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Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.
Notre Dame structure saved as blaze is brought under control
Firefighters in Paris say the structure of Notre Dame Cathedral and its twin rectangular bell towers have been saved after the devastating fire that felled the landmark’s spire was extinguished early on Tuesday. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, gave a speech at the scene in which he vowed that the 12th-century gothic masterpiece would be rebuilt. The billionaire businessman Bernard Arnault has pledged that he and the LVMH luxury conglomerate he controls will give €200m ($226m) to a fundraising campaign, after François-Henri Pinault of the rival Kering offered €100m.
Fire investigation. The Paris prosecutor has opened an investigation into the cause of the fire, as architects meet to assess the extent of the damage and establish whether the building is stable.
Priceless treasures. Firefighters raced to save not only the cathedral building but also its precious contents, which include priceless works of art, an 8,000-pipe organ and numerous religious relics.
A year after deadly protests, Ortega clings on in Nicaragua
One year after anti-government protests swept across Nicaragua, followed by a brutal crackdown, the president, Daniel Ortega, is still clinging to power as the country slides towards social and economic meltdown, reports Toby Stirling Hill. Between 325 and 535 people were killed as government forces crushed last year’s protests, and more than 600 protesters remain in jail, where former inmates say torture is routine.
International censure. The US sanctioned senior Nicaraguan officials, including the vice-president, Rosario Murillo – who is Ortega’s wife. The European parliament has called for sanctions on “individuals responsible for human rights abuses”.
Sanders and O’Rourke release 10 years of tax returns
Bernie Sanders has released a decade’s worth of his tax returns, revealing that his family made $566,000 in 2018. The returns show that his 2016 presidential run bumped the Sanders family’s bottom line from $240,622 in 2015 to $1,073,333 a year later. The Vermont senator’s 2020 rival Beto O’Rourke also released 10 years of returns on Monday, which showed that he and his wife paid $81,000 in taxes on $366,000 of income in 2017.
Mueller report. The US attorney general, William Barr, intends to release a redacted version of Robert Mueller’s 400-page report on Russian election interference to the public on Thursday.
Woman in ‘gardening while black’ case hires ‘alt-right lawyer’
A white Detroit woman who made several false accusations against a black urban farmer has hired a self-proclaimed “alt-right lawyer” to defend her in a lawsuit. Deborah Nash and two other white women falsely accused Marc Peeples of brandishing a gun, participating in a drive-by shooting and being a convicted paedophile, which led to his arrest. Peeples has sued Nash, claiming he is guilty merely of “gardening while black”.
Richard Spencer. Nash is being represented by attorney Kyle Bristow, who ran a now-defunct alt-right group, the Foundation for Marketplace of Ideas, and has previously represented the white supremacist leader Richard Spencer.
Crib sheet
The American Museum of National History in New York City has scrapped plans to host a May gala honouring the far-right president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, after a public outcry.
West European intelligence agencies sought advice from the South American dictatorships of the 1970s on how they ran their “Operation Condor” programme to crack down on leftwing groups, a newly declassified CIA document reveals.
More than 100 environmental protesters have been arrested in London after the climate activist group Extinction Rebellion organised a blockade of several major landmarks in the UK capital.
New Zealand is suffering a nationwide egg shortage after the country’s major supermarkets all committed to stop selling caged eggs by 2027, even as New Zealanders’ appetite for eggs has increased.
Must-reads
The dirty little secret of the Democrats’ 2020 battle
A record 19 Democrats have already declared they’re running for president in 2020, and that doesn’t even include the poll favourite Joe Biden. Many probably know they have no chance of winning, but, as Tom McCarthy reports, they may have other goals in mind.
The world’s most infamous nightclub doormen tell all
The bouncers at Berlin’s best-known clubs don’t just do security, they also curate a crowd they think can handle the hedonism inside. As three of them appear in a new documentary, they tell Maya-Roisin Slater they “try to create an environment where no one feels threatened by their sexual orientation and disposition.”
Could super plants slow down climate change?
Adam Popescu meets Dr Joanne Chory, perhaps the world’s leading botanist, who believes the solution to climate change could lie in genetically modified plants designed for their carbon-fixing capabilities. But she faces a race against rising temperatures – and her own health.
Why Nashville is struggling with success
The Tennessee city is no longer just the country music capital of the world. It’s a centre for healthcare services, Christian book publishing, tourism and entertainment. Khushbu Shah asks whether the economic boom threatens to bury Nashville’s historic culture.
Opinion
High-profile soccer stars have long been the most prominent faces of black Europe. Now, writes Johny Pitts, a new generation of English footballers such as Raheem Sterling and Danny Rose are mirroring Colin Kaepernick’s protests in the US by speaking out on racism.
Their fame and economic power could have made them comfortable enough to turn a blind eye, but they are taking risks in speaking these uncomfortable truths.
Sport
The Los Angeles Clippers staged the biggest comeback in NBA playoff history on Monday night, returning from 31 points down to defeat the Golden State Warriors 135-131 and tie their first round series at one game apiece.
Speaking of comebacks: after watching Tiger Woods win his remarkable fifth Masters title at the weekend, Andy Bull asks how the feat matches up to history’s other great sporting comebacks, from Muhammad Ali to Niki Lauda.
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