Here's a look back at some of the most significant developments from around the world today:
The US is now very close to becoming the first country to lose 100,000 lives to Covid-19. The total number of confirmed coronavirus deaths worldwide has reached more than 353,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced more questions about his top adviser Dominic Cummings, who is accused
of breaking lockdown rules. Johnson today ruled out an inquiry and said it was time to "move on" from the row
The prime minister also announced a massive test and trace system,
which aims to find people who come into close contact with those infected with
coronavirus
A recovery
fund worth €750bn (£670bn; $825bn) was proposed by the
EU's executive Commission. The package of grants and loans will be distributed among EU member states to help tackle the "unprecedented
crisis"
The World Health Organization (WHO) has set up a foundation that
will allow it to target new sources of funding - including the general public
A UN agency has warned that younger workers are being
disproportionately hit by a global surge in unemployment caused by the
pandemic. Covid-19, it says, could impact on the career opportunities of a
"lockdown generation" for decades to come
And finally... You've been kept up-to-date today by a few of us here at the BBC, including Owen Amos, Saira Asher, Andreas Illmer, Krutika Pathi, Yvette Tan, Frances Mao, Sean Fanning, Claire Heald, Gareth Evans, Rob Greenall, Joseph Lee, Steven Sutcliffe, Emlyn Begley, Rebecca Seales, Kate Whannel, Jennifer Scott, Jo Couzens, Holly Honderich, Mal Siret and Paulin Kola.
The advice you would give your pre-lockdown self
BBCCopyright: BBC
With the benefit of hindsight, it's easy to think of things we wish we'd done before coronavirus uprooted our lives.
We asked you - if you could go back to the beginning of 2020, what would your pre-lockdown advice for yourself be?
Responses ranged from "buy stock in Zoom" and "find a partner to self-isolate with", to "spend as much time with loved ones as you can and hug them extra tight."
Drones are set to be used to deliver medical supplies and personal protective equipment to hospitals in the US state of North Carolina.
A company called Zipline will be allowed to use drones on two specified routes after the Federal Aviation Administration granted it an emergency waiver.
It is the first time the FAA has allowed beyond-line-of-sight drone deliveries in the US.
Cyprus pledges to cover costs of Covid-hit tourists
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
Mackenzie beach in the coastal city of Larnaca, CyprusImage caption: Mackenzie beach in the coastal city of Larnaca, Cyprus
Cyprus says it will cover all costs - including medication, accommodation, food and drink - for anyone who tests positive for Covid-19 while on holiday on the Mediterranean island.
Patients and their families on vacation there will only have to pay to be transported back to the airport and for their flights home.
An exclusive 100-bed hospital, equipped with intensive care units and respirators, will provide care for anyone who becomes seriously ill with the virus, the government says.
A 500-bed "quarantine hotel" will also be provided.
The Cypriot government says that its tourist season will open on 9 June to travellers from Germany, Greece and Israel.
"For our important markets like the UK, Russia and Sweden, I expect early July," deputy tourism minister Savvas Perdios said.
Democrats disapprove of Trump's 4 July celebration plans
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
Last year's 4 July celebration in DCImage caption: Last year's 4 July celebration in DC
US President Donald Trump is pushing ahead with his plans for a 4 July parade in Washington, DC, in the face of protests from local lawmakers and virus concerns.
A group of Democratic lawmakers penned a letter to the Trump administration saying that Trump's proposed parade would "needlessly risk the health and safety of thousands of Americans".
DC will begin its phased reopening later this week, though gatherings of 10 or more people are still banned.
Gatherings of more than 250 people - like the crowds that assembled for last year's celebration - will not be allowed until a virus vaccine is found, or the public health risk is drastically reduced.
Trump's Salute to America - last year's 4 July celebration in DC - featured military flyovers and fireworks, drew tens of thousands of people to downtown DC, and cost $5.4m (£4.4m).
Fewer than half of Americans would opt for a Covid jab
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
A scientist works on a possible Covid-19 vaccine at a lab in MarylandImage caption: A scientist works on a possible Covid-19 vaccine at a lab in Maryland
Fewer than half of Americans say they would get a vaccine for the coronavirus if one became available, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
While just 49% of Americans would opt in, the majority - 61% - say they expect a vaccine will be publicly available by 2021, with only 17% saying it will take longer.
About 1 in 5 Americans say they do not plan to get vaccinated, while 31% remain unsure.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump unveiled Operation Warp Speed, a mission to expedite vaccine development. He has promised to deliver a jab by year-end, a timeline widely disputed by scientists.
