Trump Gets COVID-19

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19 Thursday night, hours after close aide Hope Hicks was confirmed to have the infection. He’s the latest world leader accused of underplaying the severity of the virus to have then contracted it himself, after Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro and the UK’s Boris Johnson. Meanwhile Pfizer’s CEO publicly pushed back against pressure from Trump on the early delivery of a vaccine.

2. High on Life … or Death

Colorado Governor Jared Polis plans to mass-pardon more than 2,700 marijuana convictions. Do you think that’s a good idea? Vote on Twitter. Not everyone’s going with a softer touch, though. Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed has called for the restoration of the death penalty after almost three decades following the rape and murder of a 29-year-old woman last week. A similar case in India has sparked criticism of the ruling Hindu nationalist party.

3. Refugee Refusal

The U.S. will allow only 15,000 refugees into the country next year, the Trump administration announced, a tiny fraction of the 110,000 admitted by the Barack Obama administration in 2016. A California judge has meanwhile temporarily blocked Trump’s summer order suspending visas for thousands of foreign workers. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has no such worries: His country’s Supreme Court has approved his plans for a controversial referendum on holding corruption trials against five of his predecessors.

4. Shot at Peace?

Lebanon and Israel have agreed to hold negotiations on a disputed maritime border, their first such talks in three decades. This breakthrough between nations that are formally enemies comes soon after the UAE and Bahrain signed peace deals with Israel.

Artist Delphine Boël, the love child of Albert II, has won a hard-fought court battle to call herself a princess. The former Belgian king was forced to acknowledge Boël as his daughter in January after a court ordered a DNA test.

Her movies are scary, her story inspiring. Laos’ first female filmmaker, Do was born in Los Angeles. But her Laotian roots — her parents are from the country — drew her back to Vientiane, where she’s now based, encouraging the region to accept that women and horror can mix. Her 2016 horror film Dearest Sister was Laos’ entry for the Academy Awards that year. It wasn’t nominated, but when your characters speak to the dead, an award loss doesn’t scare you.

2. Nikyatu Jusu

Black is powerful — even among vampires. In Jusu’s brilliant Sundance Film Festival-selected Suicide by Sunlight, Black vampires walk among humans during the day, the color of their skin protecting them from the sun. They’re the future of civilization, you see. Born to Sierra Leonean parents, Jusu marries West African culture with the experiences of Black Americans in her work.

3. Sofia Carrillo

The daughter of painters, Carrillo hassketching in her genes. That mastery allows the award-winning animator from Guadalajara, Mexico, to scare you with the most harmless-looking figurines. Check out the stop-motion all-female anthology XX, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017.   

Speaking of women in charge, don’t miss feminist icon Gloria Steinem in conversation with OZY CEO and co-founder Carlos Watson in today’s episode of The Carlos Watson Show. Subscribe for a chance to be invited to a Zoom recording with a celebrity guest!

What on earth is going on in America right now? Hear the BBC’s Katty Kay and OZY’s Carlos Watson bring unique and fresh insight into these 50 states in a groundbreaking new podcast from OZY and the BBC: When Katty Met Carlos. The second episode releases today — subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, the iHeart Radio app or wherever else you get your podcasts.

Say it with respect. That’s New Zealand’s original Māori name, which a growing number of firms — from global giant Vodafone to telecommunications agency DBB — are now incorporating into their identities. It’s a nod to the country’s indigenous legacy that’s witnessing a resurgence after being whitewashed for generations, with te reo Māori language classes packed in major cities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern — who gave her daughter a Māori middle name — hopes 1 million New Zealanders out of a population of 5 million will speak the language by 2040.

2. Housing Crisis

For billionaires like PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and singer Shania Twain, New Zealand’s the bolt-hole the world’s wealthy want to escape to during an apocalypse … or pandemic. But that has spawned the worst homelessless crisis among OECD countries — yes America, it’s not you — as prices spike. It’s a burning issue that’s at the center of the country’s electoral debates.

3. Sonny Bill Williams

The country’s heavyweight boxing title wasn’t enough for Williams. So he decided to take his athletic skills to rugby, where he has since won two World Cups and is among New Zealand’s most popular sports stars. A convert to Islam, Williams was “very shy” as a teenager. That changed when it came to winning at rugby.

Giant weddings had been gaining in popularity — but even in the years after COVID-19, people are going to be wary of large groups and travel, meaning that weddings are expected to get a whole lot smaller. We’re looking forward to the endless one-upping of pandemic-era brides and grooms, all insisting that their wedding was the smallest and most intimate.

2. Weekday Weddings

We knew the pandemic postponement of weddings would create a backlog for 2021, but no one could have predicted the impact on wedding dates. With Saturdays and Sundays in 2021 already all booked, Monday and midweek affairs will be the norm next year.

3. Maximum Flexibility

Back in the day a wedding date was like a court date — you couldn’t miss it. But when you’re desperate for any clients, you can’t afford to be strict. Some venues are offering complimentary cancelations to attract soon-to-be-married couples.

Would you attend a crowded wedding before the vaccine arrives?

Earlier this week, we asked you for your favorite Barry White numbers. Thank you! Here’s your playlist, including “Just the Way You Are,” “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe,” “The Secret Garden,” “I’ll Do for You Anything You Want Me To,” “I’ve Got So Much to Give” and “Practice What You Preach.” 

Denver S., C.W. Coleman, Connie B., Beatrice W., F. Ingalls and all our other readers — enjoy! (Imagine I said that in White’s deep baritone.) 

Michael C. — you got yesterday’s spicy crossword right!!!! Congratulations!

Down:

(1) Berbere

(3) Cinnamon

Across:

(2) Estragon

(4) Annatto