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UNDATED (AP) — The coronavirus continues to spread in South Korea, particularly in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan region, which is home to half the country's 51 million people. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 49 new cases for the nation Friday, with 26 of them in Seoul and the nearby port city of Incheon. South Korea has had a total of 12,306 infections, including 280 deaths. Officials have been reporting around 30 to 50 new cases a day since late May, inspiring second guessing on whether officials were too quick to ease social distancing guidelines in April after the country’s first wave of infections waned. Hundreds of cases in the Seoul area have been linked to leisure and religious activities and low-income workers who can’t afford to stay home.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is in no hurry to hear more tales of President Donald Trump from his former national security adviser. That's despite John Bolton's account of Trump's “obstruction of justice as a way of life,” from his 17 months in the White House. Bolton writes that Trump begged the Chinese president for political help. The House impeached Trump over a similar appeal to Ukraine's president. The Senate declined to ask Bolton to testify and ended up acquitting Trump. Now that Bolton has spoken, no congressional leaders were rushing to hear from him directly because they believe the election is too close.
CHICAGO (AP) — Amy Klobuchar is dropping out of vice presidential contention and urging Democrat Joe Biden to select a woman of color instead. The Minnesota senator said Thursday night on MSNBC that she called the presumptive presidential nominee Wednesday night and made the suggestion. She says it would be a step Biden could take to help “heal this nation.” It comes as the senator's home state has been roiled by the killing of George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer. Klobuchar herself came under fire for her handling of a murder case when she was a prosecutor that sent a black teen to prison for life.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington Post reported that a State Department official resigned Thursday over President Donald Trump’s response to racial tensions sweeping the country over the killings of black people by police. Mary Elizabeth Taylor, the assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs, said in her resignation letter that Trump’s actions “cut sharply against my core values and convictions.” At 30, Taylor was the youngest person to hold her position, and she was also the first black woman in the job, according to the Post. Taylor’s resignation follows weeks of turmoil sweeping the United States following the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico has posted another record one-day increase in confirmed oronavirus cases, with 5,662. At the same time, officials reported 667 more deaths Thursday. The daily death toll has been hovering around 700 for much of this week, but the daily case load increase has usually remained below 5,000. Officials have acknowledged that both figures are undercounts because of a lack of testing and delayed results. The Health Department said Mexico has performed only about 450,000 tests since the pandemic began. Officials say the country is on a plateau with few signs of decrease, even as the economy starts reopening.
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