California hospitals overwhelmed by Covid patients
The only two hospitals in Southern California's rural Imperial County were forced to close their doors to new Covid patients this week, after admitting a flood of patients from Mexico.
Roughly half of the coronavirus patients in several of the California hospitals dotting the US southern border are recent arrivals from Mexico, reports the Washington Post newspaper.
The patients traveling from Mexico to the US include some of the 1.5 million Americans who live there.
As a result, Imperial County - which sits directly on the border - has a markedly higher rate of infection than any other county in California: 760 per 100,000 residents, the Post reports.
Can coronavirus affect eyesight?
Michelle Roberts
Health editor, BBC News online
EPACopyright: EPA
The Prime Minister's adviser Dominic Cummings says he drove 30 minutes from Durham to Barnard Castle to test his eyesight before driving back to London after recovering from coronavirus symptoms.
Eye symptoms with coronavirus have been reported, say the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and the College of Optometrists.
Like any upper respiratory tract infection, including colds and flu, it can cause irritation of the membrane covering the eye - a condition called conjunctivitis or sometimes pink or red eye (because the whites of the eyes become bloodshot).
The World Health Organization now includes this alongside other more common symptoms of the virus - but UK guidelines do not.
Viral conjunctivitis can make the eyes water and feel gritty and uncomfortable, rather than painful.
It does not usually interfere greatly with eyesight.
Asian Americans face spike of abuse amid virus spread
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, authorities in New York City and Los Angeles say that hate incidents against people of Asian descent have increased considerably. A reporting centre says it has received over 1,700 reports of coronavirus-related discrimination from at least 45 US states since it launched in March.
In states including New York, California, and Texas, East Asians have been spat on, punched or kicked - and in one case even stabbed.
The spike in anti-Asian prejudice has left many Asian Americans wondering where they fit in US society.
"Then the pandemic made me realise that because I am Asian, and because of how I look like or where I was born, I could never become one of them," one woman tells the BBC.
More than 150 different drugs are being researched around the world. Most are existing drugs that are being trialled against the virus.
Antiviral treatments are being tested to see if they directly affect the coronavirus's ability to thrive inside the body, and drugs that can calm the immune system are also of interest.
The latest clinical trials of an antiviral drug originally developed to treat Ebola, for example, have been encouraging.
Research centres around the world are also attempting to use survivors' blood as a treatment, in the hope that the antibodies they have built up will help to clear the virus in others.
Video caption: 98-year-old Rebecca Parker is playing the piano for 100 days to raise money for the NHS98-year-old Rebecca Parker is playing the piano for 100 days to raise money for the NHS
Rebecca Parker, 98, has set herself the task of playing the piano for 100 days to raise money for the UK's National Health Service (NHS).
Parker, who lives in a care home in Scotland, says she was inspired by Captain Tom Moore, who raised almost £33m for the NHS by completing laps of his garden in the run-up to his 100th birthday.
Police raid Ecuador ministry over test kits
Police in Ecuador have raided the offices of the health ministry and the home of the health minister over alleged overpricing of coronavirus testing kits.
Jorge Yunda, the mayor of Ecuador's capital, Quito, has called for the temporary resignation of Health Minister Lenin Mantilla so that an independent inquiry can take place.
Two-hundred thousand kits were imported from South Korea to be used in Ecuador, one of the worst-affected countries in South America, with nearly 40,000 people infected and more than 3,200 deaths.
Has the US conducted the most Covid-19 tests?
US President Donald Trump has tweeted that the country has tested 15.5 million people for Covid-19, and that the figure is "by far the most in the world".
To attain these figures, the Chinese authorities have been "batch testing" - testing multiple samples in groups. They expect the vast majority of Covid-19 tests to be negative, which makes sense statistically, but if samples within a certain batch test positive, the samples are then tested individually.
So, the total for the whole of China's estimated 1.4 billion population is likely to be much higher than Mr Trump's 15.5 million. But according to BBC China analyst Kerry Allen, there's no way to independently check how many individual tests have been carried out.
Political rivals Trump and Cuomo meet at White House
US President Donald Trump met New York Governor Andrew Cuomo today, and the political rivals discussed major infrastructure projects which Cuomo hopes will help jump-start his state's beleaguered economy.
Noting the "political differences" between himself and the Republican president, the Democrat said the two had had a good discussion.
New York reported 74 deaths in the past 24 hours, continuing the state's downward trend in Covid-19 infections, hospitalisations and fatalities.
