Trump news: Trump visits golf course for second day in a row as coronavirus deaths near 100,000
President spends Memorial Day weekend golfing and spreading false claims as nation's death toll climbs to devastating high
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Your support makes all the difference.As the nation's death toll approaches 100,000 lives lost during the coronavirus pandemic, Donald Trump was spotted playing golf on Saturday and Sunday, as crowds of people flocked to beaches and parties over Memorial Day weekend despite growing infection rates across the US.
The president also shared sexist insults about his political rivals, including one message that called Hillary Clinton a "skank", while also spending the weekend on Twitter floating conspiracy theories about MSNBC host Joe Scarborough.
After encouraging Americans to spend the weekend outdoors and at the golf course, White House health official Dr Deborah Birx defended her remarks following reports of massive crowds over the holiday weekend and suggested that Americans need to change their behaviour and follow physical distancing guidelines, which are beginning to ease in most states after weeks of quarantine.
Offline, Mr Trump spent the holiday weekend at his Virginia golf club, where he was captured putting, driving his golf cart and waving to supporters.
In another apparent attempt to undermine the results of an election, the president also continued to push his false claim that mail-in or absentee voting would lead to voter fraud, a falsehood that even a commission that he appointed to investigate had failed to find any evidence.
"The United States cannot have all Mail In Ballots. It will be the greatest Rigged Election in history," Mr Trump said on Twitter. "People grab them from mailboxes, print thousands of forgeries and 'force' people to sign. Also, forge names."
There is no evidence to suggest this happens.
The president's top economic adviser meanwhile has predicted that the unemployment rate will remain in double digits by the 2020 presidential election in November and hit 20 per cent by the end of May, as the number of unemployed Americans continues to creep upward.
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South Africa is struggling to balance its fight against the coronavirus with its dire need to resume economic activity, AP reports.
The country is still in the early stages of the pandemic, leading health experts to predict the peak could come as late as August or September. A surge of cases in Cape Town suggests that the city might reach its maximum near the end of June. The forecasts portend a lengthy wait to resume normal activity.
Other African countries appear to be on a similar trajectory. Forty-three of the continent's 54 nations have imposed containment measures, including lockdowns, bans on public gatherings, school closures and curfews.
French environment minister Élisabeth Borne says parks in Paris will remain closed for now despite city hall demanding they reopen.
Paris is still a “red zone” for coronavirus circulation.
The New York Times has identified the names of 1,000 people who have died from coronavirus during the global crisis as America’s death toll continues to soar to almost 100,000.
America, where Covid-19 has claimed more lives than any other country in the world, is easing lockdown restrictions despite the fact experts have predicted such reopenings will lead to thousands of further deaths.
Read the full story here.
It is not a question of whether it is "safe" to open schools but of whether it is "safe enough", a leading public health academic has said.
Professor Devi Sridhar, personal chair in global public health at the University of Edinburgh, said the Government needed to decide what "threshold of risk" is acceptable to the public.
Speaking on Sky's Sophy Ridge On Sunday, she said in order to earn their trusts, politicians must be "completely honest with teachers and parents about scientific uncertainty".
"We know children carry the virus, we don't know the degree they transmit it to adults," she said.
Prof Sridhar said: "We need to have monitoring in place - testing, tracing and the ability to break chains of transmission and identify quickly clusters in schools."
She said it was also not clear what the link is between Covid-19 and the rise in the number of cases of a condition resembling Kawasaki disease during the pandemic.
The mysterious inflammatory syndrome mainly affects children under five and some doctors think it could be triggered by Covid-19.
At least one Tory MP is calling for an address from prime minister Boris Johnson over the country's coronavirus response and his senior adviser Dominic Cummings' alleged trips to County Durham during lockdown.
Tobias Ellwood said: “GOVERNMENT is entering the most complex phase of biggest emergency since WW2.
“But the ship is being blown off course.
“Time for a FORMAL ADDRESS from the Captain offering firm leadership, command & control to resolve setbacks, re-unite collective resolve & rebuild mission focus.”
Air France will have to "drastically" reduce its domestic air traffic in exchange for state loan guarantees, French Environment Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Sunday.
Domestic routes were served by alternatives in the form of high-speed trains, she noted in an interview with France Inter radio.
The government last month offered the airline a €7bn (£6.2bn) package made up of state-guaranteed bank loans and loans directly from the state.
In exchange for the loan guarantees, the airline had promised to reduce domestic CO2 emissions by 50 per cent by 2024, Ms Borne added.
Labour's Ian Murray has condemned a lack of transparency from both the UK and Scottish governments as the further impact of coronavirus cases linked to a Nike conference in Edinburgh came to light.
More than 70 employees from around the world attended the event at the Hilton Carlton Hotel on February 26 and 27.
Investigations found that at least 25 people linked to the event contracted Covid-19, including eight in Scotland, but the incident was not made public until it was revealed in a television documentary earlier this month.
The first coronavirus case in Scotland was announced on March 1 and was a Tayside resident unrelated to the conference.
But the Sunday Times says it has been reported locally that the North East of England's "patient zero" attended the conference in February and the infection was passed to a second person in Newcastle at a child's birthday party.
The Chronicle newspaper also states that a church in Newcastle closed after a member tested positive for coronavirus, with it being "understood the patient works for Nike in Sunderland and contracted the virus after attending a conference in Edinburgh" - although this was unconfirmed at the time.
Six million Australians have downloaded a smartphone app that helps health authorities trace coronavirus infections, officials said Sunday.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said the COVIDSafe app is playing a strong role in Australia's response to the pandemic and that several countries have expressed interest in learning from its positive impacts.
If a user is diagnosed, the app works to identify other users who have been in close proximity for 15 minutes or more in the previous three weeks.
The government has said at least 40% of Australia's 26 million people need to use the app for it to be effective. There are approximately 17 million cellphones in Australia.
The government and states have been easing restrictions on travel and allowed for increased use of restaurants and bars in the past few weeks. Australia has recorded more than 7,100 cases of the coronavirus, including 102 deaths.
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