This morning.

Shanghai, China.

Shanghai is preparing to ease its lockdown over the city’s 25 million people.

Via The Guardian:

Major companies including Tesla and Volkswagen are among 666 firms told they could restart production this week, under closed-loop management. A memo reportedly circulated at Tesla told employees they would have to sleep at the factory, with the company providing each with a sleeping bag and mattress, daily meals and a stipend.

Drone footage taken by Chinese media appeared to show Tesla employees arriving at the factory on Tuesday with luggage, and several people moving the frame of a Tesla car around the site. Volkswagen, which restarted production at its Changchun factories after restrictions there eased, said it was still studying the feasibility of resuming production in Shanghai, Reuters reported.

Shanghai prepares to ease Covid lockdown as factories reopen (The Guardian)

Meanwhile…

Um.

Getty

‘sup?

Yesterday.

The White House, Washington DC, USA.

Via Independent.co.uk:

US President Joe Biden was chatting to visitors at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll event when the unlikely chaperone sidled up next to him.

Footage shows a person in a bunny suit seem to pull Mr Biden away mid-sentence as he was discussing Pakistan and Afghanistan.

White House press assistant Angela Perez tweeted a photo of herself in a bunny suit an hour before the event.

Easter bunny appears to direct Joe Biden away from Afghanistan question at White House event (Independent.co.uk)

Kevin writes:

A poem I wrote specially to include in our census form, in the section where you were invited to pen a message which will be opened in a hundred years time.

Not To Be Read Until 2123

Things abolished by their own internal discrepancies
since I typed this:

my friend Trevor who insists nothing ever changes;
the European Union;
videos of Cliff Richard dancing on YouTube;
what we used to call society,
which at this point is mostly
vaccination programmes and the military;
Facebook, Twitter, and the Episcopal Church;
the United States’ eastern sea board;
Taiwan
and all references anywhere to Chiang Kai-Shek;
the British Broadcasting Corporation;
the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
and, in all likelihood, the north Atlantic;
all evidence of Noel Edmonds;
though the EastEnders’ Christmas Special
will continue to be shown
in abandoned hospital waiting rooms,
nobody will be there to not watch it;
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland;
the print media, the Saudi Royal Family,
and all the people
I pretended to be;

now you’ll have to look them up
on whatever Wikipedia is called these days,
if indeed the internet.
not to mention the world,
still exists.

Though in our time these
were of great importance,
and we used the word always
when speaking of them.

Kevin Higgins

RTÉ

Ah here.

Earlier…

The US Centre for Disease Control (CDC) did not have the legal authority to impose a mask mandate for airline, bus and train passengers, and that the government broke the law by doing it without first seeking public comment, a federal judge has ruled

Last night/this morning.

Via The Guardian:

A federal judge in Florida has struck down Joe Biden’s national mask mandate covering airplanes, airports and other public transportation, prompting the White House to announce the rule would not be enforced while federal agencies decide how to respond to the judge’s order.

The ruling appeared to free operators to make their own decisions about mask requirements, with several airlines announcing they would drop mandates, but other transport networks including the New York City subway planning to keep them in place.

The mandate was overturned on Monday by the US district judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Tampa, who judged the rule as exceeding the authority of US health officials in the coronavirus pandemic.

She added that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had failed to justify its decision and did not follow proper rule-making procedures.

US judge strikes down Biden mask mandate for planes and trains (The Guardian)

Meanwhile…

Meanwhile…

Meanwhile…

In fairness.

NBC

Meanwhile…

Driven Snow – Trying

Sometimes there’s sneachta in April.

The debut single from dynamic indie troupe Driven Snow (featuring Delorentos‘ Kieran McGuinness (top left) and Emily (right), a vocalist with Republic Of Loose and Stars On Fire) is a warm-hearted, contemplative song that will strike a chord with many a listener in these difficult times.

Driven Snow are: Kieran – guitar, vocals, keys; Emily – vocals, keys; Tommy McLaughlin – Additional programming, keys, and production.

It was recorded in Donegal’s Attica Studios and mastered by Fergal Davis.

To quote the press blurb:

“With influences including Neil Young, Beach House, Cat Power, Scandinavian TV shows and fireside beers, the realities of life as a musician in modern Ireland have never been more beautifully articulated.”

Nick says: Once upon a time in the North West.

Driven Snow

Broadsheet.ie