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
Governor Cuomo held his daily news briefing in Washington DC after meeting President TrumpImage caption: Governor Cuomo held his daily news briefing in Washington DC after meeting President Trump
Reality Check
What's required if the NHS asks you to isolate?
People in England who are contacted through the new NHS Test and
Trace team will be required to self-isolate for up to 14 days – even if they
don’t have symptoms.
This means you should stay at home and not leave it for any
reason - including leaving the house to buy food or medicine. Instead,
you should order these online or by phone or ask someone to deliver them to your
home.
You should not have visitors and you should do any exercise at
home.
There have been more than 260,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK and more than 37,000 people have lost their lives, according to government figures.
But these numbers include only people who have been tested.
The latest measures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggest the total number of deaths is much higher.
The first ONS measure, counting death certificates mentioning the virus, suggests deaths reached 45,000 by the week beginning 15 May, while the second, recording deaths over and above the expected number, suggests a toll of more than 59,000 by the same date.
Today was all about the pitch by Ursula von der Leyen - a recovery fund worth €750bn (£670bn; $825bn) - and it's just the start. It will take a Herculean
effort by the European Commission to get all member states on-side, especially as it wants this agreed by leaders at the next EU summit in three weeks' time.
After a round-robin of calls to European diplomats this afternoon,
I got a clear sense that there’s not yet an overall majority in favour.
Southern Mediterranean countries such as Portugal, Spain, Greece and Italy have
all indicated initial support. There are many countries, including Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and
Lithuania, that won’t commit either way until they’ve read the small print of
the plans.
And there is well-publicised opposition from the self-proclaimed
"frugal four" consisting of Austria, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands.
The feeling here in Brussels is that it will need to be a face-to-face meeting between leaders to forge a compromise, because videoconferencing
is a poor substitute for fiscal diplomacy. And that’s not likely to happen
until internal borders are reopened, some time over the summer.
Video content
Video caption: Coronavirus: Ursula von der Leyen speaks of 'Europe's moment'Coronavirus: Ursula von der Leyen speaks of 'Europe's moment'
Who gets what from the €750bn EU recovery fund?
We reported earlier about the €750bn (£670bn; $825bn) recovery fund proposed by the EU's executive Commission to help the bloc tackle the coronavirus crisis.
Here are two charts explaining how the package, made up of grants and loans, will be distributed and invested among EU member states.
BBCCopyright: BBC
BBCCopyright: BBC
Boeing cuts to hit 12,000 workers as travel plunges
ReutersCopyright: Reuters
In the coming weeks, more than 12,000 Boeing workers in the US are set to lose their jobs as cuts at the American aerospace giant take effect.
The firm said it would inform workers of 6,670 cuts this week and has also approved 5,520 voluntary redundancies.
The planned reductions are not a surprise after Boeing revealed plans last month to slash its global workforce by 10% - or roughly 16,000 jobs.
"I wish there were some other way," chief executive Dave Calhoun said.
The company was already in crisis after two fatal crashes of its 737 Max led to the global grounding of the plane last year - and now a drop in demand for air travel has left it reeling.
Joe Biden leaves the veterans' memorial in Delaware on MondayImage caption: Joe Biden leaves the veterans' memorial in Delaware on Monday
Former US Vice-President Joe Biden has called President Donald Trump "an absolute fool" for appearing to mock him for donning a mask at a Memorial Day ceremony on Monday.
The president retweeted a disparaging post from a Fox News personality, apparently insulting Biden's masked appearance. He later denied that he was making fun of his Democratic rival.
Trump has mostly refused to wear masks in public, deepening a partisan divide over the practice. A poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation this month found that 89% of Democrats and 72% of independents report wearing a mask every time or most of the time when they leave home, compared to 58% of Republicans.
