Daily Archives: June 21, 2020

The Internets Most Censored Space – The New York Times

Posted: June 21, 2020 at 2:05 pm

This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it weekdays.

For the free-speech absolutists out there, let me point you to a corner of the digital world that embraces its utter lack of free expression: Apples app stores.

Apple alone decides what apps you can download on your iPhone, iPad and Mac. The company reviews every line of software code and is happy to block any app that it believes promotes harmful behavior, is in poor taste, enables surveillance, or is trying to steal money or your data.

There are dangers to apps being subject to Apples whims. But the success of the app storefronts and online hangouts like Snapchat that also dont pretend to be anything-goes havens of freedom show that the public sometimes embraces companies dictating what people can say and do inside their virtual walls. You yes, you! are probably not universally against digital censorship.

From the day the iPhone app store opened, employees reviewed and tested apps before making them available to the public. The vetting gave people confidence that apps were safe and worthy of their consideration. Googles Android storefront also screens apps, but is generally more permissive. Apple said last year that it reviewed 100,000 apps weekly and rejected about 40 percent.

There are downsides to Apples absolute app authority. In China, Apples control at times has enabled the government to block apps it believes break its laws. That has included some news apps, including The New York Times.

In addition, app makers gripe about the process, the reasons for rejections, as well as the fees Apple charges for apps on the store. They also question whether Apple shuts out their apps or makes them harder to find because the company wants to help its own apps or internet services. The makers of a new email service, which my colleague Brian X. Chen reviewed, are furious about what they say are Apples capricious reasons for blocking the app.

European regulators are investigating whether Apples terms go too far, my Times colleagues reported this week. Apple has said it worked to make people trust the app store and offer app makers a good business opportunity. The company said there was no basis to complaints that it was violating European competition laws.

But few credible people say that Apple should let anyone and anything into its app stores, at least in the way that some people argue for a Wild West on social media. The fight were having appropriately is over the terms of Apples censorship zones. (The freewheeling internet gives Apple some cover here.)

Its time to stop debating whether we want powerful gatekeepers vetting information. We do. We dont want people to be able to shout the proverbial fire in a crowded theater, and we dont want terrorists, stalkers, dangerous conspiracy theorists and authoritarians to have free rein on the internet.

Lets move past simplistic free-speech arguments. The real debate is how we make sure that powerful gatekeepers exercise their authority effectively, fairly and with accountability.

I promise you that I love to argue. But I confess that Im a little bored arguing about political advertising on Facebook. It feels as if were fighting too much about the wrong thing. (This, perhaps, is the theme of todays newsletter.)

If you have been alive and conscious for the last forever you might have noticed that politicians twist or ignore the truth when they pitch themselves to voters.

This has become a much bigger problem in the social media age. Lies can travel farther and faster than ever before.

This is a serious problem, and the big internet companies have tried different approaches to tackle it. Twitter has refused to accept political-related advertisements at all, and Facebook has staked out an opposite position that people should be able to evaluate the warts-and-all paid pitches from candidates.

Now, my colleague Mike Isaac reported, Facebook will start giving people the option to hide from their feeds political ads, commercials about social issues and similar paid messages. Its a mushy middle ground that, I assure you, will satisfy no one.

Political ads are important because they represent what a candidate most wants voters to know. And its fair to say that internet companies shouldnt financially benefit from false advertisements.

But we also cant lose sight that most of the garbage-fire parts of Facebook are not paid political messages.

The Air Force sergeant who sought to organize violence against law enforcement officials on Facebook had nothing to do with paid political messages. Dangerous health conspiracies that spread on Facebook are not paid political messages. And even most of the horrible stuff that politicians say on Facebook are not paid political messages.

So, yes, we should be debating how Facebook and political candidates should best keep voters informed. But lets not forget about all the noxious online speech and lies that are free of charge.

Taking a company public is just strange now: My colleague Erin Griffith relays how the coronavirus is warping the usual public spectacle of initial public offerings. Instead of C.E.O.s traveling the world to pitch their companies, one crammed back-to-back virtual meetings from his home and made sure to dress up and wear shoes. Instead of the typical ceremonial bell ringing at a stock exchange, employees of one company uploaded photos of themselves for display at the Nasdaq video screen.

The existential question for internet marketplaces: Bookshop has been billed as the anti-Amazon a place for people to buy books online and still support the shop around the corner. But some bookstore owners fear that Bookshop is another way to lose revenue and reader loyalty to an internet middleman, my colleague Alexandra Alter writes.

A glimpse at the humiliation for black executives in technology: Bloomberg News writes about the challenges black people face when they start a tech company or run one. Some executives are advised to bring a white colleague with them to business meetings. One black chief executive told Bloomberg that he carried around a notebook with the logo of alma mater, Stanford University, to try to fit in.

I am a sucker for red pandas. Their adorableness is too much. (Stick around through the end of the video to watch Lin get a birthday cake of apples and bananas.)

We want to hear from you. Tell us what you think of this newsletter and what else youd like us to explore. You can reach us at ontech@nytimes.com.

