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India’s woes, Biden’s agenda and French intrigue: Weekend Reads

Apocalyptic scenes unfolded in India as a second wave of the coronavirus epidemic set daily global records for infections, overwhelming hospitals and crematoriums and prompting offers of help from governments around the world.

President Joe Biden set out his agenda for a transformation in the role of government in the lives of Americans through trillions of dollars in spending in a speech to Congress on the eve of his 100th day in office.

And allies of French President Emmanuel Macron are becoming nervous about the potential challenge of far-right leader Marine Le Pen at next year's elections. 

Dig deeper into these and other topics with the latest edition of Weekend Reads. Tony Halpin

Funeral pyres burn at a crematorium in New Delhi, India, on April 23.

Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg

Click here for this week's most compelling political images and tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net.

'It's Like a War': Inside an India Hospital Desperate for Oxygen
The scenes inside one Delhi hospital provide a glimpse into the desperation throughout India as Covid-19 infections sweep the country. Ruth Pollard and Sudhi Ranjan Sen write that the world's fastest-growing virus surge threatens to spawn new variants that undermine efforts in more developed countries to vaccinate the public and get back to life as normal.

How India's Vaccine Drive Crumbled and Left a Country in Chaos
When India launched its Covid-19 vaccination drive in mid-January, the chances of success looked high, Bibhudatta PradhanArchana Chaudhary and Sudhi Ranjan Sen report. Just over three months later, that initial promise has evaporated and the government's plans are in disarray as inoculation centers across the country say they're running short of doses and exports have all but stopped. 

Elderly people struggle in a queue at an entry gate of a Covid-19 vaccination center in Mumbai on April 27.

Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg

Kamala Harris Confronts Border Crisis Worsened by Regional Feuds
Vice President Kamala Harris finds herself navigating strained relations with the leaders of Central American countries that have produced a surge of migrants to the U.S., vastly complicating her assignment to curb a growing humanitarian crisis on the southwest border, Jordan Fabian and Michael D McDonald report.

Biden took the riskiest step of his presidency with a call for higher taxes on the wealthy to fund a massive investment in the nation's social safety net in an address to Congress on Wednesday. As Justin Sink reports, Biden's betting he can sell the American public on sweeping change amid economic and social divides exacerbated by the pandemic.

The Transformation of Marine Le Pen Has Macron's Allies Worried
Macron's supporters have been talking up Le Pen's supposed incompetence for months, but they're starting to get worried as she works to broaden her electoral appeal. Ania Nussbaum writes that Le Pen has studied the lessons of her defeat in the last presidential contest.

Chaotic Johnson Always Struggled with Rules. U.K. Voters Love It
As a schoolboy, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson appeared to be convinced that the normal rules did not apply to him. As Tim Ross and Joe Mayes write, that approach seems to have stayed with Johnson throughout his career, repeatedly landing him in hot water.

Japan's Suga Risks Joining a Long List of Short-Term Leaders
Losses in three special elections for parliamentary seats in a single day have left Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga at risk joining a long list of short-serving premiers. Isabel Reynolds reports that support for Suga, who succeeded Shinzo Abe last year, has been dragged down by corruption scandals and a sluggish Covid response. 

Suga during his visit to Washington on April 16.

Photographer: Chris Kleponis/CNP/Bloomberg

Millions in Taliban Taxes Show Who's in Charge as U.S. Departs
Running a business in Afghanistan has one unspoken rule: Pay the Taliban. Abdul Ahad Wahidi learned that the hard way when insurgents blew up a gas pipeline last year that fuels the country's only fertilizer plant after its operator refused to pay up, Eltaf Najafizada writes.

Russians Reject Vaccines as Kremlin Fears New Covid-19 Wave
Facing a rising wave of Covid-19 infections and a vaccination rate that isn't keeping up, the Kremlin is trying to contain the epidemic without alarming Russians. As Evgenia Pismennaya and Jake Rudnitsky report, even insiders worry it won't succeed, with unofficial government statistics showing a third wave has begun.

Source: Babuskinsky District Court/AP

Source: Babuskinsky District Court/AP

Looking emaciated, his head shaved, Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny appeared publicly for the first time Thursday since ending a 24-day hunger strike in jail last week. He spoke defiantly via video link to a Moscow court in an unsuccessful appeal against a conviction for defamation earlier this year.

What Chad's Crisis Means for Fighting Jihad in Africa: QuickTake
Chad is facing an escalation of its own security and stability crises after the death in April of long-time President Idriss Deby, write Katarina Hoije and Yinka Ibukun. His sudden demise — followed by a military takeover — have raised questions about the continuation of Chad's role as an ally of France, the U.S. and other powers in the battle against violent Islamism.

Global Chip Drought Hits Apple, BMW, Ford as Crisis Worsens
The global chip shortage is going from bad to worse with automakers on three continents joining tech giants Apple and Samsung Electronics in flagging production cuts and lost revenue from the crisis. As Peter Vercoe reports, the companies that benefited from surging demand for phones, laptops and electronics during the pandemic that caused the chip shortage are now feeling the pinch.

And finally ... The FBI's raids on Rudy Giuliani's Manhattan home and office are a stunning reversal for a former law-and-order mayor and crusading federal prosecutor who perp-walked accused insider traders off Wall Street trading floors in the 1980s. Patricia Hurtado and Greg Farrell report that the investigation is being conducted by the same Manhattan U.S. attorney's office that Giuliani once led.

Giuliani speaks during a news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington on Nov. 19. 

Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

 

 

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