Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Six In The Morning Wednesday 27 May 2020

EU proposes huge €750bn 'recovery fund'

The European Commission has proposed a massive €750bn (£670bn; $825bn) recovery fund to help the EU tackle an "unprecedented crisis".
The package will be made up of grants and loans for every EU member state.
Economies across the 27-nation EU bloc have been ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic, but several southern states had big debts even before the crisis.
Read more here


Hong Kong crisis: riot police flood city as China protests build

Pro-democracy groups gather to protest against national anthem bill

Thousands of armed police have flooded the streets of Hong Kong in a show of force to prevent protests against a law criminalising ridicule of China’s national anthem.
At lunchtime rallies, police fired pepper bullets into crowds, and arrested at least 180 protesters.
Protests have also been fuelled by growing anger at Beijing’s increasing interference in the semi-autonomous city, with the National People’s Congress expected to rubber-stamp national security laws on Thursday.

President threatens to close social media platforms after accusing Twitter of ‘stifling free speech’ for correcting his post


Donald Trump has threatened social media platforms with tougher restrictions or even closure after accusing Twitter of of meddling in this year’s election and “completely stifling FREE SPEECH” by adding a link to one of his posts - spreading baseless fear-mongering over postal voting - that led his followers to a page where they could “get the facts” on the issue instead.
During a press briefing on the coronavirus pandemic in the White House Rose Garden on Tuesday, the president challenged a Reuters reporter to take off his face mask a Reuters reporter to take off his face mask and mocked him as “politically correct” when he refused to do so.
Not to worry. The worlds most famous and infamous Twitter troll won't be shutting down the platform.  How else could he spread his message of hate, lies and conspiracy theories   

Spike in South Korea virus cases shows perils of reopening


As Mediterranean beaches and Las Vegas casinos lay out plans to welcome tourists again, South Korea on Wednesday announced a spike in new infections and considered reimposing social distancing restrictions, revealing the setbacks ahead for others on the road to reopening.
In South Korea, 40 newly confirmed cases - the biggest daily jump in nearly 50 days - raised alarms as millions of children returned to school Wednesday.
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In vast Kenya camp, refugee journalists on coronavirus front line

KANERE is on a mission to raise awareness about pandemic in Kakuma, one of world's largest camps for displaced people.
For more than a decade, KANERE, the world's first fully independent refugee camp news outlet, has defied funding shortages and other challenges to publish investigations and reports about life in Kenya's remote Kakuma camp.
Now, with the vast settlement registering its first COVID-19 case, the publication arguably faces its biggest challenge yet.
"KANERE's work is more important than ever," Tolossa Asrat, managing editor at KANERE, told Al Jazeera via WhatsApp.

Christian Cooper is asking people to stop making death threats against the woman who called the cops on him

Updated 1152 GMT (1952 HKT) May 27, 2020

Christian Cooper, whose video of a woman calling the police on him while he was birdwatching went viral over the Memorial Day weekend, acknowledged the woman's apology but said her act was "definitely racist."
"I think her apology is sincere," Cooper told CNN's Don Lemon Tuesday night. "I'm not sure that in that apology she recognizes that while she may not be or consider herself a racist, that particular act was definitely racist."

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