US briefing: Europe travel ban, Weinstein sentenced and asylum seekers
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Version 0 of 1. Thursday’s top story: Trump announces 30-day block on travel from Europe in Oval Office address. Plus, why US cities should follow the Wuhan playbook Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories. Tom Hanks tests positive for Covid-19 as NBA suspended On Wednesday night, in a televised address from the White House, Donald Trump announced a 30-day suspension of travel from mainland Europe from Friday. The NBA season has been suspended until further notice, while the actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson have tested positive for Covid-19. The US death toll from the disease is 37. The total number of global infections has exceeded 126,000. While Trump continued to downplay the economic effects of the crisis, markets are still plummeting and analysts warn a global recession is now “highly probable”. Covid-19 is also reshaping the presidential campaign trail. Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders have cancelled rallies to combat the outbreak. But Trump is still planning to address thousands of supporters at an event next Thursday. Detroit water. Thousands of poor households in Detroit will have running water restored as a matter of public health amid the crisis. Many homes have been disconnected since 2014 as part of a controversial debt-collection programme. Prison workers. Prison labour is being used to bolster supplies of face masks and hand sanitiser in Hong Kong and the US, according to campaigners who say inmates are among those most vulnerable to the spread of the coronavirus. Harvey Weinstein sentenced to 23 years in prison There were gasps in a Manhattan courtroom on Wednesday as Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison, following his conviction for sexual assault and rape. As he pled for leniency, the fallen film producer claimed he had been “totally confused” by the #MeToo movement he unwittingly sparked, while failing to apologise to the six women who had testified against him. Lauren Aratani looks back on the key moments from the trial. Jennifer Aniston. There were fresh revelations in unsealed court documents from the trial, including Weinstein’s assertion that Jennifer Aniston “should be killed” and the inclusion of Ben Affleck on a “red-flag list” of film industry figures he suspected of speaking to the media about his abuses. Supreme court upholds Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy The US supreme court has said the Trump administration can maintain its controversial “Remain in Mexico” immigration policy while a lawsuit challenging it plays out in the courts – most likely until after the end of Trump’s current presidential term. The policy forces asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while US courts decide their fate. The supreme court decision overturns a lower court’s block on the practice, which was set to go into effect on Thursday. Dangerous journeys. The policy has kept about 60,000 people waiting in several of the most dangerous cities in Mexico, where human rights groups say they are routinely targeted for kidnapping, rape and other violent crimes. Cheat sheet Bernie Sanders has vowed to stay in the Democratic presidential race, despite a series of disappointing primary results on Tuesday that leave the Vermont senator seemingly without a viable path to the nomination. Chelsea Manning is recovering in hospital after trying to kill herself, the former intelligence analyst’s legal team has said. Manning has been in jail since May 2019, for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks. The EU has warned Greece it must uphold the right to asylum, following a New York Times report on a “black site” in the country’s north-east, where migrants are reportedly held without legal recourse before deportation to Turkey. Prehistoric footprints discovered in rocks on the Isle of Skye have revealed that a type of stegosaurus once roamed the Scottish landscape. Must-reads Craig Zobel: ‘I didn’t make The Hunt to gin up controversy’ The director of the most controversial movie of 2019 – and 2020 – thought he was making an “absurd satire”. As The Hunt – which is about liberals hunting Trump voters – finally gets a theatrical release, Craig Zobel tells Benjamin Lee: “It’s about the assumptions you make about something without really knowing anything about it.” A veteran of the Aids crisis joins the fight against Covid-19 After finding herself on the frontline of the HIV crisis as a young doctor in the 1980s, Dr Deborah Birx dedicated her career to stopping HIV and Aids. Now she is leading the US response to another apparently unstoppable virus: Covid-19. Amanda Holpuch reports. Black Republicans debunk the myth of a voter monolith Particularly in the Trump era, there remains a preconception that all black voters are Democratic voters. But now, writes Kenya Evelyn, prominent African American Republicans are stepping forward to counter the stereotype and assert their political identity. Super-rich take to their bunkers to avoid coronavirus For the super-rich, self-isolation means more than just staying at home and stockpiling toilet roll. Instead, reports Rupert Neate, they are renting private jets to their private islands or specially prepared disaster bunkers, sometimes with a private physician at their side. Opinion If the US continues to hesitate and fumble in its response to the coronavirus, only its most fortunate cities will be comparable to Wuhan, where the outbreak has apparently been contained, say Dr Renee C Wurth and Dr Nick Obradovich. Sport Liverpool’s Champions League reign has come to an end after a shocking loss at home to Atlético Madrid, the first European defeat for Jürgen Klopp’s team at Anfield in almost six years. Megan Rapinoe has said US Soccer has done “irreparable” damage to its relationship with the US women’s national team after the organisation claimed, as part its defense against a gender discrimination lawsuit, that the women were less skilled than their male counterparts. Sign up The US morning briefing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you’re not already signed up, subscribe now. |