Top story: Trump in White House tantrum
Hello, Warren Murray here, pleased to be delivering the Briefing once again after our Easter hiatus.
People in Britain have been warned that there is “a long way to go” before lockdown measures are likely to be relaxed, with the government and its chief scientific adviser suggesting they could last another month. Dominic Raab, who is deputising for the recovering PM, Boris Johnson, said it was “absolutely crucially important” not to let up at this point. The head of the World Health Organization has urged caution over moves to lift lockdown conditions, as the global number of infections approaches 2 million. Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has warned the situation there is getting worse rather than better, while China says its neighbour has failed to control imported cases. “The Chinese people have watched Russia become a severely affected country,” said an editorial in China’s state press. To get you up to speed quickly here is our latest at-a-glance summary.
Donald Trump has declared in a White House briefing that his “authority is total” when it comes to lockdown rules during the coronavirus pandemic. The president delivered a bizarre performance in which he played a campaign video produced by White House staff – in a possible violation of election laws – that consisted of Fox News clips praising his response. Trump’s assertion of sweeping powers over the states has been rejected by legal analysts as a gross misreading of the US constitution, which assures the states of autonomy. David Smith writes: “A toddler threw a self-pitying tantrum on live television on Monday night. Unfortunately he was 73 years old, wearing a long red tie and running the world’s most powerful country.”
The US is nearing the peak of its outbreak, according to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Robert Redfield: “You’ll know when you’re at the peak when the next day is actually less than the day before. We are stabilising right now.” Our live coverage continues – read the latest here.
There’s more in our Coronavirus Extra section further down … and here’s where you can find all our coverage of the outbreak – from breaking news to factchecks and advice.
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Labour hit by report leak – Keir Starmer has ordered an urgent review into a leaked internal report on Labour antisemitism that concluded factional hostility to Jeremy Corbyn hampered efforts to tackle the problem. The conclusions clash with complaints of ex-Labour whistleblowers who said there was political interference in the process from the top of the party under Corbyn. Plans to submit the report to an Equalities and Human Rights Commission inquiry have been scrapped. The previous Labour leadership’s handling of antisemitism allegations overshadowed parts of the 2019 election campaign.Sienna Rodgers, editor of LabourList, writes that the leak inflames factional warfare just as Starmer seeks to unite the party.
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Fires nearing Chernobyl – Wildfires in Ukraine have spread to just over a mile from the Chernobyl power plant, according to activists. Ukraine’s emergency services agency said 310 firefighters and dozens of fire trucks, as well as three aircraft and three helicopters, had been sent in. A Chernobyl tour operator, Yaroslav Yemelianenko, wrote that the fire had reached the abandoned city of Pripyat: “The situation is critical. The zone is burning.” Ukraine’s emergency services said the fire was “difficult” but called for calm and urged people not to listen to “apocalyptic messages … The main thing we can say is that there is no threat to the nuclear power station, the spent fuel storage, and to other critical sites in the exclusion zone.” Chernobyl is the site of the worst nuclear disaster in history.
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‘Need you in the White House’ – Bernie Sanders has endorsed his former rival Joe Biden for president. Appearing with Biden in a live stream, the senator said: “We need you in the White House. We’ve got to make Trump a one-term president. I will do all that I can to make that happen.”
Biden called Sanders “the most powerful voice for a fair and more just America … the voice that forces us to take a hard look in the mirror. If I am the [Democratic] nominee – which it looks like now you just made me – I really need you, not just to win the campaign but to govern.” In an effort to continue influencing the Democratic platform, Sanders will remain on the ballot in states with remaining primaries to gain delegates. The pair announced their staff had set up task forces to help find common policy ground.
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Seat of his pants – A civilian passenger was launched out of the cockpit of a French fighter jet doing 500km/h after panicking and pulling the ejection lever, an investigation has found. The flight had official approval and was given to the defence company executive as a gift, but the 64-year-old was terribly nervous beforehand and pulled the lever while trying to steady himself during takeoff. He parachuted to the ground and sustained only minor injuries. The pilot was not ejected and managed to land the plane.