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The Internets Most Censored Space - The New York Times

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Virgin Galactic Stock Is Only for Astronauts and Speculators – InvestorPlace

Posted: at 2:05 pm

Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) is one of many companies in the market today where the numbers dont matter. SPCE stock is climbing despite the unknowns Virgin Galactic faces.

Source: Tun Pichitanon / Shutterstock.com

The company hopes to do intercontinental flights that briefly enter low Earth orbit. It hopes to do them cheaply by launching off larger planes before engaging on-board engines. It hopes to be offering commercial flights in a few years. Virgin Galactic even hopes to get you from the United States to Sydney in a few hours.

Meanwhile, the company struggles to perfect its system, prove its safety and keep generating the hype needed to stay in business.

Its a mark of just where the market is that, so far in 2020, that has gone quite well. The shares are up almost 30% year to date.

Until Elon Musks SpaceX or Jeff Bezos Blue Origin seek capital from the public markets, Virgin Galactic is the only crazy billionaire space stock.

The crazy billionaire in this case is Richard Branson. He has had to sell out what was a 46% holding in big tranches to support Virgin Atlantic, the airline he co-owns with Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL). Those sales went well. Since they also cleared out warrants Branson held, they were seen to be bullish.

Virgin Galactics efforts cost about $200 million per year. At the end of March, it still had $431 million of cash. The Federal Aviation Administration issued rules about private human space flight in March. But formal safety regulations wont arrive until 2023.

Until it can take passengers, Virgin Galactic stock is tied to the markets moods and the hype over commercial space travel.

When the market was in a good mood in February, before the novel coronavirus, SPCE stock traded as high as $40 per share. People went on TV to explain it, but there was nothing they could say. There was no news.

A second stage of speculation was a UBS report in March saying that using space as Virgin Galactic proposes could be a $20-billion business in 2030. The report said space tourism could be a $3-billion opportunity. If Virgin Galactic can get 100 passengers onto a flight, cutting travel times 80%, and charging $2,500 per ticket, the estimate could be conservative, UBS wrote.

The shares got a third boost in early June, after SpaceX sent two astronauts to the International Space Station. Shares rose 6% but, again, this was not news relevant to Virgin Galactic.

When forced to say yea or nay on SPCE stock, most analysts start dancing.

Making money with it isnt rocket science, InvestorPlaces David Moadel wrote recently. He recommended a low-key, patient approach. Ian Cooper looked at the same set of facts and suggested avoiding the stock. Virgin Galactic has been taking deposits on flights, worth $100 million in future revenue, but cant yet fulfill those contracts.

TV analyst Jim Cramer considers most of the action a game. There were spikes of short interest in February and in May. As much as 30% of the float is sometimes being borrowed on the hope of lower prices. Take away that pressure and the stock settles back to Earth.

There are stocks you invest in for income, stocks you invest in for capital appreciation and stocks you trade.

Virgin Galactic is a stock you trade.

Its system works in theory. The company has done some test flights. But until there are real flights, with paying passengers, its all a guess.

The stock will rise or fall with news, with the markets temperature with its own short interest. But, as Gertrude Stein said of Oakland, theres no there there. Until there is, risk-averse investors should stay on the sidelines, and leave SPCE stock to the speculators.

Dana Blankenhorn has been a financial and technology journalist since 1978. He is the author of the environmental thriller Bridget OFlynn and the Bear, available at the Amazon Kindle store. Follow him on Twitter at @danablankenhorn. As of this writing he owned no shares in companies mentioned in this story.

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Best Solar Eclipse Photos And YouTube Videos Of The Solstice Ring Of Fire From Around The World – Forbes

Posted: at 2:05 pm

A Chinese man wears a protective mask to prevent COVID-19 and protective glasses as he watches the ... [+] sun during the annular solar eclipse outside the Forbidden City on June 20, 2020 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Early on Sunday morning as much as 99.4% of the Sun was covered by the Moon for less than a minute as seen from parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Although few international eclipse-chasers could travel to witness the event, and many living near the 27 miles-wide path of the Moons shadow were also thwarted by COVID-19 travel restrictions, amateur astronomers were out in force for this rare annular solar eclipse.

The path of today's eclipse began in Africa and crossed into the Arabian Peninsula.

This special kind of partial solar eclipse was visible for just under six hours between 03:45 UTC and 09:34 UTC, from the Republic of Congo in Central Africa to Guam in the Pacific Ocean. From everywhere along the track solar eclipse glasses had to be worn.

Ethiopia was where some of the first images came from; heres an image from the iconicLalibelain Ethiopia, which is famous for its rock-hewn monolithicchurches:

Heres a great video from Ethiopia (scan to 23 minutes for the ring of fire):

Next was Yemen. Not much was seen online during the eclipse, but soon after this beautiful photo appeared on Twitter:

Next up was Oman. Heres a video (scan to 1 hour 43 minutes for the ring of fire):

While a massive swathe of the eastern hemisphere saw a partial solar eclipse, that delicate ring around the Moon was visible for between 38 and 82 seconds only from a narrow path through the Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Yemen, Oman, Pakistan, India, Tibet, China and Taiwan.

