2021年6月4日星期五

Friday Briefing: Progressive Democrats restless over Biden's infrastructure talks

Friday, June 4, 2021

by Linda Noakes

Hello

Here's what you need to know.

Biden races to salvage an infrastructure deal, Hong Kong cracks down on Tiananmen commemoration, and Musk breakup tweets bruise bitcoin

Today's biggest stories

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are accompanied by Secret Service agents while riding bikes at Cape Henlopen State Park in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, June 3, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

U.S.

President Joe Biden will meet with the main Republican negotiator on infrastructure spending today as they try to craft a deal that can satisfy their sharply divided camps. Progressive Democrats in Congress are getting uneasy with Biden's bipartisan push, warning they could block an agreement that falls short of what they think the country needs.

U.S. employers boosted hiring in May as the easing pandemic, helped by vaccinations, pulled more people back into the labor force, offering assurance that the economy's recovery from the COVID-19 recession remained on track.

The U.S. Department of Justice is elevating investigations of ransomware attacks to a similar priority as terrorism in the wake of the Colonial Pipeline hack and mounting damage caused by cyber criminals, a senior department official has told Reuters.

A group of landlords has asked the Supreme Court to issue an order that would effectively end the federal government's national ban on residential evictions during the coronavirus pandemic.

Work crews in Minneapolis took down barricades that had stopped most vehicles from driving through the intersection where George Floyd was murdered by a police officer just over a year ago, though activists quickly replaced them with makeshift barriers.

A woman gestures as police officers stop her for a search, outside Victoria Park in Hong Kong, June 4, 2021. REUTERS/Lam Yik

WORLD

Hong Kong sealed off a park where tens of thousands gather annually to commemorate China's 1989 Tiananmen crackdown and arrested the vigil's organizer, in what activists see as suppression of one of the city's main symbols of democratic hope.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed legislation that bars members of "extremist" organizations from running for office, a move allies of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny say aims to sideline them from parliamentary election this year.

European Union ambassadors adopted a plan to ban Belarus carriers from flying over EU territory or landing in EU airports, as the country's exiled opposition leader called for more joint Western sanctions. Detained journalist Roman Protasevich appeared on Belarusian state television yesterday, tearfully confessing to his role in anti-government protests in an interview which the opposition said was made under duress.

The prevalence of COVID-19 infections in England almost doubled in the last week of May as the 'delta' variant of COVID-19 first detected in India likely became the most widespread, official estimates show. Meanwhile, Australia has found the highly infectious variant in the outbreak in Melbourne.

BUSINESS

Bitcoin slipped 4% after Tesla boss Elon Musk was at it again - this time firing off a few tweets that appeared to lament a breakup with the cryptocurrency. "He's trolling the community," said Bobby Ong, co-founder of crypto data aggregator and analytics website CoinGecko.

Biden’s strategy to make the United States a powerhouse in electric vehicles will include boosting domestic recycling of batteries to reuse lithium and other metals, according to government officials.

Europe and Britain launched formal antitrust investigations into Facebook to determine if the world's largest social network is using customers' data to unfairly compete with advertisers, in a new threat to its business model.

Eagerly anticipated albums are often disappointing. Guns N’ Roses kept fans waiting 15 years for 2008’s 'Chinese Democracy', a patchy record at best. Billionaire Bill Ackman can expect a similarly flat reception to his blank-check firm announcing it is in talks to buy 10% of Universal Music for $4 billion, says Breakingviews columnist Liam Proud.

Quote of the day

"We cannot continue to rely on a tax system that was largely designed in the 1920s. And I will just say this: the world has noticed"

Rishi Sunak

British finance minister

G7 debates tax reform

Video of the day

"I take care of them" - Cuban man befriends pelican colony

'Michel the noble' and 'Panchito the affectionate' are some of the names Leonardo Carrillo has given the pelicans that flock each year to his wooden hut on the southern coast of Cuba.

And finally…

Designer creates 'Third Eye' for smartphone zombies

The device, part of an artwork called 'Phono Sapiens', opens its translucent eyelid whenever it senses the user's head has been lowered to look at a smartphone.

More from Reuters

COVID-19 Investigations Breakingviews Legal News

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