Good morning.
Three Democratic former presidents led a wealth of tributes to Jesse Jackson, a “titan” of the civil rights movement and “one of America’s greatest patriots”, who has died at the age of 84.
Joe Biden said history would remember Jackson as “a man of God and of the people”, calling him in a social media post: “Determined and tenacious. Unafraid of the work to redeem the soul of our Nation.”
Barack Obama said Jackson had been “a true giant”. “He was relentless in his belief that we are all children of God, deserving of dignity and respect,” he said, adding that he and Michelle would always “be grateful for Jesse’s lifetime of service, and the friendship our families share”.
Bill Clinton said he and Hillary Clinton had been friends with Jackson for more than five decades, and were “deeply saddened” by his passing.
What did Donald Trump say? In a post to social media, the current US president called Jackson “a good man” and a “friend” but then attacked the “scoundrels and Lunatics on the Radical Left” who, he said, “falsely and consistently” called him a racist.
Judge declares mistrial in Texas ‘antifa’ protest case over attorney’s T-shirt
A federal judge in Texas declared a mistrial yesterday after a defense lawyer wore a shirt in court with images from the civil rights movement, delaying a closely watched case in which the Trump administration is accusing a group of protesters of being terrorists and part of a “North-Texas antifa cell”.
US district judge Mark Pittman, an appointee of Donald Trump, declared a mistrial hours after jury selection began at the federal courthouse in downtown Fort Worth. He abruptly halted the proceedings after MarQuetta Clayton, an attorney for one of the defendants, had been questioning potential jurors for about 20 minutes, taking issue with a shirt she was wearing underneath a black blazer.
What was on the T-shirt? Civil rights movement leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr and Shirley Chisholm, as well as images of protests from that time.
Epstein files suggest acts that may amount to crimes against humanity, say UN experts
Millions of files related to the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein suggest the existence of a “global criminal enterprise” that carried out acts meeting the legal threshold of crimes against humanity, a panel of independent experts appointed by the UN human rights council has said.
The experts said crimes outlined in documents released by the US justice department were committed against a backdrop of supremacist beliefs, racism, corruption and extreme misogyny. The crimes, they said, showed a commodification and dehumanisation of women and girls.
What did the experts say? “So grave is the scale, nature, systematic character, and transnational reach of these atrocities against women and girls, that a number of them may reasonably meet the legal threshold of crimes against humanity.”
In other news …
Wealthy Americans are dominating applications for New Zealand’s “golden visa”, driven by a love for the country’s natural beauty, as well a desire to escape Trump’s administration.
Six skiers have been found after a group of 16 went missing as heavy snowfall blanketed California, prompting avalanche warnings in the Sierra Nevada mountains, closing coastal roads and causing flooding in Los Angeles.
Hillary Clinton has accused the Trump administration of a “cover-up” over the Epstein files, while claiming that she and her husband are being forced to testify before Congress to deflect scrutiny from Trump.
The owner of the Ukrainian football club Shakhtar Donetsk has donated more than $200,000 to the skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych after he was disqualified from the Milano Cortina Winter Games over a helmet depicting Ukrainian athletes killed in the war with Russia, the club said yesterday.
Stat of the day: US and Japan unveil $36bn of oil, gas and critical minerals projects in challenge to China
Japan has drawn up plans for investments in US oil, gas and critical mineral projects worth about $36bn under the first wave of a deal with Donald Trump. The US president and Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s prime minister, announced a trio of projects including a power plant in Portsmouth, Ohio, billed by the Trump administration as the largest natural gas-fired generating facility in US history.
Wellness Wednesday: Can being codependent in a relationship actually be a good thing?
Many of us desire deeper relationships. What we don’t always agree on is how close is too close. Dating advice often casts intimacy as a tug of war – pull away or push for more. Either move is read as a red flag. Being codependent is often seen as a bad thing. But a new book makes the case for “healthy dependency”.
Don’t miss this: ‘The whole spirit of curling is dead’ – meltdown on the ice as ruckus rumbles on
The Olympic curling world remains embroiled in controversy after a dispute between the Swedish and Canadian teams on Friday. Tensions escalated after Canada’s Marc Kennedy was accused of an illegal double-touch, prompting an angry exchange on the ice. “The whole spirit of curling is dead,” Kennedy said after his team’s 8-2 victory against Czech Republic.
Climate check: Excruciating tropical disease can now be transmitted in most of Europe, study finds
An excruciatingly painful tropical disease called chikungunya can now be transmitted by mosquitoes across most of Europe, a study has found. Continuing global heating means it is only a matter of time before the disease expands further northwards, the scientists said.
Last Thing: China’s dancing robots: how worried should we be?
Dancing humanoid robots took centre stage on Monday during the annual China Media Group’s Spring Festival Gala, China’s most-watched official television broadcast. They lunged, backflipped, spun and jumped. The display was impressive, but prompted some to wonder: if robots can now dance and perform martial arts, what else can they do?
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