Heres that perfect circle moment from Quriyat, Oman:

Minutes later, it was Pakistans turn. In Sukkur, Pakistan, research astronomer Talha Moon Zia took this spectacular image (below) thatin my opinionis the definitive image of the entire eclipse; a ring of fire that shows the Suns pinkish chromosphere an even a few pink prominencesexplosions on the surface of the Sun (look on the lower-left where the ring is at its thinnest):

Heres what was going minutes later in Ahmedabad, India, which experienced a maximum 77% partial solar eclipse:

Meanwhile, a ring of fire was visible in northern Rajasthan, India, back along that narrow full eclipse path:

Can you see those broken rings on the images above? Those are Bailys beads. These beads of light are the Suns light coming through the mountains of the Moon. They were only visible for a few seconds before and after the ring of fire.

The path of today's annular solar eclipse.

From Dehradun, India the spectacle of Bailys beads was again briefly visible:

To the south, New Delhi, India saw a 93% partial solar eclipse:

The moon moves in front of the sun during an annular solar eclipse as seen from New Delhi on June ... [+] 21, 2020. (Photo by Jewel Samad / AFP) (Photo by JEWEL SAMAD/AFP via Getty Images)

The word annular comes from annulus, a Latin word for little ring. An annular solar eclipse is caused when a New Moon is further away from Earth on its slightly elliptical orbit, so not big enough in our sky to cover the whole of the Sun.

After leaving India across the Himalayas, the ring of fire then crossed Tibet and China, with the last views of the ringfor about a minutein Xiamen, China and southern Taiwan.

Heres a photo from Tibet:

The annular solar eclipse is seen on June 21, 2020 in Ali Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region of ... [+] China. (Photo by Jia Jiqian/VCG via Getty Images)

Macau then saw an 84% partial solar eclipse. Heres a great amateur video of it, which demonstrates just how useful cloud can sometimes be for eclipse-viewing:

Dont confuse an annular solar eclipse with a total solar eclipse, which occurs when a New Moon covers 100% or more of the Sun.The next total solar eclipse will happen next on December 14, 2020 as seen from a narrow path of totality through Chile and Argentina.

People gather to watch the partial solar eclipse along a promenade on June 21, 2020 in Hong Kong, ... [+] China. (Photo by Billy H.C. Kwok/Getty Images)

The next annular solar eclipse will occur on June 10, 2021 and be visible from Canada, Greenland and Russia. It will be the first of three solar eclipses of some kind in North America inside just four years.

Solar eclipses are predicted using an ephemeris that accurately plots where the Sun and Moon are, with respect to Earth, where the Moons shadow is in space, and when its going to strike Earths surface. Spherical trigonometry has been used to plot how the Moon-shadow moves across the surface in 3D.

Science aside, you owe yourself a trip to see a solar eclipsebut make sure its a total solar eclipse you travel to. Annular solar eclipses make great photosas demonstrated herebut theyre not a patch on the experience of totality.

Disclaimer: I am editor of WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.

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The amazon bond offering – Nairametrics

Posted: at 2:05 pm

Elon Musk is one of the many individuals that has played a crucial role in tech innovation. Musk is known all over the world for a number of companies and a variety of products.

Specifically, he is known as an engineer, industrial designer, technology entrepreneur and philanthropist. Tesla as his brain child has led the revolution of electric cars which have the potential to replace the polluting combustion engine-driven vehicles.

Tesla vehicles represent mans drive towards clean transportation; being able to move around without contaminating the air he breathes. In 2019, the company manufactured over 300,000 vehicles and generated about US$24.578 dollars. Thats a lot of money.

READ ALSO: Elon Musk fires back at SEC on twitter

Musk is also the progenitor of The Boring Company, an American Infrastructural and tunnel construction company founded in 2016. We cant also forget Open AI, an Artificial Intelligence company dedicated to ensuring AI does not lead to human extinction. Elon with regards to Open AI, shares the idea that AI, if not controlled can broaden its ability to re-design and improve itself which can be inimical for man. Because of this, the company partners with other organisations and researchers in the field to ensure AI remains an extension of human intelligence and not necessarily a competitor.

A company that will be of interest to any is SpaceX officially known as the Space Explosion Technologies Corp., an American aerospace manufacturing and space transportation company. SpaceX is not just a representation of Elons desire for space travel, but the deeper vision of colonizing Mars.

In 2017, SpaceX unveiled the Interplanetary Transport System, a privately funded system.

In 2020, SpaceX in collaboration with NASA launched two astronauts into space, the first launch since the U.S. government retired its space program after a national tragedy. It was also the first collaboration between NASA and a private organisation. This, however, does not seem to be the last launch for Elons company as the next launch is scheduled for June 12.

READ ALSO: Disruptive Opportunities: Can developing AI and robotics stabilise the Naira?

