NEW YORK TIMES
Saturday
• In Portland, Oregon, Federal agents dressed in camouflage and tactical gear are unleashing tear gas, bloodying protesters, and pulling some people into unmarked vans in what governor Kate Brown of Oregon has called “a blatant abuse of power.”
• As the Democratic party prepares to gather at a convention site in Milwaukee on August 17, officials expect the event to include as few as 300 people, a number that includes attendees, members of the news media, security personnel, medical consultants, and party workers.
• In interviews with the Times, several people involved in the events that took down TWTR gave the first account of what happened, saying the hacking attack began as a pursuit of Bitcoin that eventually spun out of control.
• Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has had a recurrence of cancer, but is undergoing chemotherapy and plans to remain on the bench—though Democrats are growing increasingly concerned about what would happen if she died or resigned before the election.
• New York City will enter a limited fourth phase of reopening on Monday, allowing some art and entertainment venues, such as zoos and botanical gardens, to open for outdoor activities at a limited capacity, while gyms, movie theaters, and museums remain closed.
• UK prime minister Boris Johnson said he expects to see a “significant return to normality” by the end of the year as he announced a road map for reopening England and granted local authorities extended powers to tackle regional outbreaks.
• Responding to soaring coronavirus infections and growing concern from teachers, governor Gavin Newsom of California announced new rules on Friday that would force many of the state’s districts to teach remotely when school starts next month.
• A high-profile group of elected Republicans that are part of the traditional GOP establishment, such as Maryland governor Larry Hogan, has emerged as a kind of shadow conscience of the party during the Trump administration, to which they provide a counterweight.
• American households had more debt than ever when the pandemic sent unemployment soaring this spring, but bankruptcy statistics have yet to reflect the struggle to manage that debt, and personal bankruptcy filings are in sharp decline.
• Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin called on Congress and the Trump administration to pass additional stimulus legislation by the end of the month as the pandemic continues to inject uncertainty into how quickly the economy will recover.
Sunday
• “The roots of the nation’s current inability to control the pandemic can be traced to mid-April, when the White House embraced overly rosy projections to proclaim victory and move on,” the result of Trump’s decision to abandon a leadership role.
• Democratic representative John Lewis, a son of sharecroppers and an apostle of nonviolence who was bloodied at Selma and across the Jim Crow South in the historic struggle for racial equality, and who then carried a mantle of moral authority into Congress, died on Friday at 80.
• As researchers come closer to developing a coronavirus vaccine, public health experts say persuading people to actually get the shot may prove difficult at a time when many—especially African Americans, who have been hard-hit by Covid-19—have little trust in the Trump administration or the FDA.
• With UK hospitals suspending normal services in favor of coronavirus cases, nearly four million people on the National Health Service waiting list for routine hospital treatments face deteriorating health conditions, and many say the government has offered little clarity on the situation.
• A large new study from South Korea found that children younger than 10 transmit the coronavirus to others much less often than adults do, but the risk is not zero—and those between the ages of 10 and 19 can spread the virus at least as well as adults do.
• The Trump administration has balked at providing billions of dollars for coronavirus testing and to shore up federal health agencies as the virus surges, complicating efforts to reach agreement on the next round of pandemic aid and angering Republicans who support the funding.
• So-called end-of-life companies such as Cake and Lantern that help clients plan funerals, dispose of remains, and process grief saw steady but moderate growth before the pandemic, but have been experiencing a boom this year as “death planning” becomes more popular.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Weekend
• Front page story reports “The Pentagon has presented the White House with options to reduce the American military presence in South Korea as the two countries remain at odds over Trump’s demand that Seoul greatly increase how much it pays for the US troops stationed in the country.”
• Officials in some states are preparing for more remote instruction in the coming school year as coronavirus infections continue to rise, even as measures in some states aimed at slowing the pandemic face political resistance.
• For the second time in less than a year, a study of common sunscreen ingredients found that the chemicals are absorbed into the bloodstream at concentrations far greater than the FDA’s safety threshold.
