Informing, engaging & connecting the people of the world. MAY 11, 2020

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VIDEO: A main coronavirus vaccine trial —a joint venture between an American and a German company—got underway this week in the United States. Some participants are U.S. medical students. This trial is one of several around the world, as pharmaceutical companies race to discover the breakthrough against COVID-19.

ON THIS DAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY On May 11, 1996, ValuJet Flight 592 crashes in the Florida Everglades on its way from Miami to Atlanta. All 110 people aboard were killed. An investigation determined improperly stored chemical oxygen generators being carried as cargo caused a fire that resulted in the fatal crash. The airline was already known for having a poor safety record and was shut down for several months after the crash. When passengers failed to return when it resumed service, the company changed its name to AirTran, which operated until 2014 when it was bought by Southwest Airlines.

South Korea, hailed widely as a success story in its battle against COVID-19, is extending school closures by an additional week as new infections are on the rise. Students in their third and final year of high school were scheduled to return to classrooms on Wednesday, but the country’s Education Ministry has now pushed back the date to May 20.

VIDEO: As the U.S. and other countries slowly lift restrictions put in place to contain the coronavirus, corporate America is looking at how to return to normal. But officials say it will likely be different from pre-COVID times.

If the coronavirus pandemic forces large-scale events to be either discouraged or cancelled this summer, American political conventions may be among the country’s cultural casualties.

China is expected to ignore a Philippine protest against creation of an “administrative center” on a disputed islet because Manila has few means to follow up. But the outcry could spur Beijing’s eventual pursuit of more legal control over Asia’s most hotly disputed sea.