While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, May 28
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Mike Pompeo says Hong Kong no longer warrants special US treatment
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he had certified on Wednesday that Hong Kong no longer warrants special treatment under US law as it did when it was under British rule, a potentially big blow to its status as a major financial hub.
Pompeo's certification to the US Congress follows China's announcement of a plan to impose new national security legislation on Hong Kong, which has triggered fresh unrest in the territory, with police firing tear gas and water cannon.
It now falls to President Donald Trump to decide to end some, all, or none of the US economic privileges which the territory enjoys.
Pompeo made no recommendations in his statement. But people familiar with the matter said the Trump administration was considering suspending Hong Kong's preferential tariff rates for exports to the United States as part of its response to China's plan.
US coronavirus deaths top 100,000 as country reopens
The novel coronavirus has killed more than 100,000 people in the United States, according to a Reuters tally on Wednesday, even as the slowdown in deaths encouraged businesses to reopen and Americans to emerge from more than two months of lockdowns.
About 1,400 Americans have died on average each day in May, down from a peak of 2,000 in April, according to the tally of state and county data on Covid-19 deaths.
In about three months, more Americans have died from Covid-19 than during the Korean War, Vietnam War and the US conflict in Iraq from 2003-2011 combined.
Weather delays SpaceX's first astronaut launch from Florida
SpaceX, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's private rocket company, was forced by foul weather to scrub a planned launch on Wednesday of two Americans into orbit from Florida, a mission that would be the first spaceflight of Nasa astronauts from US soil in nine years.
The countdown was halted 16 minutes and 54 seconds before the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was due to lift off from the Kennedy Space Centre, propelling Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on a 19-hour ride to the International Space Station (ISS).
Mission managers cited "a number of weather violations" for scrubbing the flight.
Huawei CFO loses key court fight against extradition to US
Huawei Technologies' chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou was dealt a setback by a Canadian court on Wednesday as she tries to avoid extradition to the United States to face bank fraud charges.
Meng, a Chinese citizen, was arrested in December 2018 on a warrant issued by US authorities.
They accuse her of bank fraud for misleading HSBC about Huawei's relationship with a company operating in Iran, putting HSBC at risk of fines and penalties for breaking US sanctions on Teheran.
Football: Premier League clubs vote to resume contact training
Premier League clubs voted unanimously on Wednesday to resume contact training as the English top-flight took a significant step towards restarting in June.
The Premier League was put on hold in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, with Liverpool just two wins away from sealing the title.
Clubs returned to training in small and socially distanced groups last week but they have now moved to stage two of the "return to training protocol".
