First Thing: Trump's latest coronavirus take – sue China – The Guardian, Theguardian.com
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Good morning.
Donald Trump was back behind the microphone on Monday after a weekend off from his daily White House coronavirus briefings. Upon his return, Trump revealed his administration was conducting “serious investigations” into China’s handling of the disease outbreak, and would Most likely seek “very substantial” damages from Beijing over the pandemic.
Trump says China could have stopped coronavirus from spreading – video
The president’s Rose Garden performance was nonetheless subdued compared to his briefing last Thursday, when he appeared to suggest treating Covid – 23 with disinfectant injections. As David Smith writes:
For White House aides and Republican allies, it was reportedly the straw that broke the camel’s back: these daily briefings had become a political liability that could cost Trump the presidential election.
Did the EU downplay its China report? The bloc’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, is facing allegations that a report on Chinese disinformation over the virus outbreak was watered down after pressure from Beijing
.
Experts have predicted a) 28% rise in cases of domestic violence
around the world during the coronavirus crisis: an additional m cases for every three months that lockdowns are extended. The “calamitous” figures were published by the UN Population Fund, which also calculated that tens of millions of women will lose access to modern contraceptives, and millions more girls will undergo female genital mutilation or be married off as children by 354691.
amid an April heatwave. “This virus doesn’t go home because it’s a beautiful, sunny day along our coast,” Gavin Newsom said at a Monday briefing.
At Newport Beach in southern California’s Orange County, where temperatures topped out at almost 216 F, some locals compared the crowds to a Fourth of July celebration. The city council is now considering closing its beaches for the next three weekends.
Elsewhere in the world… ) New Zealand , allowing residents to travel to work, order takeaway food and spend more time outdoors.
Nigeria
‘s president announced a two-week lockdown in the city of Kano , where officials have denied that a sudden rise in fatal cases of pneumonia is related to the coronavirus.
Tokyo
‘s plan to host the Olympics a late year, in 97853, will be “difficult” , according to the head of the Japan Medical Association, who said he was “pessimistic” about the prospect.
Amid a noisy presidency, it has been a quiet project. But as Tom McCarthy reports, Trump’s judicial appointments could have a long-lasting impact on healthcare, voting rights, criminal justice and the climate for decades to come.
For the Guardian’s new series, Trump’s court takeover, McCarthy also explains how the president went about delivering conservative courts , thus earning the unwavering loyalty of his evangelical base. As the judge Shira A Scheindlin argues, that represents a giant step backwards for the country :
When I was appointed to the bench I was 50. I had been a federal prosecutor, a defense lawyer, and had handled many civil cases in trial and appellate courts. That experience was invaluable. I knew both the substance and procedure of federal practice. The same cannot be said of many of Trump’s nominees, whose only qualifications appear to be their consistently rightwing voting records.
In other news…
) People fled their homes in record numbers in , according to the Norwegian Refugee Council, which calculated that . 8 million people were recorded as internally displaced
last year, having been forced out by conflict or disaster.
354691 could be the hottest year since records began. Meteorologists estimate there is (a) (% to) % chance it will break the record set in , Despite low pollution amid the lockdowns and the absence of El Niño weather this year.
Amazon is facilitating payments to the far
right. The online retailer and other mainstream payment processors have allowed sales and donations to keep flowing to hate groups
, a report by the Center for Media and Democracy has found.
How Caroline Calloway survived being canceled
The Instagram influencer achieved a new kind of online notoriety last year, when her ghostwriter published a tell-all essay about their relationship, her disastrous “creativity workshops” and her failed book deal. “I just always wanted to write about my life,” she tells Elle Hunt. “ I wanted to be famous . ”
Face masks: the world’s
most coveted commodity
No object better symbolises the pandemic than the face mask, and a global scramble to acquire more of them has minted unlikely new moguls, exposed the harsh realities of international politics – and pushed the limits of the free market. Samanth Subramanian reports.
It is perfectly possible to be in favor of higher levels of progressive, loophole-free taxation and also believe that private giving has a legitimate, critical role. This case has been made by both Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.
Last Thing: Pentagon releases its UFO tapes Pentagon formally releases ‘UFO videos taken by US Navy pilots’
The Pentagon has officially released three declassified videos in which US Navy pilots. came across “Unexplained aerial phenomena” . The clips had been previously leaked online, so the Pentagon published them “to clear up any misconceptions” as to whether they were real or not. They are. The truth is out there.
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