Jun 5, 2017

Montenegro joins NATO amid Russian tension

Shannon Vavra

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

Montenegro became the 29th member of NATO Monday during a ceremony in Washington, with the effect of bolstering ties against Russia.

Montenegro is on track to allocate 1.72% of its GDP for defense spending in 2017, just shy of the 2% level all NATO members should be allocating. Only five members currently exceed this metric.

The Russia tension: Montenegro says Moscow was behind a failed coup attempt last year against its Prime Minister, Milo Djukanovic, per the AP (Russia denies responsibility). Pro-Russian opposition forces in Montenegro said joining NATO meant the country had been "annexed."

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  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of midnight ET: 1,202,827 — Total deaths: 64,771 — Total recoveries: 246,886 — Map.
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World coronavirus updates: Confirmed cases top 1.2 million

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the CDC and China's Health Ministry. Note: China numbers are for the mainland only and U.S. numbers include repatriated citizens and confirmed plus presumptive cases from the CDC

The number of novel coronavirus cases surpassed 1.2 million worldwide Saturday night, as Spain overtook Italy as the country with the most infections outside the U.S. The global death toll has surpassed 64,700, per Johns Hopkins data.

The latest: The United Kingdom's Queen Elizabeth II will speak in a televised address on the coronavirus Sunday of the "disruption that has brought grief to some, financial difficulties to many, and enormous changes to the daily lives of us all," per the BBC. The U.K. death toll rose 708 to 4,313 on Saturday — the fourth highest in the world.

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Rebecca Falconer, Orion Rummler, Marisa Fernandez

U.S. coronavirus updates: Death toll surpasses 8,400

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

Recorded deaths from the coronavirus surpassed 8,400 in the U.S. on Saturday, per Johns Hopkins data. The death toll in the U.S. has risen over 1,000 every day for the past four days, since April 1.

The big picture: President Trump said Saturday America's is facing its "toughest week, between this week and next week." Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the U.S. should expect to see deaths continue to rise in this period.

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