First Thing: Washington Post publisher allegedly advised Boris Johnson to ‘clean up’ phone amid Covid scandal

Sources’ claims suggest Will Lewis’s advice to British PM contradicted instructions to staff. Plus, East Palestine crash chemicals spread to 16 states

Good morning.

Will Lewis, the Washington Post publisher, advised the then UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, and senior officials at 10 Downing Street to “clean up” their phones in the midst of a Covid-era political scandal, according to claims by three people familiar with the operations inside No 10 at the time.

The advice is alleged to have been given in December 2021 and January 2022 as top officials were under scrutiny for potential violations of pandemic restrictions, a scandal known as “Partygate”. Lewis and Johnson denied the allegations.

The claims suggest Lewis’s advice contradicted an email sent to staff at No 10 in December 2021 which instructed them not to destroy any material that could be relevant to an investigation into the breaking of Covid lockdown rules by Johnson and officials who worked for him.

• What it means for Lewis: Appointed as publisher of the Washington Post in November 2023, his future looks uncertain after the publication of damaging stories in US media outlets, including the Washington Post itself, about his journalistic record and alleged efforts to kill negative stories about him.

‘It is all lining up’: Plan for Ukraine to start using F-16 jets this summer

A Dutch air force commander said he expected that at some point this summer, F-16 fighter jets would finally take to the skies over Ukraine.

Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway have pledged to provide Ukraine with about 80 US-made F-16 fighter jets between them, hardware that the Ukrainian air force has been asking for for more than a year. But the program to get the planes in the air has been hit by delays in delivery and training.

“Around this summertime, it is all lining up,” the commander said, speaking in front of two disused F-16s inside a hangar at an air base in the southern Netherlands, where a recent program to train Ukrainian air force instructors was held.

• How will Ukraine’s F-16s change the dynamics of war? Anatolii Khrapchynskyi, an aviation expert and former Ukrainian military pilot, said: “The Russians will be forced to change their tactics. We will be able to target their planes and missiles more effectively, and it will be really difficult for them to keep using KAB guided air bombs, which they need to launch from 50 to 70km away.”

• What’s the latest in the conflict? A wave of missiles and Shahed-type drones attacked Ukraine over Wednesday night, the Ukrainian air force said. Areas targeted included Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Cherkasy, Poltava and Vinnytsia, said the air force.

Netanyahu’s office rejects Daniel Hagari’s comments that Hamas is an ‘ideology’ that can’t be eliminated by Israel

Israel’s government has said the IDF is committed to the destruction of Hamas, after the IDF’s senior spokesperson said that the militant group is an “ideology” which cannot be eliminated.

“To say that we are going to make Hamas disappear is to throw sand in people’s eyes. If we don’t provide an alternative, in the end, we will have Hamas,” Rear Adm Daniel Hagari told Israel’s Channel 13 broadcaster.

His comments were quickly rebuffed by the office of Benjamin Netanyahu, whose cabinet has stated its Gaza offensive will not end until Hamas is defeated.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces pounded areas in central Gaza overnight, killing three people and wounding dozens of others, according to medics, while tanks were driven deeper into Rafah in the south, residents said.

• What is the war’s humanitarian cost? After Hamas attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages, Israel’s invasion of Gaza has killed more than 37,000 people, wounded 85,000, decimated most of the territory’s infrastructure and brought the population to the brink of famine.

In other news …

• Just Stop Oil activists sprayed orange paint over private jets at Stansted airport, where they said Taylor Swift’s plane was stationed.

• The leader of Hezbollah said Cyprus could become a target if it allowed Israel to use its territory in any conflict. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned of a war “without rules or ceilings” in the event of a full-scale Israeli offensive against Hezbollah.

• Nine people were killed and more than 40 injured when a fire set off explosions at a military ammunition depot in Chad’s capital, officials said. The cause was not immediately clear.

• One of the British prime minister Rishi Sunak’s close protection officers was arrested over alleged bets on the timing of the UK election. The Metropolitan police’s directorate of professional standards opened an investigation.

• Vladimir Putin arrived in Vietnam for talks with its communist leaders on the final stop of his two-nation tour of Asia, after signing a defence pact with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un.

Stat of the day: Vanuatu cuts plastic waste from 35% to 2% by banning single-use

Small island nations, such as Vanuatu, face unique challenges on plastic pollution because they often rely on imported goods. In an attempt to drastically limit waste, in 2018 the government outlawed the sale and distribution of certain single-use plastics. Now-banned items used to make up 35% of Vanuatu’s waste, but now make up less than 2%.

Don’t miss this: From Nobel peace prize to civil war, how Ethiopia’s leader beguiled the world

When Abiy Ahmed took power in Ethiopia, he was feted at home and abroad as a great unifier and reformer. Two years later, terrible violence was raging. How did people get him so wrong? Tom Gardner investigates.

Climate check: Chemicals from East Palestine derailment spread to 16 US states, data shows

Chemicals released during fires from the February 2023 train wreck in East Palestine, Ohio, were carried across 16 US states, research of federal precipitation and pollution data shows. Analysis of rain and snow samples collected from northern Wisconsin to Maine to North Carolina in the weeks after the crash found the highest levels of pH and some compounds, including chloride, recorded over the last 10 years.

Last Thing: ‘I’ve waited a long time for this’ – the woman who earned a Stanford master’s degree at 105

Virginia Hislop took 83 years to get her master’s degree from Stanford University. Now, at 105 years old, she has finally graduated. “My goodness, I’ve waited a long time for this,” she said, walking across the stage on Sunday to receive her diploma. She was cheered on by her family and the 2024 graduating class.

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