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Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.
White House ‘ignored foreign influence and conflict of interest’
A White House whistleblower has claimed the Trump administration overruled more than two dozen security clearance denials, against the advice of intelligence officials. Elijah Cummings, the chair of the House oversight committee, published a memo on Monday outlining the findings of a recent interview with Tricia Newbold, a veteran White House security adviser, who said the people given clearances “had a wide range of serious disqualifying issues involving foreign influence, conflicts of interest, concerning personal conduct, financial problems, drug use, and criminal conduct”.
Laughing matter? Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law – who, at the president’s insistence, holds top-level security clearance – laughed off the notion that he posed a “grave national security concern” in an interview with Fox News.
Border closure would ‘cripple’ El Paso, says GOP mayor
Dee Margo, the Republican mayor of El Paso, Texas, has said Trump’s threat to shut the border between the US and Mexico this week “would be a crippler” for the city and have a “detrimental, almost draconian” impact on the entire region. Trump began threatening a border closure last Friday amid a spring surge in migrant arrivals from Central America, which the president claims Mexico is not doing enough to stem.
‘Border czar’. Trump is reportedly keen to appoint a “border czar” to coordinate immigration policy, and is said to be considering two hard-right conservatives for the role: former Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach and former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli.
Deportation bill. Activists, Democrats and even some police chiefs in Florida have united in opposition to a “racist” state bill, which proponents say will speed up the deportation of “bad criminals”, but critics claim is merely another excuse for separating families.
No-deal Brexit ‘more likely by the day’, says EU
The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, has warned that the prospect of a no-deal Brexit on 12 April is growing more likely “day after day”, as MPs in Westminster again failed to agree on any of the proposed alternatives to Theresa May’s wildly unpopular withdrawal agreement. As the EU made further preparations for no deal, May called a lengthy cabinet meeting for Tuesday.
Full moon protest. Parliament’s Brexit debate was interrupted on Monday by naked protesters from the environmentalist group Extinction Rebellion, who spent almost 20 minutes mooning the House of Commons chamber before being removed.
Amazon employees left to suffer after workplace injuries
While its CEO, Jeff Bezos, has become the wealthiest man on Earth, Amazon’s warehouse employees have long complained of low pay and brutal working conditions. Now a Guardian investigation has uncovered numerous cases of Amazon workers in the US being left to suffer by the firm after sustaining workplace injuries. If they can go on working, they do so in pain. If they can’t, they may be deprived of their income and forced to grapple with courts and insurers to receive the benefits and medical care they need.
Bad advice? A group of Google employees has called on the firm to remove the president of the rightwing Heritage Foundation thinktank from its new advisory council for “the responsible development of AI”, citing her past support for Trump’s border wall and opposition to LGBT rights.
Crib sheet
Chicago is set to elect its first ever black female mayor in Tuesday’s runoff election between Lori Lightfoot, the former president of the city’s police board, and Toni Preckwinkle, the Cook county board president.
Saudi authorities have given all four children of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi luxury homes and paid them thousands of dollars per month, to encourage them “to show restraint in their public statements”, according to the Washington Post.
An American woman who survived an attack on her tour group by the Egyptian military is fighting to prevent the US selling more weapons to Egypt like the ones that killed her boyfriend and left her permanently scarred.
The head of Nasa has criticised India for shooting down its own satellite and thereby creating hundreds of pieces of orbital debris, some of which could threaten the safety of the International Space Station.
Must-reads
What I learned from being a political telemarketer
Matt Hanson became a political telemarketer in 2007, when fundraising for Barack Obama could still be considered an enlightened, reformist pursuit. But Hanson soon learned that, “whatever else it may achieve, political telemarketing has little to do with political reform.”
How we made A Clockwork Orange
With Stanley Kubrick’s controversial classic returning to UK cinemas this week, its star Malcolm McDowell recalls the pain of eyeball clamps and being spat on repeatedly by Steven Berkoff: “Obviously, I was a bit pissed off.”
Is Joe Biden’s White House run over before it begins?
Two women have accused the famously handsy former VP of inappropriate physical contact, just as he prepares to launch another presidential bid. Biden may resist being tarred with the #MeToo brush, but does his behaviour mark him out as a man of the past? David Smith reports.
How to make your sex life more eco-friendly
Environmentalists have sex, too. Which is why, writes Amy Fleming, the sex industry has been developing a growing selection of sustainable products for the horny recycler in your life, from vegan condoms to biodegradable vibrators.
Opinion
Jacinda Ardern’s response to the massacre in Christchurch has been exemplary, but her expressions of grief should not obscure the suffering and grace of the Muslim communities affected, says Mariam Khan.
I have seen more pictures of Ardern’s grief and mourning than of the Muslim community in New Zealand, the victims or those who acted bravely on the day to save lives and fight against the terrorist.
Sport
The NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, has said many of the players he meets are “amazingly isolated” and “genuinely unhappy” – and he blames social media. Sam Yip asks whether Twitter and Instagram are making our top sports stars miserable.
The battle for third place in the Premier League is heating up, and with their 2-0 win over Newcastle on Monday night, Arsenal have leapfrogged Tottenham and Manchester United.
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