Apr 27, 2017

World Bank likely to run women's global fund

Michael Sohn / AP

After the Twitters erupted with questions and criticism (including comparisons to the Clinton Foundation), the White House said Ivanka Trump will play a limited role in the global fund for women's empowerment that she told me about from Berlin:

  • An aide says: "She had the idea and recommended it to [World Bank Group President] Jim Kim but they are ... the implementer ... She will be its most advocate and supporter and will work closely with [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel and [IMF Managing Director Christine] Lagarde and Kim etc."
  • World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said his role is still being worked out: "The World Bank Group is working with partners on the details around creating a facility for women's economic empowerment ... We are very grateful for the leadership Ms. Trump and Chancellor Merkel have demonstrated."

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Palantir CEO reflects on work with ICE

Palantir CEO Alex Karp told "Axios on HBO" that there have "absolutely" been moments he wished the company hadn't taken a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

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Michigan governor won't apologize for coronavirus lockdown

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer defended the strictness of her state's coronavirus lockdown in an interview with "Axios on HBO," saying it was necessary — despite the protests that have drawn national attention — because of how quickly the state's cases were rising.

The big picture: Whitmer, who has been a frequent target of President Trump, insisted that she had to act in the face of a lack of federal leadership — and that thousands more people in her state would have died without the lockdown.

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World coronavirus updates

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Axios Visuals

New Zealand now has only one novel coronavirus patient in hospital and just 22 active cases in the country, top health official Ashley Bloomfield confirmed at a briefing. He's "confident we have broken the chain of domestic transmission," with no new cases reported for most of May, he added.

By the numbers: Brazil on Monday recorded for the first time more deaths from the novel coronavirus in a single day than the United States, Reuters notes. Brazil reported 807 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, compared to 620 in the U.S. for the same period.

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