Sunday, April 26, 2026

D.C. Mayor Calls Trump’s Comments About ‘Vicious Dogs’ An ‘Attack On Black America’

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D.C. Mayor Calls Trump’s Comments About ‘Vicious Dogs’ An ‘Attack On Black America’

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said Saturday she was “shaken” by President Donald Trump’s threat about unleashing “vicious dogs” on people protesting the death of George Floyd, saying it called up associations of segregationist violence.

On Saturday morning, Trump tweeted that protesters at the White House Friday night would have been met with the “most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons” if they had managed to breach the fence. “That’s when people would have been really badly hurt, at least,” he wrote.

In response, Bowser called Trump’s comments “an attack on humanity” and “an attack on Black America.”

Bowser said at a press briefing that Trump’s reference to “vicious dogs” was “no subtle reminder to African Americans of segregationists who let dogs out on women, children and innocent people in the South.” Bowser said she and others are “just shaken that an American president would utter such words about his fellow Americans.”

“What used to be heard in dog whistles, we now hear from a bullhorn,” she said.

People are “tired, sad, angry and desperate for change” amid America’s continuing racism, she said. “We need leaders who recognize this pain, and in times of great turmoil and despair can provide us a sense of calm, and a sense of hope.”

Instead, what the White House offered was “the glorification of violence against American citizens,” Bowser added.

Protests and demonstrations have occurred across the U.S. this week after Floyd, who was Black, died in the custody of Minneapolis police on Monday. A white police officer knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes as Floyd struggled to breathe. The officer was fired and, later, arrested and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Trump called protesters “THUGS” in a tweet this week and warned that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” It was the same language a Miami police chief used in 1967 when threatening violence against Black males. Twitter veiled Trump’s message for “glorifying violence.”

Trump also claimed that Bowser, who is Black, failed to mobilize metro police to aid the Secret Service in protecting the White House, which was briefly shut down during Friday’s protests. “The D.C. Mayor, who is always looking for money & help, wouldn’t let the D.C. Police get involved,” Trump tweeted.

Trump’s own Secret Service contradicted his accusation. Officials issued a statement saying that both the “Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Park Police were on the scene” during Friday’s protest.

Bowser said local police “were doing their jobs from the start” and coordinated with the Secret Service as well as U.S. Park Police. She emphasized that “at no time was the chief of police concerned about losing control of protest activity.”

D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said he supplied Secret Service officers with equipment they did not have, including riot helmets.

Check out Bowser’s comments on Trump’s tweets in the video up top. Her reaction to his tweets, in response to a reporter’s question, begins at 14:15.



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SpaceX and NASA make history with launch – CNN Video

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SpaceX and NASA make history with launch – CNN Video

SpaceX and NASA make history by launching two astronauts on a mission to the International Space Station, the first crewed spaceflight to take off from US soil in nearly a decade.



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Coronavirus live news: Global cases pass 6 million as Brazil sees record one-day increase

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Coronavirus live news: Global cases pass 6 million as Brazil sees record one-day increase










In Australia, the New South Wales state government will walk away from its planned AU$810m (US$540m) redevelopment of the former Olympic stadium in Sydney as the state grapples with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

On Sunday the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, will announce that the state government will dump the stadium redevelopment, a key but controversial plank of its election pitch last year, instead announcing a AU$3bn fund for smaller, “shovel-ready projects”.

The announcement will come a day before NSW seeks to boost its flailing economy by further loosening the lockdown restrictions introduced at the height of the pandemic, including increasing the number of patrons allowed at venues from 10 to 50 and allowing regional travel for the first time since March.

In a statement issued to media before a formal announcement, Berejiklian said the decision to dump the stadium redevelopment was part of a wider plan to increase the state’s infrastructure spend to about $100bn.










Lockdown to be eased for England’s most clinically vulnerable

The more than 2 million people who have been “shielding” from Covid-19 in England because they are deemed to be clinically extremely vulnerable will be allowed to spend time outdoors from Monday for the first time in 10 weeks.

