Your Thursday Briefing

China may call the world’s bluff on Hong Kong

A common refrain from the U.S. and its allies is that China needs Hong Kong’s economy to keep prospering, and that threatening to choke off trade with the territory will make Beijing think twice about trampling on Hong Kong’s freedoms.

As a new national security law moves ahead, Hong Kong could suffer permanent damage to its economy. But China’s leadership is calculating that stability and control outweigh the benefits that one of the world’s top financial hubs has long provided.

Beijing has not budged, even as the Trump administration has threatened to end the special trade status the U.S. offers Hong Kong. Britain said it would open its doors to three million people fleeing the former British colony.

Context: Hong Kong has declined in importance to China as the mainland economy has surged. Its output is equal to less than 3 percent of the mainland’s. While investors still prize Hong Kong’s business environment, they are now accustomed to doing business in Chinese cities like Shanghai.

Quotable: “There will be some unhappy people for some time,” said a former Goldman Sachs president. “But the drum rolls, the dogs bark and the caravan moves on. That’s the political judgment. They have had a fair amount of empirical evidence that the concerns will disappear.”

Related: In the latest tit-for-tat, the Trump administration said it planned to block Chinese airlines from flying into or out of the U.S. starting on June 16. The move came in response to Beijing’s decision to prevent U.S. airlines from resuming service between the countries.

The three former officers, Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao, were charged with aiding and abetting murder, court records show.

Mr. Chauvin, 44, who was arrested last week, faces an increased charge of second-degree murder. Mr. Floyd told all four officers that he could not breathe before he became unresponsive.

Protesters across the country have demanded that Mr. Chauvin face a more serious charge and that the other three officers also face justice.

Related: The police in Minneapolis used force against black people at seven times the rate of that against white people during the past five years, according to an analysis of city data. The disparity helps explain a fury in the city that goes beyond the killing of George Floyd.

Where the U.S. pandemic response went wrong

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was long considered by some to be a premier health agency. Yet the C.D.C. fell short in its response to the most urgent public health crisis in its history — the kind it was built to deal with.

The coronavirus has killed more than 100,000 people in the country, and the fumbled early steps are now affecting a scattershot nationwide reopening process.

Our journalists interviewed more than 100 officials, public health experts and C.D.C. employees, in addition to reviewing thousands of emails, and found that outdated systems and processes led to a cascade of problems.

“They let us down,” said an anesthesiologist who treated coronavirus patients in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Findings: The agency made early missteps in testing and failed to provide timely counts of infections and deaths, hindered by aging technology. There were also clashes with President Trump. Here are five takeaways from the C.D.C. response.

Related: The malaria drug hydroxychloroquine didn’t prevent Covid-19 in the first large study using the most reliable way of testing a drug’s effectiveness — in which patients are picked at random to receive either an experimental treatment or a placebo, researchers found.

The Times is providing free access to much of our coronavirus coverage, and our Coronavirus Briefing newsletter — like all of our newsletters — is free. Please consider supporting our journalism with a subscription.

After months of locked-down borders, countries that have stifled the coronavirus are trying to choreograph a risky dance: how to bring back visitors without importing another burst of uncontrolled contagion. Above, disinfecting luggage at the Istanbul airport.

Australia and New Zealand are planning to revive unrestricted flights within their own “travel bubble,” for example, which Fiji, Israel and Costa Rica are clamoring to join. In interviews, travel experts, officials and business leaders describe the big undertaking that is just starting to take shape.

Here’s what else is happening

Cyclone Nisarga: The powerful storm slammed into India’s coast Wednesday, striking Mumbai as the city struggles to contain the coronavirus outbreak. The cyclone moved inland in the afternoon and the authorities said Mumbai may have averted the worst.

Trudeau’s pause: The Canadian prime minister paused at his podium for 21 uncomfortable, televised seconds when asked about President’s Trump call for military action against U.S. protesters. Justin Trudeau did not openly criticize Mr. Trump in his response.

Snapshot: Above, protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Today is the anniversary, and also the first time that the authorities in Hong Kong have prohibited a vigil to remember those killed in Beijing’s crackdown. Protests were expected despite the ban.

What we’re reading: This article in Vox on coming out as a trans woman. “I haven’t read anything that made me feel hopeful in weeks now,” said Taffy Brodesser-Akner, a writer for The Times Magazine. But this piece “reminded me of the optimism of self-discovery that we’re all still capable of, even in terrible times.”

Cook: This potato chip omelet from the chef for El Bulli, the famous Spanish restaurant, evokes the flavors of a labor-intensive tortilla, but takes only minutes to assemble and cook.

Read: Masha Gessen’s new book “Surviving Autocracy” is a trenchant look at President Trump, who, she writes, was “probably the first major party nominee who ran not for president but for autocrat.”

Listen: We asked Yo-Yo Ma, John Williams, Andrew Lloyd Webber and others to share the cello music that moves them. Listen to their choices.

Remembering Christo: The artist who wrapped on an epic scale died on Sunday at the age of 84. Here’s a look at his grand projects.

At Home has our full collection of ideas on what to read, cook, watch, and do while staying safe at home.

And now for the Back Story on …

Feeling lost in the kitchen

Not everyone is using time at home to cultivate a sourdough starter. The food writer Priya Krishna wrote about how necessity has forced fledgling home cooks to confront their biggest fear: using their kitchens.

The result is a lot of blackened pots, smoke-filled apartments and frozen pizza disasters — but also some victories, like fried eggs and a decent carbonara.

Take, for instance, Melissa Hodges, who thought it would be her big opportunity to finally learn to cook. Then she tried to heat up a frozen cheese pizza.

“I stuck it in the oven at a random temperature because I didn’t bother to read the instructions,” recalled Ms. Hodges, 22, who didn’t put the pizza on a dish. “About 20 minutes in, it fell through the cracks of my oven.” The result was both doughy and charred.

A lack of enthusiasm for cooking can become even harder to bear when there are children involved.

“I don’t want to feed my son chicken tenders and frozen pizzas,” said Miranda Richardson, a police department administrator. But what she makes may not pass muster with him. “Kids tell the truth when they don’t like food.”

She pointed out that she is actually a good cook — she recently made a vanilla cake — but still dislikes it. “Being in that kitchen just does not make me happy,” she said.

That’s it for this briefing. See you next time.

— Melina and Carole

Thank you
To Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh for the break from the news. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S.
• We’re listening to “The Daily.” Our latest episode is an interview with Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis.
• Here’s our Mini Crossword, and a clue: Leaning Tower city (four letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
• Opinion’s Jennifer Senior recently joined KCRW and KCBS Radio, as well as CNN’s Reliable Sources, to discuss President Trump and his response to the coronavirus pandemic.