Breonna Taylor, Coronavirus Vaccine, Belarus: Your Thursday Briefing

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Good Morning.

We report on protests following a decision in the Breonna Taylor case, the final round of testing for a US-made coronavirus vaccine and Finland Canine front against the pandemic.

A single vaccine is finally being tested in the US

Johnson & Johnson has entered the final phase of clinical trials for a coronavirus vaccine that could have some advantages over its competitors: it would only take one shot instead of two and it doesn’t need to be frozen, which makes distribution easier. The trials, which began Monday, will be the largest in the US, with plans to enroll 60,000 attendees.

Right behind Johnson & Johnson are Sanofi and Novavax, whose vaccines may prove as good or better than their leading competitors. “We need several vaccines to work,” said Dr. Dan Barouch, a virologist who led the development of the technology used in the Johnson & Johnson study. “There are seven billion people in the world, and not a single vaccine supplier will be able to produce on this scale.”

What’s next: The company’s chief scientist said Johnson & Johnson could possibly determine whether the vaccine is safe and effective by the end of the year.

Official Comments: President Trump, who has repeatedly claimed that a vaccine will be ready before Election Day, said Wednesday that the White House “may or may not” need to approve new Food and Drug Administration guidelines that external experts must weigh before the agency approves a coronavirus vaccine.

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other developments:

• The Metropolitan Opera in New York has canceled its entire 2020-21 season until next September, casting a shadow over the likelihood that cultural life in the US will soon resume

• Saudi Arabia said it would allow up to 6,000 Saudi citizens and residents per day to visit the Mecca Great Mosque from October 4th.

• France on Wednesday raised its Covid-19 alert level in a number of areas across the country and put further restrictions on public gatherings in several cities.

• In a novel approach, Belgian Prime Minister Sophie Wilmes has relaxed the rules and only requires masks in crowded places, as opposed to everywhere outdoors, as she ordered in the summer.

• Around 600 drinks-only pubs may reopen in Northern Ireland on Wednesday for the first time in six months.

“This is the day of our victory, a convincing and fateful one,” said Lukashenko to the approximately 700 guests invited to his inauguration. This is evident from a protocol that was published on the President’s website. “We didn’t just elect the country’s president. We have defended our values, our peaceful lives, our sovereignty and independence. “

Opposition voices: An opposition leader, Pavel Latushko, condemned the president’s move and called on the public to “immediately launch a campaign against civil disobedience”. And Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the main opponent of Mr. Lukashenko in the elections, denounced the ceremony as a “farce” and said in a statement that she was “the only leader elected by the Belarusian people”.

Crowds march for justice for Breonna Taylor

After 100 nights of protests against the police murder of Breonna Taylor and a month-long investigation, a grand jury accused a former Louisville, Kentucky police officer of ruthlessly endangering Ms. Taylor’s neighbors with gunfire. Two other officers who fired shots were not charged and no one was charged with their deaths.

Ms. Taylor, a 26-year-old black emergency room technician, was killed in a botched drug robbery at her home in March, putting her name and image on a national movement promoting social justice.

Protests broke out in cities across the country. In Louisville, protesters yelled in disgust after learning of the grand jury’s decision. Two policemen were shot dead later that evening.

Legal statement: Because the officers didn’t shoot first – it was the young woman’s boyfriend who opened fire; He has said he thought the police were intruders – many legal experts thought the officers were unlikely to be charged.

Go deeper: An investigation by the New York Times investigates how Ms. Taylor ended up in the middle of a fatal drug attack.

If you have 9 minutes, it’s worth it

Few options in the heart of Mexico’s pandemic crisis

Although much of Latin America was devastated by the pandemic, Mexico was particularly hard hit, with more than 73,000 dead. In Mexico City, the Iztapalapa neighborhood, home to the largest market for products in the western hemisphere, became the epicenter of the epicenter, recording more deaths from the coronavirus than any other part of the capital that is itself the center of the national crisis.

Our reporters visited Iztapalapa, where poverty, a dense population and busy trade have wreaked havoc. The workers in the area had no choice. “I have run out of money,” said one salesman who tried to stay home but ran out of money. “It’s either go out there and face the virus or sit here and starve.” By May, one in ten people who had put on a ventilator in Mexico City was on the market.

