campaign signs, disregarding social distancing rules and outnumbering a smaller set of protesters.
Trump’s campaign soundtrack played on the public-address system during his tour of the Owens & Minor medical supply plant in Allentown…
At the Ford facility, Trump showed off a navy blue face mask with the presidential seal to reporters and said he wore it for some of the tour while out of the view of the press pool.
“I didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it,” he said. A photo later surfaced showing that Trump did, indeed, wear one for part of the tour.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Man who filmed Ahmaud Arbery video charged with murder
William “Roddie” Bryan, who shot the video capturing the final seconds of Ahmaud Arbery’s life, has been arrested and charged with his murder, the GBI announced Thursday.
Bryan, 50, has maintained his innocence. On Monday, his attorney, Kevin Gough, insisted his client had no communication with the McMichaels the day of the shooting.
“If there was a lynch mob or posse, Mr. Bryan was unaware of it,” Gough said.
‘We’re not perfect.’ Kemp orders review after coronavirus data missteps
Gov. Brian Kemp said Thursday he has ordered a review of how the state is reporting coronavirus figures, and he asked the public to have patience with health officials after a string of missteps raised questions about the accuracy of the latest data about the outbreak.
“We’re not perfect. We make mistakes,” said Kemp of the criticism over mistakes in reporting data on COVID-19 in the state public health data website. He said increased pressure to more quickly update the data has likely contributed to the errors. […]
The governor’s remarks came as the state’s problems reporting COVID-19 data have made leaders the target of ridicule – and sparked criticism from Democrats and some public health experts who have accused his office of distorting the numbers to paint a sunnier picture of the state’s coronavirus approach.
Los Angeles Times
In Tijuana, paramedics uncover a hidden death toll not captured in COVID-19 statistics
Researchers who reviewed emergency response records in Tijuana have discovered scores of possible coronavirus deaths that never made it into official statistics.
Over four weeks in April and May, paramedics encountered 329 people who died in their homes or in ambulances — more than twice the number that would be expected based on data from recent years.
Over the same period, the Mexican government reported just eight official COVID-19 deaths in Tijuana that occurred outside hospitals.
The study — which was conducted by researchers at UCLA, Mexico’s Red Cross and several other institutions and has not yet been peer-reviewed — suggests the country may be missing large numbers of coronavirus victims in its official counts.
Detroit Free Press
Whitmer: I told Trump I'd accompany him on tour of Michigan flooding
[…] The president's order authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency to "coordinate all disaster relief efforts" in order to "save lives and to protect property and public health and safety."
But, Whitmer's remarks Thursday also made more than a plea for help to recover from the flooding. She also made a case for rebuilding Michigan's infrastructure, not just the "damn roads" — a slogan she campaigned on — but "dams and roads." […]
"The fact of the matter is," Whitmer said, "we have underinvested over a period of decades in this state," adding that "we all pay when infrastructure fails, that's why we've all got to be a part of making sure that doesn't happen."
MarketWatch
Fed’s Powell says less-well-off Americans are bearing the brunt of the economic fallout from the coronavirus
The economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic is falling on poorer Americans, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Thursday.
“We are in the midst of an economic downturn without modern precedent,” Powell said, in remarks at the start of a central bank forum for voices outside of Wall Street called “Fed Listens.”
The economic downturn was sudden and severe, erasing all the job gains of the past decade.
“And while the burden is widespread, it has not been evenly spread,” Powell said. “Those taking the brunt of the fallout are those least able to bear it.”
The Fed chairman said earlier this month that the path ahead for the economy is highly uncertain and risky.
The Guardian
Kolkata surveys damage after bearing brunt of Cyclone Amphan
The Indian city of Kolkata has been left devastated by the worst cyclone it has seen in 100 years, which swept through India and Bangladesh on Wednesday and killed at least 84 people.
Kolkata, home to almost 15 million people, bore the brunt of Cyclone Amphan, which tore roofs off buildings, smashed windows, pulled down trees and pylons and overturned cars.
Most of the fatalities were caused by falling trees or electrocution. Millions of people were left without power and telephone connection, and some areas were without drinking water.