Boris Johnson praised their resilience as their particular lockdown measures are set to be eased. The communities secretary, Robert Jenrick, will confirm the move on Sunday.










In case you missed this earlier, in Australia, residents in the country’s most populous state, New South Wales, are enduring one more day of tight Covid restrictions before pubs, beauty salons and museums reopen and intrastate holiday travel is permitted, AAP reports.

For the first time in almost three weeks, zero Covid-19 cases were reported in NSW on Saturday, from 9500 tests.

A marketing campaign spruiking NSW as a tourist destination will target NSW, Victorian and ACT residents as coronavirus-related travel restrictions ease.




A worker disinfects hand rails in Sydney, Australia, May 20, 2020.

A worker disinfects hand rails in Sydney, Australia, May 20, 2020. Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock

The state government on Sunday said a major tourism marketing push would coincide with the restriction changes.

Travellers from interstate will also be able to visit NSW under the changes, but must comply with the rules of their home state when returning.

The next phase of the “now’s the time to love NSW” campaign – first announced earlier this year after bushfires devastated the state – will include a new television commercial and social media video series, and international digital advertising to keep the state in overseas visitors’ minds.

“Interest in NSW road trips has jumped with a 125% increase in page views on VisitNSW.com in the past week,” Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres said in a statement on Sunday.










Australians using lockdown to give up smoking

There are signs that thousands of Australians used the coronavirus shutdown to give up smoking, AAP reports.

Federal health Minister Greg Hunt says between January and May this year, the My Quitbuddy app was downloaded more than 24,000 times, a staggering 310% increase over the same time last year.

“These figures are very encouraging and I congratulate those who have taken the first step,” Mr Hunt said in a statement on Sunday, coinciding with World No Tobacco Day.

“Quitting is not always easy, but assistance is available and the benefits are significant.”

He said there was growing evidence that smokers were more likely to develop a severe case of Covid-19 if they contracted the virus.

The Australian government aims to reduce smoking to less than 10 per cent by 2025 through its 10-year National Preventive Health Strategy and has committed $31.6 million over four years from 2019/20 to reduce smoking prevalence.

This includes $20 million over three years to develop a new National Tobacco Campaign to encourage smokers to quit.

Updated










Brazil sees record one-day increase in cases

Brazil has nearly 500,000 cases, after a record one-day increase.

Brazil registered a record 33,274 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Saturday, its health ministry said, raising the total to 498,440 in a country with one of the world’s worst outbreaks.

The death toll in Brazil from Covid-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus, increased to 28,834, with 956 new deaths in the last 24 hours, the ministry said.










Global cases pass 6 million

The world has passed the milestone of six million confirmed coronavirus cases, with 6,048,384 confirmed infections worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.

The US is the worst-affected country in terms of cases and deaths, with 1,769,776 infections and 103,685 fatalities.

The ten worst-affected countries in terms of cases are:

  1. US: 1,769,776
  2. Brazil: 498,440
  3. Russia: 396,575
  4. United Kingdom: 274,219
  5. Spain: 239,228
  6. Italy: 232,664
  7. France: 188,752
  8. Germany: 183,189
  9. India: 181,827
  10. Turkey: 163,103









Summary

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Helen Sullivan, bringing you the latest global news for the next few hours.

Please do get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan or via email: helen.sullivan[at]theguardian.com. Questions, comments, tips and news from your part of the world are all welcome.

Global cases have passed 6 million, with 6,048,384 confirmed infections, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, which relies on official government data. The true number of infections and deaths, which currently stand at 368,711, are likely to be higher, as a result of delays, differing testing rates and definitions, and suspected underreporting.

The sombre milestone comes as Brazil, the second-worst affected country in the world after the US, is nearing 500,000 cases, after it registered a record 33,274 new infections on Saturday. The current total at confirmed cases stands at 498,440. The death toll is 28,834.