The following also happens

Aleksei Navalny: The Russian opposition leader has been discharged from a hospital in Germany and could recover fully after being poisoned with a highly toxic nerve agent, doctors said on Wednesday as European leaders wrestled over a response to Moscow.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: The Supreme Court Justice, who died on Friday, was honored as a pioneer of women’s rights during a ceremony in front of the Washington court. Her coffin was then taken outside where she will rest while the Americans say goodbye for the next two days.

Migrant Crisis: The European Union announced on Wednesday that it would persuade reluctant member states to agree to a common system for dealing with asylum seekers by offering them financial incentives and faster deportation of people who are denied asylum.

Snapshot: Upstairs, a sniffer dog was training in Finland to detect the smell of the coronavirus. Some dogs working at Helsinki Airport have been trained to detect infection in arriving passengers in about a minute.

Lived life: Juliette Gréco, the singing muse of post-war bohemian Paris who became the grande dame of Chanson Française and an internationally renowned actress, died on Wednesday at the age of 93.

What we see: That table said “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”. Carole Landry of the Briefings Team writes: “The performances / readings from these stars – including Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts, Morgan Freeman and Matthew McConaughey – are special. It’s a lot of fun. “

Now a break from the news

Cook: This baked-egg corn polenta is featured in Melissa Clark’s “From the Pantry” series, which began back in March to help people who are stuck at home cook and allay their pandemic fears. Melissa withdraws from the series: As a farewell present, here are five particularly unusual recipes.

Read: In “Let Love Rule” Lenny Kravitz tells the first 25 years of his life and ends with the release of his debut album in 1989. The story he tells is not about fame, but about the influences that inspired his distinctive musical mix have soul and classic rock.

Observe: Are you looking for some new streaming options? Here is our list of 10 Unusual Movies for Unusual Times.

There is no reason to be bored at home. Our At Home collection offers almost endless ideas for reading, cooking, looking at and doing.

And now for the background story about …

China’s climate change

Under international pressure to do more to tackle global warming, China’s leader Xi Jinping has surprisingly pledged to drastically reduce emissions – but he gave few details. Steven Lee Myers, our head of the Beijing office, took a closer look at what that means.

Mr. Xi’s promise is a tectonic change in policy, but not yet in practice. Under the Paris Climate Agreement, China promised that its emissions would peak around 2030. Mr. Xi promised to postpone that schedule on Tuesday, although he did not provide specific details. The bigger surprise, according to analysts, was his promise to be carbon neutral by 2060 – meaning China’s net carbon emissions will hit zero -. China is now the largest emissions producer, pumping out 28 percent of total global emissions.

China would have to reverse recent emissions trends. Analysts have warned of worrying trends in the country. Coal consumption, which declined from 2013 to 2017, has risen again in recent years as the government tried to stimulate growth.

After shutting down during the pandemic, China’s economy roared back. Research has shown that carbon dioxide emissions by May were 4 percent higher than last year. China issued more coal-fired power plant building permits in the first half of 2020 than in any year in 2018 and 2019.

The new policy could affect all 1.4 billion people in China. Li Shuo, a policy advisor for Greenpeace China, said the promise required a complete transformation of the Chinese economy. “Think about it: the way we eat, how we use energy, how we produce our food, how we commute to work needs to be completely reorganized,” he said.

That’s all for today’s briefing. I wish you a good Thursday.

– Natasha

Thank you very much
To Melissa Clark for the recipe, and Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh for the rest of the break from the news. You can reach the team at [email protected].

PS
• We listen to “The Daily”. Our latest episode is about opening up to anti-abortion activists in the US
• Here is our mini crossword puzzle and a clue: “Casually mention a celebrity’s name” (four letters). You can find all of our puzzles here.
• The word “rumpology” – defined as “the art of reading the lines, crevices, dimples and folds of the buttocks” – first appeared in The Times on Wednesday, according to the Twitter bot @NYT_first_said.
• The Times has won five Emmy Awards, including one for outstanding new approaches to art, lifestyle and culture.