Live Reporting
Edited by Paulin Kola
All times stated are UK
Get involved
-
The US is now very close to becoming the first country to lose 100,000 lives to Covid-19. The total number of confirmed coronavirus deaths worldwide has reached more than 353,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University
-
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced more questions about his top adviser Dominic Cummings, who is accused
of breaking lockdown rules. Johnson today ruled out an inquiry and said it was time to "move on" from the row
-
The prime minister also announced a massive test and trace system,
which aims to find people who come into close contact with those infected with
coronavirus
-
A recovery
fund worth €750bn (£670bn; $825bn) was proposed by the
EU's executive Commission. The package of grants and loans will be distributed among EU member states to help tackle the "unprecedented
crisis"
-
The World Health Organization (WHO) has set up a foundation that
will allow it to target new sources of funding - including the general public
-
A UN agency has warned that younger workers are being
disproportionately hit by a global surge in unemployment caused by the
pandemic. Covid-19, it says, could impact on the career opportunities of a
"lockdown generation" for decades to come
BBCCopyright: BBC 
ZiplineCopyright: Zipline 
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images Mackenzie beach in the coastal city of Larnaca, CyprusImage caption: Mackenzie beach in the coastal city of Larnaca, Cyprus 
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images Last year's 4 July celebration in DCImage caption: Last year's 4 July celebration in DC 
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images A scientist works on a possible Covid-19 vaccine at a lab in MarylandImage caption: A scientist works on a possible Covid-19 vaccine at a lab in Maryland 
EPACopyright: EPA 
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images 
- Read more about drugs tests and possible treatments
Video caption: 98-year-old Rebecca Parker is playing the piano for 100 days to raise money for the NHS98-year-old Rebecca Parker is playing the piano for 100 days to raise money for the NHS 
EPACopyright: EPA 
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images Governor Cuomo held his daily news briefing in Washington DC after meeting President TrumpImage caption: Governor Cuomo held his daily news briefing in Washington DC after meeting President Trump 
ReutersCopyright: Reuters 
Video caption: Coronavirus: Ursula von der Leyen speaks of 'Europe's moment'Coronavirus: Ursula von der Leyen speaks of 'Europe's moment' 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
BBCCopyright: BBC 
ReutersCopyright: Reuters 
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images Joe Biden leaves the veterans' memorial in Delaware on MondayImage caption: Joe Biden leaves the veterans' memorial in Delaware on Monday
Latest PostThat's all for now
That's it for Wednesday's live page coverage.
Here's a look back at some of the most significant developments from around the world today:
And finally... You've been kept up-to-date today by a few of us here at the BBC, including Owen Amos, Saira Asher, Andreas Illmer, Krutika Pathi, Yvette Tan, Frances Mao, Sean Fanning, Claire Heald, Gareth Evans, Rob Greenall, Joseph Lee, Steven Sutcliffe, Emlyn Begley, Rebecca Seales, Kate Whannel, Jennifer Scott, Jo Couzens, Holly Honderich, Mal Siret and Paulin Kola.
The advice you would give your pre-lockdown self
With the benefit of hindsight, it's easy to think of things we wish we'd done before coronavirus uprooted our lives.
We asked you - if you could go back to the beginning of 2020, what would your pre-lockdown advice for yourself be?
Responses ranged from "buy stock in Zoom" and "find a partner to self-isolate with", to "spend as much time with loved ones as you can and hug them extra tight."
Read a selection of the answers and tell us your own here.
Drones to deliver equipment to hospitals
Drones are set to be used to deliver medical supplies and personal protective equipment to hospitals in the US state of North Carolina.
A company called Zipline will be allowed to use drones on two specified routes after the Federal Aviation Administration granted it an emergency waiver.
It is the first time the FAA has allowed beyond-line-of-sight drone deliveries in the US.
Read more here.
Cyprus pledges to cover costs of Covid-hit tourists
Cyprus says it will cover all costs - including medication, accommodation, food and drink - for anyone who tests positive for Covid-19 while on holiday on the Mediterranean island.
Patients and their families on vacation there will only have to pay to be transported back to the airport and for their flights home.
An exclusive 100-bed hospital, equipped with intensive care units and respirators, will provide care for anyone who becomes seriously ill with the virus, the government says.
A 500-bed "quarantine hotel" will also be provided.
The Cypriot government says that its tourist season will open on 9 June to travellers from Germany, Greece and Israel.
"For our important markets like the UK, Russia and Sweden, I expect early July," deputy tourism minister Savvas Perdios said.
Democrats disapprove of Trump's 4 July celebration plans
US President Donald Trump is pushing ahead with his plans for a 4 July parade in Washington, DC, in the face of protests from local lawmakers and virus concerns.
A group of Democratic lawmakers penned a letter to the Trump administration saying that Trump's proposed parade would "needlessly risk the health and safety of thousands of Americans".
DC will begin its phased reopening later this week, though gatherings of 10 or more people are still banned.
Gatherings of more than 250 people - like the crowds that assembled for last year's celebration - will not be allowed until a virus vaccine is found, or the public health risk is drastically reduced.
Trump's Salute to America - last year's 4 July celebration in DC - featured military flyovers and fireworks, drew tens of thousands of people to downtown DC, and cost $5.4m (£4.4m).
