US begins making first low-yield nuclear warheads ... Venezuela crisis: US warns regime against targeting diplomats ... Virginia teachers strike as state offers Amazon tax breaks

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.

Top story: Democratic primary could be complicated by Schultz

The California senator Kamala Harris kicked off her presidential campaign with a rally in her hometown of Oakland on Sunday, drawing a crowd of 20,000 and positioning herself as a frontrunner in an already crowded field. But there are complications ahead: Harris’s record on criminal justice could dent her support among the black community, while she faces stiff competition from her fellow senator Elizabeth Warren – not to mention the veteran campaigners Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, who, like Harris, have published books that read a lot like presidential manifestos.

Trump’s ‘best hope’. The former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz says he is “seriously considering running for president as a centrist independent”. His Democratic contender Julián Castro said such a high-profile third-party candidacy would be Donald Trump’s “best hope of getting re-elected”.

US begins making first low-yield nuclear warheads

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Experts warn the new warhead for Trident missiles could lower the threshold for a nuclear conflict. Photograph: Phil Sandlin/AP

The first of a new variety of low-yield US nuclear warhead, with approximately a third of the force of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, has rolled off the production line at a weapons plant in Texas. Arms control advocates warn that the development of the W76-2, a modification of the existing Trident warhead, threatens to lower the threshold for a future nuclear conflict. Its manufacture was ordered by the Trump administration’s nuclear posture review last year.

Fatal miscalculation? The Trump administration claims the development of a low-yield weapon makes nuclear war less likely by giving the US a more flexible deterrent. But critics say that ignores the possibility of a miscalculation on the US side.

Venezuela crisis: US warns regime against targeting diplomats

Play Video 1:57 Venezuela: Juan Guaidó declares himself interim president after mass protests – video report

The White House national security adviser, John Bolton, has warned that any violence or intimidation of American diplomats in Venezuela, or of the opposition figurehead Juan Guaidó, would draw a “significant response” from the US, as the country’s leadership crisis continues. Guaidó, the national assembly leader who declared himself the country’s “interim president”, has offered amnesty to members of the Venezuelan security forces who defect to his side from the regime of President Nicolás Maduro.

Exclusive interview. In an exclusive interview, Guaidó told the Guardian that Venezuela now has a chance “to leave the chaos behind”.

Wider threat. But many are suspicious of Guaidó, and of Trump’s support for his opposition movement. This coup is a threat to the wider world, argues Oscar Guardiola-Rivera.

Virginia teachers strike as state offers Amazon tax breaks

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Due to overcrowding, more than 22,000 students in Fairfax county take their classes in plywood trailers. Photograph: Mike Elk

Teachers in Virginia are set to go on strike on Monday over school funding and teacher pay, in the latest example of industrial action by frustrated educators across the US. In Virginia, the statewide strikes have also been sparked by the state offering vast tax breaks to Amazon to build its new headquarters there, even as classroom overcrowding means more than 22,000 students are being taught in cheaply constructed plywood trailers in Fairfax county, the third richest county in the US.

Skewed priorities? Virginia’s Democratic governor Ralph Northam wants to increase education funding by $269m, but has proposed to spend a whopping $750m to lure Amazon’s “HQ2” to Crystal City in northern Virginia.

Crib sheet

Listen to Today in Focus: victims of online conspiracy theories

On today’s podcast, Ed Pilkington talks to four people who fell victim to online conspiracy theories about the impact of going viral, including a man wrongly identified as the Parkland school gunman, and the pizza restaurant owner falsely accused of running a paedophile ring.

Must-reads

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Last year Gavin Thomas travelled to China twice, appeared on Good Morning America and went to the LA premiere of Ralph Breaks the Internet. Photograph: Jenn Ackerman/The Guardian

The eight-year-old internet megastar

At three years old, Gavin Thomas had 1 million followers on Vine. Five years later, his face has been seen and memed more than 1bn times. Oscar Schwartz asks Gavin, his family – and his agent – how they manage his online superstardom.

Freida Pinto is sick of playing eye candy

Freida Pinto launched her career in Slumdog Millionaire, playing “the most beautiful girl in the world”. She’s been playing beautiful girls ever since – and she’s tired of it, she tells Simon Hattenstone. Which is why her latest role is in a brutal sex-trafficking drama.

The rise of the ‘anti-tour’ travel experience

Millennials are demanding a more “authentic” travel experience than the traditional tourist trail can offer. Hence the spread of so-called “anti-tours”, which take in a city’s supposed hidden gems away from the beaten track. Oliver Balch reports from Porto.

‘In these women’s faces, I find my mother’s story’

Bruce Gilden is known for stark portraits that have been criticised for “dehumanising” their subjects. But in his latest collection, depicting drug-addicted sex workers in Miami, the photographer found echoes of his own late mother, he tells Tom Seymour.

Opinion

The Democratic primary field is already among the most diverse in history. But the party’s voters must select a 2020 presidential candidate based not on their identity, but on their policies, says Clio Chang.

The diverse Democratic field [presents] a chance to push for the candidate not with their preferred identity, but with the most comprehensively feminist and anti-racist policy positions.

Sport

Tottenham Hotspur have crashed out of their second cup competition in a week, after a 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Novak Djokovic has moved into another area of excellence with his sublime Australian Open victory, writes Kevin Mitchell. And he’s on track to win the first calendar grand slam since Rod Laver in 1969.

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