US Supreme Court nominee hearings ... Covid-19 ... US election ... Business
#US Supreme Court nominee hearings
Oct. 12
Confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett to begin. The Senate is set to deliberate starting Monday on President Trump's Supreme Court nominee during four days of hearings, renewing focus on critical issues, including abortion rights, health care and gun rights.
Politics dominates. Senate Republicans will be pushing full force for President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, while Democrats will attack Republicans for speeding toward her confirmation before Election Day and in the midst of a pandemic.
Oct. 13
Partisan clashes dominated the first day of Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation hearings. Democrats worry that Barrett’s ascendance to the court could mean an end to the Affordable Care Act. Republicans, meanwhile, said that the Democrats are trying to enact policy from the judge's bench rather than interpret laws the way they were written and are imposing a "religious test" on Judge Barrett, who is Catholic. Sen. Lindsey Graham acknowledged that the hearings are unlikely to change anyone's mind, saying, 「This is probably not about persuading each other. All Republicans will vote yes, all Democrats will vote no.」
Oct 14
Amy Coney Barrett parries questions on abortion and health law. Barrett has dodged senators』 questions on how she might rule on a challenge to Obamacare and legal abortions, and what she would do if there were a lawsuit over the presidential election.
Amy Coney Barrett repeatedly denied any implication that her political views would colour her rulings on the court. Barrett told senators: 「I am not here on a mission to destroy the Affordable Care Act. I’m just here to apply the law and adhere to the rule of law … I have made no commitment to anyone – not in the Senate, not in the White House – on how I would decide a case.」 Senator Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for vice-president, said the confirmation panel should 「not pretend that we don’t know how this nominee views a woman’s right to choose to make our own healthcare decisions」.
Oct. 15
Witnesses to discuss Amy Coney Barrett. Today the Senate Judiciary Committee is to meet to debate Barrett’s nomination and hear witnesses testify about her character and qualifications—and the threat Democrats say she poses to health care, voting and other civil rights.
Amy Coney Barrett faced her final day of questioning. In her third day in the hot seat before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Judge Barrett continued to decline to discuss matters she thought might end up before the court, despite senators grilling her about voting rights, health care and press freedom. After the hearings end today, the committee is expected to vote on her nomination on Oct. 22, with a full Senate vote on Oct. 26.
Oct. 16
Senate panel to vote next week on Barrett. The Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee set Oct. 22 as the date for the panel’s vote on the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, overruling Democratic objections.
#Covid-19
Oct. 12
Anthony Fauci says use of his comments to praise president in Republican campaign ad is misleading. In the video released on Saturday, Oct. 10, Fauci can be heard saying 「I can’t imagine that ... anyone could be doing more」. The top US infectious disease expert says his comments are taken out of context from a broad statement he made months ago about the efforts of federal public health officials. Trump retorts on Twitter: 「They are indeed Dr Fauci’s own words.」
Europe has overtaken the U.S. in new Covid-19 cases. In a key metric that tracks the virus's spread, the number of cases per million people, the 27 European Union nations plus the U.K. recorded 152 cases for every million residents over a seven-day period ending on Oct. 12. In the U.S. over that same timespan there were about 150 cases per million residents.
Oct. 13
Boris Johnson has warned northern leaders that a failure to agree tougher coronavirus restrictions within days would be 「unforgivable」, as he faces doubt and frustration over the new three-tier system splitting England into medium risk (tier 1), high risk (tier 2) and very high risk (tier 3) areas. More than 17 million people face localised curbs. Liverpool city region was the only area categorised as very high risk – from Wednesday pubs are closed and household mixing is banned in almost all situations
Johnson & Johnson pauses Covid vaccine trials due to sick subject. The halt affects all trials of J&J’s vaccine, including a large Phase 3 trial that began in September and aimed to enroll as many as 60,000 people in the U.S. and several other countries.
Fears of carbon rebound – The coronavirus pandemic is expected to cause a 7% decline in energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in 2020 but governments are not doing enough to prevent a rapid rebound, the International Energy Agency is warning. Modelling based on governments』 current policies predicts carbon dioxide emissions will rebound in 2021, exceed 2019 levels in 2027 and rise to 36 gigatonnes by 2030.