  • Global cases passed 6 million. The world has passed the milestone of six million confirmed coronavirus cases, with 6,048,384 confirmed infections worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.The US is the worst-affected country in terms of cases and deaths, with 1,769,776 infections and 103,685 fatalities.
  • Brazil cases neared 500,000 after record increase. Brazil registered a record 33,274 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Saturday, its health ministry said, raising the total to 498,440 in a country with one of the world’s worst outbreaks. The death toll in Brazil from Covid-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus, increased to 28,834, with 956 new deaths in the last 24 hours, the ministry said.
  • Pope Francis implored world leaders to provide social and economic relief for the many workers who have lost jobs, and called for the enormous sums of money used to grow and perfect armaments be instead used to fund research to prevent similar catastrophes in the future.
  • Britain’s top public health leaders warned Boris Johnson that trust in the government has been shattered by the Dominic Cummings affair and now poses real danger to life when lockdown measures are lifted this week. Cummings, Johnson’s top aide, has been embroiled in a scandal after he was seen in Durham, 264 miles from his London home, despite having had coronavirus symptoms.
  • Romanian prime minister Ludovic Orban paid a 3,000 lei fine ($690) for breaking his own coronavirus restrictions by not wearing a face mask and smoking indoors. A picture which went viral on social media shows Orban in his office, sitting around a table with several other cabinet members, smoking a cigarette while none of them wore masks.Russia to start vaccine trial within two weeks
  • Russian scientists plan to start clinical coronavirus vaccine trials within two weeks, the health minister was quoted as saying on Saturday as authorities approved the country’s first anti-Covid-19 drug, Avifavir.
  • Greece will conduct coronavirus tests on visitors arriving from airports deemed high-risk by the European Union’s aviation safety agency EASA when it opens its airports to tourism traffic on 15 June. The list currently includes 13 airports in the United Kingdom, all those in 22 US states and those in the Ile de France region surrounding Paris.
  • Frontline workers in Mexico City’s hospitals are planning a national march to demand appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE). Nurses and other health workers account for about a quarter of all of Mexico’s coronavirus infections, government data shows, one of the highest rates in the world.
  • South Africa’s infection cases now exceed 30,000, the country’s health minister Zweli Mkhize said on Saturday. The country reported 1,727 new cases, taking the cumulative total to 30,967. The death toll increased by 32 to 643.
  • Pakistan has reported 78 coronavirus deaths on Saturday, a single day record since the pandemic arrived in the country in March. The country has recorded 135 deaths in the past two days, and over 5,000 new cases, with health experts warning of a steep rise in the number of infections in coming days.
  • Colombia is to lift quarantine measures in parts of the country, but issued new measures to control the spread of coronavirus in three of its most affected cities on Saturday, including the capital Bogota. The country has reported more than 26,600 coronavirus cases and 853 deaths.
  • New York state governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill granting death benefits to the families of police officers, public health workers and other frontline workers who have died of the coronavirus. “You gave your lives for us, we will be there for your families going forward,” Cuomo said as he signed the legislation.



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Trump Uses SpaceX Launch To Criticise Protesting ‘Thugs’ And ‘Angry Mobs’

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Trump Uses SpaceX Launch To Criticise Protesting ‘Thugs’ And ‘Angry Mobs’

US President Donald Trump led his remarks on the country’s first manned rocket launch in nearly a decade with some harsh words for civil rights protesters around the country demanding police accountability.

“My administration will stop mob violence, and we’ll stop it cold,” Trump said from Florida hours after ordering the Pentagon to put military police on alert for potential deployment to the demonstration sites.

“Radical left criminals, thugs and others, all throughout our country and throughout the world, will not be able to set communities ablaze,” Trump said. 

