| German impasse | Even after late-night talks in Berlin, Armin Laschet and Markus Soeder remain deadlocked over who will run as chancellor candidate for Angela Merkel's CDU/CSU bloc in September's election. The impasse means lawmakers from the two parties in the parliamentary caucus may vote on the matter tomorrow. In a more orderly process, the Greens, polling a close second behind the CDU/CSU, today named Annalena Baerbock as their candidate. Bracing for more | The drip-feed of revelations in the lobbying scandal engulfing U.K. politics is likely to intensify this week, risking further embarrassment to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservatives as multiple inquiries related to the collapse of Greensill Capital get under way. Stuart Biggs lays out the probes, including one commissioned by Johnson himself to try to draw a line under the controversy. Balancing act | The Biden administration goes to the Supreme Court today to defend a policy of blocking permanent-residency applications by immigrants who've been living legally in the U.S. Greg Stohr explains how this puts the new government at odds with Democratic lawmakers and progressive allies even as it jettisons Donald Trump's most hard-line policies.  More people were diagnosed with Covid-19 during the past seven days than any other week since the start of the pandemic — topping 5.2 million globally.
Anger builds | Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces criticism from state leaders for holding large election rallies as the country's health system grapples with a spike in Covid-19 cases, forcing citizens to beg for oxygen and hospital beds on Twitter. As Muneeza Naqvi and Ruth Pollard report, the opposition Congress party called off campaigning in West Bengal due to the virus surge.  A funeral service for a Covid-19 fatality in New Delhi on April 13. Photographer: T. Narayan/Bloomberg Virtual currency | People's Bank of China Deputy Governor Li Bo said the goal for internationalizing the yuan is not to replace the dollar. The central bank is currently testing the use of a "digital yuan" in various pilot programs across the country. - China is third behind the Bahamas and Cambodia in a PwC ranking of the maturity of central banks' retail digital currency projects.
- Read how China appears in no rush to drop its investment-led growth model despite international calls to "rebalance" its economy.
What to Watch - The U.S. and Iran signaled slight progress toward ending a standoff over the Iranian nuclear deal, while Tehran welcomed the prospects of talks with Middle East rival Saudi Arabia.
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The governors of Tokyo and Osaka opened the door to declaring another virus emergency in Japan's biggest metro areas as infections surge, with the Olympics just 100 days away. -
Chinese President Xi Jinping may yet take part in Biden's virtual climate summit starting Thursday, after the U.S. and China issued a joint statement committing to cooperate on climate change. -
Xi will speak Tuesday via video link at the Boao forum, a gathering of key China officials. -
Chad said its army blunted a rebel advance toward the capital, N'Djamena, as results from an April 11 election showed President Idriss Deby with a strong early lead. Thanks to the more than 50 people who responded to our quiz question and congratulations to Mond Mckenzie, who was the first to name Venezuela as the country where you need a state loyalty card to be an early recipient of a Covid-19 vaccine. And finally ... An "absolute disgrace" and a symbol of greed within soccer were among the reactions by former players, pundits and politicians to a plan by some of the world's richest soccer clubs, including Manchester United and Real Madrid, to form a European breakaway league starting in August. As James Ludden and David Hellier explain, the sport's biggest shakeup in decades could make elite teams even wealthier. President Emmanuel Macron praised French clubs for not signing up so far.  Manchester City players throw Manager Josep Guardiola in the air as they celebrate winning the Premier League title on May 12, 2019. Photographer: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images | 
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