The New York Times - Your Monday Briefing

By Amelia Nierenberg

Writer, Briefings

Good morning. We’re covering political tumult in Jordan, dangerous variants and U.S.-Taliban negotiations.

Turmoil in Jordan

The Jordanian government has arrested high-profile figures, including Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, a member of the royal family, and Bassem Awadallah, a former chief of the royal court, an unusual development in the normally stable Arab kingdom. Officials cited “the security and stability of Jordan” as reasons for the moves.

According to an Israeli official, Jordanian officials said there had not been a coup attempt, that the situation was under control, and that its gravity had been exaggerated by the news media, though they did confirm that arrests had been made.

But it remains unclear if Hamzah bin Hussein, the former crown prince, is detained. In a dramatic video, he said he had no security or phone access, that the satellite internet service he was using was about to be cut and that he was under house arrest. The Jordanian Army and security services denied reports that he had been arrested.

The deputy prime minister said Prince Hamzah had worked with “foreign entities” to destabilize the state, the BBC reported. He accused Prince Hamzah of attempting to recruit “clan leaders” against the government after the prince had recent meetings with tribal leaders. Prince Hamzah also said the military leader had chastised him for being present at meetings where there had been criticism of the king or the government.

Quotable: “Even to criticize a small aspect of a policy leads to arrest and abuse by the security services,” Prince Hamzah said in the video. “It’s reached the point where no one is able to speak or express an opinion on anything without being bullied, arrested, harassed and threatened.”

Variants may undo progress

The United States appears to be bending the pandemic curve. Cases, hospitalizations and deaths from the coronavirus have fallen steeply from their highs.

But concerning variants are spreading, carrying mutations that make the virus both more contagious and in some cases more deadly. Variants first discovered in Britain, South Africa and Brazil are gaining a foothold, and new U.S. variants have continued to pop up, threatening to postpone the pandemic’s end.

“We don’t have evolution on our side,” said Devi Sridhar, a professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

Context: At the moment, most vaccines appear to be effective against the variants. But public health officials are deeply worried that future iterations of the virus may be more resistant, requiring Americans to line up for regular rounds of booster shots or even new vaccines.

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other developments:

• Thanks to Israel’s world-leading vaccine rollout, more than 1,000 people were able to pack the streets of Jerusalem for a Good Friday procession.
• The U.S. is averaging more than three million vaccinations a day for the first time.
• Britain reported 30 more cases of extremely rare blood clots in people who had received the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, but it is not clear whether any are linked to the vaccine.
• Nepal, desperate for tourist money, says it has taken steps to prevent a coronavirus outbreak on Mount Everest.

Tense Taliban negotiations

U.S. officials are negotiating with the Taliban in the final weeks before the country is set to withdraw from Afghanistan. Diplomats are trying to build on classified parts of the 2020 peace deal with the group that outlined what military actions were supposed to be prohibited.

If these discussions — and the separate talks between the Afghan government and Taliban — falter, thousands of U.S. troops may stay in Afghanistan beyond May 1, the deadline by which all American military forces are meant to withdraw from the country under last year’s agreement.

The deadline comes right as the insurgent group is likely to be engaged in its spring offensive against the beleaguered Afghan security forces. It may have already started, given the series of large attacks and assassinations by the Taliban in recent days. That, too, could set back any progress and send Afghanistan back into chaos.

Analysis: Experts say a deal is unlikely by May 1 unless the U.S. makes serious concessions.

THE LATEST NEWS

• Floods and mudslides in islands across eastern Indonesia killed at least 41 people on Sunday.
• Survivors of Friday’s train derailment in Taiwan, which killed at least 50 people, held their loved ones in their arms as they died. Investigators are trying to understand how the accident happened.
• Maoist militants in central India killed at least 23 security forces in an ambush, reviving concerns around a decades-old insurgency that appeared to have been largely contained.
• Myanmar’s security forces have killed more than 40 children since February. Here is the story of one, 10-year-old Aye Myat Thu.
• Beijing is tightening its grip on the South China Sea, using large fleets of ostensibly civilian boats to press other countries’ vessels out of disputed waters.

• A Capitol Police officer was killed and another was injured in an attack at the U.S. Capitol on Friday. The attacker, whom police fatally shot, had been distressed but had no known history of violence.
• Thirteen Turkish trainee pilots face life in prison for participating in the 2016 coup attempt, the same punishments as the generals who led the charge.
• Thousands protested a sweeping crime and policing bill in the United Kingdom on Saturday, amid a raging debate over law enforcement tactics.
• In a nationalist spectacle, Egypt transported 22 mummies through downtown Cairo in a glitzy procession that obscured the impoverished neighborhoods along its route.

Tired of housework and an unhappy marriage, a 56-year-old woman began a six-month jaunt across China that has challenged deep-rooted gender norms. Su Min, who has amassed more than 1.35 million followers across several social media platforms, has never been happier. “It took me so many years to realize that I had to live for myself,” she said.

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ARTS AND IDEAS

Pandemic burnout

“What time is it?” my colleague Sarah Lyall wrote, reflecting on more than 700 comments from readers about their work burnout. “What day is it? What did we do in October? Why are we standing in front of the refrigerator staring at an old clove of garlic?”

Experts told her that monotony and chronic yet unpredictable stress wrecks our ability to experience pleasure and form working memories, casting us into a fog.

Stephanie Soderlund, a chemist in Portland, Ore. put it plainly: “At this point I don’t know who is going to crack first, me or the pandemic.”

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

This one-pot turmeric coconut rice with greens is comforting, colorful and adaptable.

In “Beautiful Things,” Hunter Biden, President Biden’s son, opens up about crack addiction, his romantic relationship with his sister-in-law and the new love that halted his cycle of despair.

Olivia Rodrigo’s emotional road trip “Deja Vu,” and eight more songs from Westside Gunn, Rosanne Cash, Dry Cleaning and others are on our pop critic’s weekly playlist.

Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: Cowboy’s contest (five letters).

You can find all our puzzles here.

That’s it for today’s briefing. See you next time. — Amelia

P.S. Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey are publishing “Chasing the Truth: A Young Journalist’s Guide to Investigative Reporting”, a version of their book “She Said” for young readers, this fall.

The latest episode of “The Daily” is about President Biden’s infrastructure plan.

You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

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