As the world watches, a wounded American remains in turmoil
Since the Second World War, much of Europe has viewed the US as a democratic model. The headlines in newspapers around the world on Thursday showed something else.
The images of a mob who overran the US Capitol on Wednesday struck a nerve in broken Western societies, writes our Paris office manager: If it could happen in the heart of democracy, it could happen anywhere.
President Trump posted a video Thursday condemning the previous day’s violence when supporters he asked to march on Congress stormed the building. He admitted that a “new government” would be sworn in on January 20th.
But what he said did little to suppress the turmoil within the government and among large parts of the American people.
Increasing game: There have been growing calls for Mr Trump’s immediate impeachment and threats of further impeachment. A wave of resignations robbed him of some protectors and allies, and the Republican Party fragmented. The editors of the Wall St. Journal, a leitmotif of the conservative establishment, called on Mr. Trump to resign.
Facebook announced that it would prevent him from posting until the end of his tenure, and the Justice Department declined to rule out charges against him.
The rioters: The mob included notorious white nationalists, conspiracy theorists, a newly elected West Virginia lawmaker – and many more anonymous people who had traveled from other states to answer Mr Trump’s call to support his efforts to overthrow the elections. Here’s how they broke through the Capitol.
Race and Police: The fact that the predominantly white intruders overran the police so easily and did not suffer mass arrests has been criticized, particularly by those who remembered harsher treatment in racial justice marches. “You can get arrested for walking while black, but you can be white and excited and basically get away with it,” said Attica Scott, a Kentucky state agent who was arrested in Louisville last summer.
A warning report of an in-flight coronavirus outbreak
Most of the research into the possible transmission of coronavirus on airplanes has centered on flights that took place last spring when the value of preventive measures was not widely understood. A new report describes what can happen even if airlines and passengers are more aware of the risks and more cautious.
The flight: An 18-hour trip from Dubai to New Zealand in September on a Boeing 777-300ER that was three-quarters empty. Upon arrival in Auckland, the 86 passengers were quarantined for two weeks as needed.
The results: Seven passengers, all sitting in the same four rows and two of whom had not worn masks, tested positive during the quarantine. The versions of the virus they carried were genetically virtually identical. Research by the New Zealand Ministry of Health found that a passenger who tested negative four or five days before boarding had triggered a chain of infection that spread to at least four others.
Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.
In other developments:
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Officials in France, where around 45,000 people have been vaccinated, vowed Thursday to hasten the campaign. “2021 will be the year of hope,” Prime Minister Jean Castex said, but he added that infections and hospital stays remained too high to ease restrictions, end curfews or reopen bars and restaurants on January 20 as planned to enable.
The pandemic revives Italy’s brain drain
Alongside Romania and Poland, Italy sends most of the European workers abroad. And the proportion of Italians living abroad with a university degree is higher than that of the Italian population.
Last year, the number of Italians between the ages of 18 and 34 returning home rose 20 percent from a year earlier, according to the State Department.
The transition of the president
Updated
Jan. 8, 2021, 12:48 AM ET
Italy celebrated. “The counter-exodus of the brain drain,” declared the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore in September. “Now young people want to return to Italy”, proclaimed Il Giornale di Sicilia.
Precautions: Many of the returnees still work for foreign companies. And they are not allowed to stay. Brunello Rosa, a London economist who is a member of the diaspora, said they “create value abroad and income abroad” – and that just spending their salary in Italy doesn’t have a material impact on the country.
If you have some time, it’s worth it
52 places to love
Varun Suchday, from Bhuj, India, is always on the lookout for streets that aren’t on maps and speaks to locals for their directions. When the pandemic broke out, he heard about special rock formations in Kaliya Dhrow, India. He rode his motorcycle for hours and finally came across “this wonderful, endless landscape of red: stripes of purple, saffron – orange”.
He’s one of those readers who shared stories about some of their favorite places in a dark year. Here is our list of 52 popular places to go this year replacing the usual 52 takeaway spots on our Travel Desk.
The following also happens
Joe Biden: After his victory was recognized by Congress and his party was to control both the House and Senate, the president-elect moved on Thursday to fill his cabinet while his aides and allies drew up plans for an ambitious legislative agenda.
Boeing settlement: The US aviation giant agreed to pay more than $ 2.5 billion to settle a criminal complaint against two employees who withheld information about software changes on the 737 Max from US regulators. The changes were linked to two fatal crashes and resulted in the aircraft landing worldwide in 2019.
Snapshot: Above actor Gabriel Byrne near his home in Maine recently. He told our reporter how he accidentally deleted the near-definitive version of his upcoming memoir “Walking With Ghosts” and how he felt about his native Ireland. “I’ve always missed the country, the people, the landscape, the humor, the common references and the fact that you don’t have to explain yourself,” he said.
The new richest man in the world: A rally in Tesla shares urged Founder Elon Musk’s net worth was $ 188.5 billion at 10:15 a.m. on Thursday in New York, $ 1.5 billion more than Jeff Bezos’.
In remembrance: Neil Sheehan, 84, who extensively covered the Vietnam War for The Times and received the Pentagon Papers, the secret government history of the war. And Narinder S. Kapany, 94, known as the “father of fiberglass”.
What we read: This paper in The Paris Review. It’s about the perception of time.
Now a break from the news
Cook: This pan pizza has a crispy crust, a slightly sweet sauce, and an enormous amount of cheese.
Listen: The flute is an instrument based on the most basic sign of life: the breath. Hear the best music ever written for it.
To do: Do you want to train more this year? Then, adopt training goals that are challenging but not too challenging, tough but doable. Or, just plan to take at least 500 additional steps most days.
We can help you take on a new project. At Home offers a comprehensive collection of ideas on what to read, cook, see, and do while staying safe at home.
And now for the background story about …
How to fix the vaccine rollout
In our opinion section, experts shared their ideas on how to improve vaccine distribution in the US. Here are some excerpts.
Make it a lottery. Which professions should be seen as a front? What about taxi drivers when local transport workers count? Then there is the practical question of how a pharmacy can tell if someone is really a preschool teacher or a grocery store clerk. We should focus on people over 55 and, by the way, on a lottery. It would be fair and apolitical.
Target hot spots. In the second phase of vaccination, things get more complicated. We were able to quickly and easily select the communities with the most new coronavirus cases per capita in the past two weeks. We should also focus on places with an absolute minimum number of newly infected people in order to achieve critical mass and avoid the scarce vaccines from being distributed to small populations.
Write better algorithms. Anyone who uses vaccine distribution algorithms should follow key principles including: making sure the outcome of the algorithm is what really matters to us, taking the time to do a test run, building public trust, and so is your algorithm monitor and update after vaccine delivery.
That’s it for this briefing. Have a nice weekend. Natasha will be back on Monday.
– Andrea
Many Thanks
To Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh for the break from the news. You can reach the team at [email protected].
PS
• We hear “The Daily”. Our final episode is what the attack on the Capitol looked like to the Times reporters trapped in it.
• Here is today’s mini crossword and a clue: magnolia or maple (four letters). You can find all of our puzzles here.
• Stephen Dunbar-Johnson, President of the International New York Times, was interviewed by I-Magazine on the newspaper’s global subscriber growth.
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