Global coronavirus cases are surging, driven by India and South America.
The number of new daily cases has exceeded 800,000 for more than a week. The spike is largely driven by the outbreak in India, which now accounts for more than 40 percent of the world’s new cases. The U.S. plans to halt travel for non-U.S. citizens from India starting Tuesday.
Vaccines in India are running short, hospitals are swamped and cremation grounds are burning thousands of bodies every day. Health experts and political analysts say that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s overconfidence and domineering leadership style bear a huge share of the responsibility for the crisis. Meanwhile, Indians living abroad are frantically seeking to help sick relatives.
Much of South America is also faring poorly. Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Colombia all rank among the 20 nations with the highest number of Covid deaths per capita.” Read more at New York Times
Republican lawmakers are trying to empower poll watchers, raising fears of voter intimidation.
Election officials and voting rights activists point to the long history of poll watchers being used to harass voters and election workers, especially in Democratic-leaning communities of color. Republicans have offered little evidence to justify a need to give poll watchers expanded access and autonomy.
Republican state lawmakers in 20 states have introduced at least 40 bills that would expand the powers of poll watchers, including in Texas, where a vote in the House could come this week. That bill, which would impose a raft of voting restrictions, is among the most severe in the nation.” Read more at New York TimesGabby Jones for The New York Times
Apple’s grip on the app economy is heading to court on Monday.
Epic Games, the maker of the wildly popular game Fortnite, has accused Apple of breaking antitrust laws by forcing Epic to hand over a 30 percent cut from its sales. The lawsuit followed Apple’s removal of Fortnite from its app store last year because Epic encouraged users to make purchases outside of Apple’s payment system. Epic has another trial against Google over the same issues for Android devices.
The trial, which is expected to last three weeks, will center on a legal debate over whether Apple is a monopoly. If Epic wins, it will upend the economics of the $100 billion app market and create a path for millions of companies and developers to avoid Apple’s fees. It would also invigorate the antitrust fight against Apple, both in the U.S. and the E.U.” Read more at New York Times
“Four astronauts strapped into a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule safely splashed down into glasslike waters off the Florida coast early Sunday, wrapping up their six-month mission to the International Space Station.
After departing the night before, Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins, Soichi Noguchi, and Shannon Walker were lowered into the Gulf of Mexico under the safety of four main parachutes at 2:57 a.m. Eastern time. SpaceX boats stationed near Panama City quickly swarmed the capsule, named Resilience, and prepped for recovery.” Read more at USA Today
“A shooting Saturday at a Wisconsin casino left three people dead including the gunman, and one person seriously injured, police said early Sunday.
Law enforcement responded about 7:30 p.m. Saturday to reports of shots fired at the Duck Creek Restaurant inside the Oneida Casino/Radisson Hotel & Conference Center, the Brown County Sheriff's Office said.
Police shot the gunman after he had shot three other people in or near the restaurant, Lt. Kevin Pawlak said at a news conference just after midnight.
The gunman went to the restaurant, but the employee he targeted was not there, Pawlak said. The gunman then shot some other workers, two of whom died, the sheriff's office said. The gunman was killed outside the restaurant by law enforcement officials.” Read more at USA Today
“California gubernatorial candidate Caitlyn Jenner (R) said Saturday that she does not support trans girls competing on the sports team that corresponds with their gender identity, saying that it would not be ‘fair.’
During an interview with TMZ, the Olympian and reality television star, who is transgender, said, ‘This is a question of fairness. That's why I oppose biological boys who are trans competing in girls' sports in school.’
She added, ‘It just isn't fair. And we have to protect girls' sports in our schools.’” Read more at The Hill
“As far-right demonstrators gathered outside the Oregon Capitol in December in the hope of ending coronavirus restrictions, state Rep. Mike Nearman (R) appeared to deliberately allow entry to two men trying to breach the building as he was leaving.
Without hesitation, two rioters on Dec. 21 rushed inside the state Capitol in Salem, Ore., held doors open and signaled for others to come in before police arrived to cut off the security breach, according to surveillance video obtained by the Oregonian and Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Nearman, 57, now faces criminal charges for his role in allegedly allowing the riotersto breach the Oregon Capitol, Marion County District Attorney Paige E. Clarkson announced Friday. The GOP lawmaker has been charged with misdemeanor counts of first-degree official misconduct and second-degree criminal trespass, according to court documents.” Read more at Washington Post
A deadly blast rocked Afghanistan as U.S. troops started to leave.
A suicide bomber blew up a truck in Logar province on Friday night, killing at least 27 people. If the blast was the work of the Taliban, as the Afghan government asserts, it would be the most overt signal yet that a peace deal reached by the Trump administration is off.
The blast occurred just before a May 1 deadline agreed to last year by the Taliban and U.S. officials to end the 20-year U.S. military presence in Afghanistan. That plan was scrapped when President Biden shifted the withdrawal to Sept. 11, but it’s unclear whether the blast was retaliation for that extension. U.S. troops have already started to leave the country, and American bases are being dismantled.” Read more at New York Times
Christian Hansen for The New York Times
Medina Spirit won the Kentucky Derby, giving his trainer, Bob Baffert, a record seventh victory in the famed horse race.
The colt, above right, crossed the finish line half a length ahead of Mandaloun and comfortably ahead of the pre-race favorite, Essential Quality, who finished fourth. The mint juleps flowed while the exuberant hats and pocket squares bobbed through the grandstand and the clubhouse of the famed Churchill Downs, but at a significantly reduced capacity because of the pandemic.
‘I’m the luckiest guy in the world,’ Baffert said after his record-breaking victory. ‘I’m so spoiled bringing these heavy-duty horses in here, and this little horse has a big heart.’” Read more at New York Times
MGM, via Photofest
“Olympia Dukakis, who often played world-weary characters in films including ‘Moonstruck’ and ‘Steel Magnolias,’ died at 89.
Dukakis was an East Coast stage veteran of three decades when she starred in ‘Moonstruck,’ above, opposite Cher, stealing scene after scene as her sardonic mother and earning an Oscar. In a 2011 review of her performance in the Tennessee Williams play ‘The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore,’ The Times called her ‘macabre, hilarious and weirdly touching,’ with a ‘bullying bravado that commands attention.’” Read more at New York Times
“We also remember Eli Broad, the philanthropist whose vast fortune and zeal for civic improvement helped reshape the cultural landscape of Los Angeles. He died at 87.” Read more at New York Times
“I’m not stingy with my experience. I believe in abundance.”
That’s Janet Mock, a transgender activist, writer, director and executive producer on the FX series “Pose,” above. As the groundbreaking drama about the Harlem ballroom scene in the 1980s begins its final season Sunday night, Mock talked to us about ‘Pose’ and her plan to make more TV that shows people that they are not alone.
‘I fought for those love stories, because I know what it feels like to be rejected over and over and over,’ she said.” Read more at New York Times