Drudge Report

Assange denied permission to challenge extradition...

2022-03-14T18:00:16Z

Julian Assange denied permission to challenge extradition

By Dominic CascianiHome and legal correspondent

The Supreme Court has refused to allow Julian Assange latest appeal against extradition to the United States.

A court spokesman said Mr Assange's application did not raise "an arguable point of law". The decision is a major blow to his hopes to avoid extradition.

The Wikileaks founder, 50, is wanted in the US over the publication thousands of classified files in 2010 and 2011.

The case will now goes back down to the original decision-making judge who assessed the United States' request.

Home Secretary Priti Patel is then expected to make a final decision. And even at that stage, there may still be grounds to mount a fresh challenge.

Mr Assange faces an 18-count indictment from the US government, accusing him of conspiring to hack into US military databases to acquire sensitive secret information relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, which was then published on the Wikileaks website.

The Wikileaks documents revealed how the US military had killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents during the war in Afghanistan, while leaked Iraq war files showed 66,000 civilians had been killed, and prisoners tortured, by Iraqi forces.

The US says the leaks broke the law and endangered lives, but Mr Assange says the case is politically motivated.

In January 2021, a lower judge who deals with extradition requests ruled that while the US had a case to prosecute Mr Assange for alleged offences relating to the mass hacking of government systems, he could not be sent from the UK to stand trial - because there was no guarantee that American authorities could safely care for him.

At the time, lawyers for Mr Assange argued his fragile mental health meant the US would find it impossible to stop him taking his own life - amid fears he was likely to be subject to solitary confinement.

The High Court then reversed that decision last December, saying that the US had provided good enough assurances that proved Mr Assange could be safely cared for.

Senior judges found the lower judge had based her decision on the risk of Mr Assange being held in highly-restrictive prison conditions if extradited.

However, the US authorities later gave assurances that he would not face those strictest measures unless he committed an act in the future that merited them.

Then, last month, Lord Burnett, the Lord Chief Justice, said there was now a legal question over how those assurances had been provided - and gave Mr Assange's lawyers 14 days to make the application to the Supreme Court.

Monday's denial means the US extradition request still stands.

If convicted in the US, Mr Assange faces a possible penalty of up to 175 years in jail, his lawyers have said. However the US government said the sentence was more likely to be between four and six years.

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Assange can ask Supreme Court to consider case

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site_name: bbc news

host: www.bbc.com

url: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-60743322

captured: 3/14/2022 6:00:16 PM UTC

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RUSSIAN EMBASSY TOUTS CANDACE OWENS...

2022-03-14T18:00:16Z

Russian Embassy Retweets Candace Owens Accusing American Government of ‘Appalling’ Treatment of Russians

Jason Kempin/Getty Images.

The Russian Embassy in the United States retweeted pro-Trump commentator Candace Owens accusing Americans, its leaders, and government institutions of “appalling” treatment of Russians amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Absolutely appalling the way Russians are being treated in America and abroad. That our leaders and government institutions are allowing for—and at times calling for this discrimination following their global ‘black lives matter’ hysteria is quite telling,” she tweeted on March 9. “Russian lives matter.”

The embassy retweeted her over the weekend.

Owens has previously been sympathetic to Russia during the invasion of Ukraine. Last month, she blamed America for the invasion, which is now in its 19th day.

“I suggest every American who wants to know what’s *actually* going on in Russia and Ukraine, read this transcript of Putin’s address. As I’ve said for month— NATO (under direction from the United States) is violating previous agreements and expanding eastward. WE are at fault,” she tweeted on Feb. 22.

I suggest every American who wants to know what’s *actually* going on in Russia and Ukraine, read this transcript of Putin’s address. As I’ve said for month— NATO (under direction from the United States) is violating previous agreements and expanding eastward. WE are at fault. https://t.co/NDmou8I36H

— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) February 22, 2022

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The post RUSSIAN EMBASSY TOUTS CANDACE OWENS... captured from The Drudge Report right column, article 3 on 3/14/2022 6:00:16 PM UTC.

site_name: mediaite

host: www.mediaite.com

url: https://www.mediaite.com/online/russian-embassy-retweets-candace-owens-accusing-american-government-of-appalling-treatment-of-russians/

captured: 3/14/2022 6:00:16 PM UTC

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MERCK Pill Heavily Used Despite Concerns...