Civil rights protests, most of them peaceful, have taken place all week in cities across the country following the death of George Floyd, a Black man, while in police custody; four police officers were later fired. One of the officers — seen in a video of the incident pinning Floyd to the pavement with his knee — has been arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.

Some of the larger demonstrations have turned violent in recent days. Protesters in Minneapolis managed to force police officers to retreat as they set fire to a police station, as well as several businesses in the area. Damage to police vehicles has also been documented in other cities. 

Local and national leaders of both parties have lamented the property damage. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said in a press conference early Saturday morning that he understood the “rage” but not the “wanton destruction.” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he was “reeling” after Floyd’s death but stressed that “there is no honor in burning down your city.”

Critics, however, are pushing for a better and more widespread understanding of the issues underlying the anger, including police brutality and a justice system that all too often appears biased in favour of white people. 

Trump has expressed disbelief at the video of Floyd’s death while calling for ever more aggressive policing tactics in clear opposition to protesters’ demands. He tweeted threats to the protesters early Friday morning, writing, ”[W]hen the looting starts, the shooting starts,” a phrase used by a racist Miami police chief during the height of civil war protests in the 1960s. Twitter slapped a content warning over the president’s message for the second time this week, saying it glorified violence.

On Saturday, Trump claimed the violence was “being led by Antifa and other left-wing groups who are terrorising the innocent, destroying jobs, hurting businesses and burning down buildings.” But Minnesota officials are reportedly investigating whether white supremacy groups were behind the violence. 

“I will not allow angry mobs to dominate. Won’t happen,” Trump said. “It is essential that we protect the crown jewel of American democracy: the rule of law.”

Later, he voiced support for law enforcement.  

“We support the overwhelming majority of police officers who are incredible in every way and devoted public servants,” Trump said. “They keep our cities safe, protect our communities from gangs and drugs, and risk their own lives for us every day.”

Protests are expected to continue into Saturday night. 



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Why now is a good time for a SpaceX astronaut trip to space

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Why now is a good time for a SpaceX astronaut trip to space

While this is not an easy moment in history, it might actually be the ideal time to launch a crewed mission to space, astronauts and space exploration experts say. 

From a pandemic that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide to civil rights issues in the United States, this is a difficult time for many. So, it might seem odd or inopportune for SpaceXand NASA to launch the Demo-2 mission, which is sending veteran NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule. 



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NSW government dumps Olympic stadium redevelopment as Covid-19 restrictions set to ease

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NSW government dumps Olympic stadium redevelopment as Covid-19 restrictions set to ease

The New South Wales government will walk away from its planned $810m redevelopment of the former Olympic stadium in Sydney as the state grapples with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

On Sunday the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, will announce that the state government will dump the stadium redevelopment, a key but controversial plank of its election pitch last year, instead announcing a $3bn fund for smaller, “shovel-ready projects”.

The announcement will come a day before NSW seeks to boost its flailing economy by further loosening the lockdown restrictions introduced at the height of the pandemic, including increasing the number of patrons allowed at venues from 10 to 50 and allowing regional travel for the first time since March.

In a statement issued to media before a formal announcement, Berejiklian said the decision to dump the stadium redevelopment was part of a wider plan to increase the state’s infrastructure spend to about $100bn.

“This guaranteed pipeline of $100bn will be our best chance of supporting the hundreds of thousands of people who have already lost their jobs in NSW,” Berejiklian said.

“We are now not only guaranteeing our infrastructure pipeline, we will be looking for opportunities to fast-track projects to provide jobs as early as we can.”

But Berejiklian will say on Sunday that the government’s controversial $1.1bn decision to relocate the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta will go ahead. The premier says the project, which is opposed by NSW Labor, the Greens and the crossbench Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party, will create 1,100 construction jobs in western Sydney.

Coupled with the rebuild of the former Sydney Football Stadium at Moore Park, the planned redevelopment of the former Olympic stadium was a key plank of the government’s re-election pitch..