SpaceX will among other things, be sending another 60 of its starling satellites into orbit. Elon Musks works do not in any way undermine the products, innovations, researches and actions of others in the tech field. But they unsurprisingly put him at the forefront of it all.

How this affects the tech space and the rest of the world?Elons companies and their products are causing ripple effects in their respective industries. They are giving the old way of doing things a run for its money. His inventions and innovations ordinarily represent the tools of the new era of tech.

At the same time, he is becoming a threat to competitors in the tech industry. Kanyes West words, how can one man have all that power?! resonates in the minds of competitors and businessmen who want a slice of Elons cake.

Be this as it may, without worthy competitors, Elon will be left to dominate and control the trends in Artificial Intelligence, Space travel among others. This is not strange in any way. Once upon a time, we had Steve Jobs at the forefront of innovation in tech.

For consumers, Elons dominance in the tech field might be a little troublesome. Having innovative tech is good for us, but having them from the same person does not cut it. If that is to happen, the tech market will be dominated by Elon Musk and his many tech companies which could in more ways than one, limit the variety of products in our lives.

READ ALSO: Tech group suspends Crowdfunded relief to Nigerians

Moreover, tech could become monotonous being that the concepts emanated from the same mind. Governmental policies could also be affected by Elons dominance of the tech industry.

SpaceX launches, as much as they have a record of firsts, it wont be wrong to say that either subtly or not, the company and Elon has impacted governments policies; specifically, as regards space travel.

On the whole, these dont mean Elon Musk is an overbearing capitalist, but we need the tech industry to step up to match his innovations specifically in these fields: artificial intelligence, space travel, automobile and car manufacturing.

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Coronavirus Live News and Updates – The New York Times

Posted: at 2:04 pm

As cases and deaths rose earlier this spring in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, the countrys three largest cities, the outlook seemed much better in Houston, the fourth largest.

But this month, as new case reports plummeted around New York City and Chicago, they exploded around Houston. More than 1,100 new infections were reported both Friday and Saturday in Harris County, which includes most of Houston, by far the two highest daily totals there. Public health experts in Texas warned of a dire outlook. Houstons mayor, Sylvester Turner, pleaded with residents to wear masks.

The numbers are only getting worse, said Lina Hidalgo, Harris Countys top elected official, who spoke of significant, uncontrolled spread of the virus and very disturbing trends in hospitalizations. It is so crucial that all of us modify our behaviors, because that is the only thing that is going to keep us from going into a crisis.

For now, at least, Houston is faring better than its three larger peers. Its per capita infection rate is far lower than that of New York City; Los Angeles County, Calif.;and Cook County, Ill., which includes Chicago. Cook County, which is slightly larger than Harris County, has four times as many cases and 13 times as many deaths.

Still, the trends are alarming across most of Texas, where the economy began to reopen in early May. The states testing positivity rate is now approaching 9 percent, up about four percentage points from a month ago. More than 3,200 coronavirus patients are hospitalized statewide, the highest number yet, though many more hospital beds remain available. And in the Dallas area, one of several places seeing huge case growth, residents will soon be required to wear masks at businesses.

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Russia reopens ahead of Victory Day and Putin referendum — but coronavirus threat remains – CNN

Posted: at 2:04 pm

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

People exercise in workout pods at Inspire South Bay Fitness, a gym in Redondo Beach, California, on Monday, June 15.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Sue Stamp fits a young girl with a new pair of shoes after W.J. French and Son reopened in Southampton, England, on June 15.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Floor supervisor Dumitru Carabasu sanitizes dice at Las Vegas' Excalibur Hotel & Casino on Thursday, June 11. It was reopening for the first time since mid-March.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Nail technicians perform manicures and pedicures at a nail bar in Moscow on June 9. The Russian capital ended a tight lockdown that had been in place since late March.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Commuters wear protective masks as they ride a subway train in New York on June 8.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Parishioners are welcomed back to a Greek Orthodox church in Keilor East, Australia, on June 7. Religious services and gatherings for up to 20 people are now permitted in the state of Victoria.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Visitors ride a roller coaster at the Universal Studios theme park in Orlando after it reopened on June 5.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Customers stand on an escalator inside Le Printemps Haussmann, a department store in Paris, on May 28.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

A restorer cleans Michelangelo's David statue on May 27 while preparing for the reopening of the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence, Italy.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange after it reopened for in-person trading on May 26.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

A man dives into an outdoor swimming pool in Rome on May 25.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Visitors take photos from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon shortly after sunrise on May 25. Grand Canyon National Park has partially reopened on weekends.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Students in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, study at the Merlan school of Paillet on May 25.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Tourists enjoy the hot weather at a beach in Bournemouth, England, on May 25.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Visitors look at the work of artist Berlinde De Bruyckere at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, a contemporary art foundation in Turin, Italy, on May 23.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Jasmine Donaldson cleans a movie theater in Auckland, New Zealand, on May 22. Matakana Cinemas reopened May 28 with a reduced capacity to allow for social distancing between seats and in the foyer.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Chinese Communist Party delegates stand for the national anthem at the opening of the National People's Congress on May 22. The annual parliamentary gathering had been postponed.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