Fewer than half of Americans would opt for a Covid jab
Fewer than half of Americans say they would get a vaccine for the coronavirus if one became available, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
While just 49% of Americans would opt in, the majority - 61% - say they expect a vaccine will be publicly available by 2021, with only 17% saying it will take longer.
About 1 in 5 Americans say they do not plan to get vaccinated, while 31% remain unsure.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump unveiled Operation Warp Speed, a mission to expedite vaccine development. He has promised to deliver a jab by year-end, a timeline widely disputed by scientists.
California hospitals overwhelmed by Covid patients
The only two hospitals in Southern California's rural Imperial County were forced to close their doors to new Covid patients this week, after admitting a flood of patients from Mexico.
Roughly half of the coronavirus patients in several of the California hospitals dotting the US southern border are recent arrivals from Mexico, reports the Washington Post newspaper.
The patients traveling from Mexico to the US include some of the 1.5 million Americans who live there.
As a result, Imperial County - which sits directly on the border - has a markedly higher rate of infection than any other county in California: 760 per 100,000 residents, the Post reports.
Can coronavirus affect eyesight?
Michelle Roberts
Health editor, BBC News online
The Prime Minister's adviser Dominic Cummings says he drove 30 minutes from Durham to Barnard Castle to test his eyesight before driving back to London after recovering from coronavirus symptoms.
Eye symptoms with coronavirus have been reported, say the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and the College of Optometrists.
Like any upper respiratory tract infection, including colds and flu, it can cause irritation of the membrane covering the eye - a condition called conjunctivitis or sometimes pink or red eye (because the whites of the eyes become bloodshot).
The World Health Organization now includes this alongside other more common symptoms of the virus - but UK guidelines do not.
Viral conjunctivitis can make the eyes water and feel gritty and uncomfortable, rather than painful.
It does not usually interfere greatly with eyesight.
Read more here.
Asian Americans face spike of abuse amid virus spread
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, authorities in New York City and Los Angeles say that hate incidents against people of Asian descent have increased considerably. A reporting centre says it has received over 1,700 reports of coronavirus-related discrimination from at least 45 US states since it launched in March.
In states including New York, California, and Texas, East Asians have been spat on, punched or kicked - and in one case even stabbed.
The spike in anti-Asian prejudice has left many Asian Americans wondering where they fit in US society.
"Then the pandemic made me realise that because I am Asian, and because of how I look like or where I was born, I could never become one of them," one woman tells the BBC.
Read more about the rise in abuse of Asian Americans and what it reveals about US identity.
When will we have a drug to treat Covid-19?
James Gallagher
Health and science correspondent, BBC News
More than 150 different drugs are being researched around the world. Most are existing drugs that are being trialled against the virus.
Antiviral treatments are being tested to see if they directly affect the coronavirus's ability to thrive inside the body, and drugs that can calm the immune system are also of interest.
The latest clinical trials of an antiviral drug originally developed to treat Ebola, for example, have been encouraging.
Research centres around the world are also attempting to use survivors' blood as a treatment, in the hope that the antibodies they have built up will help to clear the virus in others.
Playing the piano for 100 days for the NHS
Video content
Rebecca Parker, 98, has set herself the task of playing the piano for 100 days to raise money for the UK's National Health Service (NHS).
Parker, who lives in a care home in Scotland, says she was inspired by Captain Tom Moore, who raised almost £33m for the NHS by completing laps of his garden in the run-up to his 100th birthday.
Police raid Ecuador ministry over test kits
Police in Ecuador have raided the offices of the health ministry and the home of the health minister over alleged overpricing of coronavirus testing kits.
Jorge Yunda, the mayor of Ecuador's capital, Quito, has called for the temporary resignation of Health Minister Lenin Mantilla so that an independent inquiry can take place.
Two-hundred thousand kits were imported from South Korea to be used in Ecuador, one of the worst-affected countries in South America, with nearly 40,000 people infected and more than 3,200 deaths.
Has the US conducted the most Covid-19 tests?
US President Donald Trump has tweeted that the country has tested 15.5 million people for Covid-19, and that the figure is "by far the most in the world".
But does this claim stand up to scrutiny?
In fact, the BBC Reality Check team has fact-checked the president's claims on testing before, and found them wanting.
It is difficult to find truly accurate numbers for global testing because different countries have different ways of conducting and counting tests.
This means that in order to compare numbers, we have to decide whether figures from around the world are comparable, or even trustworthy.