It would have seen the Homebush stadium converted into a 70,000-seat venue with a rectangular playing field which would have hosted major events in the city including the NRL grand final and State of Origin matches.

But in the media statement, the deputy premier, John Barilaro, said the economic pain wrought by Covid-19 had forced the government to abandon the plan.

“The communities of NSW have been through an incredibly tough period with continued drought, horrific bushfires and now Covid-19 and the best path to recovery is creating jobs,” he said.

“An unprecedented crisis calls for an unprecedented recovery and redirecting funding from Stadium Australia to job-creating infrastructure builds is the right thing to do for the people of NSW.”

As Covid-19 infection rates in NSW continue to fall, the state will from Monday increase the number of patrons allowed in cafes, restaurants, bars and places of worship from 10 to 50. Regional travel will also be allowed in the state. Also from Monday, museums, galleries and libraries will be allowed to reopen to guests, as long as four square metres is allowed per person.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that late on Friday the state’s health minister, Brad Hazzard, signed off on a public health order to allow the city’s Star casino to trade from Monday tomorrow, with up to 50 people in each “existing separate seated food or drink area”.

The order will allow the casino to open its private gaming rooms to up to 350 members of its loyalty program, by invitation only. The main gaming floor will not be in operation. The Star said it expected about 1,000 of its 4,500 Sydney staff to return to work.

“It will still leave us operating at significantly lower than usual levels and operations will not be materially profitable at this stage,” the Star’s chief executive, Matt Bekier, told the Herald. “However, the primary objective is returning our team members to work and re-engaging with guests.”

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‘They’re Just Doing Whatever They Want’: Few Masks Are Seen as Beach Town Reopens

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‘They’re Just Doing Whatever They Want’: Few Masks Are Seen as Beach Town Reopens

OCEAN CITY, Md. — Dave Heyburn and Nevada Kaler viewed their weekend on this seaside boardwalk as an escape from the coronavirus “red zone” where they live, in Elverson, Pa. Neither wore masks, which are not required to be worn outdoors here.

The illness at home is “always in the back of your mind,” said Ms. Kaler, a part-time nursing assistant standing alongside her husband, who was enjoying the sunshine on a newly reopened public bench. “But you’ve got to live your life.”

That outlook appeared pervasive among the thousands of maskless vacationers who flocked to Ocean City for the beginning of the Greater Washington region’s emergence from coronavirus lockdown this weekend. Earlier in the week, on Memorial Day, photos of people strolling cheek-to-jowl on the teeming boardwalk appalled public health officials and prompted warnings about a potential new surge in cases.

This weekend brought little apparent change. Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland has emphasized that the state is only at Phase 1 of his “Roadmap to Recovery,” a step toward normalcy that still requires the public to abide by restrictions to keep the virus from spreading.

Yet the crowds out enjoying the spring weather in Ocean City suggested a different mentality.

“They’re just doing whatever they want,” said Aaron Gusler, a surf rescue technician — meaning lifeguard — for the Ocean City Beach Patrol.

“People come up here with a vacation mind-set,” he said. Mr. Gusler is from Harrisonburg, Va., where he feels the pandemic has been impossible to ignore. But in Ocean City, “It’s weird. It’s like it’s not even happening.”

Lifeguards patrol the water, not the big clusters of sunbathers on the beach, where groups of as many as 42 people gathered on the sand early Friday.

“They told us to stay as far away from them as you can, and do your job,” he said. The beach patrol gave its employees N95 masks, but Mr. Gusler did not have his on. He said he didn’t want to smear the blue-toned zinc oxide sunscreen coating his nose.

“I’m sure it’ll spike again around here,” he said of the virus. “I’m just glad I have a job, man.”

Most of those eating, strolling and sunning on the boardwalk Friday shunned masks. “I work in a Covid hospital and I don’t care,” said Brandy Unger, who said she is a nurse at WellSpan York Hospital in Pennsylvania. “It’s the flu.”

