The world in brief

Sometimes referred to as “nerd prom”, the White House Correspondents Dinner, which takes place on Saturday, is meant to honour the journalists who hold America’s leaders accountable and raise money for industry scholarships. In reality, the fanfare highlights the insularity of the American capital.

News organisations often invite celebrity guests to attend alongside their journalists at the posh Washington Hilton Hotel. The president traditionally delivers a speech poking fun at himself and the media while a famous comedian also plays to what can be a tricky crowd. This year’s toast, better thought of as a roast, will be delivered by Colin Jost, a “Saturday Night Live” host. Past headliners have had mixed results in the politically charged moment, with some offering up only timid jokes and others crossing the line. Expectations are high for Mr Jost, whose memoir is titled “A Very Punchable Face”.

Some companies can trace their fortunes back to a single decision, good or bad. The Walt Disney Company certainly can. In 1928 Walt Disney was embroiled in a spat with Universal Pictures, for which he had created an animated series about Oswald the Rabbit. He opted to create a new character of his own. “I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing,” Disney later said, “It was all started by a mouse.”

It is fitting, then, that a new documentary series, “How Disney Built America”, begins with the creation of Mickey Mouse. (The show is airing on the History Channel in America and will arrive on British screens in August.) Each of the six episodes traces the development of a different part of the business, be it merchandising or theme parks, using interviewees and (rather naff) dramatisations. Disney’s choice gave rise to an entertainment empire. Its market capitalisation today is $209bn.

This year’s World Immunisation Week, which runs until Wednesday, celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation. Launched by the World Health Organisation in 1974, the scheme aimed to boost childhood vaccination rates by creating immunisation programmes. Initially, it focused on six childhood illnesses: diphtheria, measles, pertussis, polio, tetanus and tuberculosis. Now it covers 13 recommended vaccines for all ages. Smallpox was eradicated in 1980; cases of polio have been decimated.

About 4m deaths are believed to be prevented by childhood vaccination each year. If the targets of the Immunisation Agenda 2030—a WHO plan to increase vaccine coverage—are achieved, more than 50m deaths could be stopped by the end of the decade. The biggest single effect would be on measles; America’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention believes 18.8m deaths caused by the disease could be prevented between 2021 and 2030. Roughly two-thirds of deaths from measles in 2023 were in Africa. Stemming major outbreaks there can also stop the disease from travelling farther afield, to America and Europe.

Raymond Briggs, who became a household name following a television film adaptation of his book “The Snowman” in 1982, stands in the first rank of children’s authors. On Saturday a new exhibition at Ditchling Museum of Art and Craft in East Sussex celebrates the British writer and illustrator, who lived in the adjacent village of Westmeston until his death in 2022.

Briggs has come to be associated with a cosy sentimentalism. But even his milder work, suffused as it is with melancholy, belies that perception. He pioneered the graphic novel form: “Gentleman Jim” and its apocalyptic sequel “When The Wind Blows” (later a feature film), were dark, subversive and satirical. Having fondly exaggerated his parents in those books, he went on to directly and sensitively memorialise them in “Ethel And Ernest”, a quiet masterwork of social history. Briggs never condescended to children, and his finest work is unmistakably adult.

Caitlin Clark’s signature three-point shot, so deep that it’s taken from near the mark in the middle of the court, is called a “logo 3”. The spectacle—shooting from near centre-court and getting nothing but net—unleashed euphoria in the stands even away from the University of Iowa. Last year the coach of an opposing team marvelled that Ms Clark was playing an entirely different game. “Sometimes you’re playing checkers and she’s playing chess.”

Ms Clark played for Iowa for four years, becoming the all-time leading scorer in National College Athletics Association basketball in 2024. She turned casual watchers into fans. Men’s March Madness, the college basketball playoffs, is huge in America, but this year the women’s final had more viewers (more than 24m tuned into the final 15 minutes).

Unsurprisingly, earlier this month she was the top pick for the professional WNBA season. But despite her fame and talent, Ms Clark’s starting salary with the Indiana Fever will be $76,535, about what a nurse or a dental hygienist makes on average. This is the most a rookie in the league can earn under collective bargaining rules. The top men’s NBA pick will make $12.2m. The disparity shocked Americans. Even President Joe Biden weighed in, tweeting “we’re seeing that even if you’re the best, women are not paid their fair share”.

Pundits predicted that she would earn a fortune in endorsements—and sure enough, she is reportedly poised to sign an eight-year $28m deal with Nike. It is the biggest sponsorship ever for a female basketball player. But Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstools Sports, a media company, tweeted that Ms Clark is “getting screwed”, positing that she is worth at least $80m “and that’s still prob too cheap”. He is right. She is drawing fans to women’s basketball. Her jersey has already sold out. Rival teams have shifted Indiana Fever games to bigger venues to accommodate demand. She plays her first professional game, on the road against the Connecticut Sun, on May 14th. Tickets are reselling for ten times their value.

Our crossword has two sets of clues, one for seasoned cruciverbalists and the other for less experienced solvers. Both give the same answers, all of which feature in articles in this week’s edition of The Economist:

Cryptic clues

1 down Some Venetians need refuge after redistributing disease (6,5)

1 across Toy artist held back a bit of money (6)

2 across Leave around last orders or stay living (5)

3 across Agree to snitch, if unknown (6)

Factual clues

1 down A disease becoming more prevalent because of climate change (6,5)

1 across A currency currently looking formidable (6)

2 across What Britain’s Reform UK Party does not do (5)

3 across What Britain was the first country to do for the European Convention on Human Rights? (6)

Email all four answers, along with your home city and country, by 9am GMT on Monday to [email protected]. We will pick randomly from those with the right answers and crown three winners in next week’s edition.

Thank you to everyone who took part in this week’s quiz. The winners, chosen at random, were:

Elena Mestechkin, Toronto, Canada

Carl Beveridge, Leicestershire, Britain

Sven Nilsson, Copenhagen, Denmark

They all gave the correct answers of Queen of the Netherlands, Mother Teresa, Fernando Alonso, Mia Farrow and Waterloo. The theme is Abba hits: Dancing Queen, Does Your Mother Know, Fernando, Mamma Mia and Waterloo.

The questions were:

Monday: People called Wilhelmina, Juliana and Beatrix held what role from 1890 to 2013?

Tuesday: Which nun won the 1979 Nobel peace prize?

Wednesday: Which Spaniard won the Formula 1 World Championship in 2005 and 2006?

Thursday: Which actress appeared in “Rosemary’s Baby” and “The Great Gatsby” and was married to Frank Sinatra?

Friday: Where was Napoleon’s final military defeat?