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Derek Chauvin (seen in booking photos) made his first court appearance on Monday to face charges in the alleged second degree murder of George Floyd. Photo: Minnesota Department of Corrections 

Floyd suspect bail set

During a preliminary hearing, Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with the second degree murder of George Floyd, had his bail set at $1.25m or $1m under certain conditions. His lawyer did not contest the judge’s terms. Chauvin did not enter a plea and his next court appearance is 29 June. Video taken last month shows Chauvin with his knee on Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes. Sources: BBC, CNN, The Guardian, NPR and Reuters.

IBM quits facial recognition market

The tech giant IBM said it would no longer develop or sell facial recognition software, technology which has been accused of exhibiting racial and gender bias. The company called for dialogue on racial inequality and police reform in the US. First reported by: CNBC. More coverage: Reuters, Techcrunch and The Verge.

Coronavirus pandemic is worsening: WHO

The World Health Organization warned that the covid-19 pandemic “is far from over” and encouraged protestors to take precautions. Sources: CNBC, Cnet, NPR and Reuters.

Luxembourg virus update

Only one person tested positive for covid-19 in the 24 hours to Monday afternoon and there just 29 active infections in the grand duchy. Source: Luxembourg health ministry.

Luxembourg consumer prices

The annualised inflation rate fell from +0.6% in April to +0.2% in May 2020, mainly driven by lower oil and food prices. Source: Statec.

Around 100 firms received emergency loans

Roughly 200 Luxembourg companies have applied for state-guaranteed bank loans, under a pandemic recovery scheme, with 50% of applications approved. The average loan was €250,000. The majority of requests came from the hospitality and retail sectors, according to Pierre Gramegna, the finance minister (DP). Source: Paperjam.

Pandemic sent US into recession: official report

The US economy started a recession in February, with GDP dropping 5% during the first quarter, new figures revealed. Sources: CNBC, Marketwatch, NPR and Reuters.

US markets rebound

Wall Street regained the ground lost due to the covid-19 crisis as investors reckoned the economy is recovering. Sources: CNBC, Financial Times, Reuters and Seeking Alpha.

BP job cuts

The oil giant BP said it would lay off 10,000 staff as covid-19 has cut sharply into the oil price and profitability. Most of the redundancies will be office jobs. Sources: BBC, CNN, Financial Times and The Guardian.

North Korea cuts hotline to South

Pyongyang is suspending all government and military liaison calls with Seoul starting today in protest of South Korean activist activity. Sources: Deutsche Welle, Financial Times, The Guardian and South China Morning Post.

Notre-Dame works restart

Renovations, paused since the start of the covid-19 lockdown, have resumed on Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, which was severely damaged in a 2019 fire. Sources: Associated Press, Euronews, France 24 and NPR.

Flights resume at Frankfurt Hahn airport

The first flight will take off from Frankfurt Hahn airport this evening after a three and a half month virus shutdown. Wizz Air will serve Tuzla, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Air Serbia resumes flights on 16 June and Ryanair will restart service to Malaga and Mallorca on 21 June. Source: Hahn airport on Facebook and Twitter.

Agenda

Wednesday 10 June, 2pm: British Chamber of Commerce’s “Getting Brexit done: Fewer than 200 days to the end of the transition period” online conference. Wednesday 10 June, 7pm-9pm: The British Ladies Club of Luxembourg said its only social cocktail session is “staying virtual”; email [email protected] for the Zoom link. Thursday 11 June, 5pm: Luxembourg Private Equity and Venture Capital Association’s “Matching talent & money” HR webinar.

Good deed after George Floyd protest gets rewarded

Residents of Buffalo, in New York state, gave Antonio Gwynn Jr. a full university scholarship, a Mustang convertible and a free year of auto insurance after the 18 year old spontaneously spent 10 hours cleaning up streets following this past weekend’s protests. Sources: CNN and WKBW.

Today’s breakfast briefing was written by Aaron Grunwald