Big Time News Blog: 05/29/20

Friday, May 29, 2020

Trump Announces U.S. ‘Terminating’ Relationship with World Health Organization

President Trump announced Friday that the U.S. is "terminating" its relationship with the World Health Organization over its failure to enact reforms in response to the administration's criticisms of its handling of the coronavirus pandemic."Because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will be today be terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs," Trump said at a press conference.The announcement comes after Trump had threatened to cut U.S. funding to the WHO, alleging that the organization had helped China conceal the severity of the initial coronavirus outbreak in the city of Wuhan. The president noted that the U.S. government provides the WHO with roughly $450 million a year, compared with China's annual contribution of $40 million.Last week, Health Secretary Alex Azar blamed the WHO for mishandling the emerging pandemic.“We must be frank about one of the primary reasons this outbreak spun out of control,” Azar said. “There was a failure by this organization to obtain the information that the world needed, and that failure cost many lives.”

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U.S. businesses awake to 'sad day' in Hong Kong as Trump moves to squeeze economic ties

The American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong said on Saturday it was a sad day for the global financial centre, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump moved toward stripping the city of its special treatment in a bid to punish China.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2yLDmqx

Mexico reports 84,627 total coronavirus cases and 9,415 deaths

Mexico on Friday registered 3,227 new cases of the coronavirus and 371 more deaths, bringing the total numbers to 84,627 cases and 9,415 fatalities, according to data from health authorities.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/3dfVcRJ

Fox News Breaking News Alert

Fox News Breaking News Alert

White House briefly locked down as unrest reported in Atlanta, Washington and New York City in wake of George Floyd's death

05/29/20 5:38 PM

George Floyd Was Pinned Down for Nearly 3 Minutes After He Became Unresponsive, Prosecutors Say

By BY SARAH MERVOSH from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2zBC0iK

China and the Rhineland Moment

By BY BRET STEPHENS from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/3gE2vo7

Coronavirus Briefing: What Happened Today

By BY LARA TAKENAGA AND JONATHAN WOLFE from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3dkR0A0

A Continent Reopens

By BY PATRICK KINGSLEY AND LAETITIA VANCON from NYT World https://ift.tt/3diaoNV

Ex-Officer Charged in Death of George Floyd in Minneapolis

By BY NEIL MACFARQUHAR, TIM ARANGO AND MANNY FERNANDEZ from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2Am86Pv

George Floyd Worked With Officer Charged in His Death

By BY MATT FURBER, AUDRA D. S. BURCH AND FRANCES ROBLES from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2XeUwGB

‘The Pain Is Too Intense’: Biden Challenges White Americans

By BY JONATHAN MARTIN AND KATIE GLUECK from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2XLfQSS

Japan avoided a lockdown by telling everyone to steer clear of the 3 Cs. Here's what that means.

Japan has declared its state of emergency over, and many are wondering how the country escaped COVID-19 with such a low death rate.

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Why India must battle the shame of period stain

Award-winning photographer Niraj Gera takes on stigma surrounding menstruation in India.

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Transcripts released of Flynn's calls with Russian diplomat

Transcripts of phone calls that played a pivotal role in the Russia investigation were declassified and released Friday, showing that Michael Flynn, as an adviser to then-President-elect Donald Trump, urged Russia's ambassador to be “even-keeled” in response to punitive Obama administration measures, and assured him “we can have a better conversation” about relations between the two countries after Trump became president. Democrats said the transcripts showed that Flynn had lied to the FBI when he denied details of the conversation, and that he was undercutting a sitting president while ingratiating himself with a country that had just interfered in the 2016 presidential election.

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Minneapolis mayor responds after night of protests and violence in wake of George Floyd's death

At a press conference on Thursday, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said protests and unrest after the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man seen on video pinned to the ground by the neck while being arrested by a white police officer, were the result of “built-up anger and sadness” in the black community over the past 400 years.

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Coronavirus: How the pandemic in US compares with rest of world

More than 100,000 people have died and the country is now slowly reopening amid fears of new spikes.

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Police officers around the country sound off on Minneapolis policing that led to George Floyd death

Law enforcement officials around the country are publicly condemning the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was seen on video gasping for breath as a white officer held him down with a knee on his neck for close to eight minutes.

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Hong Kong on borrowed time as China pushes for more control

Hong Kong has been living on borrowed time ever since the British made it a colony nearly 180 years ago, and all the more so after Beijing took control in 1997 and granted it autonomous status. China’s passage of a national security law for the city is the latest sign that the 50-year “one country, two systems” arrangement that allowed Hong Kong to keep its own legal, financial and trade regimes is perishable. China’s communist leaders have been preparing for decades to take full control of the glittering capitalist oasis, while building up their own trade and financial centers to take Hong Kong's place.

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Marauding monkeys attack lab technician and steal Covid-19 tests

A band of marauding monkeys has attacked a laboratory technician and stolen three Covid-19 test samples, raising fears they will infect themselves and then spread the deadly disease to humans. The worker was attacked outside a medical college in Meerut, northern India, while transporting samples from patients suspected of having coronavirus. The monkeys ran off into a residential area. The employee is said to have been unharmed, but has angered officials after filming the aftermath of the attack, rather than attempting to retrieve the samples from the fleeing monkeys. Monkeys can contract Covid-19 and then infect humans, according to scientists. Some Indians have been worried about catching the deadly virus from animals and it led to pet dogs being released onto the streets during the start of the pandemic. Others saw the funny side of the monkey attack, with the incident coming days after the Indian authorities detained a pigeon in Jammu & Kashmir on suspicion of spying for Pakistan. “The nation wants to know if Pakistan has sent those monkeys to steal coronavirus samples,” joked one user on Twitter. “These are highly trained monkeys and very intelligent monkeys.” In India, groups of monkeys are attacking people with increasing regularity as they are displaced from their natural habitats by urban sprawl. Their attacks can prove deadly - particularly for young children who are vulnerable to their powerful bites. In 2018, a 12-day-old baby boy died after he was bitten by a monkey in the city of Agra, home of the Taj Mahal.

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India's economy seen slowing rapidly in March quarter, with worse to come

Gross domestic product data out later on Friday is expected to show India's economy grew at its slowest pace in at least two years in the March quarter as the coronavirus pandemic weakened already declining consumer demand and private investment. The median forecast from a Reuters poll of economists put annual economic growth at 2.1% in the March quarter, lower than 4.7% in the December quarter. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has maintained the lockdown ordered on March 25 to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the world's second most populous country, though many restrictions were eased for manufacturing, transport and other services from May 18.

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Fury after Pennsylvania lawmakers concealed COVID diagnosis

Republicans in the US state of Pennsylvania faced calls for their resignation Thursday after a lawmaker tested positive for COVID-19 and they did not tell Democratic colleagues for a full week. Democrats in the state's House of Representatives erupted in anger for having their health and that of their families put at risk, with one calling the chamber's Republican leadership "callous liars" for withholding the information even as the House remained in session. Democrats said three other Republicans exposed to Lewis eventually went into quarantine, but not before they served alongside Democrats in several sessions and committee meetings.