2022-03-14T18:00:16Z

Merck’s Covid-19 Pill Heavily Used So Far Despite Concerns

A new Covid-19 pill from Merck & Co. and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP has been more widely used than expected since rolling out late last year, though regulators and many doctors consider it a last resort.

Many doctors and health officials anticipated a rival pill, Pfizer Inc.’s Paxlovid, would be the Covid-19 drug of choice. Paxlovid was found to be far more effective than Merck-Ridgeback’s molnupiravir in clinical trials, and regulators and guidelines recommended using Paxlovid if possible.

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The post MERCK Pill Heavily Used Despite Concerns... captured from The Drudge Report middle column, article 17 on 3/14/2022 6:00:16 PM UTC.

site_name: wsj

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url: https://www.wsj.com/articles/mercks-covid-19-pill-heavily-used-so-far-despite-concerns-11647250200

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Berlin to buy dozens of US fighter jets in spending spree...

2022-03-14T18:00:16Z

Germany to buy dozens of US fighter jets in spending spree

Issued on: 14/03/2022 - 13:22Modified: 14/03/2022 - 13:20

Berlin (AFP) – Germany plans to buy up to 35 US-made F-35 fighter jets and 15 Eurofighter jets, a parliamentary source said Monday, as part of a major push to modernise the armed forces in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The F-35 jets made by Lockheed Martin would replace Germany's decades-old Tornado fleet, according to media reports confirmed by the source.

Tornados are the only Luftwaffe planes capable of carrying US nuclear bombs stationed in Germany that are a key part of NATO deterrence.

Lockheed's F-35 stealth jets are considered the most modern combat aircraft in the world, and their unique shape and coating make them harder to detect by enemy radar.

The additional Eurofighter jets Germany plans to purchase, made by a consortium that includes Airbus, would reportedly be used for other operations, including escort missions and electronic warfare like jamming enemy air defence systems.

In a landmark speech late last month, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged to invest an extra 100 billion euros ($112 billion) in the nation's chronically underfunded Bundeswehr armed forces.

The spending boost marks a major reversal for Europe's top economy, upending its policy of keeping a low military profile in part out of guilt over World War II.

After years of criticism that the country wasn't shouldering enough of the financial burden in the NATO military alliance, Scholz also vowed to spend "more than two percent" of Germany's gross domestic product annually on defence, surpassing NATO's own two-percent target.

The shift was prompted by the return of war to the European continent following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, shaking Germany's sense of security and shining a harsh spotlight on the state of its armed forces.

A draft budget for 2022 unveiled on Monday confirmed Germany's spending ambitions.

If approved by parliament, the budget will see Berlin spending more than 50 billion euros this year on defence, a government source said, calling it a "record high".

The amount comes on top of Scholz's promised "special fund" of 100 billion euros to upgrade the armed forces over the coming years.

The F-35 purchase however raises questions about the future of a common European fighter jet being developed with Spain and France.

Known as the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), the plane is slated to replace French-made Rafale jets and German and Spanish Eurofighter planes by 2040.

Scholz sought to allay fears that the project might become unnecessary in February's speech, by saying the joint European project was an "absolute priority".

But the Bundeswehr has to replace its 40-year-old Tornado fleet in the short term because it has become "obsolete", Scholz added.

Germany's planned jet deal is also bad news for US aviation giant Boeing, whose F-18 fighters were considered a frontrunner to replace the Tornados.

While cheaper than F-35s, the F-18 would have had to have been recertified to be able to transport atomic warheads.

There was no immediate indication of the price tag on Germany's new combat jet plans.

But Finland ordered 64 F-35A jets in December, in a deal worth 8.4 billion euros.

Germany's Scholz-led government, which replaced Angela Merkel's cabinet in December, re-committed to finding a successor to the Tornado in its coalition pact.

