10 things you need to know today: August 9, 2020

(Image credit: JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

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1. Trump attempts to bypass Congress with coronavirus relief executive orders
2. U.S. nears 5 million coronavirus cases
3. Afghan government to release 400 Taliban prisoners, setting up peace talks
4. Azar arrives in Taiwan for coronavirus discussions
5. Anti-government protests erupt in Beirut
6. Portland authorities declare riot after protesters set fire to police union building
7. Aramco's net income falls 50 percent
8. Twitter reportedly had preliminary discussions about combining with TikTok
9. Belarus heads to the polls for presidential election
10. MAC becomes 1st FBS conference to cancel college football season

published 9 August 2020

1. Trump attempts to bypass Congress with coronavirus relief executive orders

President Trump on Saturday announced multiple executive actions aiming to extend economic aid to Americans while Congress remains in a stalemate over the next coronavirus relief package. The effectiveness and legality of the measures were unclear, however, with the orders seemingly exceeding Constitutional limits on executive power. The president said during a press conference at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, that, via executive order, he will unilaterally continue expanded unemployment benefits at $400/week rather than the previous $600/week. He also signed orders intended to pause student loan payments and extend the moratorium on evictions. Additionally, Trump said the action authorizes the Treasury Department to defer payroll taxes for Americans making less than 100,000 per year.

The United States is nearing 5 million confirmed coronavirus cases, while deaths attributed to COVID-19 crossed 162,000. The U.S. continues to lead the world in both categories and accounts for about a quarter of global cases. The pandemic remains a serious problem, but some states that have been hit hard by the virus in recent weeks, like Arizona and Florida, have shown some encouraging signs of improvement thanks to renewed lockdown measures. Elsewhere, Brazil became the second country after the U.S. to reach the grim milestone of 100,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths, data collected by Johns Hopkins University shows.

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An Afghan grand assembly of elders, known as the Loya Jirga, on Sunday passed a resolution to release 400 Taliban prisoners, and President Ashraf Ghani said he will sign the order, effectively removing the final barrier to peace talks between the government and the Taliban, who have been in conflict for decades. The United States and the Taliban had previously agreed the latter would enter talks with the Afghan government if it released 5,000 prisoners, most of whom have already been freed. But Kabul was hesitant to release the final 400, many of whom are accused of serious offenses, with more than 150 of them on death row. Some civilians and human rights group are wary of the move, but negotiations between the factions are expected to begin next week in Qatar.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar arrived in Taiwan on Sunday, making him the highest-level American Cabinet official to visit the island since the break in formal diplomatic relations between Washington and Taipei in 1979. That break was a concession to China, which claims Taiwan as a territory, so, unsurprisingly, Beijing quickly condemned Azar's visit, which The Financial Times called a sign of a "strategic shift" in U.S. diplomacy. Azar is set to meet with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and health officials during the three-day trip during which they're expected to discuss the coronavirus pandemic. Taiwan, despite its proximity to China, where the virus originated, has recorded fewer than 500 coronavirus cases and only seven deaths since the pandemic began.

Thousands of protesters gathered in Beirut's Martyrs' Square on Saturday, calling for Lebanon's politicians to resign and be held accountable for the negligence that led to a blast in the city's port Tuesday that killed 158 people and injured more than 6,000. During the demonstrations, the protesters stormed Beirut's government ministries and trashed the offices of the Association of Lebanese Banks, Reuters reports. Police reportedly fired tear gas at demonstrators trying to break through a barrier to get to the parliament building, and one officer reportedly was killed when he fell into an elevator shaft after being chased into a building by protesters, another officer said. The Red Cross said it treated 117 people for injuries, while another 55 were taken to hospitals.

Authorities declared a riot in Portland, Oregon, after a group of protesters set fire to a police union building late Saturday night. The flames were reportedly quickly extinguished. Three officers were hurt during efforts to clear the crowd outside the building, two of whom were taken to the hospital. They have since been released. The gatherings in Portland this week have been noticeably smaller than previous weeks when federal authorities were still controversially stationed in the city, The Associated Press reports, although their withdrawal has not led to a complete halt to the sometimes-violent demonstrations.

Oil giant Saudi Aramco's net income dropped 50 percent in the first half of its financial year, a figure representative of how intensely the coronavirus pandemic has rattled oil markets. Net income for the world's largest crude producer plunged to $23.2 billion over the first six months. In the same period in 2019, the company reported a net income of $46.9 billion. The company also said it would continue paying a quarterly dividend of $18.75 billion, far higher than its cash flow, The New York Times notes. Amin Nasser, Aramco's president and CEO, did say "the worst is likely behind us," adding that "we remain positive about the long term demand for oil." The market has indeed stabilized since oil prices briefly went negative in April, but prices are still down significantly.

Twitter has reportedly had preliminary discussions about joining forces with TikTok, The Wall Street Journal reports. The latter, a popular video-sharing act owned by a Chinese parent company, faces a ban in the United States unless it can find a U.S. buyer by Sept. 15, President Trump has said. Microsoft, whose market capitalization is far larger than Twitter's, appears to be the leading candidate to take over the app, making Twitter a long-shot bidder. It's unclear how serious the social media platform is about making a play, but the Journal notes it does hold at least one advantage over Microsoft in that it would face less antitrust scrutiny thanks to its smaller size.

Voters in Belarus cast their presidential election ballots Sunday. Longtime incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko — commonly referred to as "Europe's last dictator" — is facing Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a former teacher. Tikhanovskaya was selected to run for the opposition after authorities cracked down on various opposition figures, including her husband who has been in jail since May. Now, Tikhanovskaya has gone into hiding herself, her campaign said, after police detained several of her senior staffers in what appeared to be an attempt to intimidate the opposition ahead of the vote. The campaign made it clear, however, that the candidate did not flee Minsk, the capital, and is instead spending the night away from her home "so that she is not alone." Tikhanovskaya reportedly represents the strongest challenge to Lukashenko during his 26-year rule, and her campaign rallies saw large turnouts, even in small towns.

The Mid-American Conference postponed all fall sports Saturday due to the coronavirus pandemic. The decision makes the MAC the first FBS conference to forego a football season this year. MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said "there are simply too many unknowns for us to put our student-athletes in situations that are not clearly understood." But it seems that financial costs were also a concern, especially since many of the schools would lose revenue from already-canceled games against major conference teams. The league isn't giving up all hope of seeing its student-athletes get back on the field, though. The conference is looking into ways to move the affected sports to the spring, and ESPN has reportedly said it's open to fitting televised games into its broadcast schedule next year.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.