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Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.
OxyContin accused of causing ‘worst drug crisis in US history’
A group consisting of more than 500 American cities, counties and tribes has filed a lawsuit against eight members of the Sackler family, the owners of Purdue Pharma, accusing them of helping to fuel the opioids epidemic, which now kills approximately 49,000 people in the US each year. Purdue manufactures OxyContin, the drug that has become emblematic of what the lawsuit calls “the worst drug crisis in American history”.
Arts funding. The Tate group of British art galleries, which includes Tate Modern, has said it will no longer accept donations from the Sackler family, who are major financial contributors to the arts.
Indonesian airline cancels Boeing order amid safety concerns
Indonesia’s national airline, Garuda, has cancelled a $4.9bn order for 49 of Boeing’s 737 Max 8 jets, citing a loss of passenger confidence in the plane following two deadly crashes in the space of six months. It has also emerged that both the Lion Air flight crashed near Jakarta in October and the Ethiopian Airlines aircraft that crashed on its way to Nairobi last week were missing two optional safety features. Boeing will now reportedly make at least one of those features compulsory.
Loss of trust. Garuda has already received one of its total order for 50 737 Max 8 planes, but may return it. Ikhsan Rosan, a spokesman for Garuda, said passengers had “lost trust” in the model.
Report: Oil firms spend $200m a year to block climate policy
The five largest stock market-listed oil and gas firms are spending close to $200m every year to lobby against climate change policy, according to a new report by InfluenceMap. Global energy giants including ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, Total and Shell have started spending significant amounts on social media advertising to promote their agenda.
Carbon tax blocked. BP donated $13m to a campaign, also supported by Chevron, which prevented the introduction of a carbon tax in Washington state, including $1m spent on social media.
EU pushback. ExxonMobil could lose its lobby privileges at the European parliament after failing to attend a hearing on climate change denial, amid accusations that the firm has peddling climate misinformation.
EU corners May with two-week Brexit delay
Theresa May’s request for a three-month delay to Brexit has been rebuffed by an unimpressed EU, which has instead given the UK prime minister just two weeks – until 12 April – to persuade British lawmakers to back her withdrawal agreement before the UK crashes out of the bloc without a deal. May is unlikely to win support for the deal from a hostile House of Commons at the third time of asking, which leaves the risk of no deal “very real”, according to cabinet ministers.
Article 50. Donald Tusk, the European council president, said the UK could still revoke article 50. A public petition to that end has been signed by 2 million people, but a spokesperson for May said she “will not countenance” cancelling the Brexit deadline.
Crib sheet
Young children living in conflict zones are 20 times more likely to die from diseases linked to dirty water than as a result of direct violence, an analysis by Unicef has found.
Cesar Sayoc, the Florida man who sent pipe bombs to prominent critics of Donald Trump such as George Soros, Robert De Niro and the Clintons, faces life in prison after pleading guilty on 65 counts, including using weapons of mass destruction.
Two American service members have been killed during an operation in Afghanistan, bringing the total number of US fatalities in the country to at least four in 2019. A record 3,804 Afghan civilians were killed in the conflict last year.
Brazil’s right wing populist president, Jair Bolsonaro, is expected to face protests from civilians and lawmakers as he arrives in Chile on Friday for his second official state visit, following his meeting with Trump earlier this week.
Must-reads
Jenny Lewis: ‘Maybe I have a little strength and hope to share’
Jenny Lewis’s mother Linda was a heroin addict throughout the songwriter’s life. But only as she prepares to release her fourth solo LP is Lewis finally discussing it in public, following their long estrangement, a rapprochement and Linda’s death. “I put it out into the ether, and maybe I’ll learn something,” she told Michael Hann.
The dirty lies that fuelled ‘Dieselgate’
‘Dieselgate’ exposed just how flagrantly car manufacturers’ had fooled emissions testers and disguised the health and environmental dangers posed by diesel vehicles. Beth Gardiner unravels one of the biggest corporate scandals in history.
Inside the world of US sports betting
Since a 2018 supreme court left the legalisation of sports gambling to individual states, it has rapidly emerged from the shadows as a lucrative, nationwide industry. Now it’s the subject of a four-part Showtime documentary series, Action. Adrian Horton talks to the filmmaker Luke Korem.
Sanders brings his message back to California
Bernie Sanders’ anti-establishment campaign resonated in California in 2016, but not sufficiently to propel his longshot candidacy past Hillary Clinton. He returns to the Golden State this week as a frontrunner, hoping to secure the Democratic stronghold for 2020, as Charles Davis reports.
Opinion
Beto O’Rourke believes he is meant for big things, comparing the 2020 campaign against Trump to the hero’s journey of Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. Moira Donegan says this egomaniacal sense of his own destiny comes from being white and male.
In the logic of the hero stories of which Beto is so fond, these mythic great men with great destinies are always, well, male. Women are seen not as heroes but as accessories, obstacles or support staff.
Sport
Murray State upset fifth-seeded Marquette with a 83-64 drubbing in the first round of the 2019 NCAA tournament’s West region on Thursday, thanks to a rare triple-double from NBA draft prospect Ja Morant.
Montserrat is ranked 200th in world soccer, but its team is now on the verge of qualifying for its first Concacaf Gold Cup, thanks to a group of non-league players from London with roots on the Caribbean island. Nick Ames hears their story.
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