People visit the ARoS Museum of Art in Aarhus, Denmark, on May 22. The museum opened its doors to the public after being closed for two months.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Surfers take to the water in Lido Beach, New York, on May 21.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

People visit the reopened Blaavand Zoo in Denmark on May 21.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

People swim at a public pool in Cologne, Germany, on May 21.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Christian Orthodox faithfuls attend a liturgy in Athens, Greece, on May 20.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

People visit Florida's Clearwater Beach on May 20. Florida opened its beaches as part of Phase 1 of its reopening.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

People walk in Naples, Italy, on May 19.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

People enjoy the water as Florida's Palm Beach County reopened some beaches on May 18. Social-distancing rules were still in effect.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Nuns await a Mass in Rome on May 18. It was the first Mass celebrated by parish priest Marco Gnavi in more than two months.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

A worker wears protective gear while cutting a customer's hair at a salon in Nadiad, India, on May 17. India's lockdown was set to remain in place until May 31, but many salons and shops were able to reopen.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Police walk through New York's Hudson River Park with a reminder about social distancing on May 16.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Swimmers pay for sunbeds at the Alimos beach near Athens, Greece, on May 16.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

A customer buys eggs at a market in Kunming, China, on May 12.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

A woman takes a photo at Disneyland Shanghai after the amusement park reopened in China on May 11. The park had been closed for three and a half months. Visitors are now required to wear masks, have their temperatures taken and practice social distancing.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

People eat fries on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland, on May 10.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

People exercise on a reopened promenade next to a beach in Barcelona, Spain, on May 9.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Patrons eat at a restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 9.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Fans cheer during a professional baseball game between the Fubon Guardians and the Uni-President Lions in New Taipei City, Taiwan, on May 8.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Traci Hancock has her hair cut by stylist Jill Cespedes at Shampoo Salon in Fort Worth, Texas, on May 8. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced that hair salons, barber shops and tanning salons were allowed to open on Friday.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

A long line of cars forms as a KFC drive-thru reopens in Plymouth, England, on May 8.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Sue Conklin, owner of Books Rio V, stocks her shelves in Rio Vista, California, on May 8. It was her first day back at the used bookstore since March 28.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

A man receives a haircut at Doug's Barber Shop in Houston on May 8.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Two men wearing face masks play chess in Montevideo, Uruguay, on May 7.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

People enjoy a beach that had just reopened in Isle of Palms, South Carolina, on May 6.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

People stand on social-distancing markers at a Mercedes-Benz car dealership in Brussels, Belgium, on May 6.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Kelly Watson puts glass in a recycling bin in Springfield, Missouri, on May 6, The Lone Pine Recycling Center had just reopened.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Customers wait to get their nails done at the Nail Tech salon in Yuba City, California, on May 6.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

A man wears a protective face mask while visiting the Old Masters Picture Gallery in Dresden, Germany, on May 6. The gallery had been closed for more than six weeks.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

People in Athens, Greece, enjoy a sunset May 5 on the Areopagus hill near the Acropolis.

Here are the areas that are starting to reopen

Kayleigh Tansey and Justin Smith watch a movie in Kyle, Texas, on May 4. The EVO Entertainment movie theater reopened after Gov. Greg Abbott lifted a shelter-in-place order and allowed select businesses to open to the public at no more than 25% capacity.

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Russia reopens ahead of Victory Day and Putin referendum -- but coronavirus threat remains - CNN

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In Beijing it looked like coronavirus was gone. Now we’re living with a second wave – The Guardian

Posted: at 2:04 pm

For just one day, Beijing was a Covid-free city.

On Tuesday 9 June, local authorities reported that the last active Covid-19 case had been discharged from a local hospital. City health officials appeared without face masks at the daily press conference, to announce that there were no new cases and no suspected infections. Beijing, finally, seemed to breathe a little easier. The now-ubiquitous temperature checks, at the entrance to every office building, restaurant and hutong (alleyway), were dismantled. The Lama Temple and Beijing aquarium were open to the public for the first time since January and were immediately packed to capacity. It was a beautiful summers day bright blue skies and the sharp Beijing light that glints golden on the citys tower blocks.

On Wednesday 10 June, 52-year old Mr Tang feeling inexplicably cold and exhausted bicycled alone to a hospital for a checkup and tested positive for Covid-19. Beijings 56-day streak of no locally transmitted cases was broken, and all signs seemed to indicate that an outbreak had been quietly spreading through the city for weeks.

Two months of a slow crawl towards normal city life were reversed overnight. Beijing time travelled back to February. All residential compounds around Mr Tangs residence were put under strict lockdown, and the outbreaks origin was traced to the sprawling Xinfadi wholesale market, which supplies close to 80% of the citys fruit and vegetables.