Lockdowns trigger dramatic fall in global carbon emissions
Carbon dioxide emissions have fallen dramatically since lockdowns were imposed around the world due to the coronavirus crisis, research has shown.
Daily emissions of the greenhouse gas plunged 17% by early April compared with 2019 levels, according to the first definitive study of global carbon output this year.
The findings show the world has experienced the sharpest drop in carbon output since records began, with large sections of the global economy brought to a near standstill. When the lockdown was at its most stringent, in some countries emissions fell by just over a quarter (26%) on average. In the UK, the decline was about 31%, while in Australia emissions fell 28.3% for a period during April.
Deutsche Welle
Rainforest deforestation more than doubled under cover of coronavirus
As the COVID-19 virus was spreading around the world, deforestation in the world's rainforests rose at an alarming rate, the German arm of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said in a study published on Thursday.
The study, which analyzed satellite data of 18 countries compiled by the University of Maryland, found that deforestation rose by 150% this March compared 2017-2019 average for the same calendar month.
Around 6,500 square kilometers (2,510 square miles) of rainforest were felled in March alone — an area seven times the size of Berlin, the WWF said.
Reuters
U.S. to pull out of Open Skies treaty, Trump's latest treaty withdrawal
The United States said on Thursday it would withdraw from the 35-nation Open Skies treaty allowing unarmed surveillance flights over member countries, the Trump administration’s latest move to pull the country out of a major global treaty.
The administration said Russia had repeatedly violated the pact’s terms. Senior officials said the pullout would formally take place in six months, but … Donald Trump held out the possibility that Russia could come into compliance. […]
His decision deepens doubts about whether Washington will seek to extend the 2010 New START accord, which imposes the last remaining limits on U.S. and Russian deployments of strategic nuclear arms to no more than 1,550 each. It expires in February.
Biden's presidential campaign raises $43.7 million in April
Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden raised $43.7 million in April for his presidential campaign, according to a disclosure filed on Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission.
The funds gathered during April marks a decrease from March when the campaign raised $46.7 million.
Vox
Brazil has one of the world’s worst coronavirus outbreaks. Bolsonaro wants to reopen anyway.
Brazil recorded its highest single-day coronavirus death toll on Tuesday: 1,179 fatalities.
It was another bleak statistic for the country, which has seen its coronavirus outbreak explode in the past few weeks. As of May 21, Brazil has confirmed more than 291,000 positive cases, the third-highest in the world, and more than 18,800 Brazilians have died of the virus. Inadequate testing means both the case count and the real death toll are likely higher.
It’s devastating — but it’s also what many predicted might happen in the Latin American country. Brazil’s public health system was already strained before the pandemic, and hospital systems in some of its major cities are now on the verge of being completely overwhelmed. Lack of adequate supplies and health care equipment has put front-line workers at risk; more than 116 nurses have died in Brazil so far.
Office work will never be the same
When the world eventually opens back up after the Covid-19 pandemic, many parts of society, the economy, and the workplace will not be what we remember. For so-called knowledge workers, people whose jobs typically require analytical thinking as well as computers, not only will their offices look different, but the way in which they work will be altered, too. It might never be the same.
The giant forced experiment of remote working en masse brought about by the pandemic will likely last longer than many thought. Tech companies seem to be taking the concept especially seriously. Facebook recently told employees they could work from home for the rest of the year. Twitter and Square said they could do so indefinitely. But the trend extends well beyond Silicon Valley.
Of the 34 percent of workers who are estimated to be working from home, many will not go back.
Politico
Issa sues California over November mail-ballot election
Republican congressional candidate Darrell Issa and a conservative group are suing to block California’s move to an all-mail November election. […]
The conservative group Judicial Watch filed a challenge in Sacramento’s U.S. District Court to block Newsom’s executive order on behalf of plaintiffs that include Issa, a Republican former congressman vying this year to return to the House to represent a San Diego-area district.
The complaint argues that Newsom’s order violates elections provisions of the Constitution and represents an “unlawful attempt to supersede and replace California election law” by creating “an entirely new system” that does not conform with an existing state law, the Voter’s Choice Act, which lays out requirements for counties that wish to mail ballots to all voters.