• A federal court ordered the DACA, or “Dreamers,” program for undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children to be restored to the way it operated before the Trump administration tried to cancel it in September 2017.
• Defense Secretary Mark Esper issued a memo that effectively banned troops from flying the Confederate flag, bypassing Trump’s objection to an outright ban, saying the move would further improve the morale, cohesion, and readiness’ of the armed forces.
• +/- CVS: As coronavirus cases surge across the US, wait times for many people tested by the pharmacy chain are stretching longer than they were told to expect, prompting consumer complaints that it’s taking 10 days or more to get results.
• “Population growth in liberal-leaning cities, diversifying suburbs and growing support for protests against racial injustice in several Southern states have Democrats hopeful they can improve on their 2016 performance there.”
• + MMM, HON, Prestige Ameritech: Companies are among those ramping up production of N95 face masks in the US after the coronavirus pandemic unraveled global supply chains, seeking a way to guarantee a supply of the protective gear for American hospitals for many years to come.
• +/- GE: Story reports on what went wrong when the company under former chief executive Jeffrey Immelt attempted to remake itself as a software powerhouse in order to prepare for a digital future, noting that cost cuts, employee confusion, and poor planning undermined the idea.
• Chinese financial regulators took over nine financial institutions they said broke rules and added risk to a financial system facing increasing headwinds from the coronavirus pandemic.
• H.O.T.S.: Billionaires seeking bank loans are increasingly putting up their art collections as collateral; Chinese productivity will suffer from the country’s overinvestment in housing, even if the mania never ends in a 2008-style crash; Washington’s war on Huawei should eventually help the Chinese giant’s leading Western rival, ERIC—but for now, Ericsson remains dependent on China, not the US.
FINANCIAL TIMES
Weekend
• “Dutch demands for a veto over how Europe distributes a proposed €750B of post-pandemic recovery funding were blocking a deal as leaders held crunch talks yesterday in their first face-to-face summit for five months.”
• The Trump administration is considering putting Chinese company Bytedance’s TikTok app on a blacklist that would effectively prevent Americans from using it, a move to prevent China from obtaining personal data via the social media platform.
• Experts say European Commission head Margrethe Vestager faces hard choices after a European court quashed her order for AAPL to pay back €14.3B in taxes to Ireland, a situation that dents her reputation as a global consumer champion.
• The Frankfurt Book Fair, which dates back to the invention of the printing press 500 years ago, will hold its annual event this year in a virtual format, without the participation of many of the biggest publishing houses.
• Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, said the country and some other state powers will have developed a viable Covid-19 vaccine by the new year, and warned that if geopolitical faultlines keep people from the best vaccine, the pandemic will continue to spread.
• Big Read piece says that Trump’s regular claims that opponents are exaggerating the severity of the pandemic has given southern states license to focus on their economies rather than public health, with dire results that are becoming clear.
• Lex Column: NFLX’s financial results “offer a window into the sort of mature company the streaming giant might eventually resemble”; With shares now trading at around the same level they were in 2014, pet food has become the dog in SJM’s portfolios; The future of 5G is far from assured—it has become a political fight, and there is scant commercial appeal.
• Comment: “Beijing’s China First policies require a firm, principled European response,” says Constanze Stelzenmüller. “Germany, like the UK, is no more than a middle power, but Europe has real leverage if it is united.”
NEW YORK POST
Saturday
+/- Comcast: NBCUniversal is about to let go of staff to offset the losses brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, though the scale of the layoffs has yet to be determined.
• BLK chief Larry Fink said ending the coronavirus pandemic will be the best way to spark a recovery—and as such he is calling on people to wear masks to halt the spread of the virus.
Sunday
• Trump called Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert and White House coronavirus task force, a “bit of an alarmist” and said some doctors have made mistakes during the handling of the virus, which has now killed more than 142,000 Americans.
• Real estate firm Horizon Group Properties inked a deal with e-sports analytics company Harena Data to develop e-sports arenas and drive-in movie theaters in four major US cities, where fans would be able to watch video-game tournaments and compete in events from the safety of their cars.