Updated at 3:43 p.m. ET

The United States is rescinding a number of special considerations for Hong Kong in retaliation for what Washington calls a naked power grab there by China’s central government.

President Trump announced a suite of changes on Friday in what had been billed as a press conference but which turned out to be an on-camera statement, after which he took no questions.

Trump did not address other big national stories, including police violence in Minneapolis or his ongoing feud with Twitter.

He focused instead on his intent to revoke Hong Kong’s special customs status, impose some sanctions on officials in the mainland and Hong Kong governments, and take other steps.

The precise details or their implications weren’t immediately clear. For example, Trump said he was directing a study of the “differing practices” involved with Chinese and American companies in financial markets, arguing that U.S. investors deserved what he called “fair” treatment.

That could have implications for Chinese companies or banks and Hong Kong’s status as a major Asian financial center, although there was no detail about when Trump might get the “study” or what it could contemplate.

President excoriates Beijing

Sino-American relations have been on a low ebb for years but may have hit a recent nadir with Trump’s remarks on Friday.

Trump blamed China’s communist government for the global coronavirus pandemic, which has taken 100,000 American lives and more broadly sent shock waves around the world.

“The death and destruction caused by this is incalculable,” he said.

The White House argues that China’s repression and mendacity meant the world was unprepared for the lethality and contagiousness of the virus, which originated in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province.

The president has gone back and forth about how strongly he blames Beijing. Earlier in the pandemic, he alluded to the coronavirus as “the Chinese virus,” then softened his language, and then resumed direct condemnations of Chinese authorities on Friday.

Trump put the pandemic into the context of years of what he called bad practices and mistreatment by China, including its theft of hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of American intellectual property. He claimed credit for standing up for the United States.

Trump and aides also blame the World Health Organization for the pandemic and the president followed earlier condemnations and threats on Friday by saying that the U.S. would sever its ties with the W.H.O.

Washington will divert the roughly $500 million per year it has paid to the WHO to other global health organizations, Trump said. Those details weren’t clear either, including which groups or how quickly.

The United States has been the single biggest funder of the WHO and the breach announced by Trump raises questions about how it may be able to move forward.

Anger over Hong Kong

Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have faulted the mainland government after it asserted more control over the governance of Hong Kong despite earlier commitments by Beijing to maintain “two systems” — one for the mainland and one for Hong Kong.

Hong Kong was a British colony until the late 1990s, when London agreed to turn over control to Beijing with the proviso that it enjoy more autonomy and more freedoms, which Hong Kongers had come to expect under the many years of British rule.

Beijing agreed, but critics in Hong Kong and elsewhere have said the central government has been steadily eroding the city’s liberties.

Last year, protesters shut down Hong Kong for weeks with demonstrations against a proposed law that would have permitted citizens there to have been sent to the mainland for trial.

Activists said they feared the mainland’s weak protections in law would open up everyone in Hong Kong to arbitrary Chinese punishment and further weaken the special status Hong Kong was supposed to enjoy.

Trump was mostly quiet then, but his tune has changed sharply since the coronavirus pandemic — which the president blames on the Chinese government.

Now, Pompeo has made a formal proclamation to Congress that the United States can no longer consider Hong Kong independent from China, raising the prospect of changes in its diplomatic relationship with Washington.

One of the big unresolved questions in the contretemps between Washington and Beijing is over Taiwan, the independent Republic of China that is considered a breakaway province by the central government on the mainland.

The United States has maintained close ties with Taiwan and has some legal obligations to defend it if attacked by China. But that relationship hasn’t been tested by a major military crisis and until now, the mainland government hasn’t been as assertive about some of its key claims as it has been with Hong Kong.

Trump condemned China’s territorial claims broadly on Friday, but he did not specify what his position would be on a major dispute over Taiwan.

Minneapolis is burning.

For a third straight night, the Midwestern city saw clashes between police and protesters after the death of George Floyd, a black man whose arresting officer was recorded kneeling on his neck for minutes on end.

The four officers involved have been fired and the incident is under federal investigation, but demonstrators are not satisfied. Some of them stormed the 3rd Police Precinct, setting fire to that building and others in the neighborhood.

President Trump, who called Floyd’s death “very sad and tragic” earlier this week, said early Friday that he had told Minnesota’s governor that “the Military is with him all the way.”

He also described the source of the unrest as “THUGS” — a word widely criticized for bearing racial overtones.

“Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” he continued, in a tweet flagged by Twitter for violating its policy against glorifying violence.

The president’s comments came after a night of chaos in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, where several fires raged and some businesses were sacked, according to Minnesota Public Radio. Protesters also overran the 3rd Precinct after police withdrew in an attempt to mitigate tensions.

“Brick and mortar is not as important as life,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said, noting that though the building was emptied, patrols would continue in the neighborhood. “We are doing absolutely everything that we can to keep the peace.”

