New York Times: “The desperation that engulfed New Delhi, India’s capital, over the past few weeks is now spreading across the entire country, hitting states and rural areas with many fewer resources. Positivity rates are soaring in those states, and public health experts say that the rising numbers most likely fall far short of giving the true picture in places where sickness and deaths caused by Covid-19 are harder to track.”

Reuters: Indian health agency chief says most of country should remain locked down for 6 to 8 weeks.

“Violence between Israelis and Palestinians approached all-out war on Tuesday as rocket attacks on Israeli cities and airstrikes in the Gaza Strip killed dozens, injured hundreds and left thousands of people on both sides cowering under day-long bombardments,” the Washington Post reports.

“Military officials in both camps girded for the battles to escalate further, with Israel calling up eight battalions of reservists and deploying additional artillery batteries in the communities near Gaza that have become the front line of the confrontation.”

Stratfor: More bloodshed appears inevitable.

“Joe Biden has chosen Rahm Emanuel, a former congressman and Chicago mayor, to be US ambassador to Japan,” the Financial Times reports.

Thomas Friedman: “The Israeli government, the surrounding Arab nations and the Palestinian Authority all desperately want the answer to be ‘no’ — Israel because it would find little support from a left-leaning White House, let alone the rest of the world, for a big crackdown on Palestinians; the Arab governments because most of them want to do business with Israeli tech-makers, not get mired defending Palestinian rock-throwers; and the Palestinian leadership because it would expose just how little it controls the Palestinian street anymore.”

“But unlike the Intifadas that began in 1987 and 2000, when Israel had someone to call to try to turn it off, there is no Palestinian on the other end of the phone this time — or, if there is, he’s a 15-year-old on his smartphone, swiping orders and inspiration from TikTok, the video app often used by young Palestinians to challenge and encourage one another to confront Israelis.”

British prime minister Boris Johnson is under investigation over who paid for his Caribbean holiday with Carrie Symonds during Christmas 2019, The Guardian reports.

A new poll found that nearly 60% of people in Japan want the Olympic Games to be cancelled, less than three months before they are due to open in Tokyo.

“Japan has extended a state of emergency in Tokyo and several other regions until the end of May as it struggles to contain a surge in Covid-19 cases fuelled by new, more contagious variants, with medical staff warning that health services in some areas are on the verge of collapse.”

Prestigious medical journal Lancet blamed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the “inexcusable” horror in the country’s second wave of the pandemic.

“Despite warnings about the risks of superspreader events, the government allowed religious festivals to go ahead, drawing millions of people from around the country, along with huge political rallies—conspicuous for their lack of COVID-19 mitigation measures. Modi’s actions in attempting to stifle criticism and open discussion during the crisis are inexcusable.”

Politico: “On everything from trade and taxes to coronavirus vaccines, U.S. President Joe Biden is transpiring to be every inch as much of a pain in Brussels’ bureaucratic backside as his predecessor — hitting the EU exactly where it hurts, while robbing it of the moral high ground it loves to occupy. Biden’s bombshell proposal to waive intellectual property rights on coronavirus vaccines is a perfect case in point.”

“America’s vaccine gambit is not a one-off. In only a few months, Biden has exposed both the folly in the EU’s trade policy toward China and Europe’s lack of ambition in plans to tax digital multinationals… A hundred days into the new administration, the Europeans are starting to sense that they are being offered pretty tough love from their ally.”

“Russia has withdrawn only a few thousand troops from the border with Ukraine, senior Biden administration officials said, despite signals from Moscow last month that it was dialing down tensions in the volatile region,” the New York Times reports.

“Senior Defense Department officials said that close to 80,000 Russian troops remained near various strips of the country’s border with Ukraine, still the biggest force Russia has amassed there since Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014.”

New York Times: “Colombians demonstrating over the past week against the poverty and inequality that have worsened the lives of millions since the Covid-19 pandemic began have been met with a powerful crackdown by their government, which has responded to the protests with the same militarized police force it often uses against rebel fighters and organized crime.”

“This explosion of frustration in Colombia, experts say, could presage unrest across Latin America, where several countries face a combustible mix of an unrelenting pandemic, growing hardship and plummeting government revenue.”

Washington Post: “They are among a host of strongmen and nationalists who cozied up to Trump, benefiting from his ‘America First’ foreign policy at the expense of traditional U.S. allies, only to see their fortunes fall with the Oval Office under new management.”

“The cold shoulder is part of a strategy in keeping with Biden’s promise as a candidate that he would not coddle dictators or mistreat U.S. allies. More than three months into his term, leaders on both sides of that divide are still adjusting.”

President Biden is considering naming Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to a high-profile ambassadorship, possibly India, Axios reports.

“President Joe Biden said his team is working to schedule a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Europe next month,” Bloomberg reports.

“Even in the pandemic era of closed borders, Australia’s latest travel restriction stands out: Anyone, including Australian citizens, who arrives in the country after visiting India in the previous 14 days can face up to five years in jail, a $50,000 fine or both,” the Washington Post reports.

The New Yorker profiles Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland and the leader of the Scottish National Party, ahead of the UK’s “Super Thursday” elections.

She “has skillfully shifted the debate over Scottish independence away from history and constitutional arcana and toward the more pressing question of which kind of society voters would prefer to live in: Boris Johnson’s Brexit Britain or Nicola Sturgeon’s social-democratic Scotland.”

Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, told LBC that the novel coronavirus was more likely to have escaped from a lab than to have come from an animal.

He said aspects of the virus “point in the direction of it being somewhat tailored” though he warned this may never be proven.

“The European Commission on Monday proposed easing restrictions on non-essential travel for visitors who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19,” Axios reports.

“The recommendation could be adopted by the European Union’s 27 member states as early as May 5, paving the way for the return of summer travel to one of the world’s most popular tourism destinations.”