Covid-19 cases are surging, but widespread lockdowns are unlikely. Instead of the widespread lockdowns imposed by governments in the spring, the World Health Organization is recommending that countries focus on testing, contact-tracing and isolation of those who have been exposed to the virus. Thousands of public-health experts in recent weeks have signed a letter called the Great Barrington Declaration, which calls for young people to be allowed to live their lives and build herd immunity. Most public-health experts have increasingly come to a consensus that another round of lockdowns would be unpopular and could backfire.
Oct. 14
J&J hopes coronavirus vaccine trial will restart shortly. Johnson & Johnson hopes to know within days whether it can resume testing after a study volunteer developed an unknown illness. A separate trial of an experimental Covid-19 treatment by Eli Lilly has also been paused due to a potential safety concern.
Facebook is banning ads that discourage vaccines. As part of a broader effort to combat public-health misinformation, the tech giant said it would ban ads that discourage immunisation and work with health authorities to craft related messaging on its platform, plus help promote flu shots. Facebook had pledged to ban ads that include misinformation about vaccines last year, but later acknowledged it didn't remove paid ones from an antivaccination group that suggested doctors were hiding evidence of alleged harm to children.
Oct. 15
Clashes over further Covid restrictions- UK hospital doctors and public health experts have backed growing calls for a 「circuit breaker」, but Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, has led voices supporting a regional tiered approach to avoid economic damage. A decision on whether to extend tier 3 restrictions – closing pubs that do not serve food and banning household mixing – to Greater Manchester and Lancashire is expected today.
Curfews - Residents of nine major French cities including the Paris region as well as Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse and Lille are to be confined to tehir homes from 9pm to 6am. The rules will come into effect from midnight on Saturday and apply for four weeks. In Germany the federal and state governments have agreed that cities or regions where infection rates are rising rapidly will have to adopt an 11pm curfew for bars and restaurants, which has already been imposed in Berlin.
Ahead of vaccine, half of Americans indicate reluctance. About 70% of registered voters surveyed said they would take a Covid-19 vaccine, although many want to wait until it has been available for a while to see if there are major problems or side effects, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.
Oct. 16
Demoralized CDC grapples with White House meddling - Donald Trump and his advisers made line-by-line edits to official health guidance, altering language written by scientists on church choirs and social distancing. This helps create a crisis of confidence in US’s top public-health agency.
Covid-19 led to a dangerous delay in cancer diagnoses. Hundreds of thousands of Americans deferred cancer screenings because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Doctors warn that months without detection could lead to fewer treatment options and more negative outcomes. At one oncologist with hundreds of locations across the U.S., 18% of newly diagnosed breast-cancer patients this year through August had an advanced stage of the disease, compared with an average of between 11% and 12.5% from 2015 to 2019.
Boris Johnson’s Covid plan in turmoil after north-west leaders refuse tier 3. Mayors and MPs from the north-west railed against being moved into the highest lockdown level and accused ministers of treating the region with contempt.
Claims raise further questions about the UK government’s Covid crisis response. Leaking vials and suspected contamination were identified in a batch of more than 500,000 test tubes produced for the NHS Covid test and trace operation over the summer, whistleblowers have said. They have also said that rather than rejecting the entire potentially compromised batch, as would be normal safety protocol with NHS supplies, only part of the batch with visible problems was removed from use. The test tubes were provided by a small UK-based company, Life Science Group (LSG).
Tuition scheme stumbles – The £350m 「massive catch-up operation」 pledged by Boris Johnson to help pupils rebound from lockdown has had 40% of its funding go unspent so far. An investigation by Schools Week found that only £106m of the £350m fund will go towards the national tutoring programme (NTP) backed by Johnson for disadvantaged pupils. By earlier this month only 「hundreds」 out of England’s more than 22,000 state schools had expressed interest in signing up. School leaders have been largely sceptical of the tuition programme, with most saying they would prefer to be given more funding to use on their own schemes.
