US president Donald Trump abruptly cut short his coronavirus press briefing on Monday after getting visibly angry with two female reporters.
As the country’s death toll reached 80,000, the president refused to answer questions from CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and reporter Weijia Jiang, before walking off stage.
In the UK, chancellor Rishi Sunak is expected to announce an extension to the furlough scheme under which the government subsidises the wages of workers temporarily laid off.
According to figures released on Monday, 32,065 people have now died in the UK – an increase of 210 on the previous 24 hours.
Here’s what you need to know today:
Trump’s briefing anger
In the final moments of his daily White House news conference, Trump took a question from Jiang, who asked him why he so often claimed the US was “doing far better than any other country when it comes to testing” and framed it as a “global competition” when so many Americans are still dying, she said.
“Well, they’re losing their lives everywhere in the world. And maybe that’s a question you should ask China,” Trump told Jiang, who is of Asian descent and was born in China.
“Don’t ask me. Ask China that question, OK? When you ask them that question, you may get a very unusual answer.”
Trump then called on Collins, who paused to let Jiang ask a follow-up question: “Why are you saying that to me specifically?”
Trump fired back at Jiang that she was asking a “nasty question”.
Then, seemingly punishing Collins for yielding time to Jiang, Trump refused to let Collins get her question in and called on someone else.
“Next, please,” Trump said, speaking over Collins as she tried to ask him her question.
But before actually moving on to the next reporter, Trump abruptly ended the briefing and walked off stage. This is the latest in a string of tense moments between Trump and the reporters who ask him questions at his coronavirus briefings. He has notably often directed his anger at the female reporters in the room, especially those who are women of colour.
Furlough extension
At least 6.3 million people are currently having up to 80% of their salaries paid by the taxpayer under the government’s furlough system, at a cost of some £8bn.
Sunak previously said he was preparing to “wean” workers and businesses off the programme – which currently runs until the end of June – but calls have been made for it to be prolonged.
It has been reported the programme will continue to September, although the rate of support will be cut from a maximum of 80% of salary to 60%.
Meanwhile, ministers are to set out guidance on how people can travel safely on public transport as the coronavirus lockdown begins to ease.
The death toll from coronavirus in the UK stood at more than 32,000 as the prime minister said he wants those who cannot work from home to start returning to their workplaces from Wednesday.
Sunak last week warned the furlough scheme was not “sustainable” at its current rate although he promised there would be no “cliff edge” cut-off.
Torsten Bell, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation think tank and an early advocate of the scheme, said it should be phased out gradually.
“Moving too quickly could spark a huge second surge in job losses at a time when unemployment already looks set to be at the highest level for a quarter of a century,” he said.
Westminster Abbey turns NHS blue
Westminster Abbey was bathed in NHS blue light on Tuesday to mark the 200th birthday of Florence Nightingale.
Usually packed with nurses for an annual service to honour the founder of the modern profession, this year the abbey asked senior clinical research nurse Arlene Lee to mark the day solo, holding the iconic Nightingale lamp.
Lee works at University Hospital, Southampton, with the National Institute of Health Research (Clinical Research Network) supporting patients through clinical trials. All the unit’s research is currently focused on COVID-19.
She is also a Nightingale scholar and this week should have been at Harvard University as part of a programme, funded by the Florence Nightingale Foundation, studying leadership and management skills.
She visited the abbey’s Nurses’ Memorial Chapel in the north ambulatory, where the Nightingale lamp is kept, and said it was “a very special moment”.
Eastern Europeans fear Covid-19 impact
The UK’s approach to the coronavirus pandemic was “too little, too late”, experts from the eastern European community have warned, and could make the country a less attractive prospect for skilled workers.
The twin economic impacts of lockdown and Brexit have plunged future plans into uncertainty across the whole of society, but particularly among those from eastern Europe who want to build their lives in the UK.
“One of the main fears now is what they will be coming back to, what state things will be in,” Barbara Drozdowicz, chief executive of the East European Resource Centre, told HuffPost UK.
“There’s an impact on continuation of residency for immigration purposes for a lot of people, who may end up being out of the UK for more than six months purely because of government lockdown guidance.
“In terms of the future, it’s difficult to say if the UK will still be an attractive prospect to people. Obviously you have the double whammy of Brexit, but the economic impact of Covid is going to be a Europe-wide issue, not a national one.”
Stonehenge solstice cancelled
The summer solstice celebrations at Stonehenge have reportedly been cancelled.
Thousands of people routinely observe the rising of the sun at the neolithic Wiltshire monument on the longest day of the year.
But restrictions on public gatherings mean the traditional event cannot take place, and English Heritage will be streaming the sunrise online.
The site has been closed since March following the coronavirus pandemic.
Stonehenge director Nichola Tasker was quoted in the Salisbury Journal saying: “Given the sheer number of major events worldwide which have already been cancelled across the summer, from Glastonbury to the Olympics to Oktoberfest, I doubt this will come as a huge surprise, but we know how much summer solstice at Stonehenge means to so many people.
“We have consulted widely on whether we could have proceeded safely and we would have dearly liked to host the event as per usual, but sadly in the end, we feel we have no choice but to cancel.”