According to figures from China's state news agency Xinhua, the combined number of people tested in just two areas totals around 17 million – that's 10.41 million in the province of Guangdong and 6.5 million in Wuhan, where the city authorities say they plan to test the entire population of around 11 million.
To attain these figures, the Chinese authorities have been "batch testing" - testing multiple samples in groups. They expect the vast majority of Covid-19 tests to be negative, which makes sense statistically, but if samples within a certain batch test positive, the samples are then tested individually.
So, the total for the whole of China's estimated 1.4 billion population is likely to be much higher than Mr Trump's 15.5 million. But according to BBC China analyst Kerry Allen, there's no way to independently check how many individual tests have been carried out.
Political rivals Trump and Cuomo meet at White House
US President Donald Trump met New York Governor Andrew Cuomo today, and the political rivals discussed major infrastructure projects which Cuomo hopes will help jump-start his state's beleaguered economy.
Noting the "political differences" between himself and the Republican president, the Democrat said the two had had a good discussion.
New York reported 74 deaths in the past 24 hours, continuing the state's downward trend in Covid-19 infections, hospitalisations and fatalities.
Reality Check
What's required if the NHS asks you to isolate?
People in England who are contacted through the new NHS Test and Trace team will be required to self-isolate for up to 14 days – even if they don’t have symptoms.
This means you should stay at home and not leave it for any reason - including leaving the house to buy food or medicine. Instead, you should order these online or by phone or ask someone to deliver them to your home.
You should not have visitors and you should do any exercise at home.
Find out how self-isolating works and how long you need to do it for.
How many confirmed cases are there in your area?
There have been more than 260,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK and more than 37,000 people have lost their lives, according to government figures.
But these numbers include only people who have been tested.
The latest measures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggest the total number of deaths is much higher.
The first ONS measure, counting death certificates mentioning the virus, suggests deaths reached 45,000 by the week beginning 15 May, while the second, recording deaths over and above the expected number, suggests a toll of more than 59,000 by the same date.
Find out how many confirmed cases there are in your area.
EU recovery fund - now the hard work starts
Gavin Lee
BBC Europe reporter
Today was all about the pitch by Ursula von der Leyen - a recovery fund worth €750bn (£670bn; $825bn) - and it's just the start. It will take a Herculean effort by the European Commission to get all member states on-side, especially as it wants this agreed by leaders at the next EU summit in three weeks' time.
After a round-robin of calls to European diplomats this afternoon, I got a clear sense that there’s not yet an overall majority in favour. Southern Mediterranean countries such as Portugal, Spain, Greece and Italy have all indicated initial support. There are many countries, including Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Lithuania, that won’t commit either way until they’ve read the small print of the plans.
And there is well-publicised opposition from the self-proclaimed "frugal four" consisting of Austria, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands.
The feeling here in Brussels is that it will need to be a face-to-face meeting between leaders to forge a compromise, because videoconferencing is a poor substitute for fiscal diplomacy. And that’s not likely to happen until internal borders are reopened, some time over the summer.
Video content
Who gets what from the €750bn EU recovery fund?
We reported earlier about the €750bn (£670bn; $825bn) recovery fund proposed by the EU's executive Commission to help the bloc tackle the coronavirus crisis.
Here are two charts explaining how the package, made up of grants and loans, will be distributed and invested among EU member states.
Boeing cuts to hit 12,000 workers as travel plunges
In the coming weeks, more than 12,000 Boeing workers in the US are set to lose their jobs as cuts at the American aerospace giant take effect.
The firm said it would inform workers of 6,670 cuts this week and has also approved 5,520 voluntary redundancies.
The planned reductions are not a surprise after Boeing revealed plans last month to slash its global workforce by 10% - or roughly 16,000 jobs.
"I wish there were some other way," chief executive Dave Calhoun said.
The company was already in crisis after two fatal crashes of its 737 Max led to the global grounding of the plane last year - and now a drop in demand for air travel has left it reeling.
Read more here
He's a fool': Trump and Biden spar over masks
Former US Vice-President Joe Biden has called President Donald Trump "an absolute fool" for appearing to mock him for donning a mask at a Memorial Day ceremony on Monday.
The president retweeted a disparaging post from a Fox News personality, apparently insulting Biden's masked appearance. He later denied that he was making fun of his Democratic rival.
Trump has mostly refused to wear masks in public, deepening a partisan divide over the practice. A poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation this month found that 89% of Democrats and 72% of independents report wearing a mask every time or most of the time when they leave home, compared to 58% of Republicans.