Your Monday Evening Briefing

June 22, 2020

Your Monday Evening Briefing

By Victoria Shannon and Hiroko Masuike

Good evening. Here’s the latest.

Doug Mills/The New York Times

1. President Trump will sign an order barring hundreds of thousands of foreign workers from the U.S.

The temporary suspension of work visas, including the H-1B program for high-skilled workers, is described by the administration as part of a broad effort to limit entry into the country during the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The order is opposed by a swathe of businesses — including high-tech companies in Silicon Valley and manufacturers — whose leaders say it will block their ability to recruit workers for jobs that Americans are not willing or capable of performing. Above, Mr. Trump at a White House meeting with governors last week.

So far, lawmakers and governors have mostly pushed for policies that will ensure Americans can go back to the jobs they held before the pandemic. But some cities and states are looking toward a simpler solution: hire workers directly.

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Courtney Pedroza/Reuters

2. The W.H.O. chief said that more than 183,000 new coronavirus cases worldwide were reported in the past 24-hour period, “easily the most in a single day so far.”

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Increased testing is not driving the global surge in cases, according to the director of the W.H.O. Health Emergencies Program. Above, testing at a fire station in Tolleson, Ariz.

The U.S., with 4.3 percent of the world’s population, accounted for 20 percent of all the new infections worldwide, according to New York Times data.

New cases continued to surge over the weekend in 22 states, especially in the West and the South. Two more White House staff members tested positive for the virus after attending the president’s campaign rally in Tulsa, Okla., on Saturday. The workers joined six other members of the campaign’s advance team who tested positive before the event.

In New York City, offices were allowed to open and as many as 300,000 people were expected to return to work in person.

Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

3. A night of gunfire in Seattle’s protester-led “autonomous zone” sent another person to the hospital with serious injuries.

On Saturday, shootings left a 19-year-old man dead and another in critical condition.

The zone was declared this month in the wake of clashes between protesters and the police after the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis.

The sustained outcry over his death has compelled many white Americans to acknowledge anti-black racism in the U.S. Though it is hard to know how deep or wide their response is, some whites admit how little they grasp the experience of being black in America.

From our Opinion pages, charts document just how vast the inequality is between whites and blacks in America.

Fethi Belaid/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

4. A scaled-back hajj.

Saudi Arabia announced that the hajj, the annual pilgrimage that draws millions of Muslims, will be limited to Saudis and pilgrims already inside the country.

In 2019, 2.49 million pilgrims took part in the hajj, and 1.86 million of them came from abroad. Above, last year’s hajj.

The reduced numbers could strike a big financial blow to a kingdom already reeling from low oil prices and an economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus lockdown.

In Europe, Sweden’s Scandinavian neighbors have all closed their borders to Swedes, fearing the country’s lax approach to combating the coronavirus.

5. Joe Biden is winnowing his list of vice-presidential candidates.

The former vice president says he wants a running mate who is ready to assume the presidency, who shares his priorities and with whom he is “simpatico.” He is aiming to announce his choice by Aug. 1.

We list the 12 women we know to be under consideration and explain why each might be chosen, or might not be.

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

6. Federal authorities are investigating the noose found in Bubba Wallace’s NASCAR garage.

Officials said they were reviewing whether there had been violations of federal law. The Alabama garage was fitted with surveillance cameras, potentially offering crucial clues.

The episode at the Talladega Superspeedway came less than two weeks after NASCAR, at Mr. Wallace’s urging, banned the Confederate battle flag from its races and properties. Above, Mr. Wallace before today’s NASCAR Cup Series race.

“This will not break me,” Mr. Wallace, the only black driver in NASCAR’s top racing series, said in a statement. “I will not give in, nor will I back down.”

Caitlin Ochs for The New York Times

7. The statue of Theodore Roosevelt flanked by a Native American and an African is coming down in New York City amid the nationwide conversation about racism.

For many, the bronze statue outside the American Museum of Natural History symbolized a legacy of colonial expansion and racial discrimination. The museum’s president said the decision was based on the statue and not on Roosevelt, whom the museum continues to honor as “a pioneering conservationist.”

And the Eskimo Pie, the chocolate-covered ice cream treat, will soon be renamed. “We are committed to being a part of the solution on racial equality, and recognize the term is inappropriate,” a spokeswoman for the manufacturer said.

Paul Drinkwater/NBC, via Associated Press

8. The Golden Globes move to February.

Since 1973, the Globes have taken place in January, in part to set the pace for the Academy Awards — or at least to try.

Next year’s event was rescheduled to Feb. 28, the date that the Oscars abandoned last week in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. (The Oscars were rescheduled for April 25.) Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will host the Globes at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. Above, the duo hosting the awards in 2015.

In sports, the P.G.A. Championship, once scheduled for May 14 to 17, will proceed without spectators from Aug. 6 to 9 in San Francisco, its original location. The U.S. Open had already been moved to Sept. 17, and the Masters had been postponed to Nov. 12.

Jiji Press, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

9. A come-from-behind victor in the supercomputer wars.

China and the U.S., long locked in a contest to develop the world’s most powerful computers, were just bested by a massive Japanese machine.

A supercomputer called Fugaku, which is in Kobe and run by the government-sponsored institute Riken, took first place in a speed ranking. IBM computers scored second and third, while systems in China moved to the fourth and fifth spots. Above, Fugaku.

The room-size systems are used for complex military and scientific tasks, including breaking codes, modeling climate change and simulating new designs for cars, weapons, aircraft and drugs. Fugaku is already being used to help study, diagnose and treat Covid-19.

Joe Melhuish

10. And finally, blame the pandemic for extra sharp swings in the price of cheese.

Consumers started buying way more cheese in March and April, but demand from restaurants and schools fell. The resulting swings in supply and demand led to the most price volatility ever in the wholesale cheese market.

This month, as restaurants slowly reopened, the return of demand is pushing cheese prices up and suppliers are trying to ramp up. On Friday, the benchmark cheese price, which affects everything from mozzarella to Parmesan, hit a record high.

Have a mild evening.

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