Oct. 17
More curfews - The streets of Paris and eight other French cities were deserted on Saturday night as a new curfew was enforced. The controversial overnight curfew is aimed at curbing the soaring Covid infection rate in France, which is one of Europe's coronavirus hotspots. There have been complaints from restaurant owners, whose businesses are already suffering after the two-month lockdown in the spring.
#US election
Oct. 12
『Immune』 – Donald Trump has said he no longer has Covid ahead of his planned return to the campaign trail today in Florida. He will also hold rallies in key swing states, including Pennsylvania and Iowa, on Tuesday and Wednesday. The president touted his health on Fox News yesterday: 「Once you』ve recovered, you’re immune. I am immune … maybe for a short time, maybe for a long time. The president is in very good shape,」 he said.
Oct. 13
President Trump tested negative on consecutive days, doctor says. White House physician Sean Conley released the results as Trump traveled to Florida for his first campaign rally since being treated for the coronavirus. Such packed events pose the highest risk of spreading the coronavirus, according to the CDC, but a raspy-sounding Trump roared like a drunken uncle at Christmas: 「I』ll walk into that audience. I』ll walk in there, I』ll kiss everyone in that audience. I』ll kiss the guys and the beautiful women – everybody.」 In Georgia early voting has opened and people have reported queuing for 10 hours or more to lodge their ballots.
『Turned his back on you』 – Joe Biden has torn into Donald Trump at a rally in Ohio, casting Trump as having abandoned the working-class voters in states such as this who helped him win in 2016.
『Voting isn’t for everybody in America』 - The Guardian has reported that millions of American voters will be unable to cast their ballot in this year’s presidential election and those affected will be disproportionately first-time voters and from minority groups.
Oct. 14
Joe Biden’s lead over Donald Trump has surged to a record 17 points as the US election enters its final sprint, an Opinium Research and Guardian opinion poll shows.
Oct. 15
Trump and Biden’s duel - The candidates are scheduled to hold duelling town-hall events tonight after their second debate was cancelled because Trump won’t do it remotely as per the rules.
Biden has an 11-point lead over Trump. Less than three weeks from Election Day, the former vice president is ahead 53% to 42%, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll of registered voters found.
Oct. 16
GOP senators to subpoena Twitter's CEO over its blocking of disputed Biden articles. After Twitter blocked a pair of New York Post articles that made allegations about Joe Biden and Hunter Biden's dealings in Ukraine, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee said they would require Twitter Inc. Chief Executive Jack Dorsey to testify on Oct. 23. Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) called Twitter’s decision to limit distribution of the articles "election interference," and committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) described it as "active censorship of a major press publication." The Biden campaign denied the allegations.
Dramatically different visions during clashing town hall-style TV events. Claims by the president, appearing on NBC, were repeatedly refuted by the interviewer, Savannah Guthrie, as she pressed the president on his debts, his actions on coronavirus, and the rightwing conspiracy theory QAnon, which he refused to condemn. It was a nightmare scenario for the president, who has restricted himself in recent weeks to rightwing media where he is allowed by interviewers to ramble on unchallenged.
#Business
100,000 -The number of restaurants that industry group the National Restaurant Association predicts will close in 2020, double the average in a normal year. The pandemic is splitting the restaurant industry in two. Big, well-capitalized chains like Chipotle and Domino's are thriving while small independents struggle to keep their kitchens open.
85% - The percentage by which attendance has fallen at the movie theaters AMC has reopened compared with last year. The cinema operator said it could run out of cash by the end of the year.
$300,000 - money Hollywood spends per-episode on testing and safety measures. As prime-time viewership is falling, partly because few shows are debuting new episodes this fall, Hollywood aims to resume production during the pandemic. While corporate America has tried to return to office spaces, TV productions face unique challenges: Workplaces can change in configuration and location almost daily, and there are often dozens of people with varying responsibilities on a set at once, making treating everyone safely a tough task.
Global auto markets begin to emerge from pandemic slowdown. New-car sales in Europe rose last month for the first time this year, a sign that the global auto industry is slowly beginning to pull out of its worst slump in decades.