Her husband, Hunter Unger, a mechanic, said, shrugging, “I work on all kind of random people’s cars, and eh.”

By the governor’s order, face coverings are required inside businesses, but at the Quiet Storm Surf Shop, a clerk folding T-shirts said, “we make them optional.” On the boardwalk outside, a police officer who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the news media said, “the problem is merchants have to enforce” the mask order, but many are reluctant to alienate their first customers of the summer.

“They’re supposed to document violations and report them to the health department,” he said. The police — who were issuing $100 tickets to people vaping on the boardwalk Friday — do not cite mask violators.

At Flashback Old Time Photos, where patrons don vintage-looking costumes to pose for portraits against faux-historical backdrops the only masks offered were for customers who wanted to dress like cowboy bank robbers.

“We’re doing good cleaning surfaces, keeping our masks on and staying six feet away,” said Sue McCrodden, the shop manager. The store’s employees try to spray the costumes with Lysol after each use, and launder them at the end of each day, she said.

“If we keep telling people to keep their masks on, it’s going to stress them out and we want them to have a good time,” said Doyinsola Adebakin, an employee.

“What are we going to do?” Ms. McCrodden asked. “We can’t lose money.”

Michael Cantine, who owns Fat Cats Airbrush, which makes personalized T-shirts and toys, said this opening week has been busier than the same time last year because children are out of school. To operate the store safely, he and his staff initially installed Plexiglas barricades, donned face masks and moved all their stock behind a counter so customers couldn’t handle it. A week later, that’s all been undone.

“People were going around” the barriers, removing their masks to pay for merchandise and leaving them on the counters, he said. “It blew me away, the lack of concern.”

Mr. Cantine said he had also given up on wearing a mask inside his shop because his airbrush easel faced the wall, not customers.

“People are spending money,” he said, maybe because the big amusement parks, restaurants and larger bars have not fully opened.

As of Friday night, restaurants were allowed to serve outdoors only, bringing a flood of patrons to tables that were supposed to be set six feet apart.

“In a lot of photos, the boardwalk looks very congested,” said Mr. Cantine. “But if you took an aerial view, you could see the spacing.”

Not all the tourists were nonchalant about following health restrictions. Sitting on the wall dividing the boardwalk from the beach, Kelly and Dan Goddard, who live in a Baltimore suburb, were wearing masks. Their children were sporting tie-dyed cloth ones sewn by relatives.

Mr. Goddard, an accountant, said that when he and his wife packed up Cameron, 7, and Nash, 4, for a day trip to Ocean City on Friday, “we expected 50/50,” meaning that half of vacationers would wear masks. “But this is like 10 percent, maybe.”

Ms. Goddard said she had just quit her job as a nurse in a long-term care facility in Catonsville to protect her family, after half the patients tested positive for the coronavirus, and 19 died.

“This is the first time we’ve been out in a couple of months, except for the grocery store,” she said.

“There are a lot of unknowns and not a lot of real clear guidance,” Mr. Goddard said. “But I don’t think people realize how serious things are, or they don’t care.”

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Regional businesses say ‘bring it on’ as travel restrictions ease tomorrow

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Regional businesses say ‘bring it on’ as travel restrictions ease tomorrow

Slammed with back-to-back blows, this year has proven to be one of the most challenging for small businesses in Braidwood, a small village nestled between Canberra and the NSW south coast.

Bushfires ravaged the town’s surrounds earlier this year, and now COVID-19 has halted the heartbeat of a once “buzzing” community, according to locals.

“Immediately after the government announced that there would be coronavirus lockdown restrictions, business stopped dead in the water,” owner of local store Len Mutton and Co, Fiona Mutton, said.

Fiona Mutton (right) helps a customer at Braidwood’s Len Mutton & Co general store. (Supplied/Facebook)

“We went from one of our busiest times of the year, to being lucky if we saw one or two customers per day.”

