Your morning briefing: What you should know for Thursday, May 28

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  • May 28, 2020
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The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday – Friday plus breaking news updates

Coronavirus tracing system to launch amid growing anger in Cummings row

People who come into close contact with a coronavirus sufferer will be told to self-isolate for 14 days as the Government launches its tracing system today.

NHS Test and Trace – seen as key to easing the restrictions – will be rolled out across England with the help of 25,000 contact tracers.

Its accompanying app is still delayed by several weeks.

It comes amid a growing revolt within the Conservative Party over the Prime Minister’s chief adviser Dominic Cummings’s controversial trip to Durham.

Dozens of backbench Tories have criticised his actions, and at least 38 calling for him to quit or be sacked.

Trump orders FBI to ‘expedite’ probe into death of George Floyd

Donald Trump has ordered the FBI and the Department of Justice to “expedite” the investigation into the death of a black man who died after being pinned down by police.

George Floyd died after a white police officer kneeled on his neck, despite him saying he could not breathe, in the US state of Minnesota.

The US President said the Justice Department and FBI were probing the case, and are already “well into” their investigation.

“My heart goes out to George’s family and friends,” Mr Trump wrote on Twitter, adding: “justice will be served!”

Nasa and SpaceX’s historic launch postponed until Saturday

Nasa and SpaceX’s historic launch was last night aborted due to bad weather, just minutes before take off.

An estimated 1.7 million people from around the world tuned in to watch take-off from The Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

But poor conditions prevented what would have been the first launch of Nasa astronauts from US soil in nine years, with the capsule now due to attempt lift-off on Saturday.

The launch was aborted with 17 minutes to go before lift off.

‘Four out of five’ Ryanair passengers still waiting for refunds

Four out of five Ryanair passengers who requested a refund after their flight was cancelled during the pandemic are still waiting for a pay-out, a survey has found.

Some 84 per cent have not had their money returned and only 5 per cent received a refund within the legal time limit for EU carriers of seven days, a Which? poll indicated.

Ryanair said in a statement that customers “will be refunded in due course, once this unprecedented crisis is over”.

But many passengers have complained about difficulties with applying for refunds and being offered vouchers after requesting cash.

Which? surveyed 1,632 UK adults who had accepted or applied for a refund after having a flight cancelled between mid March and early May due to coronavirus.

William: bad eyesight helps anxiety over giving important speeches

The Duke of Cambridge has revealed poor eyesight helped him overcome the anxiety of giving important speeches, saying it helped that the faces of those in the audience were blurred.

Prince William’s candid comments were made in a new documentary about men’s mental health in the world of football.

Asked by a grassroots footballer, who suffers from anxiety, if he worried or felt uneasy constantly being in the public gaze the duke replied he did when younger when making big speeches.

William went on to say that he didn’t wear contact lens at the time. This helped his anxiety, he said, “because it’s just a blur of faces and because you can’t see anyone looking at you.”

On this day…

585BC: A timely total eclipse of the sun decided the Battle of Mesopotamia between Medes (now Iran) and Lydia (now Turkey). The blackened sky was read as a sign of God’s anger and an immediate truce was called.

1742: The first indoor swimming pool in England opened in London. The entrance fee was one guinea.

1842: The first public library was opened, in Frederick Street, Salford.

1934: The first Glyndebourne Festival of opera opened with Mozart’s Figaro.

1967: Francis Chichester arrived back at Plymouth after sailing round the world single-handed in Gipsy Moth IV.

1972: The Duke of Windsor, the abdicated King Edward VIII, died in Paris aged 77.

1982: Colonel H Jones was killed in action at the Battle of Goose Green during the Falklands War. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions as commanding officer of 2 Para during the attack in which 17 British and 250 Argentinians died.

1987: Mathias Rust, a 19-year-old West German, flew his small aircraft through Soviet air space from Helsinki to Moscow, landing in Red Square.