The might of Chinas public health system, honed after public criticism of the early response to Wuhan, was brought to bear. Over 100,000 contacts were identified for testing, tracing and isolation, and thousands of samples taken from stalls around the market. Xinfadi was the perfect storm for an uncontrollable new wave. In the worst-case scenario, as the key hub for the citys food supply, it had first-degree connections to most restaurants, bars and community markets across Beijing. Expand that circle by one degree, and you had every delivery worker and every restaurant-goer as a potential vector for spread.

By 12 June, 36 cases linked to the Xinfadi market were discovered. Cases began to pop up elsewhere in the country, connected to Beijing. Chinas vice-premier called the situation grave, prompting fears of more sweeping lockdowns.

Relatively speaking, it was a small outbreak. By comparison, New York City reported 292 new cases on 12 June alone. Nevertheless, Beijing was put in what health officials called wartime mode to contain the virus, mobilising medical workers like troops against an insurgency. But who it felt like war for, in this case, was determined by social class and geographic proximity.

Many of the initial cluster of cases were working-class migrants: restaurant workers who lived in the same dormitory, seafood sellers, drivers. Thousands of frontline retail workers were tested over the next few days. Videos shared on WeChat showed many being made to wait shoulder-to-shoulder for hours in crowded stadiums and parks in the searing summer heat.

In exclusion zones around multiple Beijing markets, residential lockdowns and severed transport links were patrolled by battalions of hazmat-clad volunteers. But walk around the hutongs around Beijings Art Museum an area of upscale shops and restaurants and you could see that nothing was different: barbecue stalls spilled out into the street and raucous picnics continued with face masks around the chin.

A curious tension emerged between the need to project normality, and to show decisive action. Another full lockdown would be disastrous for Beijings economy, but so would an uncontrolled outbreak. For the citys service industries, this led to confusing mixed messages. Bars in some neighbourhoods were told to stay open as normal, then close, then open for a limited time contingent on testing, then close, all within hours.

For the rest of the city, a familiar mix of dread and powerlessness returned. Over 2 million tuned into the livestreams of the daily Covid-19 press conferences, with officials now wearing face masks again. Even the memes were melancholy a popular one featured a person marked Beijing, in full plate-mail armour like a medieval knight, who is then hit by a precise arrow, marked Xinfadi, right through the helmets eye socket. The shopping district of Sanlitun, which surely features the citys highest density of cafes per capita, took on a deserted look as bars and restaurants closed.

Beijing residents are used to the city changing suddenly before their eyes, but the pandemic and its lockdowns have produced a creeping feeling that something has been lost for good. Beijingers feel as if theyve emerged into a new city and started new lives. The particular liveliness associated with Beijing street life, exemplified by the word renao (), was the first thing to disappear in lockdown, and will likely be the last to return. The cornerstones of the citys renao: live music, nightclubs, cinemas, karaoke bars, lamb skewers around tiny plastic tables on the street are all closed until further notice.

Where a reopening seemed imminent a week ago, this resurgence has pushed that possibility out into a distant future. On 18 June, officials from Chinas Center for Disease Control and Prevention said that the outbreak was already under control, but the experience has already revived familiar fears that future plans are null and void, replaced by an endless present of doom-scrolling through social media for news and rumour.

A second wave opens the possibility of a third, and a fourth. In Beijing, a city that came so close to defeating the virus for good, that means whatever happens, we dont get to go back to the city we knew.

Krish Raghav is an illustrator and writer based in Beijing

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Global report: Trump says he ordered coronavirus testing to ‘slow down’ – The Guardian

Posted: at 2:04 pm

Donald Trump told thousands of supporters on Saturday that he had asked US officials to slow down testing for Covid-19 because case numbers in the country were rising so rapidly.

Speaking at a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the US president used racist language, referring to Covid-19 as kung flu, and described testing for the virus as a double-edged sword because it led to the identification of more cases.

The US had now tested 25 million people, far more than other countries, Trump said, adding: When you do testing to that extent, youre gonna find more people, youre gonna find more cases. So I said to my people slow the testing down.

A White House official later told Reuters that Trump was joking.

Across the US, more than 119,654 people are confirmed to have been killed by Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University. It remains the country worst hit by coronavirus, followed by Brazil, which now has more than a million cases, and Russia, which has 576,162 infections.

Trump said the radical fake news media had not given him credit for doing what he called a phenomenal job of responding to the outbreak.

The campaign rally in Tulsa went ahead despite warnings from health officials that it risked fuelling a spike in coronavirus cases. The crowd was smaller than expected, with many empty sections in the 19,000-seat arena, but few attendees wore masks.

Globally, 8,753,853 coronavirus cases have now been recorded and 463,281 fatalities confirmed, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The death toll in Chile rose especially sharply on Saturday, almost doubling to more than 7,000, after the government adjusted its data to include deaths that are probably linked to Covid-19. Official figures show there have been 236,748 infections in the country so far.

Meanwhile, several countries have reintroduced social curbs, or are considering doing so, to protect against a second wave of cases.

In Victoria, Australias second most populous state, case numbers are the highest they have been in more than two months, prompting the Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton to warn: We are absolutely at risk of a second peak.

