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1. Coronavirus
More than half a million people have died of Covid-19 worldwide, and more than 10 million cases have been diagnosed. Those aren’t the only worrying numbers: Only two US states reported a downward trend in cases over the weekend, and Friday marked the largest single-day increase in cases nationwide, with 40,173 new reports. Despite increased testing by states, a survey by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the total number of infections could be up to 24 times higher than reported. All of this can translate into a new round of restrictions. Already, at least a dozen states are pausing their reopening plans, and others are looking for ways to prevent the July 4 weekend holiday from becoming a disastrous melting pot of new infections. On the vaccine front, Dr. Anthony Fauci said a vaccine may not be enough to get the United States to build up immunity status if there aren’t enough people agreeing to receive it. On the hill, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi expressed her support for a federal mandate on wearing masks. None of this seemed to bother Vice President Mike Pence, who attended a Texas church service with thousands of other faithful and a choir of more than 100 people.
2. Russia
Russian intelligence officers for military intelligence GRU recently offered money to Taliban fighters in Afghanistan as a reward for murdering American or British troops there, according to a European intelligence official. Reports of the alleged bounty deal circulated through various media outlets over the weekend, including a report in the New York Times that the Trump administration received information on the news in late March. President Trump denied such information, saying that the fact that “there have not been many attacks” against US troops by Taliban fighters could mean that the information is “false.” However, the Washington Post reports that the rewards have effectively resulted in the deaths of US troops, citing US intelligence gathered in military interrogations. Both the Russian embassy and the Taliban have denied the reports. If the GRU sounds familiar, it’s because it is the same Russian military agency that the US concluded was behind the interference in the 2016 US election.
3. Police reform
New protests materialized over the weekend as Americans continued to push for accountability and police reform in response to several high-profile deaths of black men and women. In Colorado, protesters closed a road during a peaceful demonstration demanding justice for the death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old man who died after a confrontation with Aurora police officers in August. Activists in other cities are pushing to get the police out of schools, and so far school officials in Minneapolis, Denver, Milwaukee, and Portland, Oregon have announced they are cutting those ties. School resource officers are a familiar sight in public schools, but opponents argue that these officers sometimes criminalize black and Latino students. Despite all this activity, hopes are fading for meaningful and widespread police reform legislation. Congress is stalled on competing reform projects, and the President’s recent executive order has been criticized for lacking implementation plans.
4. Facebook
Several large companies have joined a growing Facebook boycott of claims that the platform is not doing enough to stop the spread of hate. Ben and Jerry’s, Coca-Cola, Hershey’s, Honda, Levi Strauss, Verizon, and Starbucks are just a few of the big names to commit to the #StopHateForProfit boycott, organized by a civil rights coalition that includes the Anti-Defamation League and NAACP . Facebook Vice President of Public Affairs Nick Clegg has rejected the boycott premise, saying the social media giant is not profiting from the proliferation of hate speech on its platform. However, Facebook and its founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg have come under frequent scrutiny on how the platform responds to and regulates cases of hate speech, disinformation and harassment.
5. Pakistan
At least five people were killed in an attack on the Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi. PSE director Abid Ali said at a press conference that four attackers threw a grenade at the entrance to the compound, entered and started firing. They were eventually killed by the security forces. Ali also said the attackers “wore uniforms that looked like police uniforms.” A message from the PSE administration described the attackers as “terrorists”. Karachi’s PSE is the country’s largest exchange and is located in the city’s financial center, where there is generally a strong security presence.
BREAKFAST NAVIGATION
Here are all the winners of last night’s BET Awards
The winning album of the year is quite ironic in hindsight.
Former NFL MVP Cam Newton signed with the Patriots
Well, it certainly hasn’t been a quiet offseason for soccer.
Desert locusts swarm the skies in the Indian city of Gurgaon
What plague is that again?
Study shows we’re less likely to eat undercooked chicken, moldy bread, and other dangerous foods when we meet with our in-laws or bosses
It’s being polite, not … walking away from them.
A new colony called ‘Eau de Space’ supposedly smells like the final frontier
TODAY’S NUMBER
$ 8.3 billion
That’s what fracking pioneer Chesapeake Energy Corporation lost in the first quarter of 2020. The CEC has filed for bankruptcy, making it the largest oil and gas company to file for bankruptcy protection during the coronavirus pandemic.
TODAY’S QUOTE
“We have to vote as if our life depended on it, because it is so.”
Beyoncé, accepting the prestigious Humanitarian Award during the BET Awards the night before. She dedicated her honor to all those who have been marching in support of racial equality.
TODAY’S TIME
<Check your local forecast here >>>
AND FINALLY
Flying into the week like …
New project: make a gigantic paper airplane. Why? Because it’s great
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