Sunday, May 31, 2020

Your Weekend Briefing:

George Floyd, Hong Kong, SpaceX
Author Headshot

By Remy Tumin and Elijah Walker

Welcome to the Weekend Briefing. We’re covering a wave of protests sparked by George Floyd’s death, New York City’s upcoming reopening and a new era of space travel.

Stephanie Keith for The New York Times

1. Outrage over the death of George Floyd has incited a wave of demonstrations and unrest across the country.

From the streets of Minneapolis, where Mr. Floyd went limp after a police officer knelt on his neck for eight minutes, to outside the White House gates and more than two dozen besieged cities like New York, above, protesters re-energized the street uprisings that gave rise to the Black Lives Matter movement six years ago. Here’s the latest.

Rallies and looting bordered on civil meltdown, as scenes of peaceful protest and violence played out against the dystopian backdrop of a pandemic that has kept much of the nation at home for months. Curfews were imposed in some of America’s largest cities.

Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota activated thousands of National Guard troops — up to 13,200 — to control protesters in Minneapolis who turned out in droves for the fifth night in a row. He declined the Army’s offer of military police.

Derek Chauvin, the former police officer who pinned Mr. Floyd, was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. Here’s what happened in the chaotic moments before Mr. Floyd’s death, and more on Mr. Floyd.

Have you been keeping up with the headlines? Test your knowledge with our news quiz. And here’s the front page of our Sunday paper, the Sunday Review from Opinion and our crossword puzzles.

Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times

2. President Trump criticized the authorities in Minnesota over the protests, saying “they have to get tougher, and by being tougher they will be honoring his memory” — a reference to Mr. Floyd.

Attorney General William P. Barr also issued a stern warning to protesters, saying “groups of outside radicals” were exploiting the situation for their own agenda.

In an analysis, our chief White House correspondent writes, “While other presidents seek to cool the situation in tinderbox moments like this, Mr. Trump plays with matches.”

Here’s how former U.S. presidents responded to similar situations during their time in office.

Twitter, via Associated Press

3. Twitter had been drawing a line for months when President Trump crossed it.

The final straw came when Mr. Trump implied that protesters in Minneapolis could be shot. A group of more than 10 Twitter officials quickly gathered virtually to review Mr. Trump’s post and ultimately decided to hide it with a warning label that said the message violated its policy against glorifying violence.

The decision was the culmination of months of debate inside Twitter. For more than a year, the company had been developing a protocol to limit the impact of objectionable messages from world leaders — and what to do when Mr. Trump inevitably broke it.

While Twitter confronted Mr. Trump, Mark Zuckerberg kept Facebook out of it.

Brittainy Newman/The New York Times

4. The coronavirus continues to wax and wane.

New York City is on track to start reopening on June 8 after being under one of the country’s strictest lockdowns. Under the first phase of reopening, nonessential stores could open for curbside pickup, and nonessential construction and manufacturing could resume.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said state officials were focusing on controlling hot spots in the city and preparing its hospitals to deal with a potential second spike. Above, people line up outside a food pantry in Jackson Heights, Queens.

That mirrors global developments, as the virus caseload surpassed six million. A number of countries have moved to ease restrictions, even as new outbreaks continue to flare up, in some cases in regions where it had been contained.

Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times

5. While unrest simmered across the U.S., protesters in Hong Kong considered what move to make next — if any.

The Chinese government tightened its grip over Hong Kong this week, enacting sweeping national security laws that democracy advocates fear will target dissent. The protest movement found that the tactics it had used to push officials in Beijing to retreat at times last summer were suddenly inadequate.

Protesters now face an aggressive police force, fear of the coronavirus and a Chinese Communist Party that has run out of patience. Many protesters, some of whom are pictured above this week, feel they have exhausted their options.

Hong Kong officials reacted with a mix of anxiety, resignation and defiance to President Trump’s announcement that the U.S. would end its special relationship with the city.

Doug Mills/The New York Times

6. A new era of human space travel.

NASA astronauts lifted off in a SpaceX capsule in the first launch into orbit from American soil with a crew since the space shuttles were retired in 2011. Two American astronauts, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, left the same Florida launchpad that once served Apollo missions. Rewatch the launch.

The rocket and capsule that lifted them out of the atmosphere were built and operated by SpaceX, the company founded by the billionaire Elon Musk to pursue his dream of sending colonists to Mars.

Mr. Behnken and Mr. Hurley, best friends and veterans of the astronaut corps, are expected to arrive at the International Space Station on Sunday morning.

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

7. After months of pessimism, nearly every major sport is preparing to come back.

The N.B.A. wants to start up again in late July; the N.H.L. announced a playoff tournament through the summer; Major League Baseball is hoping to hammer out a deal with players by Monday for a shortened season; the N.F.L. is moving toward opening training facilities. Above, the brand-new Texas Rangers stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The sudden shift resulted from a mix of dramatic changes few could foresee a month ago, most notably the promise of widespread testing. And with the potential for billions of dollars in losses across the leagues, they’re now willing to take the risk.

We spoke to athletes who have contracted the virus. They talked at length about their struggles to get back on their game.

And here’s what you need to know about wearing a mask while running.

Glen Wilson/Focus Features

8. Tracee Ellis Ross knows what you’re thinking: that a movie in which she plays a glam pop diva must remind her of her mother, Diana Ross.

But that’s not what the star was thinking. Really. “The High Note,” a new comedy out on video on demand, was the culmination of a lifelong dream for Ms. Ross. It deals with inequality, sexism, ageism and racism. And in the wake of George Floyd’s death and subsequent protests, she was also grateful that it might be an escape.

If you’re looking for other viewing choices, here are 15 summer TV shows our critic is looking forward to.

William E. Sauro/The New York Times

9. We’re dreaming of a park bench and a book.

One of the things our Book Review team misses most this summer is the sight of readers in public — on stoops and under trees, solo or perched alongside a partner. Out of this wistfulness, our photo editor dove into the archives for images of bygone summers, like one in Weehawken, N.J., above, in 1983.

In the meantime, here are 13 new titles our editors are looking forward to next month. Among them are an important history of gay civil rights, the story of human migration, and a slew of summery novels from Kevin Kwan, J. Courtney Sullivan and Ottessa Moshfegh.

Brittainy Newman/The New York Times

10. And finally, dig into one of our Best Weekend Reads.

This week we spoke to the Central Park bird watcher Christian Cooper, above, about a racist confrontation; re-examined the use of personal chopsticks in China in the age of coronavirus; remembered the activist Larry Kramer; and more.

For more ideas on what to read, watch and listen to, may we suggest these 11 new books our editors liked, a glance at the latest small-screen recommendations from Watching, and our music critics’ latest playlist.

Here’s to a bright June.

Your Weekend Briefing is published Sundays at 6 a.m. Eastern.

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Friday, May 29, 2020

Your Friday Briefing

Anti-police protests escalate, and President Trump and Twitter keep up their spat

Good morning. Anti-police protests became violent in both Minneapolis and Louisville last night. President Trump and Twitter kept up their spat. And herd immunity from the virus remains far off.

Protests against police escalate

Protesters outside the burning 3rd Police Precinct, in Minneapolis Thursday.John Minchillo/Associated Press

There were violent protests in both Minneapolis and Louisville, Ky., last night, as tensions over recent police killings escalated. A police precinct in Minneapolis was set on fire, and seven people were shot at a demonstration in Louisville.

There were also protests in several other cities, including New York, Denver and Columbus, Ohio, and President Trump posted two angry tweets, one of which Twitter flagged for “glorifying violence.”

The Times has started a live briefing so you can follow the latest developments.

The conflicts come after the latest spate of deaths of African-Americans caused by the police, including George Floyd, who was apparently suffocated in Minneapolis, and Breonna Taylor, who was killed in March during a “no-knock” raid of her apartment in Louisville.

In Minneapolis, protesters broke into the city’s Third Precinct, on the city’s south side, just after 10 p.m. and smashed equipment, set off fireworks and lit fires, according to videos posted from the scene.

All police had already fled the building. Firefighters could not respond because of safety concerns, an official said. Footage from helicopter cameras showed nearby businesses engulfed in flames.

Gov. Tim Walz has sent 500 members of the Minnesota National Guard to the Twin Cities.

In Louisville, seven people were struck by gunfire at a protest. The city’s mayor, Greg Fischer, said that no officers discharged their weapons and that the violence came from within the crowd. Two of the seven were in surgery last night.

In March, Louisville police fatally shot Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician, at her home. Questions have continued to mount about the handling of the case.

President Trump — who has long considered racial conflict to be politically helpful to him — sent two tweets about the situation. One taunted the mayor of Minneapolis for not having control of the situation, while the second used the racially charged word “thugs” (in all capital letters) and added, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

Twitter said the message violated the company’s rules against glorifying violence. The company prevented users from viewing Mr. Trump’s message without first reading a brief notice describing the rule violation.

THREE MORE BIG STORIES

1. A Twitter feud in the Oval Office

The flagging of Trump’s Minneapolis tweet continued a battle between the company and the president. Earlier this week, Twitter placed fact-checking links alongside two Trump tweets that contained false claims about voter fraud.

Yesterday afternoon, Trump issued an executive order directing federal regulators to consider stripping social media companies of the legal shield that says they are not liable for the content posted on their platforms.

Legal experts said the president’s order was largely toothless and unlikely to hold up in court. A Times correspondent in Washington explained which parts might have an effect.

2. Herd immunity is still far off

London, Madrid and other cities around the world have only a small fraction of the coronavirus cases needed to achieve herd immunity, according to new studies. Experts believe herd immunity — after which new infections will no longer cause large outbreaks — is reached when between 60 percent and 80 percent of the population has contracted the virus.

Even New York, the city with the world’s highest known infection rate, is barely a third of the way there, according to the studies.

By The New York Times

In other virus developments:

  • Parisians, annoyed at government restrictions, have adopted a rebellious new drinking tradition: the apérue, in which revelers gather on the city’s streets (or rues) to enjoy pre-dinner drinks.
  • The C.D.C. is suggesting big changes to workplaces, including regular temperature checks, spread-out desks and the closing of common areas.
  • For the first time in its 124-year history, the Boston Marathon has been canceled. Organizers plan to hold a virtual race instead, with people running the 26.2 miles remotely.

3. A looming stimulus cliff

A northwest Washington neighborhood.Andrew Harnik/Associated Press

The small-business lending program will soon run out of money. The $600 per week in additional unemployment benefits will expire at the end of July. And eviction moratoriums in many cities are expiring.

The patchwork of government programs created in response to the virus are beginning to fade, and it’s not clear whether Congress and the Trump administration will extend many of them. It’s also clear that the economy will not return to anything like full health in the coming weeks, given people’s continuing fears about contracting the virus. That combination is creating enormous uncertainty about the U.S. economy — and fear among many people who have lost jobs.

Related: Bloomberg News says we’re living in “a new economy built on fear” and has published a series of charts to explain.

No fly: American Airlines and Delta Air Lines are offering buyouts to employees, in a sign that they expect airline travel to be depressed for years.

Here’s what else is happening

  • The U.S. reaction to China’s crackdown in Hong Kong is part of “a downward spiral of actions and responses” between the two countries, our correspondents write.
  • Opposition from Republicans and progressive Democrats led House leaders to pull a bill that would have renewed some of the government’s powers to collect Americans’ internet data during national security investigations.
  • William J. Small, who built the Washington bureau of CBS News into a journalistic powerhouse in the 1960s and ’70s, died at 93. When President Richard Nixon tried to get Dan Rather removed as White House correspondent, Small “flatly refused on the spot.”

