Top story: Delhi running out of space for pyres
Hello, Warren Murray bringing you a first instalment of the day’s news.
Dr Anthony Fauci, US president Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, has said wealthier countries are failing to lead an adequate global response to the coronavirus outbreak overwhelming India. Speaking to the Guardian, Fauci said that although the World Health Organization was trying to accelerate support to India through the global Covax initiative, “we have to do even more than that … The United States has really revved up their activity in helping out India … We’re sending oxygen, remdesivir, personal protective equipment, a variety of other medications and soon we’ll be sending vaccine to help out. So I think that that’s a responsibility that the rich countries need to assume.”
India this morning remains in the deadly grip of raging coronavirus transmission – and as hospital and intensive care beds in Delhi and other cities have filled far beyond capacity, the instruction from doctors has been for patients to find oxygen for themselves. As a result, demand for oxygen cylinders has soared, with unofficial vendors selling a single cylinder usually worth 6,000 rupees (£58) for upwards of £700. A civilian oxygen army has also stepped in, providing cylinders and refills free to those in desperate need.
One of those providing the aid, Faisal Khaliq of the Masjid and Madrasa Amania Trust, said it was “impossible” to fulfil thousands of requests. “I have cried after hearing the way people were asking – no, literally begging – for an oxygen cylinder to save their loved ones.” The WHO is sending 4,000 oxygen concentrators, which draw oxygen from the air, and countries including Germany, Singapore, the US, the UK – even the tiny neighbouring kingdom of Bhutan – have pledged oxygen supplies and generators. Meanwhile crematoriums in Delhi are being overwhelmed with so many bodies that they have been forced to build makeshift funeral pyres on spare patches of land. The BBC has reported trees in parks being cut down for firewood and relatives of the dead being asked to help pile up wood.
In the UK, the Trades Union Congress is calling for an immediate public inquiry into the handling of the Covid pandemic and whether workers have been kept safe enough. About 15,000 people of working age have died from Covid in England and Wales – men working in processing plants, security, care and restaurants were most at risk, according to figures up to the end of 2020, and for women it was machine operators and care workers. In some heartening news, Public Health England has found that a single dose of a Covid-19 vaccine – either Pfizer/BioNTech or Oxford/AstraZeneca – can slash transmission of the virus by up to half, while a report from Tony Blair’s Institute for Global Change says that vaccinating older children and relaxing social restrictions more slowly could help to prevent a third wave in the UK.
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‘Questions need to be answered’ – Senior Tories have urged Boris Johnson to own up about the funding of his Downing Street flat refurbishment. Reports have alleged that the refurbishment was initially paid for by a donation from Tory peer and donor Lord Brownlow to Conservative campaign headquarters, which then lent the money to Johnson. No 10 has insisted that “Conservative party funds are not being used to pay for the Downing Street flat” but have not denied the existence of a donation or loan arrangement. Labour has demanded a formal investigation. Tory MPs said there could be an innocent answer but a lack of proof was making things worse. “There’s a reasonable set of questions that need to be answered,” one said.
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Midweek catch-up
> Starting this year motorists may be legally allowed to have their cars “self-drive” on British motorways at up to 37mph using automatic lane-keeping system mode (Alks), the government has announced.
> Multiple Democratic Unionist party (DUP) assembly members are believed to have signed a letter seeking a leadership contest that could topple Arlene Foster as leader and Northern Ireland first minister amid anger at her handling of the Brexit protocol.
> Arizona’s governor has signed a sweeping bill banning abortion if it is sought solely because a foetus has a genetic abnormality.
> Spain aims to reopen to overseas holidaymakers from June under the Covid digital health certificate scheme, its government has said. Talks over reopening travel between the UK and EU for the summer holidays will open with Brussels within days.
> Burning Man organisers have cancelled this summer’s annual counter-culture festival in the Nevada desert for the second year in a row because of Covid-19.
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Ministers’ ties to cable sponsor – Two ministers face calls from Labour to recuse themselves from decisions on a Conservative party donor’s plan to build a £1.2bn cross-Channel power and data cable. Aquind Energy, jointly owned by the Ukrainian-born millionaire Alexander Temerko, has applied to the business department to build the cable between Portsmouth and Normandy. Martin Callanan, the business department’s parliamentary undersecretary and Conservative peer, was formerly a non-executive director of Aquind. Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the energy and clean growth minister, accepted £2,500 from Aquind last year as part of a £10,000 donation to the Northumberland Conservatives, and her Berwick-upon-Tweed Conservative party chapter accepted donations totalling £17,000 from Temerko between 2013 and 2015. A government spokesperson said neither Trevelyan or Callanan would “have any role in the decision” but did not rule out them taking part in business department discussions relating to the project.
