简体中文
Every weekend, Asia Pacific Daily will provide you with a run-down of the latest hot news.
This week, the following hot news you should know:
Top 1 | Donald Trump cuts daily briefing short after day of mockery over disinfectant comments
Donald Trump cut off his daily coronavirus briefing without taking questions after a day of mockery over his suggestion disinfectant could cure coronavirus.
The US president was angry on Friday after a day of punishing headlines in relation to his remarks. The briefings often stretch well beyond an hour and feature combative exchanges between Trump and reporters. Trump did answer questions from reporters earlier on Friday and claimed that his suggestion about disinfectant had been "sarcastic". His words came just hours after he was widely criticised for holding up disinfectant and "(ultraviolet) light inside the body" as possible solutions to the coronavirus crisis.
Among the critics were doctors, who said the idea was "irresponsible" and "dangerous", and companies that produce disinfectant, such as Dettol maker Reckitt Benckiser, which said that "under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route)".
Top 2 | Joe Biden under pressure to address sexual assault allegation
His campaign has strongly denied it but pressure is mounting on Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential hopeful, to personally respond to a sexual assault allegation made by a former Senate aide.
The presumptive Democratic nominee has been accused by Tara Reade of assaulting her in 1993, when she was a 29-year-old staff assistant in the office of Biden, then a U.S. senator from Delaware.
According to Reade, the assault took place in August 1993 in a hallway on Capitol Hill. Reade has since recounted her story to several other media outlets and, according to U.S. press reports, she filed a complaint with the Washington police in early April but did not name Biden.
Top 3 | Brazil top court orders probe into accusations against Bolsonaro
A Brazilian supreme court judge on Monday ordered a probe into accusations by former justice and security minister Sergio Moro that President Jair Bolsonaro sought to "interfere" with police investigations.
In his decision, Judge Celso de Mello gave the federal police 60 days to question Moro about his explosive allegations against the right-wing president. The findings, which will be handed over to the attorney general, could result in either a request for a political trial against Bolsonaro or an indictment against Moro for false testimony. Moro, who resigned on Friday after accusing his boss of wrongdoing, has been replaced by Andre Mendonca, the official gazette said on Tuesday.
According to the judge, the alleged crimes seem to have "an intimate connection with the exercise of the presidential mandate," thus allowing for an investigation of the leader.
Top 4 | World leaders launch WHO COVID-19 plan, but U.S. not involved
Global leaders joined the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday to launch an initiative to accelerate work on drugs, tests and vaccines against COVID-19 and to share them around the world.
French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen were among leaders taking part in a videoconference to announce the plan, but the United States stayed away. The WHO said late on Thursday it would announce a “landmark collaboration” on Friday to speed the development of safe, effective drugs, tests and vaccines to prevent, diagnose and treat COVID-19, the lung disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
A spokesman for the U.S. mission in Geneva told Reuters before the meeting that the United States would not be involved.
Top 5 | Hillary Clinton to endorse Joe Biden for the top seat
Hillary Clinton is scheduled to endorse Joe Biden on Tuesday, a source familiar with the plans tells CNN, bringing the support of the Democratic standard-bearer from four years ago behind the former vice president and current presumptive nominee.
Clinton will be the "special guest" at a Biden virtual town hall on Tuesday afternoon. The Biden campaign said the guest would discuss the impact that coronavirus has had on women. Clinton in a tweeter said that she was "excited" to join Biden.
Her endorsement was a forgone conclusion -- she had said for months that she would back the eventual nominee -- but it remains a significant boost for Biden because the former secretary of state still enjoys deep support from an array of Democratic voters. She won over 65 million votes four years ago and has proven to be a prolific fundraiser throughout her political career.
Top 6 | EU says UK can't push strict Brexit schedule without compromise
Britain has set a tight deadline by ruling out an extension to the Brexit transition period beyond the end of 2020, said the European Union's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, on Friday.
Barnier's statement comes as Britain and the EU showed little sign of progress towards a deal on their post-Brexit relationship this week, failing to bridge differences over future competition and EU fishing access to British waters.
The Brexit transition period could be extended by a year or two, but Britain would have to request this by the end of June. There are only two further weeks of negotiating rounds scheduled before then – starting on 11 May and 1 June. Britain described the second round of talks as "full and constructive," but said in a statement the two sides had made limited progress in bridging gaps.
Top 7 | U.S. COVID-19 deaths exceed Vietnam War
U.S. cases of COVID-19 surpassed more than 1 million on Tuesday.
Total deaths were 58,365, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University. U.S. coronavirus deaths now surpass the number of American soldiers killed in the 20 years of the Vietnam War, 58,220.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence faced criticism on Tuesday for not wearing a face mask while touring the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. Video shows Pence meeting a Mayo employee who had recovered from COVID-19 and was donating plasma. Everyone in the room was wearing a mask except for Pence. He also was not wearing a mask while visiting a lab where coronavirus tests are performed despite a requirement by the medical facility that all visitors wear one.
Top 8 | Next year's Olympics will be cancelled if pandemic is not over: Games chief
The postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics will have to be cancelled if the COVID-19 pandemic isn't brought under control by next year, the organizing committee's president said in comments published Tuesday.
The pandemic has already forced a year-long delay of the Games – which are now scheduled to open on July 23, 2021 – but Tokyo 2020 president Yoshiro Mori said no further postponement was possible.
In an interview with Japan's Nikkan Sports daily, Mori was categorical when asked if the Olympics could be delayed until 2022 if the pandemic remains a threat next year, replying: "No. In that case, it's cancelled." Mori noted the Games had been cancelled previously only during wartime, and compared the battle against coronavirus to "fighting an invisible enemy."
Top 9 | Europe faces deepest recession since World War II as economies shrink amid COVID-19 crisis
European countries are heading into their deepest recessions since 1945 because of COVID-19, a slew of official figures suggest.
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, said the eurozone's economy shrank by 3.8 percent in the first three months of 2020 – the sharpest quarterly decline since the body started flash estimates in 1995. The report added that the wider EU economy had also contracted, by 3.3 percent.
Among the major economies, France posted its sharpest downturn since World War II as the country's gross domestic product (GDP) plummeted 5.8 percent from the previous three months. Spain's GDP contracted by 5.2 percent over the same period due to tough lockdown measures – the country's steepest drop since records began in 1970. The European powerhouse warned that COVID-19 would plunge the economy into the deepest recession in its post-World War II history.
Top 10 | Boao Forum for Asia cancels 2020 annual conference due to COVID-19 impact
The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) said Thursday that it would not hold its annual conference this year due to the impact of COVID-19.
The BFA annual conference was originally scheduled from March 24 to 27 in Boao, a coastal town in China's southern island province of Hainan, with a theme of "A world in change: Bond together for a shared future."
The BFA said that it would continue preparation for three major thematic conferences scheduled in the latter half of year 2020 and organize a series of online activities to discuss the impact of the pandemic and explore solutions for recovery.
Related news:
APD | Asian nations worried about next waves of coronavirus infection
Biden assault allegation prompts GOP attacks, Dem worries
Don’t inject disinfectants, Lysol warns as Trump raises idea
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
