Mar 18, 2020 - Health

Glastonbury Festival canceled due to coronavirus outbreak

Photo: Andrew Hasson/Getty Images

The Glastonbury Festival, the largest music festival in the U.K., announced Wednesday that it had canceled its yearly iteration — due to be headlined by Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift — amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The state of play: The event, which would have celebrated its 50th anniversary, was expecting at least 200,000 people. It's one of many festivals around the world impacted by coronavirus, as Coachella, the premier festival in the U.S., has also been postponed until October.

Go deeper: Kentucky Derby postponed for first time in 75 years due to coronavirus crisis

Go deeper

Zach Dorfman of the Aspen Institute, author of Codebook
5 mins ago - Politics & Policy

The hazy line between politics and influence campaigns

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

The recent firestorm over the New York Post’s publication of stories relying on data from a hard drive allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden shows the increasingly hazy line between domestic political “dirty tricks” and a foreign-sponsored disinformation operation.

Why it matters: This haziness could give determined actors cover to conduct influence operations aimed at undermining U.S. democracy through channels that just look like old-fashioned hard-nosed politics.

Go deeper (2 min. read)Arrow
Maria Arias
55 mins ago - World

"I stood up for that": Pope Francis voices support for same-sex civil unions

Pope Francis at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. Photo: Vatican Pool - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

Pope Francis voiced his support for same-sex civil unions for the first time as pope in the documentary “Francesco,” which premiered Wednesday at the Rome Film Festival, per the Catholic News Agency.

Why it matters: The pope’s remarks represent a break from the position of the Roman Catholic Church, which has long taught that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered" and contrary to natural law.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Barak Ravid, author of from Tel Aviv
2 hours ago - World

Countries waiting to see if Trump wins before moving on Israel normalization

The delegation lands at Israel's Ben Gurion airport. Photo: Jack Guez/AFP via Getty

The White House is attempting to leverage momentum from Israel's normalization deals with Bahrain and the UAE to get more Arab countries on board before the U.S. election.

Driving the news: President Trump wants Sudan's removal from the U.S. state sponsors of terrorism list to be accompanied by a pre-election announcement on Israel.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow