Twitter Removed More Than 170000 Accounts
06/17/2020
1.5M
According to the Pew Research Center survey data, the jobless claims rose by more than 14 million people, from 6.2 million in February to 20.5 million in May 2020. Despite moves to reopen businesses in June, the Labor Department said that unemployment claims fell to 1.5 million last week, compared with the 1.6 million expected from economists surveyed from Dow Jones and a plunge of 355,000 from the previous week. However, the latest figure shows that the total jobless claims number has fallen for 10 straight weeks but remains extremely high on a historical basis.
Last week’s jobs report showed that the U.S economy added 2.5 million jobs in May — an unexpected increase that suggested that the job market has bottomed out. The recovery has started slowly, but that’s not a guarantee that the recovery will continue uninterrupted,” said Daniel Zhao, senior economist.
8%
The UK economy will experience a record 8% contraction in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and it’s unlikely to recover from the crisis until 2023, the forecasters say. The Office for National Statistics said on Friday that UK GDP falls by a record 20.4% in April as lockdown paralyzes economy — putting the country on course for the worst recession in more than three centuries. During the 2nd quarter, it is predicting a stark 15% decline in the gross domestic product, the report nonetheless predicts that the UK economy will start to recover in the third quarter. However, the UK economy will still take until at least 2023 to return to its late 2019 size, according to the leading forecasting group.
1,200
Due to the sudden COVID-19 outbreak, the schools have remained shut all across the world for more than two-and-a-half months. Many schools in the U.S have started conducting online sessions. According to the survey, forty-five percent of parents said their children being separated from classmates and teachers become a major challenge. Many parents reported instances of dropped sessions due to poor internet (10%) or difficulty accessing educational resources (4%). Meanwhile, 28% of parents told teaching children in ways they can learn is really hard and 43% said balance a job and helping kids with school work was a major hurdle, the survey is based on interviews with 1,200 parents around the country. Click here to see how remote/distance learning has been U.S families’ biggest challenge.
170,000
Twitter announced Thursday that it had removed more than 170000 accounts tied to the China influence campaign, reported by BBC. The company said a core network of nearly 23,750 highly active accounts and another 150,000 “amplifier” accounts — has been deleted from the platform, accounts used to amplify the content. Meanwhile, Zoom Video Communications Inc. has shut down the account of a pro-democracy activist on the request of the Chinese government and suggested it will block any further meetings that Beijing complains are illegal. The US State Department also said it had found a network of inauthentic Twitter accounts with highly probable linkages to China publicizing false coronavirus claims.
$199.5M
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced Thursday that it has selected Astrobotic Technology Inc — a space robotics company located in Pittsburgh — to deliver NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rove (VIPER) to the Moon’s South Pole in late 2023 to hunt for water ice. The Astrobotic company won a $199.5 million contract — the price includes the rocket to launch the mission and the lander that will land the rover on the moon’s South Pole. NASA considers VIPER to be the first resource-mapping mission on the surface of another world and it also said it plans to land astronauts on the moon by 2024.
450
At least 450 businesses damaged in looting and vandalism in New York, according to the City’s Department of Small Business Services. The city has created an emergency fund providing up to $10,000 to small businesses that suffered destruction — funding provided by Somos Community Care, a nonprofit health-care network that contributed $500,000, and $750,000 will be donated by New York-based Signature Bank, announced on Thursday. NYC businesses have likely suffered tens of millions of dollars in damages — adding to the financial burden imposed by the coronavirus crisis, experts told to New York Post on Friday.
$800
President Trump announced on Friday that he has given the authorization to move ahead on replacing the 110-year-old Portal Bridge, a long-stalled New Jersey rail project — named the most crucial infrastructure project in the nation. Trump signaled his support for an $800 million federal grant to build a 2.3-mile long project — that would double rail capacity between New Jersey and New York City. The project is being led by NJ Transit. Kevin Corbett, the NJ Transit’s chief executive said that he looked forward to working with the administration to begin construction as soon as possible.
2M
The United States coronavirus death toll exceeds 116,127 and the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 is more than 2M, according to the Johns Hopkins University. As states move to partly reopen their economies, thousands of new cases are still being identified each day across the country. COVID-19 cases are increasing across several states, including Florida, North Carolina, and Texas. In Arizona, the state has seen large spikes just three weeks after the governor lifted his stay-at-home order. John’s reports show that at least a 10% increase in week-to-week coronavirus cases in 19 states.
65
A man in the US named David Rush was eliminated from America’s Got Talent (AGT) bounced again breaking a Guinness World Record for slicing kiwis with a sword, balancing on the board. His friend Jonathan Hannon threw the kiwis in the air for Rush to slice by way of whereas standing on the board. He managed to cut 65 of the tossed fruits in one minute, demolishing the earlier record of 35.