BACK STORY: A TRIP ACROSS EUROPE

Laetitia Vancon for The New York Times

Patrick Kingsley, an international correspondent, and Laetitia Vancon, a photojournalist, are driving more than 3,700 miles across Europe to document how life has changed on the slowly reopening continent. We caught up with Patrick yesterday, while he was driving through the Netherlands:

It’s been often sad but sometimes also inspiring. People have responded with such creativity — in Prague we visited a drive-in theater founded by frustrated actors, and tonight we’re going to a drive-in disco.
The whole trip almost ended before it had really begun. To enter the Czech Republic, I needed proof that I was Covid-free — a certificate from a testing center. But the clinic initially lost my certificate, a near-fiasco that took several hours to resolve.
So far, the saddest moment was reporting from outside a stadium in Geneva — one of the world’s richest cities — where thousands of people who lost their jobs during the pandemic were queuing up for hours to receive a food parcel.
A happier memory was attending a concert in a German vineyard, where there was just one performer and one audience member — me.

PLAY, WATCH, EAT, STREAM

Rediscovering small joys

Quick ground beef ragù with broken lasagna noodles.Ryan Liebe for The New York Times

After a wine-loving neurologist lost his taste and smell to the virus, he went on a quest to rehabilitate his senses, with help from daily whiffs of coffee and Cognac. “You don’t realize what a powerful connection these sorts of flavors can have with your life’s experiences and memories,” he told The Times.

Raise a glass: Whip up a quick ragù using a full-bodied red, like cabernet or merlot, for the sauce (and pour a glass for yourself, too).

An N.F.L. refereeing mess

The National Football League yesterday put an end to a widely derided experiment that allowed teams to challenge any pass-interference penalty through video replay.

The change was a response to an obviously blown pass-interference call in a 2019 playoff game, which likely cost the New Orleans Saints a spot in the Super Bowl. But the N.F.L.’s solution was a classic fighting-the-last-battle mistake. The new policy narrowly addressed the mistake the referees had made in that game without fixing other bad calls — and while creating a whole new set of problems.

John Parry, a former referee who works for ESPN, predicted the league would eventually need to come up with a new rule to avoid “a game-changing egregious miss.” For now, though, another such miss remains possible.

This weekend, watch … something whimsical

“My Neighbor Totoro.”Studio Ghibli, Tokuma-Shoten, Nibariki, via Kobal Collection

This week, The Times’s Culture editor, Gilbert Cruz, suggests diving into the animated universe of Studio Ghibli:

HBO Max, the latest service in the great streaming wars, debuted this week. I am not here to tell you whether to subscribe — money’s tight all around. But if you do have the new service, I heartily recommend the movies of Studio Ghibli.

Long impossible to access on streaming services, Ghibli’s delicate, hand-drawn stories are not as frantic as modern American kids movies, and can be moving in a way that rarely feels calculated or cloying.

The most famous titles, like “My Neighbor Totoro” and the Oscar-winning “Spirited Away,” were directed by the wonderfully eccentric Hayao Miyazaki. Or try “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” which I watched this week with my 5-year-old. If you want a full accounting, the Times critic Mike Hale has ranked all 22 films.

Diversions

Games

Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: PlayStation competitor (four letters).

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you on Monday. — David

P.S. The first class of New York Times fellows — 23 young journalists, chosen from about 5,000 applicants — is graduating. Somereflected on their experiences in a series of short essays.

You can see today’s print front page here.

The Times is providing free access to much of our coronavirus coverage. Please consider supporting our journalism with a subscription.

Today’s episode of “The Daily” remembers 100 of the more than 100,000 Americans who have died of the coronavirus.

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Ian Prasad Philbrick and Sanam Yar contributed to The Morning. You can reach the team at themorning@nytimes.com.

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