The state has extended its state of emergency for another four weeks and limited the number of guests permitted to visit peoples homes to five. Plans to relax rules on the number of customers allowed in cafes, restaurants and pubs have also been put on hold.

German health officials have also reported a rise in transmission, following clusters of cases linked to meatpacking plants, logistics centres, and refugee shelters.

Greece has also announced another extension of the coronavirus lockdown on its migrant camps, despite warnings that migrants rights are being undermined by the restrictions.

The Palestinian Authority is among those tightening restrictions, after announcing on Saturday that it would temporarily close the cities of Hebron and Nablus in the occupied West Bank, following a sharp rise in infections.

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said he was considering making it mandatory within days to wear masks in public places, after the tally of confirmed coronavirus cases passed 200,000.

The developments follow last weeks warning from the head of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, that the world had entered a new and dangerous phase of the coronavirus pandemic.

Countries are understandably eager to open up their societies and economies but the virus is still spreading fast, it is still deadly and most people are still susceptible, he said on Friday. We call on all countries and all people to exercise extreme vigilance.

In other developments:

China reported 26 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Sunday, driven by the outbreak linked to a wholesale food centre in the south-west of Beijing.

The Philippines reported 578 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday, a record number. This includes test results that were released to patients over the past three days.

Two new Covid-19 cases have been detected in New Zealand, according to the Ministry of Health. One is the child of the couple returning from Delhi who were revealed as cases on Saturday, the second is a 59-year-old woman who also returned from Delhi, but at a later date on June 15.

Serbians go to polls on Sunday to elect a new parliament in Europes first national election since coronavirus lockdowns took effect some three months ago.

An Italian collective brought 67 migrants to safety on Saturday, as the first charity rescue ship reached Italian shores since authorities had decided to close all ports because of the coronavirus pandemic in April.

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Coronavirus shuts down Crowbar, the Orpheum and Skippers Smokehouse – Tampa Bay Times

Posted: at 2:04 pm

The coronavirus is crippling Tampa Bays live-music scene.

The owners of the Orpheum in Ybor City and Skippers Smokehouse in North Tampa all announced on Instagram Saturday that employees testing positive for the coronavirus or fears that staffers had been exposed to the virus forced them to temporarily shut down their venues.

Thats also why Crowbar announced it cancelled Saturdays grand re-opening in Ybor City.

The news comes after St. Petersburgs Jannus Live announced Tuesday that it temporarily shuttered three of its businesses around the outdoor concert venue the Pelican Pub, the Landing and Detroit Liquors after an employee member tested positive for COVID-19. That also meant postponing Friday nights Pirate Flag concert.

The owners of Crowbar, the Orpheum and Skippers used social media to tell their fans to stay away until further notice.

Meanwhile in Ybor City, hundreds walked around Saturday night without masks.

Nor did they wear them in bars, clubs and restaurants potentially violating Tampa Mayor Jane Castors order requiring residents who leave their homes to wear masks indoors if they cannot stay 6-feet apart. The measure took effect Friday.

On the other side of the bay, while protesters marched through downtown St. Petersburg, more patrons wore masks and sat outside.

The latest local closings comes on the heels of the states highest single-day report of positive tests, at 4,049 and the average age of those being diagnosed is getting younger.

The Orpheums owner said it closed because two employees tested positive for COVID-19. They last worked on June 13 and were asymptomatic. The entire staff was getting tested but there was no timeline yet for re-opening.

We believe we are doing the right thing in the interest of public health at this time, the owners of the Orpheum said on Instagram.

Crowbar owner Tom DeGeorge said he had hoped to be able to reopen Saturday after being closed since March. But when he learned that an employees was in contact with someone who tested positive, he said he called off the Road to Reopen event and told his entire staff to go get tested.

Were going to wait until we see these numbers going in a downward trend and then well reopen, DeGeorge said.

He lamented that, while in the waiting room to take his own test Saturday, he saw a video of a metal concert where the audience was in the mosh pit not practicing any social distancing.

He said its difficult for a responsible business to get back on track, when others are just doing whatever they want.

Skippers owners said on Instagram that they learned through contract tracing that a staffer may have been exposed to someone who tested positive. Theyve also been watching the coronavirus trends, and decided that closing was the most socially responsible thing to do.

A monetary amount, good times, delicious meals and tasty cocktails will never be more valuable than your life to us, they wrote. Therefore, we are erring on the side of extreme safety in this case.