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‘It’s about control’ – The longstanding feud between Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook could come to a head this week, as an Apple iPhone update allows users to opt out of the cross-platform tracking that Facebook relies on to make money. Facebook has described it as an attack on small businesses that use its advertising – even releasing television commercials on the matter – while Apple has made it about privacy.
Neither of those narratives is exactly accurate, said Gautam Hans, a US professor of intellectual property and privacy law. “It’s more about control of the industry,” he said. “Apple is a company very focused on controlling its own products and services, and they view Facebook as undermining that.” Guardian US technology correspondent Kari Paul explains.
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Freedom prize for Rappler editor – Unesco has awarded its annual press freedom prize to the Philippine journalist Maria Ressa whose reporting has made her a target of her country’s judiciary and online hate campaigns. Ressa, a former Asia lead investigative reporter for CNN and head of domestic network ABS-CBN News, now manages the news website Rappler whose reporting has attracted the wrath of president Rodrigo Duterte.
She has been involved in many international initiatives to promote press freedom, as well as being arrested several times and pursued through the courts “for alleged crimes related to the exercise of her profession”, Unesco said. “Maria Ressa’s unerring fight for freedom of expression is an example for many journalists around the world.”
Today in Focus podcast: Leaving Afghanistan
Fawzia Koofi is an Afghan politician who for the past few years has been one of the few women in peace talks with the Taliban. In August 2020 she was wounded in an assassination attempt. She discusses the attack and the threat the Taliban pose to women’s rights, while the Guardian’s world affairs editor, Julian Borger, discusses the legacy of the US “forever war”.
Lunchtime read: ‘Bras are a curse’
A year since the pandemic started, women’s bodies and habits have changed. Here they discuss underwiring, sleep underwear, and how going bra-free helps with polymastia.
Sport
Thomas Tuchel urged Timo Werner to keep his chin up after the striker’s profligacy in front of goal prevented Chelsea from winning the first leg of their Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid. Pep Guardiola has told Manchester City to play their semi against Paris Saint-German tonight “like a friendly” and enjoy the pressure of facing last season’s runners-up. Arsenal’s owners, the Kroenke family, have insisted they will not sell at any price but a group led by Spotify’s co‑founder Daniel Ek intends to test their resolve by pressing ahead with a firm offer. Mark England, Team GB’s chef de mission at the Olympics this summer, says the organisation is talking to British athletes to ensure those who wish to protest in Tokyo will be able to do so.
An investor in the planned takeover of Newcastle United that received high-level support from Boris Johnson last year is a major Conservative party donor who has personally funded the prime minister’s constituency office and leadership campaign. Teenage girls face almost double the risk of concussion playing football compared with teenage boys – and typically take two days longer to recover, a landmark study has found. And Mark Selby has control of the battle of the three-times winners after establishing a 6-2 advantage in his quarter-final with Mark Williams at the World Snooker Championship.
Business
Google’s owner, Alphabet, has seen revenue soar 34% in the first quarter of this year helped in large part by people spending more time online during the pandemic. It brought in $55.3bn in the three months to the end of March, prompting Google boss Sundar Pichai to say: “Thank you to our Googlers around the world for a great start to the year.” The FTSE100 looks like seeing a lift of 0.36% this morning. The pound will fetch you $1.387 and €1.149.
The papers
The Guardian print edition leads with “PM urged to come clean about cash for No 10 revamp”. The Mail declares itself the “Paper leading the pack” to ask “yet more searching questions” of Boris Johnson – that coverage is inside, while its incredulous splash is “Self-drive cars in UK this year” which it says is being proposed despite “US horror crashes and safety fears”. The Mirror calls the No 10 flat controversy the “Cash for curtains” affair.
As you might expect on a bad news day for the PM, the Express is off with the fairies – “Boris: my ‘bounce back Britain’ mission” – that’s about the Queen’s speech. The i looks a bit behind: “Anger at PM over ‘let it rip’ outburst”.
The Telegraph has “Dyson: BBC twisted truth over my links to the Tories” while the Times says “40m people live in areas almost free of Covid”. It also enjoys the Queen resuming official duties via Zoom, about which the Sun says “Ma’am cam”. The Sun’s lead is “June Olé Days” as Spain says it will let in holidaying Britons with a digital health pass. The Metro leads on “Covid deaths plummet 97%”.
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