Good morning,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientists put together a 17-page, step-by-step guide for state and local officials, business owners and others on how to safely reopen their communities amid America’s still-growing coronavirus outbreak. The guidance was due to be published last Friday but the Trump administration had other ideas, reportedly telling agency officials that it would “never see the light of day”.
That leaves states to choose their own paths out of lockdown. In California, the first to issue a stay-at-home order seven weeks ago, the state governor, Gavin Newsom, has announced the beginning of a tentative reopening, with some rural counties already defying lockdown restrictions. Experts say the Golden State’s methodical four-step plan is the least worst in an array of risky options.
Did the Trump Organization ask for a British bailout?
Congress has passed legislation preventing US taxpayer funds being used to prop up companies in which Donald Trump holds a stake. But that hasn’t stopped the Trump Organization seeking bailout funds from governments overseas. Now, Democrats are demanding more information about coronavirus cash the company has requested in the UK and other countries, to cover the wages of furloughed employees from the president’s golf properties.
Trump’s valet tests positive. A member of the US military who works at the White House, reportedly as one of the president’s personal valets, has tested positive for Covid-19.
Uber is laying off thousands, while other tech giants boom
Uber has announced plans to lay off 3,700 employees – about 14% of its entire global workforce – as the economic fallout from the pandemic sweeps through Silicon Valley. Lyft, Airbnb, Yelp and WeWork have all announced similar cuts in recent days. And yet, thanks to a lockdown boom in business for companies such as Netflix and Amazon, the tech-heavy Nasdaq share index has now recovered all of its coronavirus-related losses.
Unemployment rose another 3 million last week. The total number of Americans to file jobless claims, in the seven weeks since lockdowns began, has now topped 33 million.
The virus set off a global ‘tsunami of hate and xenophobia’
The UN secretary-general says the pandemic has caused a surge in “hate and xenophobia, scapegoating and scare-mongering” around the world, both online and on the street, from antisemitic conspiracy theories to Covid-19-related anti-Muslim attacks.
António Guterres made the remarks as China insisted it was “open to cooperate” with a World Health Organization investigation into the origins of the coronavirus. Meanwhile, Republican senators floated a proposal to rename the street outside China’s embassy in Washington DC after the late Wuhan doctor who was punished by authorities for warning about the outbreak – a suggestion sure to enrage Beijing.
Covid-19 could ‘smoulder’ in Africa over the coming years, the WHO has warned, saying the disease could kill up to 190,000 people on the continent in the next 12 months alone.
Bogotá’s gendered lockdown is putting trans people at risk of violent attacks, activists say. The Colombian capital is allowing men and women to venture out for essential activities on alternate days.
How a plot to invade Venezuela fell apart
One of the two US mercenaries captured in Venezuela this week has admitted that he and his group intended to raid the presidential palace in Caracas, abduct president Nicolás Maduro and spirit him back to the US “however necessary”. Maduro has demanded the extradition of Jordan Goudreau, the former green beret who plotted the audacious operation in hopes of earning a $15m bounty from the US government. But that audacious plan quickly unravelled.
In other news…
The DoJ is dropping its prosecution of Michael Flynn, despite Trump’s former national security adviser having pleaded guilty to lying to investigators – in one of the signature cases to arise from Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
Two men have been charged over Ahmaud Arbery’s death. A former police officer and his son face murder and aggravated assault charges for the shooting of the 25-year-old unarmed black man, who was killed while jogging through Brunswick, Georgia, in February.
Tara Reade called for Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race. The woman accusing the former vice-president of a 1993 sexual assault, which he denies, made the remarks in an on-camera interview with Megyn Kelly.
Armed black citizens escorted a Michigan lawmaker to work. State representative Sarah Anthony said she wanted to highlight what she saw as the failure of the Michigan capitol police to provide adequate protection during a protest involving armed white supremacists last week.
Great reads
Megan Thee Stallion on her quarantine collab with Queen B
Her lyrical prowess has made her one of the hottest rappers in the US, but even Megan Thee Stallion was surprised when Beyoncé wanted to remix her track Savage, she tells Yomi Adegoke. And Tara Joshi explains why it’s a golden era for women in rap.
The refugees who became pawns in Erdoğan’s game
From the conflict in Syria to quarantine camps amid the pandemic, refugees in Turkey have spent years suffering and struggling to reach a new life. Are they just being used as part of a bigger political game by the Turkish government? Katy Fallon reports.
Opinion: The Murdoch media are campaigning for Trump
Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire is stoking the Chinese lab coronavirus theory, says former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd. Why? To help re-elect Trump in 2020.
There are three issues in this campaign: Trump’s handling of the virus; how to dig the US out of its virus-induced economic hole; and who can be most hardline on China – the Donald or ‘Beijing Biden’, as the Republicans now seek to tag his Democratic opponent. There’s little else on the table.
Last Thing: five films for the whole family
Plonking the kids in front of a film is one of the few reliable time-wasters of the lockdown era. But what if you want to watch with them, and you don’t feel like another viewing of Trolls World Tour? Andrew Pulver picks five children’s films that aren’t just for children.
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