South China Morning Post (June 30)
“How Hong Kong should cope with the national security law: keep calm and carry on…. It would be best for Hongkongers not to panic, but get on with their lives instead.”
Washington Post (June 29)
“The road to a successful reopening of the U.S. economy is strewn with hopeful intentions — and formidable obstacles. The biggest and most important obstacle is a surge in new coronavirus cases, which presumably will lead to more hospitalizations and more deaths as well as more firms shutting down.”
Tags: Coronavirus, Deaths, Economy, Formidable, Hopeful, Hospitalizations, Intentions, Obstacles, Reopening, Successful, Surge, U.S.
LA Times (June 26)
“For the generation of Americans not yet old enough to drive, the demographic future has arrived. For the first time, nonwhite and Hispanic people were a majority of people under age 16 in 2019, an expected demographic shift that will grow over the coming decades, according to figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Thursday.”
Tags: Census Bureau, Demographic, Drive:, Future, Generation, Hispanic, Majority, Nonwhite, U.S.
Reuters (June 26)
“World stocks have been on a rollercoaster ride in the first half of 2020. Having slumped 35% from Feb. 20 to March 23, they are now within 10% of February’s record highs thanks to lashings of fiscal stimulus, interest rates slashed to 0% or below in most major economies, and massive amounts of QE. Borrowing costs for high-grade U.S. companies have in fact fallen below January levels.” The rest of the year could bring more roller coaster. “Much depends on whether another coronavirus wave comes crashing down,”
Tags: Borrowing costs, Fiscal stimulus, High-grade, Interest rates, QE, Rollercoaster, Slashed, Slumped, Stocks, U.S.
New York Times (June 25)
“On Wednesday it was as if the country had found itself back in March — at the start of the pandemic, in the early days of the lockdown, when masks were in short supply and when the death toll was skyrocketing.” The U.S. “reached another grim milestone on Wednesday as it reported 36,880 new cases,” breaking the previous high set on April 24. Instead of containment, new cases “have roared back in recent weeks.”
Tags: Containment, Death toll, Grim, Lockdown, March, Masks, Milestone, New cases, Pandemic, Skyrocketing, Supply, U.S.
Hindustan Times (June 23)
“India is a case in point because it imposed the earliest and strictest lockdown.” Unfortunately, the nation “eased restrictions before cases peaked.”
LA Times (June 23)
“Los Angeles County health officials reported 2,571 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, the third day in the last week that the county has reported more than 2,000 infections.” Authorities suspect a link to mass protests. In addition, the county’s death toll from COVID-19 has risen to 3,137. By comparison, the combined total for all 47of Japan’s prefectures is less than 1,000, and Tokyo prefecture, with a population roughly 4 million greater than LA county, has logged 321 deaths.
Tags: COVID-19, Deaths, Infections, Japan, Los Angeles, Mass protests, New cases, Tokyo, U.S.
BBC (June 22)
Temperatures in the Arctic Circle “hit an all-time record on Saturday, reaching a scorching 38C (100F) in Verkhoyansk, a Siberian town.” In contrast, the average high is just 20 degrees. “Recent months have seen abnormally high temperatures” in the Arctic, which “is believed to be warming twice as fast as the global average.”
Tags: Abnormal, Arctic, Record, Scorching, Siberia, Temperatures, Verkhoyansk, Warming
Wall Street Journal (June 22)
“Giant companies from McDonald’s Corp. to Intel Corp. are husbanding cash, cutting costs and tapping debt, all moves that bolster their resilience amid persistent uncertainty wrought by the new coronavirus.” Looking ahead, they are also trying to figure out “when it will make sense to economize less and spend more to avoid losing out to rivals once the recovery begins in earnest.”
Tags: Cash, Coronavirus, Costs, Debt, Economize, Intel, McDonald's, Recovery, Resilience, Rivals, Uncertainty
Foreign Policy (June 22)
“India has crossed two bleak landmarks in its battle against the coronavirus. The country has now reached over 400,000 infections, making it the fourth-worst-hit country in the world, overtaking Britain, Spain, and Italy. But it’s also lifted its 76-day lockdown.” In order “to stave off economic disaster,” the country is now “walking head-on into a pandemic at its peak.”
Tags: Battle, Bleak, Coronavirus, Disaster, India, Infections, Italy, Landmarks, Lockdown, Pandemic, Peak, Spain, UK
