Even as Trump was acknowledging the need to make tough decisions, he and his aides would soon be working to do just the opposite. Photo / Doug Mills, The New York Times
Even as Trump was acknowledging the need to make tough decisions, he and his aides would soon be working to do just the opposite. Photo / Doug Mills, The New York Times
Welcome to the weekend.
As we get further into winter the temptation to hibernate is high. So curl up under the blankets this weekend and spend some time catching up on some of the best pieces of journalism from our premium international syndicators.
Happy reading.
Inside Trump's failure: The rushto abandon leadership role on the virus
Over a critical period beginning in mid-April, President Donald Trump and his team convinced themselves that the coronavirus outbreak was fading, that they had given state governments all the resources they needed to contain its remaining "embers" and that it was time to ease up on the lockdown.
In doing so, Trump was ignoring warnings that the numbers would continue to drop only if social distancing was kept in place, rushing instead to restart the economy and tend to his battered re-election hopes.
The roots of the United States' current inability to control the pandemic can be traced to mid-April, when the White House embraced overly rosy projections to proclaim victory and move on.
President Trump speaking during a televised news conference this week, as seen from a coronavirus ward at Houston Methodist Hospital. Photo / Erin Schaff, The New York Times
Europe said it was pandemic-ready. Pride was its downfall
As recently as February, when European health ministers met in Brussels to discuss the coronavirus emerging in China, they commended their own health systems and promised to send aid to poor and developing countries.
Barely a month later, the continent was overwhelmed. Instead of merely providing aid to former colonies, Western Europe became an epicentre of the pandemic. Officials once boastful about their preparedness were frantically trying to secure protective gear and materials for tests, as death rates soared in Britain, France, Spain, Italy and Belgium.
A temporary morgue was set up in the car park of a mosque in Birmingham, England, in April to help the city cope with deaths from the coronavirus. Photo / Andrew Testa, The New York Times
New Yorkers fear return of 'bad old days' after shootings surge
The shooting death of one-year-old Davell Gardner at a barbecue in Brooklyn on July 12 was surely heartbreaking. It was also another ominous data point in a growing body of statistical evidence indicating that New York City, after a long era of peace, is turning violent.
Police guard the scene of a shooting in the Crown Heights neighbourhood which left one dead and five injured, on July 15. Photo / AP
Inside Johnson & Johnson's non stop hunt for a coronavirus vaccine
The coronavirus has now infected about 14.4 million people worldwide and killed at least 605,700. Millions more may die. The only hope for a long-term protection, literally the only shot at a return to normal life, is an effective vaccine.
In January researchers dropped everything they were doing to find one.
Noe Mercado, a scientist at the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research in Boston, which is developing a coronavirus vaccine with Johnson & Johnson. Photo / Tony Luong, The New York Times
Is the rebound in America's economy already over?
Having overcome the initial coronavirus shock in March and April more rapidly than expected, aided by massive doses of fiscal and monetary stimulus, the rebound from the sudden recession in the United States is now being threatened by a surge in Covid-19 cases across many parts of the Sunbelt, including populous states like Florida, Texas and California.
Total Bellas refuse to be knocked out by quarantine
When Nikki and Brie Bella, twin sisters who are also reality stars and recently retired WWE champions, found out they were both pregnant last November, they were most excited about the pizookies.
While working as professional athletes, pizookies — cookies baked in a cast iron pan like a pizza, of course — were off limits.
Neither woman had considered that they might spend their pregnancies isolated, trying to film their show Total Bellas from their homes during a pandemic. Let alone without professional-grade pizookies.
Nikki and Brie Bella, at home in Phoenix. Photo / Cassidy Araiza, The New York Times
With tourists gone, Bali workers return to farms and fishing
Ni Nyoman Ayu Sutaryani, a mother of three, made a steady living for two decades working as a masseuse and yoga instructor at Bali's luxury hotels and spas. Now at 37 she finds herself back on the farm of her childhood village here, standing precariously at the top of a tall bamboo ladder, picking cloves.
Many resort workers have gone home to villages and small towns, taking up traditional ways of earning a living to feed themselves and their families.
Ni Nyoman Ayu Sutaryani harvesting cloves in Lalanglinggah Village last month. Photo / Nyimas Laula, The New York Times
Sarcasm, self-deprecation and inside jokes: A user's guide to humour at work
Many of us intuit that humour matters. Ask your colleagues what characteristics they value in a friend or a romantic partner, and they are likely to mention a sense of humour. But ask the same people what traits they value in a leader, and odds are that humour will not top the list.
Humour can be a powerful leadership tool but jokes that fall flat or are offensive can harm professional standings.
Humour can be a powerful leadership tool Photo / 123RF
Ghislaine Maxwell, the socialite sunk into scandal
How well does anyone really know Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite who became a ubiquitous figure on New York's social scene soon after she stepped off Concorde in 1991?
Denizens of her world describe the Oxford-educated hostess and trained helicopter pilot as "lovely", "fun" and "vivacious".
But in a New York court hearing this week an accuser described Maxwell very differently: as "a predator and a monster".
British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell arrives at Epsom Racecourse in 1991. Photo / AP
Comment: Can Trump come back?
Here is what Donald Trump can realistically do to right his poll numbers, regain his lost supporters and make the 2020 presidential race close instead of a 10-point Joe Biden blowout.
President Donald Trump walks across the South Lawn of the White House. Photo / Anna Moneymaker, The New York Times
For women in Afghan security forces, a daily battle
Motivated, educated and fresh from finishing police academy in Turkey, 2nd Lt. Zala Zazai had stellar qualifications for the job she took in eastern Afghanistan in June. It all mattered little once she started.
On social media, she was called a prostitute, and men wrote that her very presence on the force would corrupt Khost province, where she was posted. Her colleagues at police headquarters — where she was the only female officer on a staff of nearly 500 — tried to intimidate her into wearing a conservative head scarf and traditional clothes instead of her uniform, and to hide in back corners of the office away from the public, she said.
Zazai, 21, came home from her first day feeling sick and frightened.
A new generation of women is moving to take up leadership roles in Afghanistan.
