VOA news for Friday, July 31st, 2020
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This is VOA news. Reporting via remote, I'm David Byrd.
Hours after suggesting a possible delay in this year's presidential election, President Donald Trump on Thursday said he did not want to postpone the vote but remained concerned that millions of mail-in ballots would cause problems.
Speaking at the White House, Trump told reporters he doesn't want the election delayed but he also doesn't want one, in his words, that "doesn't mean anything.”
"I don't wanna see that take place in a week after November 3, or a month or, frankly, with litigation and everything else that can happen, years.”
Trump cited recent media reports about potential problems with mail-in ballots arriving late. The president does not have the authority to change the election date. That power resides with the Congress. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill from both parties rejected the notion of moving this year's election.
Former presidents, members of Congress and civil rights leaders have paid their last respects to longtime U.S. Representative John Lewis at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
Former President Barack Obama said that Lewis' legacy must be carried on until civil rights and equality are achieved.
"He knew that nonviolent protest is patriotic, a way to raise public awareness and put a spotlight on injustice and make the powers that be uncomfortable.”
Lewis, an Alabama share-cropper's son, who strove for equality for Blacks in an America grappling with racial bigotry and segregation, was a fiercely determined champion of nonviolent protest and was inspired by the late Martin Luther King, Jr.
His death from pancreatic cancer comes as America reckons with its history of racial discrimination following the May 25 death of George Floyd, an African-American man who died in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
This is VOA news.
Spikes in novel coronavirus infections in Asia have dispelled any notion the region may be over the worst, with Australia and India reporting record daily infections Thursday. Reuters Emer McCarthy reports.
In Australia, Thursday was the deadliest day of the pandemic yet. The country recorded 13 deaths and record high of more than 700 new cases, mostly in its second most populous state, Victoria. Authorities there have now ordered all residents in the state to wear masks.
Vietnam, which was virus free for months, this week reported a sudden outbreak that had spread to six cities and provinces in just six days.
Even isolated North Korea is on alert. Weeks ago, a defector suspected of having the virus illegally crossed the highly fortified border back over from South Korea. It's prompted strict quarantine and screening measures at the border. But so far, North Korea says it has no domestic cases.
That's Reuters Emer McCarthy.
The U.S. economy shrank at a record-breaking 33 percent rate last quarter as the coronavirus shuttered businesses and triggered layoffs. AP's Shelley Adler reports.
Economists were expecting an ugly number for Q2 and that's ???.
"That's by far the biggest contraction in the economy over one quarter that we've seen since the Great Depression.”
PNC Financial Services Group chief economist Gus Faucher, who says the third quarter GDP will be much better.
"Good news is that the number will be better in the third quarter and we will see the economy return to growth. But the level of economic activities can continue to be much lower it was at the end of 2019.”
The bottom line, "as long as we have very high level of cases and I think it's going to be very difficult to see a strong economic recovery.”
Shelley Adler, Washington.
The current National Basketball Association season is set to be the longest in basketball history but after 140 days, teams will be back on the courts. We get more from Reuters Matthew Larotonda.
Twenty-two of the league's 30 teams have been gathered for weeks in a bio-secure bubble facility, physically cut off from the world, inside Disney World's Orlando resort in Florida. Disney World itself and its many rides remain off limits, but the NBA has attempted to make their time there as comfortable as possible.
Utah and New Orleans will be the first of two games to tip-off on Thursday before the schedule really ramps up with a further six games on Friday.
That's Reuters Matthew Larotonda.
Reporting by remote, I'm David Byrd.
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