Evening Update: Minneapolis police officer arrested in death of George Floyd; Ontario is considering regional reopenings

Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:

The killing of George Floyd, the handcuffed black man who pleaded for air as a white police officer knelt on his neck, has led to large-scale protests in Minneapolis and beyond.

On Friday afternoon, the officer, Derek Chauvin, was arrested by state investigators. He was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Earlier in the day, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz had acknowledged the “abject failure” of the response to the violent protests and called for swift justice for police involved in Floyd’s death.

President Donald Trump weighed in Friday morning and threatened looters in Minneapolis with deadly military force, after that city weathered a third night of arson and rioting. Twitter for the first time hid the Trump tweet behind a warning banner that accused the President of “glorifying violence.”

Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate for president, said that the “open wound” of systemic racism was behind the Floyd killing. Biden also accused Trump, without mentioning him by name, of inciting violence.

Opinion: “Let’s hope the protests in the streets of Minneapolis and elsewhere, less violent ones, continue for weeks and months if necessary to keep this repugnant story in the public eye and emblazoned in the mind of every cop who ever arrests a black man again.” -- Lawrence Martin

Read more: George Floyd, victim in police encounter, moved to Minnesota to start a new life

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Ford says Ontario is considering regional reopenings

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he is open to a regional approach to reopening the economy, reversing his stand after pleas from local health officials that COVID-19 is battering the Greater Toronto Area much harder than the rest of the province.

Ford made the comment as he spoke about his province’s new ramped-up testing strategy, unveiled Friday. The plan includes mobile testing teams and “targeted campaigns” to look for the disease in community hotspots, as well as among more hospital workers, first responders and their families, shelter residents, jail guards and inmates, and even auto workers, retail salespeople and employees in a long list of other sectors.

Economy had a record decline in March

And worse numbers are on the way. Statistics Canada estimated we’ll see an 11-per-cent decline in real GDP in April, the first full month with lockdown restrictions in place. Nineteen of 20 industrial sectors were down in March, highlighted by steep declines in accommodation and food services, arts and recreation, and transportation and warehousing.

Ottawa pledges $285-million in additional COVID-19 aid for Indigenous communities

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that the federal government is announcing new funding for Indigenous communities including $285-million for the public-health response to COVID-19.

The federal government said Friday that the funding could be used to provide “surge capacity” and additional support for community-based services in the case of outbreaks.

Trudeau also announced $270-million to supplement an on-reserve income assistance program and $44.8-million over the next five years to build 12 new shelters for Indigenous women and girls fleeing violence.

Trump cuts ties with World Health Organization over COVID-19 response

Trump on Friday said he is terminating the U.S. relationship with the World Health Organization over its handling of the coronavirus, saying the WHO had essentially become a puppet organization of China.

He went ahead with repeated threats to eliminate American funding for the group, which amounts to several hundred million dollars a year.

Trump said the WHO had failed to make reforms to the organization that the president had demanded in a May 18 letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. That letter had given the WHO 30 days to commit to reforms.

Munk Dialogues: The series brings together thinkers, policy experts and politicians to explore how the coronavirus will reshape our world. Read a transcript of the May 28 Dialogue titled ‘Rethinking our meritocracy has got to be the agenda for future’, with David Brooks, columnist for The New York Times, and Rudyard Griffiths, the chair of the Munk Debates.

ALSO ON OUR RADAR

Montreal-area synagogue vandalized: B’nai Brith Canada says a recent act of vandalism against a Montreal-area synagogue was one of the worst such incidents in Canada in recent years. A congregant who visited the site this week found sacred Torah scrolls dumped on the floor and other religious items stuffed into toilets.

Nova Scotia gunman wanted to ‘kill a cop’: A report from 2011 says a Truro police officer had received information from a source indicating Nova Scotia mass shooter Gabriel Wortman was upset about a police investigation into a break-and-enter and had “stated he wants to kill a cop.” The document, first obtained by the CBC, says Wortman was also investigated for uttering death threats aimed at his parents less than a year earlier in June, 2010, which led police to conclude he may be in possession of several rifles.

Roger Federer is world’s highest-earning athlete: The Swiss tennis player leads the annual Forbes ranking of highest-paid athletes with US$106.3-million in total earnings. He is the first tennis player to top the list since it was first compiled in 1990.

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MARKET WATCH

Canada’s main stock index ended a strong May a little weaker while crude oil prices enjoyed their best ever month, surging 88 per cent. The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 69.90 points at 15,192.83.South of the border, stock indexes edged mostly higher in afternoon trading Friday after President Donald Trump outlined several actions in response to China eroding the autonomy of Hong Kong, but did not mention any moves to upend a trade pact struck with Beijing earlier this year. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 17.53 points at 25,383.11. The S&P 500 index was up 14.58 points at 3,044.31, while the Nasdaq composite was up 120.88 points at 9,489.87.

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TALKING POINTS

Who needs Parliament when Trudeau has a morning show to maintain?

Robyn Urback: “With support from the NDP, which is apparently confused about its role in Parliament, the Liberals pushed through their suspension of full parliamentary sittings from June 18 until Sept. 21 in a House vote this past week. In doing so, the Liberals freed themselves from the accountability one would expect of a minority government navigating through a pandemic, and took over the reins to steer Canada through what is certain to be a summer unlike any this country has ever before seen.”

The China-Canada ‘relationship’ is not worth saving

Andrew Coyne: “We may have relations, in the formal diplomatic sense of the word. But a relationship – a broader set of undertakings, based on shared values or at least common interests? There is not one now and has not been for some time, even if some in Ottawa seem slow to realize it. What is more, there cannot be.”

Airline customers have no right to complain about not getting refunds

Ashley Nunes: “Has the pandemic inconvenienced fliers? Yes. Should airlines do something to address consumer concerns? Absolutely. Should consumers be given carte blanche in dictating how those concerns are addressed? Certainly not. Airlines have already offered fliers generous alternatives such as ticket transfers, bonus miles and indefinite voucher extensions. What more do fliers want?”

Take a deeper dive into Canada’s environment and climate change news with our newsletter, Globe Climate. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every week

LIVING BETTER

Monthly streaming guide: Reviews of new films and TV shows on Amazon Prime Video, CBC Gem, Crave, Netflix and on-demand

The flood of movies being released directly to video on-demand continues, while Hot Docs at Home offers documentaries to stream in place of the cancelled festival. For the literary-minded there are several new shows based on books, including Little Fires Everywhere on Amazon Prime Video, Normal People on CBC Gem and I Know This Much is True from HBO. Read on to find out what’s worth your screen time.

The Tenors’ Clifton Murray is learning how technology connects us – and can deliver a great performance

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“In early March we realized we could use our voices to send messages of positivity and hope, and we’ve recorded a version of Bridge Over Troubled Water as well as a new song we co-wrote, called Mother, for Mother’s Day.” Read more.

TODAY’S LONG READ

How do you write a TV show during a pandemic?

Stick a mannequin head on a pole in front of a green screen. Have an actor mime kissing it. Get another actor to kiss it, in a matching shot, from another angle. Put the two together in post-production. Is this the future of screen kisses? That’s just one of a million questions that Canadian TV writers are grappling with as they modify their series for a COVID-19 world.

In the Canadian television business, generally, spring is writing season and summer is for shooting. Even though the pandemic has delayed filming until at least August, TV writers are still hard at work this month. In virtual writers’ rooms and home offices, they’re putting in full days so their scripts are ready to go whenever production resumes. The question is, are they writing for our social-distanced present, or a more hopeful future? Read Johanna Schneller’s full story here.

Evening Update is written by Jamie Ross. If you’d like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday evening, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.