Good morning.
Joe Biden called for immediate gun reform yesterday after the deaths of 10 people in a supermarket shooting in Boulder, Colorado. It came 10 days after a mass shooting in Atlanta. The president urged Congress to close loopholes in background checks, and he reiterated calls for a ban on assault weapons.
The Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, pledged to bring forward two House-passed bills to expand background checks for gun buyers, but it’s unclear whether they will pass in a divided Senate.
The suspect, named yesterday as 21-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, is thought to have purchased an assault weapon less than a week before the attack. Ten days earlier a judge blocked a ban on assault rifles passed by Boulder in 2018.
The 10 killed in Boulder were named by an emotional police chief yesterday and ranged in age from 20 to 65. You can learn more about the individuals and read their families’ tributes here, and about the Boulder community as it comes to terms with the attack.
The motive for the attack is yet not clear, with authorities still in the early stages of their investigation. According to one law enforcement official, the family of Alissa, who is in stable condition in hospital after being injured during the shooting, told investigators they believed he was having mental health problems including delusions.
Biden promoted his Covid aid bill on the anniversary of the signing of Obamacare
Joe Biden commemorated the 11th anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act – better known as Obamacare – with a trip to Ohio yesterday. There he announced that his administration would extend the period of time in which Americans can sign up for subsidised health insurance coverage for a further three months beyond the original 15 May deadline.
The visit came as part of his Help is Here tour, in which he and Kamala Harris have traveled the US to promote their $1.9tn Covid-19 relief bill, particularly to states that are on a political knife-edge.
Michigan has seen a surge in Covid cases – could it be a sign of things to come?
Michigan recorded 17,000 new cases last week – a 300% increase on the same week last month. Its positivity rate has recently reached 9%, the highest figure since mid-January. Some public health experts say this is a cautionary tale for the rest of the US and illustrates the need for a rapid vaccine rollout.
The US is questioning data for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine shortly after excellent results from its mass trial in the US, as officials consider authorising its use. The Data and Safety Monitoring Board suggested AstraZeneca had given “outdated” information and “an incomplete view” of results.
Hong Kong and Macau have suspended use of the Pfizer vaccine over a packaging problem. Officials stress there is no safety risk, but this will mark a blow to efforts to rapidly vaccine their populations.
Big banks are providing trillions to fossil fuel companies
The world’s 60 largest banks have provided $3.8tn of financing for fossil fuel companies since the Paris climate agreement in 2015, a coalition of NGOs have said. While the coronavirus pandemic has triggered a drop in energy use, funding is still net rising.
US and Canadian banks comprise 13 of the 60 banks analysed but account for almost half of global fossil fuel financing over the last five years. Of the 60 banks, 17 have made a commitment to being net zero by 2050, but the NGOs say this must be backed up with meaningful action. Mark Campanale, of the financial thinktank Carbon Tracker, said:
Banks provide the financial oxygen that allows the fossil fuel industry to breathe.
In other news …
A large vessel has blocked the Suez canal after being blown off course by a “gust of wind”, causing a massive traffic jam at either end of the canal, which is a vital artery for international trade.
Mark Zuckerberg is preparing for a grilling when he testifies to Congress for the first time on Thursday about Facebook’s role in the Capitol attack. A report found that the site allowed groups linked to QAnon and militia movements to glorify violence online in the weeks leading up to the attack.
Oakland is launching a guaranteed income program, a privately funded scheme for low-income families of colour. Eligible families will receive $500 a month, which they can spend as they see fit.
Stat of the day: 30 million people are ‘one step away’ from starvation, according to the UN
Acute hunger is expected to rise in more than 20 countries in the coming months, the UN has said, with an estimated 34 million people struggling with acute hunger, a step away from starvation. The hunger is being driven predominantly by a combination of conflict, climate shocks and the coronavirus pandemic.
View from the right: gun reform won’t solve mass shootings
Calls to reform gun ownership laws will not stop would-be killers, argues David Harsanyi in the National Review. He says the majority of killings are committed using handguns and knives rather than assault rifles, and that focusing on gun ownership neglects the factors that drive someone to kill.
It’s been clear for a long time that criminality is tied to a number economic and societal factors, and not the type or number of guns Americans own.
Don’t miss this: how Republicans are jeopardising US democracy
As of mid-February, 253 bills to restrict voting were pending in 43 states. Many of the restrictions focus on mail-in and early voting, the policies that led to November’s record turnout. “The fragility of democracy has been exposed at levels that I think even white America was blind to,” said LaTosha Brown, a co-founder of Black Voters Matter. Sam Levine explores.
Last Thing: a man lost a $1m lottery ticket – then found it in a parking lot
Nick Slatten was ecstatic to discover he had won $1m with a lottery ticket, and shared the news with his family and fiancee. But while out running errands, he discovered he had lost it. In yet another remarkable twist, Slatten retraced this steps and found the life-changing ticket in a parking lot.
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