Coronavirus Extra
Governments in at least 25 countries are employing vast programmes for mobile data tracking, apps to record contact with others, CCTV equipped with facial recognition and drones to enforce social isolation regimes. The unprecedented global surge in digital surveillance has researchers and privacy advocates around the world worried that it may prove difficult to roll back.
In our science podcast, Nicola Davis speaks to Dr Andy Whittamore about the effects of Covid-19 on people with asthma and what they can do to protect themselves.
As of Monday in Greece there had been 2,145 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 99 deaths – far lower than elsewhere in Europe. This despite after almost a decade embroiled in a debt crisis from which the health system is by no means recovered. A rapid move to social distancing has helped, but still, the government is somewhat unexpectedly basking in the limelight of having flattened the curve, writes Helena Smith.
Today in Focus podcast: Germany’s testing regime vs UK
In February Germany and Britain were taking a similar approach to testing for coronavirus. But over the subsequent weeks they began to go in very different directions. Guardian health editor Sarah Boseley and Berlin bureau chief Philip Oltermann look at what happened next.
Lunchtime read: Meltdown averted for now
It is now clear that we can, if circumstances demand, turn the economy off. But the consequences are catastrophic. Across the world, hundreds of millions of people have been thrown out of work. The bits of the economy that do continue to function rely on credit to pay costs and wages. Meanwhile millions of families and firms around the world are relying on grants and loans from the state. But tax revenues have collapsed, so states need credit too.
What Europe and the US have succeeded in doing is to flatten the curve of financial panic. They have maintained the all-important flow of credit. During major crises, we are reminded that at the heart of the profit-driven, private financial economy is a public institution, the central bank. Because it is the ultimate backer of the currency, its budget is unlimited – and the last six weeks have seen a bout of intervention without precedent. A giant public safety net has been stretched out across the financial system by the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England. This is the story of how global financial meltdown was averted by central banks taking decisions that, just a month earlier, they would have dismissed as utterly impossible.
Sport
Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish have aimed stinging criticism at British Cycling, the sport’s national governing body, in a Q&A session on Instagram. Cavendish hoped to compete in the Madison in Japan and win the Olympic gold medal that has eluded him but he was not selected. Wiggins’s verdict: “I think it’s shit, to be honest, but hey, cycling has changed so much.”
County cricket’s defiantly low-key nature has brought joy to millions but may not save it in a looming era of belt-tightening, writes Jonathan Liew. “There were times during the gloriously sunny weekend when it was perhaps only natural to wonder how the opening day of the 2020 County Championship season was going … Instead: nothing. A whispering void.”
Ewan Murray reports how Scottish football’s voting farce led to open warfare breaking out: the SPFL wanted clubs to end the season but Dundee’s missing vote has resulted in the game’s governing body being questioned. And from Vertonghen to Cavani, there are a lot of players in Europe who do not know if they will finish the season with their clubs. Graham Searles runs through some whose contracts expire on 30 June.
Business
Asian stocks have bounced in early trading on hopes the coronavirus outbreak may be peaking. Chinese shares started firm with the blue-chip index up 0.7%. Australian shares were up 0.6% while South Korea’s Kospi and Japan’s Nikkei each gained 1.4%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.2%. The pound is worth $1.256 and €1.147 at time of writing.
The papers
An oddly serene-sounding headline for the Telegraph’s splash this morning: “Ministers plan gentle path back to normal life”. The Guardian has “Revealed: how Britain missed three chances to bulk-buy protective kit”. The Mirror composes its front page from pictures of Covid-19 victims and declares “No more” as it demands protective equipment for NHS staff.
The Times says Britain faces “Lockdown for 3 more weeks”. The Mail sounds the alarm over “Care home catastrophe”, saying almost 100 more homes had reported outbreaks in the previous 24 hours. “Stick with lockdown”, says the Metro, citing Dominic Raab – its front-page picture is labelled “On your bikes” and it shows a group of cyclists being moved on from Primrose Hill in London by a council officer.
“Lockdown continues as UK not yet at virus peak”, says the i. “Thanks for doing your Brit” – the Sun relays the gratitude of England’s head of nursing to everyone who stayed home over Easter. The PM-loving Express has: “We must all stay put … that’s you too, Boris”. The FT has “Global supply deal fails to jolt oil market as crisis weighs on prices”.
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