Good morning.
As Donald Trump continues to downplay or denigrate the advice of his own administration’s scientists, more than 1,200 members of the US National Academy of Sciences have now signed an open letter urging the president to “restore science-based policy in government”. The letter began in 2016 as a response to Trump’s refusal to act on their warnings over the climate crisis, but it has rapidly accumulated fresh signatures amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The White House’s most recent affront to science is its bid to prevent billions of dollars being spent on crucial coronavirus track-and-trace efforts. On Sunday, with US deaths surpassing 140,000 and confirmed case numbers moving inexorably towards 4 million, Trump described the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, as a “little bit of an alarmist”.
Masks are mandatory in Hong Kong, France and Melbourne for anyone venturing outside their own homes, with the global Covid-19 death toll now more than 600,000.
Three ‘long-haulers’ with lingering symptoms told Pam Moore about their gruelling recoveries from the disease, which are still ongoing months after they tested positive.
Will Trump refuse to leave if he loses in November?
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It was one of the most troubling moments in an interview that was by turns shocking and unintentionally hilarious: speaking to Chris Wallace of Fox News on Sunday, Trump refused to commit to accepting the election result if his rival, Joe Biden, wins the presidency in November. “I have to see,” Trump said. “I’m not going to just say yes.”
Kanye West launched his presidential campaign with a chaotic rally in South Carolina on Sunday, and a rambling speech that took in abortion, Harriet Tubman and the terms of the rapper’s promotional deal with Adidas.
The former red state of Arizona is now an electoral battleground, which could decide the result in 2020, as Lauren Gambino and Maanvi Singh report.
Portland’s mayor wants Trump’s ‘shock troops’ gone
After more than 50 nights of anti-racist protest in Portland, Oregon, sparked by the death of George Floyd, the city is now patrolled by federal agents, parachuted in by the Trump administration, wearing camouflage gear and driving unmarked vehicles. The city’s mayor has demanded they be removed, saying “their presence is actually leading to more violence and vandalism”, while Oregon’s attorney general has vowed to seek a restraining order against them.
These shock troops are there to exert power, bully dissenters and intimidate Americans into giving up their first amendment protections, argues Francine Prose:
Government-funded thugs, assaulting citizens, still conjure up repellent images of Hitler’s brown shirts stomping their fellow Germans, and the street kidnapping of civilians has been the hallmark of authoritarian dictatorships.
China’s UK ambassador denied Beijing’s abuse of Uighurs
The British government is expected to suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong in response to China’s security crackdown on the supposedly autonomous territory, as the UK is drawn further into the dispute over Beijing’s dire human rights record.
Over the weekend, the Chinese ambassador to the UK was confronted on a TV news show with drone footage of hundreds of blindfolded, shackled prisoners being herded on to trains in Xinjiang, amid widespread reports of large-scale persecution of the region’s Muslim Uighur minority. “Uighur people enjoy peaceful, harmonious coexistence with other ethnic groups,” Liu Xiaoming insisted.
Chinese authorities blew up a dam to ease catastrophic flooding on the Yangtze River in central China. More than 150 people have died or are missing following recent flooding and landslides brought on by torrential rains.
In other news…
The UAE has launched the Arab world’s first mission to Mars. The unmanned probe – called Al-Amal, or Hope – took off from Japan early on Monday, joining the US and China in the race to the red planet.
John Lewis should be honoured with a new voting rights bill, the House majority whip James Clyburn has argued. Clyburn also suggested the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, be renamed in honour of the late congressman who famously led civil rights marchers across it in 1965.
Roger Stone used a racial slur during a radio interview with host Morris O’Kelly, who is black. The veteran political dirty trickster was being grilled on Trump’s controversial commutation of his prison sentence, when he could be heard to mutter that he was “arguing with this negro”.
Great reads
Haley Joel Osment: ‘Acting was like going to camp’
Haley Joel Osment was 10 years old when he made The Sixth Sense. Now a successful character actor in his 30s, he tells Elle Hunt why Hollywood child stardom doesn’t always lead to a blowout: “I think the percentage of people having a positive experience working as children is much higher than most people imagine.”
How coronavirus is reshaping Europe’s tourist hotspots
Europe’s major tourist cities have been near-deserted amid the lockdown. But now that they can begin to welcome visitors back, the likes of Venice and Prague also have an opportunity to rethink their model for deleterious mass tourism. Stephen Burgen and Angela Giuffrida report from Barcelona and Rome respectively.
The black creatives holding K-pop to account
A striking number of K-pop hits are written and produced by black Americans – and a significant percentage of America’s K-pop fans are black. But many of them are still waiting for Korea’s music industry to develop a more sensitive and global understanding of race, as Elizabeth de Luna writes.
Opinion: Biden has all but endorsed the Green New Deal
Joe Biden has done what Democratic presidential candidates almost never do after winning the primary: tack to the left. His climate plans are the most ambitious ever proposed by a nominee, says Julian Brave NoiseCat. It’s the Green New Deal in all but name.
Biden views the workers, unions and communities of color most impacted by the fossil fuel economy and the potential shift away from it as deserving special attention. In his view, climate action cannot be separated from economic, environmental and social justice.
Last Thing: the lockdown’s accidental archaeologists
Many people became gardeners during lockdown. A few of those gardeners also became archaeologists. The British Museum says the period has seen a spate of historical discoveries by people in the UK, who have unearthed coins, arrowheads and other ancient artefacts, all while digging up their own flowerbeds.
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