Minneapolis has seethed since the release of the video depicting Floyd’s arrest by a white police officer. The officer plants a knee on his neck for at least seven minutes as Floyd cries for help and eventually falls silent and as bystanders shout that he’s dying.

The officer did not remove his knee until paramedics showed up to move Floyd’s unresponsive body into an ambulance. He was reported dead later that night.

Since then, Minneapolis has seen a series of escalating protests over his death, while anger has been evident in other cities, as well.

Protesters have turned out to express their outrage as far as Los Angeles and New York City. Meanwhile in Louisville, Ky., demonstrators gathered Thursday to protest death of Breonna Taylor, a black woman shot by police in her home in March.

As one protester in Minneapolis told NPR, the anger over Floyd’s death is about more than just one man — it’s about how police treat black people across the U.S.

“This is how our people react, you know? When we’ve been done wrong for so long,” he said. “So, me, I’m just praying and hoping everybody makes it home safe.”

On Friday morning, state police arrested a CNN crew while they were reporting about the unrest on live television.

“A black reporter from CNN was arrested while legally covering the protests in Minneapolis,” the network pointedly noted. “A white reporter also on the ground was not.”

The crew consisting of correspondent Omar Jimenez, producer Bill Kirkos and photojournalist Leonel Mendez was released about an hour later. CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker said that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz personally apologized to him for the incident.

The swift backtrack did little to soften the shock of the spectacle, though.

“With all the perversions of American democracy that we have witnessed, few rival the dystopian spectacle of a U.S. journalist calmly reporting the news and repeatedly offering to reposition his crew at the police’s request, only to be arrested, cuffed and hauled away alongside his crew,” said Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America, advocacy group that fights for press freedom.

She added: “For us at PEN America, where we routinely document the arrest and imprisonment of writers and journalists worldwide, the action was eerily familiar, but something we expect to see in authoritarian states: Turkey, Hong Kong, Egypt. To see it in the United States of America is appalling.”

NPR’s Adrian Florido contributed to this report.

Illinois is joining many of its neighboring Midwest states in reopening some retail shops, restaurants, salons and other businesses Friday.

But Chicagoans will have to wait until the middle of next week to get a tattoo, haircut or manicure, or eat on a restaurant patio, as Mayor Lori Lightfoot is delaying the limited business reopening until Wednesday, June 3.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker says every region of the state has now met the criteria to move into phase three of his five-phased reopening plan, called Restore Illinois. That includes the percentage of positive coronavirus tests falling and remaining below 20%, a falling or flat rate of new COVID-19 patients being admitted to hospitals, and enough available medical, surgical and ICU hospital beds and ventilators to handle a possible surge in COVID-19 cases.

Phase 3 of reopening in Illinois is a bit more limited that the plans in many other states. Illinois residents should not throw out their face coverings and masks as those are still required in public.

Restaurants can reopen for outdoor dining, but tables must be spaced at least 6 feet apart, and groups sitting together are limited to no more than six people.

Hair and nail salons, barbershops, tattoo parlors and other providers of personal care services will be limited to those that can be performed with both the customer and employee wearing coverings over their nose and mouth. Massages and other body treatments will be limited to 30 minutes.

Nonessential retailers can reopen but must limit the number of customers in their shop at a time to five per 1,000 square feet of retail space, which is half the normal capacity.

“Our goal is and always has been to keep people safe from this coronavirus while we restore more of our normal activities,” Pritzker said at his daily media briefing Thursday.

But he warned Illinois residents not to become complacent because he worries about a possible resurgence in COVID-19 cases.

“It’s possible that if we have a surge, a spike, and we need to quell that spike, we might potentially have to move backward in the phases,” Pritzker said. “That’s not anything any of us want to do.”

Chicago, meanwhile, is still considered a place of concern for COVID-19 outbreaks. Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, said last week the number of cases in the city has plateaued, and not fallen as in some other parts of the country, and needs continued monitoring.

The mayor is delaying the city’s limited reopening until the middle of next week, and when it does, some restrictions will be tighter than the state’s. Retail stores, salons and other businesses will need to limit the number of customers to 25% of their normal capacity.

Illinois is joining many of its neighboring Midwest states in reopening some retail shops, restaurants, salons and other businesses Friday.

But Chicagoans will have to wait until the middle of next week to get a tattoo, haircut or manicure, or eat on a restaurant patio, as Mayor Lori Lightfoot is delaying the limited business reopening until Wednesday, June 3.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker says every region of the state has now met the criteria to move into phase three of his five-phased reopening plan, called Restore Illinois. That includes the percentage of positive coronavirus tests falling and remaining below 20%, a falling or flat rate of new COVID-19 patients being admitted to hospitals, and enough available medical, surgical and ICU hospital beds and ventilators to handle a possible surge in COVID-19 cases.

Phase 3 of reopening in Illinois is a bit more limited that the plans in many other states. Illinois residents should not throw out their face coverings and masks as those are still required in public.

Restaurants can reopen for outdoor dining, but tables must be spaced at least 6 feet apart, and groups sitting together are limited to no more than six people.

