May 5, 2023

11am Supplement: WHO declares end of COVID-19 emergency

COVID-19 | The World Health Organization said today that COVID-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency, signifying a symbolic end to the more-than-three-year pandemic that disrupted economies, triggered worldwide lockdowns, changed industries and workplace practices, and killed about 7 million people globally.

• WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says that while the emergency phase of the COVID-19 pandemic is over, the virus remains a threat, citing recent case increases in the Middle East and Southeast Asia and noting that thousands of people continue to die from coronavirus infection every week.
• Tedros also noted that there were probably at least 20 million COVID-19-related deaths worldwide during the pandemic emergency phase — much higher than the 7 million officially reported.
• WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard
• U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID Data Tracker
• Worldometer COVID-19 Data Portal

UKRAINE | Today is day 435 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Placing blame on top Russian defense officials, head of the Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video today that his forces would withdrawal from the contested city of Bakhmut on May 10 due to heavy losses and inadequate supplies of ammunition. [more]
• Officials in Kyiv say 18 of 24 Russian drones that attacked the city overnight were shot down. Details on damage caused by those drones that were not shot down have not yet been reported. [more]

U.S. GUN VIOLENCE | Authorities in Georgia say 26-year-old Kentavious White is suspected in the shooting deaths of three women, including a fast-food restaurant manager and his mother and grandmother, yesterday in Moultrie, Georgia. Police say White killed himself following the attacks and that the motives behind the shootings are under investigation. [more]

JANUARY 6 | Four members of the far-right Proud Boys group, including longtime chairman Enrique Tarrio, were found guilty of seditious conspiracy and other charges by a Washington, DC, jury yesterday for their actions surrounding attempts to prevent the peaceful transfer of presidential power after the 2020 election. A fifth defendant, Dominic Pezzola, was found not guilty of seditious conspiracy. [more]

OREGON | Most Republican members of the Oregon Senate stayed away from the legislative body’s chamber yesterday for the second straight day in action they say is in support of a 1979 law that requires bills to be written in plain, readable language, but that Democratic lawmakers say is intended to delay action on gun safety, abortion rights, and gender-affirming healthcare bills. [more]

U.S. LAND | The Treasury Department’s Office of Investment Security is expected to propose a new rule today that would require U.S. government approval for foreign citizens and companies to buy property within 100 miles of eight U.S. military bases, including Grand Forks Air Force Base, which houses both air and space operations. [more]

CALIFORNIA | Police say 21-year-old former University of California, Davis, student Carlos Dominguez has been arrested in connection with a series of recent stabbings in the college area that killed two people and wounded one other. [more]

ABORTION | The North Carolina Senate voted along party lines yesterday to approve a bill banning nearly all abortions in the state after 12 weeks of pregnancy, down from the current 20 weeks. Reports say Governor Roy Cooper is expected to veto the bill, which was approved by the state House earlier in the week, but that both Republican-led legislative chambers are likely to override the veto. [more]

AI | U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met yesterday with executives from tech companies Google, Microsoft, Anthropic, and OpenAI to discuss the development, benefits, and risks of rapidly evolving artificial intelligence technologies. [more]

SERBIA | Officials in Serbia say a gunman killed eight people, and wounded 14 others, in three Serbian villages near Mladenovac yesterday and that the suspect in the shootings was arrested early this morning. The attacks came just one day after a teenager shot and killed eight fellow students and a guard at a school in the capital Belgrade. [more]

PRESS FREEDOM | In its annual World Press Freedom Index, the industry group Reporters Without Borders says Norway, Ireland and Denmark rank highest in press freedom in 2023, while North Korea, China, and Vietnam rank worst. The U.S. was ranked 45th in the index of 180 countries. [full report] [more]

CONGO | Reports say the bodies of at least 72 victims of flooding caused by days of heavy rain have been recovered this week near the villages of Bushushu and Nyamukubi in the Democratic Republic of Congo. [more]

U.K. | World leaders and other national representatives are gathering in London for tomorrow’s coronation of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey. [more]

BELGIUM | The federal prosecutor’s office in Belgium says an Iraqi suspect has been arrested and charged with terrorism, murder, and war crimes-related offenses in connection with a series of al-Qaida terrorist network bombings in Baghdad, Iraq, in 2009 and 2010 that killed at least 376 people. Reports say the suspect has been living in Belgium since 2015. [more]

FOOD PRICES | The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says its world price index, which tracks prices of the most globally traded food commodities, rose in April for the first time in a year, but remained some 20% lower than its record high in March 2022. [full report] [more]

FREE TRADE | New British free trade agreements with both Australia and New Zealand, seen as part of the U.K. effort to expand its economic ties after it left the European Union, will come into effect by the end of this month, according to leaders of the three nations. [more]

TECH EARNINGS | Apple yesterday reported earnings of $24.16 billion, or $1.52 per share, on better-than-expected $94.84 billion in revenue for the quarter ended April 1. [more]

LITERATURE | Poet and screenwriter Fatimah Ashgar has been named as the 2023 winner of the $150,000 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction for her debut novel “When We Were Sisters.” [more]

GAMING | “Computer Space,” “Barbie Fashion Designer,” “Wii Sports,” and “The Last of Us” were announced yesterday as the 2023 inductees into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. [more]

NBA | Following a first-round playoff loss to the Miami Heat, the Milwaukee Bucks fired head coach Mike Budenholzer yesterday. The Bucks posted the most combined regular-season and playoff wins of any team and won their first NBA title in 50 years during Budenholzer’s five-year tenure and had the league’s best regular-season record in three of the last five seasons. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1945, while on a picnic on Gearhart Mountain, Oregon, six people were killed after a Japanese balloon bomb exploded. These were the only deaths by enemy action to occur in the continental United States during World War II. [Smithsonian article] [more history]