【常速英语广播5分钟】 2020-04-17

VOA NEWS

April 17, 2020

This is VOA news. Reporting via remote, I'm David Byrd.

U.S. President Donald Trump has laid out guidelines Thursday for reopening the coronavirus-ravaged U.S. economy.

Speaking at a White House briefing, the president said that states should take a phased approach to let Americans return to work as conditions allow.

"We're establishing clear scientific metric and benchmarks on testing new case growth and hospital capacity that must be met before advancing to each phase, and that's each phase specifically in the reopening of our country."

Trump told a White House news conference that governors will be empowered to tailor the approach to their own states and that if they need to remain closed they should do so.

"Our approach outlines three phases in restoring our economic life. We are not opening all at once but one careful step at a time."

The president has made reopening the economy a top priority of his administration.

The president's announcement came on a day when the Labor Department announced that more than five million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week. We get more from AP's Rita Foley.

5.2 million more Americans went on an unemployment last week as the coronavirus claims more jobs.

Some industries were hit hard early on - hotels, restaurants, retail stores. Now the coronavirus outbreak is killing a broader wave of jobs. Software programmers, salespeople and legal assistants are being laid off.

68-year-old Fern Weinbaum was furloughed last month from her job as a legal secretary in Manhattan. Weinbaum still hasn't received her unemployment benefits, which she says she is counting on to help pay her monthly rent of $1,100.

I'm Rita Foley.

For more, visit voanews.com. This is VOA news.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expanded an ongoing state of emergency to all of Japan as the new coronavirus continues to spread.

The Japanese prime minister said, "We will expand the area for implementing emergency measures that were declared on April 7 from the seven prefectures to all prefectures. The implementation period remains unchanged through May 6."

Abe's previous state of declaration on April 7 only covered Tokyo and six other prefectures deemed at high risk of infection.

The Japanese prime minister said that he is asking local governments to urge residents not to take non-essential, non-urgent trips back to their hometowns or any trips that involve travel between areas and prefectures to avoid the spread during Japan's Golden Week holiday.

Abe's coronavirus response has been criticized for being too slow and too lax.

A countdown to a fourth election in Israel in more than a year of political deadlock began Thursday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main rival Benny Gantz missed a deadline to form a government. Reuters Adam Reed has details.

Despite the deadline now passing for Gantz to put together an administration, he and Netanyahu both promised to push on with negotiations. It was only at the beginning of March that Israelis last cast votes and now face another election if parliament cannot decide on a new nominee within the next month.

To complicate matters more, Netanyahu's corruption trial is still due to be heard later in May. However according to one opinion poll, his popularity has been given a boost in recent weeks, thanks to his handling of public safety and decisive action over lockdown measures.

It suggested that if another election were to be held now Netanyahu's Likud party could form a government with traditional right-wing and religious allies without the need for Gantz's support.

That's Reuters Adam Reed.

The PGA Tour has announced plans to restart its season. We get details from AP's Josh Rowntree.

The PGA Tour laid out an ambitious plan Thursday to resume its season the second week of June and keep fans away for at least a month, conceding that any return to golf depends on whether it can be played safely amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas, was pushed back to June 11 through 14. Assuming golf gets the green light from government and health officials, the tour then would have an official tournament every week through December 6 except for a Thanksgiving break.

Golf is the first sport to announce plans for a restart. Last week, the PGA announced that three majors - including the Masters in November - would go off later in the year.

I'm Josh Rowntree.

For more, visit our website. Reporting via remote, I'm David Byrd VO(A news.)