Hair and nail salons, barbershops, tattoo parlors and other providers of personal care services will be limited to those that can be performed with both the customer and employee wearing coverings over their nose and mouth. Massages and other body treatments will be limited to 30 minutes.

Nonessential retailers can reopen but must limit the number of customers in their shop at a time to five per 1,000 square feet of retail space, which is half the normal capacity.

“Our goal is and always has been to keep people safe from this coronavirus while we restore more of our normal activities,” Pritzker said at his daily media briefing Thursday.

But he warned Illinois residents not to become complacent because he worries about a possible resurgence in COVID-19 cases.

“It’s possible that if we have a surge, a spike, and we need to quell that spike, we might potentially have to move backward in the phases,” Pritzker said. “That’s not anything any of us want to do.”

Chicago, meanwhile, is still considered a place of concern for COVID-19 outbreaks. Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, said last week the number of cases in the city has plateaued, and not fallen as in some other parts of the country, and needs continued monitoring.

The mayor is delaying the city’s limited reopening until the middle of next week, and when it does, some restrictions will be tighter than the state’s. Retail stores, salons and other businesses will need to limit the number of customers to 25% of their normal capacity.

Illinois is joining many of its neighboring Midwest states in reopening some retail shops, restaurants, salons and other businesses Friday.

But Chicagoans will have to wait until the middle of next week to get a tattoo, haircut or manicure, or eat on a restaurant patio, as Mayor Lori Lightfoot is delaying the limited business reopening until Wednesday, June 3.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker says every region of the state has now met the criteria to move into phase three of his five-phased reopening plan, called Restore Illinois. That includes the percentage of positive coronavirus tests falling and remaining below 20%, a falling or flat rate of new COVID-19 patients being admitted to hospitals, and enough available medical, surgical and ICU hospital beds and ventilators to handle a possible surge in COVID-19 cases.

Phase 3 of reopening in Illinois is a bit more limited that the plans in many other states. Illinois residents should not throw out their face coverings and masks as those are still required in public.

Restaurants can reopen for outdoor dining, but tables must be spaced at least 6 feet apart, and groups sitting together are limited to no more than six people.

Hair and nail salons, barbershops, tattoo parlors and other providers of personal care services will be limited to those that can be performed with both the customer and employee wearing coverings over their nose and mouth. Massages and other body treatments will be limited to 30 minutes.

Nonessential retailers can reopen but must limit the number of customers in their shop at a time to five per 1,000 square feet of retail space, which is half the normal capacity.

“Our goal is and always has been to keep people safe from this coronavirus while we restore more of our normal activities,” Pritzker said at his daily media briefing Thursday.

But he warned Illinois residents not to become complacent because he worries about a possible resurgence in COVID-19 cases.

“It’s possible that if we have a surge, a spike, and we need to quell that spike, we might potentially have to move backward in the phases,” Pritzker said. “That’s not anything any of us want to do.”

Chicago, meanwhile, is still considered a place of concern for COVID-19 outbreaks. Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, said last week the number of cases in the city has plateaued, and not fallen as in some other parts of the country, and needs continued monitoring.

The mayor is delaying the city’s limited reopening until the middle of next week, and when it does, some restrictions will be tighter than the state’s. Retail stores, salons and other businesses will need to limit the number of customers to 25% of their normal capacity.

President Trump said he will “send in the National Guard” to restore order to Minneapolis, which has been wracked by protests and looting following the death of George Floyd, a black man, after he was pinned to the ground for several minutes by a white police officer. “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” Trump said, prompting Twitter to hide the message for, in its view, “glorifying violence.”

“I can’t stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis,” Trump said early Friday. “A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right.”

He added: “These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!”

Twitter hid the second of those messages with a warning but added that it “has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.”

Trump responded Friday, saying Twitter was doing “nothing about all of the lies & propaganda being put out by China or the Radical Left Democrat Party.”

The president’s tweets about the situation in Minneapolis and Twitter’s response to it bring to a head two major stories that have dominated the news this week.

In the first, a white officer appears to shove Floyd’s face into the pavement with his knee for at least seven minutes on Monday evening. Several minutes into the video, Floyd’s pleas for help go quiet. Floyd was reported dead later that night. The Minneapolis Police Department swiftly fired the four police officers shown in the disturbing video. The U.S. Justice Department said it has made the investigation into Floyd’s death “a top priority.” But protesters weren’t placated. The 3rd Precinct police building in Minneapolis was set on fire Thursday night. Gov. Tim Walz signed an executive order activating the Minnesota National Guard to help restore peace.

In the second story, earlier this week Twitter fact-checked a tweet by Trump that said mail-in voting leads to fraud, prompting the president to sign an executive order Thursday aimed at limiting the broad legal protections enjoyed by social media companies. But legal experts said they doubt the move would have any practical effect on the tech giants.

Prior to this week, Twitter had not fact-checked the president, nor hidden any of his messages on the platform.