Len Mutton and Co is a general store specialising in fashion, homewares and gifts, established by Ms Mutton’s great grandparents in 1913 – she took over the reins 21 years ago.

During the business’ 107 years, Ms Mutton says it has experienced nothing like the “devastating impact” of COVID-19.

“Even through the worst of the droughts, there’s been some pretty lean times, but never anything like this,” she said.

“It is unimaginable that we’ve found ourselves in this situation.”

Len Mutton & Co has operated for 107 years and has never experienced anything like the devastating impact of COVID-19. (Supplied)

Braidwood relies on business from passing traffic to remain viable, the local population of only 1,600 just simply isn’t enough.

“We were down, about 85 per cent, over the two-month period beginning in March,” owner of the Braidwood Bakery, John Woodman, said.

“The Easter period was thrown in there, which is such a massive drawcard for us, that’s what plummeted the percentages.”

The bakery is known as a focal point in the Braidwood community, many Canberrans stop on their way to and from the coast.

The Braidwood Bakery is a focal point for the local community. (Dion Georgopoulos)

Mr Woodman describes his bakery as “a bustling hive of activity.”

“When that’s taken away, it’s quite demoralising, and not just for me as the business owner, but for the staff as well,” he said.

“Now, the Braidwood main street feels like you were on a movie set because there is no one there. There was no one in the bakery, no one in the street – it’s almost eerie.”

As regional businesses began to feel the impact of COVID-19, so too did the wider Braidwood community.

Most retail and hospitality workers had their hours trimmed, if not cut completely, business owners simply with no work for them.

Len Mutton & Co normally bustling with customers, but since COVID-19 has been dramatically different. (Supplied)

“I felt that we were going to be in this coronavirus cycle for a while and I needed to remain viable for as long as possible, that meant cutting everyone’s hours by a few hours a week to try and bolster up what little funds I had,” Ms Mutton said.

“It’s always in the forefront of my mind that they rely on me and if they don’t have jobs, they can’t spend money in town, which means they can’t support other local businesses.

“We are really fortunate that I always put money away for a rainy day – if I didn’t have that money, we probably wouldn’t have survived.”

Bushfires another blow for business

Locals say that the community was a “ghost town” after the North Black Range fire to the west of Braidwood first posed a threat in November last year.

Smoke from the North Black Range bushfire seen at Farringdon, south of Braidwood in NSW. (Sydney Morning Herald)

Then followed the terrifying Currowan fire, described as a “300,000-hectare inferno” which cut access to the Kings Highway, Braidwood’s main artery to Canberra and the south coast.

“It was nearly seven weeks that Braidwood was closed, all roads in and out were no-goes,” Ms Mutton said.

“I could stand out in the middle of the main street, and I couldn’t have got run over if I tried.

“There was no passing traffic and everyone else that was local, was out fighting fires, so there was absolutely no business.”

John Woodman (left) says COVID-19 and the summer bushfires were a devastating blow to business during the busiest times of the year. (Supplied/Facebook)

Mr Woodman said bakery sales were down 90 percent over the Christmas period.

“When the fires were on, the only money we were making were from locals – and that wasn’t much,” he said.

Let’s get back to ‘normal’

“It’s been dramatically different since COVID-19 and the bushfires and I’m really looking forward to getting that buzz back into town,” Ms Mutton said.

Ahead of regional travel restrictions easing on Monday, workers are beginning to refill the shelves and return to normal shifts, as a gradual increase in customers is expected.

“The staff members that haven’t been getting as many hours during the week – I am going to need extra people, so I’ve got them ready to go,” Mr Woodman said.

“Our production has been slowly lifting over the past couple of weeks, today we are doing a really big production run on pies, tomorrow the same thing with sausage rolls.”

Production of pies, sausage rolls and sweets has increased ahead of an increase of tourists from June 1. (Supplied/Facebook)

The one thing regional business owners really need is for travellers to pass through.