McConnell warns House Democrats over proxy voting on floor
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday slammed the House’s new rule to allow proxy voting on the chamber floor — and hinted that he might not take up legislation passed under this procedure. […]
“There will be enormous constitutional questions around anything the House does if they fail to demonstrate a real quorum but plow ahead anyhow,” McConnell said during a floor speech.
Bloomberg
China Abandons Numerical GDP Target on ‘Great Uncertainty’
China has abandoned its usual practice of setting a numerical target for economic growth this year due to the turmoil caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to the text of Premier Li Keqiang’s annual policy address on Friday.
“I would like to point out that we have not set a specific target for economic growth this year,” the report said. “This is because our country will face some factors that are difficult to predict in its development due to the great uncertainty regarding the Covid-19 pandemic and the world economic and trade environment.”
Financial Stocks’ $1 Trillion Wipeout Brings Echoes of 2008
After years of stress testing, financial companies might have been better positioned to withstand a market shock such as that triggered by the coronavirus. Instead, they’re standing out as persistent losers.
Down 29% since January, banks and insurers have trailed the S&P 500 by 20 percentage points, their worst performance at this point of a year on record. Along the way, about $1 trillion has been wiped off their market value, an amount that rivals the annual total of $1.2 trillion seen at the depths of the global financial crisis.
While companies in economically-sensitive industries like energy have led the S&P 500’s two-month rebound, banks are stubborn laggards, held back by fears over everything from negative interest rates to dividend cuts and loan defaults. Despite those headwinds, some analysts are perplexed by the selloff.
Live Science
Giant tectonic plate under Indian Ocean is breaking in two
The giant tectonic plate under the Indian Ocean is going through a rocky breakup … with itself. In a short time (geologically speaking) this plate will split in two, a new study finds.
To humans, however, this breakup will take an eternity. The plate, known as the India-Australia-Capricorn tectonic plate, is splitting at a snail's pace — about 0.06 inches (1.7 millimeters) a year. Put another way, in 1 million years, the plate's two pieces will be about 1 mile (1.7 kilometers) farther apart than they are now.
"It's not a structure that is moving fast, but it's still significant compared to other planet boundaries," said study co-researcher Aurélie Coudurier-Curveur, a senior research fellow of marine geosciences at the Institute of Earth Physics of Paris.
The Atlantic
The Pandemic Hasn’t Changed Voters’ Minds About Trump
Education remains the most important dividing line in America.
For all the focus on the gender gap, the diploma divide over Donald Trump is looming as an even greater factor in the 2020 presidential race—just as it was in 2016.
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, women generally express more financial strain and more concern about returning to their normal routines than men do. And yet a wide array of recent polls shows that, especially among white voters, education remains the most important dividing line in reaction to Trump’s handling of the crisis.
… mostly, the intense pressure of the pandemic appears to be fortifying, rather than fracturing, the long-standing divisions in the electorate that Trump has already widened since 2016, according to a wide range of previously unpublished polling data provided to The Atlantic.
Ars Technica
Ousted scientist says she was asked to manipulate Florida COVID-19 data
As Florida tries to move past the COVID-19 crisis and reopen businesses and venues, the former manager of the state's novel coronavirus data project alleges she was fired for refusing to cook the numbers and make the state look better.
Rebekah Jones said Friday she was removed from her position, local outlet Florida Today was the first to report.
Jones built and managed the COVID-19 data dashboard for the state from March until May 5. Last week, she explained that for "reasons beyond my division's control," her office lost all connection to the portal, and neither she nor her team was any longer involved with it, its data, its publication, or answering questions.
CBS Sports
MLB players union responds to league's coronavirus safety proposal for 2020 season
Major League Baseball and the Players Association are in their second week of negotiating terms on a modified season that would begin in early July and wrap up sometime in late October or early November. On Thursday, the union formally responded to the league's 67-page safety and testing protocol proposal with some potential modifications.
According to Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal, the union's counter-proposal included notes on testing frequency, protections for high-risk players and their families, and sanitization protocols. Joel Sherman of the New York Post, meanwhile, tweeted that players were hoping for alterations that would enable them to shower at stadiums and to access hydrotherapy and other preparation and recovery tools that the league's proposal had prohibited due to the risk of infection.