Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.
Stage set for Biden v Trump general election showdown
Joe Biden looks all but certain to face Donald Trump at November’s presidential election, after a fresh string of primary defeats left his progressive rival Bernie Sanders with only the narrowest of paths to the Democratic nomination. The biggest blow to Sanders’ hopes was in delegate-rich Michigan, which he won in 2016 but lost to Biden on Tuesday by more than 15 points. Lauren Gambino rounds up the night’s key takeaways, while our panelists parse its significance.
Cancelled rallies. Both Biden and Sanders cancelled their primary night rallies in Ohio on Tuesday over concerns about the coronavirus.
Competence is key. Trump’s botched response to the coronavirus crisis has only made the case for competent leadership stronger – and that is what Biden represents, writes Richard Wolffe.
New York deploys national guard as US Covid-19 cases top 1,000
The New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, on Tuesday announced he would deploy the national guard to the suburb of New Rochelle, to help contain what is believed to be the nation’s biggest cluster of coronavirus cases. The number of US cases has passed 1,000, with at least 29 deaths, prompting fears for vulnerable communities including the elderly and migrant detainees. Meanwhile Republicans are facing a backlash for describing the disease as, variously, the “China coronavirus” and the “Wuhan coronavirus”.
World latest. A UK health minister has been diagnosed with the virus, Belgium has recorded its first death and a Wuhan doctor has criticised the Chinese authorities’ response to the outbreak. For Today in Focus, Peter Beaumont explains how coronavirus closed down Italy.
Weinstein lawyers cite ‘accomplishments’ before sentencing
Harvey Weinstein will make one final visit to Manhattan’s courtroom 99 on Wednesday morning, to face sentencing following his conviction for rape and sexual assault last month. The disgraced film producer’s lawyers have argued that he should be given the minimum sentence of five years in prison, given his “remarkable accomplishments”. But Weinstein, who has recently undergone heart surgery, could face up to 29 years behind bars.
Victim statement. Taralê Wulff, who says she was raped by Weinstein in 2005, testified at his trial. His sentence ought to send a clear message, she writes, that times have changed.
Russia trying to sabotage MH17 trial, say prosecutors
Dutch prosecutors have accused Russia of trying to thwart their investigation into the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine in 2014, claiming witnesses fear for their lives ahead of the trial of four suspects accused of arranging a Russian missile system that shot down the airliner. The defendants, three Russians and a Ukrainian, held senior posts in the region’s pro-Russian militias, say prosecutors. Russia denies any involvement in the incident.
Dutch victims. MH17 was shot down on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people on board were killed; most of the passengers were Dutch nationals.
Cheat sheet
The US commander for Afghanistan has told Congress the Taliban are not keeping “their part of the bargain”, continuing to launch attacks even as US troops begin a withdrawal from the country under the terms of a February peace deal.
Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has responded to a historic day of protests by women by insisting he will not take a new approach to tackling the country’s femicide epidemic, but will instead “reinforce the same strategy”.
A 29-year-old California man with a history of violence and mental illness has been found guilty of the random stabbing murder of 18-year-old Nia Wilson on an Oakland Bart train platform in July 2018.
Bears have been emerging from hibernation early across the northern hemisphere following an unusually mild winter, with sightings as early as February in the US, Russia and Finland.
Must-reads
Billie Eilish: standing her ground against the body shamers
Billie Eilish has given the music industry everything it could possibly want. As her world tour began this week, writes Laura Snapes, Eilish used her newfound power to push back against a rare point of contention: her refusal to show her body in service of her art.
Could the ‘Spanish flu’ help to understand the coronavirus?
The so-called “Spanish flu” of 1918 killed as many as 100 million people worldwide. Laura Spinney, the author of a new book about that global catastrophe, explains what it can – and can’t – tell us about today’s coronavirus crisis.
Will hurricane refugees defeat Trump in Florida?
After Hurricane Maria devastated their island home in 2017, many Puerto Ricans felt abandoned by the Trump administration. And tens of thousands fled to nearby Florida, where they might now be a significant voting bloc at the 2020 election. Cristian Salazar reports.
The beauticians who spot domestic abuse
Beauticians in Brazil, one of the most violent countries in the world for women, are being taught to how to spot the signs of domestic abuse and encourage victims to report the crime. It’s a programme that’s already being copied in the UK, as Sarah Johnson discovers.
Opinion
Jonah Lipton is a social anthropologist who unexpectedly became a specialist during the 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone. He says the experience taught him that panic is not the answer to a pandemic.
Surviving Ebola was not only a matter of avoiding contagion or receiving treatment, but a broader social matter of living through the crisis in a dignified and meaningful way.
Sport
The coronavirus continues to have an impact on the world of sport, with football matches going behind closed doors across Europe and fears for the viability of the Tokyo Olympics. Arsenal have postponed their Premier League tie with Manchester City and put several players in self-isolation after they came into contact with the Olympiakos owner Evangelos Marinakis, who has since tested positive for Covid-19.
Against the grain of the global economy, golf’s PGA Tour is apparently enjoying sharp growth, with its commissioner revealing plans to increase the Players Championship prize fund to $25m and the FedEx Cup bonus pool to $100m, in part to see off the threat of a proposed breakaway, the Premier Golf League.
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