Good morning, and welcome to a slightly different morning briefing. With First Thing, we want to focus more on the biggest story in the world right now – whatever that might be – and listen more closely to the voices of the Guardian journalists and experts who get to the bottom of the news every day.
We also want to make sure we keep looking beyond the coronavirus crisis to whatever else is happening in the US and around the world – plus some longer or lighter reads that might help to take your mind off the punishing news cycle. Speaking of which …
Trump melts down over his coronavirus media coverage
Yes, Donald Trump devoted most of his Monday coronavirus press briefing not to the coronavirus, but to the press. The president opened his daily display of Trumpian id with a showreel of news clips compiled by White House staff, which he said highlighted the media’s downplaying of the pandemic in its early stages, in contrast to his administration’s supposed swift response.
While he continues to insist the states are responsible for any failings in that response, Trump also claimed his own “authority is total” when it comes to the lockdown rules and when to lift them. Clearly he felt wounded by the weekend’s big New York Times story, which portrayed a president fumbling through January and February without a pandemic plan, writes David Smith:
Donald Trump, starved of campaign rallies, Mar-a-Lago weekends and golf, and goaded by a bombshell newspaper report, couldn’t take it any more. Years of accreted grievance and resentment towards the media came gushing out in a torrent.
“Totally under control”. That’s how Trump (dubiously) described the US’s first Covid-19 outbreak back on 22 January. Tom McCarthy compiles a timeline of all the disinformation spread by the president about the coronavirus and the threat it poses.
The states are taking the lead in post-lockdown planning
Contrary to Trump’s claims, it is the states which are taking the initiative about when and how to ease their coronavirus lockdowns. The New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, said on Monday he believed the “worst is over” for New York, as he announced that his state would work with five others in the north-east to coordinate the relaxation of stay-at-home orders. California, Oregon and Washington announced a similar plan for the west coast.
As the coronavirus crisis continues across the US …
A crew member from the virus-stricken USS Theodore Roosevelt has died of complications related to the disease, the first active-duty military member to die of Covid-19.
A Guardian analysis has found that the most polluted neighbourhoods in cities such as Los Angeles, Houston and Detroit, are also among the country’s worst virus hotspots.
San Francisco has shut down a nightclub that continued to operate illegally during the lockdown, with the city attorney calling the club’s actions “the epitome of irresponsibility”.
… worldwide, Covid-19 cases are closing in on 2 million
Vladimir Putin has acknowledged Russia faces a “complex and extraordinary” challenge from the coronavirus after recording 2,558 new cases on Monday – the country’s highest daily figure to date. Emmanuel Macron admitted failings in the French response as he extended the country’s lockdown for another month.
In Brazil, Dom Phillips hears from residents of Rio’s favelas who say they have been abandoned to face the crisis alone. But Helena Smith has better news from Greece, where – despite a decade of health cuts – efforts to flatten the curve appear to be paying off.
Moon rises in South Korea. As South Korea becomes the first country to hold a national election in the shadow of the coronavirus, his government’s widely praised handling of the pandemic should boost president Moon Jae-in’s chances. But the nation’s first feminist party is also hoping to win seats.
A surveillance surge. Billions of people around the world face enhanced monitoring to combat the spread of the virus. And the Guardian’s correspondents say those extraordinary measures may prove difficult to roll back later.
Help us to document US healthcare workers’ Covid-19 deaths
The Guardian and Kaiser Health News are combining to try to document the life of every doctor, nurse, hospital cleaner or EMT who dies in the US from Covid-19 during the pandemic. If you know a healthcare worker who has died, we’d like you to share their story.
Medical staff are being laid off. Remarkably, in the midst of a pandemic, workers in the US’s for-profit healthcare sector are facing furloughs, layoffs and salary cuts.
In other news…
Biden wins in Wisconsin. Almost a week after the state controversially went ahead with its primary vote, the former vice president was declared its victor. He also received a warm endorsement from his erstwhile rival Bernie Sanders, making him the presumptive Democratic nominee.
Deadly storms ravage the south. The Easter weekend’s extreme weather has killed at least 30 people in the southern US, after bringing tornadoes, flooding and mudslides to a swath of states from Texas to West Virginia.
Chernobyl is burning. Well, almost. A huge wildfire in Ukraine is inching ever closer to the site of the worst nuclear disaster in history – and to a disposal site for radioactive waste.
Another plague … of locusts. A biblical swarm is threatening food security in east Africa, with experts predicting a fresh plague of the insects, 20 times worse than the one that descended on the region just two months ago.
Great reads
Nick Offerman: ‘If you’re not offending anyone, it’s not art’
Best known for his comedy chops, Nick Offerman was surprised when he got the call to star in Alex Garland’s new sci-fi drama, Devs. But thanks to his background in theatre, he tells Stuart Heritage, “I have experience on stage of making people laugh, certainly – but also making people cringe, vomit and sob.”
How coronavirus almost brought down the financial system
Covid-19 has brought the global financial system to a grinding halt, leaving millions out of work and the world on the brink of a yawning depression. But after tossing out conservative wisdom and intervening on a vast scale, writes Adam Tooze, governments have averted a full-scale meltdown – if only for the time being.
Last Thing: Surprise gift leads to premature ejection
An unfortunate executive from a French defence firm got the shock of his life last March, after colleagues presented him with the “gift” of a ride in a fighter jet – from which he accidentally ejected himself at approximately 1,300 feet and 320mph. Fortunately, the 64-year-old’s parachute deployed automatically, and he landed safely in a field near the town of Saint-Dizier.
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