“Let’s just get back to normality. Let’s do what we used to do. Stop in at Braidwood, get a cake and a coffee and that is normality.”

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Tour SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spaceship in orbit with NASA’s Demo-2 astronauts (video)

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Tour SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spaceship in orbit with NASA’s Demo-2 astronauts (video)

The NASA astronauts who launched on a SpaceX rocket Saturday (May 30) invited the world into their spacecraft with a unique, live tour around their Crew Dragon capsule. 

This afternoon at 3:22 p.m. EDT (1922 GMT), veteran NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley lifted off aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, headed for the International Space Station as part of the Demo-2 test flight. Following a successful launch, the astronauts changed out of their spacesuits and bucked in for the 19-hour trip aboard the capsule, which the astronauts revealed is named Endeavor, to the space station.



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Police use pepper spray as protesters gather near White House after George Floyd’s death

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Police use pepper spray as protesters gather near White House after George Floyd’s death

WASHINGTON — Protesters on Saturday converged at the White House and pushed security barricades farther down Pennsylvania Avenue as nationwide demonstrations over George Floyd’s death reached President Donald Trump’s doorstep for the second consecutive day.

At the White House Saturday, protesters amid the large crowd could be seen standing on top of Secret Service vehicles and a security booth next to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Officers used pepper spray against the demonstrators and many officers could be seen equipping gas masks.

Some in the crowd also ripped away the bike rack barriers that separate 17th Street from the Pennsylvania Avenue Plaza. Other demonstrators were seen standing face to face with a phalanx of Secret Service on the Plaza.

Just before 6 p.m. ET, police warned protesters to clear the street and pushed them to do as much. After 7 p.m., protesters moved to the opposite side of Lafayette Park, chanting and yelling at Secret Service and Park Police. Officers lined up within the park behind barricades and park chain fencing. They have zip-tied the barricades together are are used pepper spray to keep protesters back.

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., took part in the demonstration, as she posted to Twitter: “People are in pain.”

“We must listen,” she continued.

Days after protests first began, Derek Chauvin, the since-fired officer who detained Floyd, a black man, and was seen on videotape holding his knee against Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes as he begged for mercy, was arrested and charged Friday with third-degree murder and manslaughter. Three other officers were also involved in Floyd’s detainment.

Following intense protests Friday night, Trump warned that had those demonstrators breached the fence surrounding White House, they were likely to be met “by “vicious dogs” and “ominous weapons.”

“Big crowd, professionally organized, but nobody came close to breaching the fence. If they had they would….have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen. That’s when people would have been really badly hurt, at least,” Trump tweeted Saturday morning, additionally praising the Secret Service after thousands gathered at the complex Friday.

One woman was taken into custody at that demonstration after climbing over a barrier.

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Trump also tweeted that Saturday would be “MAGA NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE,” though what he meant was unclear. The president had blamed violent outbreaks at some protests on “Radical Left” extremists, as did Attorney General William Barr.

“I stand before you as a friend and ally to every American seeking justice and peace,” Trump told reporters Saturday. “And I stand before you in firm opposition to anyone exploiting this tragedy to loot, rob, attack and menace. Healing, not hatred, justice, not chaos are the mission at hand.”

A law enforcement source told NBC News that “several dozen” Secret Service personnel sustained injuries during Friday’s protests in Washington, DC. Some were transported to hospitals with non-life threatening injuries.

The president was in Florida on Saturday afternoon to witness a SpaceX rocket launch. Air Force One took off just after 6 p.m. on the East Coast and landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland around 8 p.m.

Garrett Haake reported from Washington, D.C., and Allan Smith reported from New York.

Garrett Haake

Garrett Haake is a Washington-based correspondent for MSNBC.

Image: Allan SmithAllan Smith

Allan Smith is a political reporter for NBC News.

Minyvonne Burke and Nicole Acevedo contributed.



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