Tempers flare over EU coronavirus stimulus deal; Oxford vaccine shows promise; Latina artist says goodbye to Goya
President of the European Council Charles Michel (L) meets with other EU leaders during negotiations over a post-virus economic rescue plan, in Brussels, Belgium, July 19, 2020.
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As US lawmakers prepare to begin debating a new economic stimulus plan today, European Union leaders’ negotiations extended into a fourth day as they try to hammer out their own deal to revive economies battered by the coronavirus pandemic. The challenge of reaching a compromise on the $2 trillion deal has been stymied by old grievances between countries less affected by the pandemic and more indebted countries like Italy, Spain and Greece. The negotiations have led to tempers flaring. French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly lost his patience at one point, banging his fist on the table.
Despite the testy negotiations, the 27 leaders appeared to edge closer to a potential breakthrough after the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Sweden seemed agreeable to 390 billion euros ($450 billion) of the fund being made available as grants, with the rest coming as low-interest loans.
What The World is following
A potential coronavirus vaccine being developed by scientists at Oxford University and AstraZeneca shows strong immune response and no early safety concerns, according to highly anticipated results from early-stage human trial on a coronavirus vaccine published today in the medical journal The Lancet. The team of researchers, led by Sarah Gilbert, is months ahead of other leading vaccine candidates for COVID-19.
And in Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro, who has been in self-isolation since July 7, after testing positive for COVID-19, said over the weekend that lockdown measures used to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus “kill” and have “suffocated” the country’s economy. Brazil registered more than 28,000 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus on Saturday, making Brazil the world’s second-most affected country after the US. There are also growing concerns that health workers in the country may have spread the disease to Indigenous people.
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Artist Ysabel Turner says she realized years ago that she needed to divorce her Puerto Rican identity from the Goya brand. She used her photographic series to do just that.
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