View this post on Instagram

Urgent Update : : : Effective today and for the unforeseeable future, we are CLOSED. We will continue to post updates to social media as a reopen date becomes available. Why are we closing? : : : This morning, the Skipper's Smokehouse ownership and management have been notified that one of our employees was alerted through contact tracing that they may have been exposed to COVID-19 - this in addition to our carefully watching the numbers of positive cases and trends rise dramatically over the course of the past several days, we feel closing immediately is the most socially responsible thing for us to do to keep not only our staff but our patrons as safe as we possibly can. At this time, NONE of our staff have tested positive for COVID-19 - but, the contact trace alert is concerning to us. : : : What you can expect before we reopen? It will be required that ALL employees that work on site be tested for COVID-19 and be symptom free before returning to work. In addition to that, we will be performing extra deep cleaning processes during the closure and upon reopening. : : : We have worried this day would arrive for us and it has. There comes a time when being socially responsible and putting health, well being and safety above business as almost usual is the absolute right thing to do. A monetary amount, good times, delicious meals and tasty cocktails will never be more valuable than your life to us. Therefore, we are erring on the side of extreme safety in this case. : : : We are here to answer any questions or concerns our patrons might have - again, NO ONE has tested positive on our staff. If you have questions or concerns, you can contact us at cricket@skipperssmokehouse.com : : : We love you all so much. We appreciate just shy of four decades of your support. Now, we ask that those who disagree with this decision respect our choice to be socially responsible. Peace, Love, Good Health & Oysters

A post shared by (@skipperssmokehouse) on Jun 20, 2020 at 9:19am PDT

Other bay area businesses, such as Rollin Oats Market and Cafe and Noble Crust in St. Petersburg, have temporarily shut their doors, as well, after employees tested positive for the virus.

Before Castor dropped her mask order in Tampa, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman ordered that employees of all city businesses must wear masks.

In his Instagram post, Crowbars owner said:

I am extremely disappointed, but Id be much more disappointed with myself if I were to try and go forward in light of this new information, he wrote. Be safe out there, folks.

Times staff writers Divya Kumar and Josh Fiallo contributed to this report.

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Coronavirus shuts down Crowbar, the Orpheum and Skippers Smokehouse - Tampa Bay Times

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U.S. banks are ‘swimming in money’ as deposits increase by $2 trillion amid the coronavirus – CNBC

Posted: at 2:04 pm

A person on a scooter rides past a JPMorgan Chase & Co. bank branch in New York, U.S., on Thursday, June 11, 2020.

Jeenah Moon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

It's the banking world's version of the rich getting richer.

A record $2 trillion surge in cash hit the deposit accounts of U.S. banks since the coronavirus first struck the U.S. in January, according to FDIC data.

The wall of money flowing into banks has no precedent in history: in April alone, deposits grew by $865 billion, more than the previous record for an entire year.

The gains were all driven, in one way or another, by the response to the pandemic: The government unleashed hundreds of billions of dollars to bolster small businesses and individuals via stimulus checks and unemployment benefits. The Federal Reserve began a barrage of efforts to support financial markets, including an unlimited bond buying program. And an uncertain future prompted decision makers, from two-person households to global corporations, to horde cash.

More than two-thirds of the gains went to the 25 biggest institutions, according to the FDIC. And that was concentrated at the very top of the industry: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of AmericaandCitigroup,the biggest U.S. banks by assets, grew much faster than the rest of the industry in the first quarter, according to company data.

"Any way you look at it, this growth has been absolutely extraordinary," said Brian Foran, an analyst at Autonomous Research. "Banks are flooded with cash, they're like Scrooge McDuck swimming in money."

There are several reasons why the American megabanks survivors of the last crisis in 2008 were the main beneficiaries of the deposits bonanza. When states began instituting shutdowns in March, corporations including Boeing and Ford immediately drew tens of billions of dollars from lines of credit, and that money was initially parked at the banks making those loans.

Big banks also serviced a large chunk of customers in the Paycheck Protection Program, the government's $660 billion effort to prop up small businesses. Since lenders mostly catered to existing customers, the money first landed in bank accounts of the firms that facilitated the loans.

Institutions known as trust banks, which are custodians for the investments of asset managers like BlackRock or Fidelity, gained deposits when the Fed bond buying program snapped up billions of dollars of mortgage backed securities. JPMorgan and Citigroup have large custody divisions.

And of course, the megabanks simply have the most U.S. retail customers; ordinary people with few options to spend money while sheltering at home. The personal savings rate hit a record 33% in April, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis said last month. Personal income actually climbed 10.5% that month, thanks to $1,200 stimulus checks and unemployment benefits that totaled more than a worker's regular income in some cases.

All that money flowed into bank accounts. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan told CNBC last month that checking accounts below $5,000 in balances actually had up to 40% more money in them than before the pandemic.

Megabanks, with their coast-to-coast networks of branches, have relied on plentiful deposits as a key advantage in the post-financial crisis era. They are one of the cheapest sources of funding for loans, helping the industry mint record profits even in a time of low interest rates.

But banks, which will be cautious lending money in the midst of a recession, are running out of uses for their growing mountain of cash, according to Foran.

"A lot of banks are saying, `There's frankly not much we can do with it right now'," he said. "They have more deposits than they know what to do with."

If the deposit boom is merely one sign of the steps taken to blunt the financial harm from the pandemic, it remains to be seen what the ultimate consequences are for the government's historic spending binge. Some experts see a collapse in the dollar coupled with higher inflation. Others see a stock market bubble in the making.

One consequence for savers will be more immediate, says Foran: Banks are sure to lower their already paltry interest rates, since they don't need more of your money.

With contributions from CNBC's Nate Rattner.

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