The coalition is made of up Scholz's Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP.

Days after Russia launched its first attack on Ukraine, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, who chairs the parliament's defence committee, said the Tornado issue needed to be resolved urgently.

The war in Ukraine has shown "that attacks are being carried out from the air and must be responded to accordingly", the FDP lawmaker was quoted as saying by German media.

The F-35 programme has in the past been plagued by cost overruns and technical issues, but the multi-role supersonic jets have since become increasingly sought after by US allies.

As well as supplying the US armed forces, Lockheed has contracts with 14 countries including Britain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Poland.

On its website, Lockheed describes the "long-range, highly manoeuvrable" F-35 as "the most lethal" fighter aircraft ever built.

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site_name: france 24

host: www.france24.com

url: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220314-germany-to-buy-dozens-of-us-fighter-jets-in-spending-spree

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AMAZON relocating workers from Seattle office due to crime...

2022-03-14T18:00:16Z

AMAZON relocating workers from Seattle office due to crime...

Click here to read the full article

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site_name: komonews.com

host: komonews.com

url: https://komonews.com/news/local/amazon-temporarily-relocating-workers-from-office-at-3rd-and-pine-due-to-crime-concerns

captured: 3/14/2022 6:00:16 PM UTC

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UN Warns: Nuclear War 'Within Realm of Possibility'...

2022-03-14T18:00:16Z

UN Secretary-General Warns: Nuclear War 'Within the Realm of Possibility'

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that a possibility of nuclear conflict exists in the midst of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Guterres briefed journalists on the Ukraine situation Monday, where he described multilateral efforts to reach a diplomatic end for Russia’s attack on the country. During this presser, Guterres spoke to the recurring questions about how Vladimir Putin’s military steps against Ukraine could lead to the breakout of nuclear war.

“Raising the alert level of Russian nuclear forces is a bone-chilling development,” Guterres said. “The prospect of nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, is now back within the realm of possibility.”

Guterres also called for the safeguarding of nuclear facilities, which comes amid rising public concerns when the Chernobyl nuclear plant recently got cut off from the Ukrainian national power grid. Power was restored to the Chernobyl facility on Sunday as officials warned there could have been a potential nuclear disaster if power failed long enough for a radioactive leak to happen.

“It’s time to stop the horror unleashed on the people of Ukraine and get on the path of diplomacy and peace,” Guterres said. “The appeals for peace must be heard. This tragedy must stop.”

Watch above.

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The post UN Warns: Nuclear War 'Within Realm of Possibility'... captured from The Drudge Report above the fold, article 7 on 3/14/2022 6:00:16 PM UTC.

site_name: mediaite

host: www.mediaite.com

url: https://www.mediaite.com/news/un-secretary-general-warns-once-unthinkable-nuclear-war-within-the-realm-of-possibility/

captured: 3/14/2022 6:00:16 PM UTC

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'He sharply criticizes actions of United States and NATO'...

2022-03-14T17:00:16Z

LEAKED: Memo From Russian Government Instructs Media to Promote Fox News' Tucker Carlson

According to a new report, the Russian government is instructing media outlets to use more clips of Fox News host Tucker Carlson criticizing the United States and defending Russia for its war against Ukraine.

Progressive outlet Mother Jones obtained a document called “For Media and Commentators,” which was reportedly part of several memos from Russia’s Department of Information and Telecommunications Support. The memos were provided by “a contributor to a national Russian media outlet who asked not to be identified.”

“It is essential to use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who sharply criticizes the actions of the United States [and] Nato, their negative role in unleashing the conflict in Ukraine, [and] the defiantly provocative behavior from the leadership of the eastern countries and Nato towards the Russian Federation and towards President Putin, personally,” the memo says, according to a translation by Mother Jones.

It also notes Carlson’s position that “Russia is only protecting its interests and security,” and includes a quote from the Fox News host: “How would the U.S. behave if such a situation developed in neighboring Mexico or Canada?”

Mother Jones provided photos of the documents, along with an outline of which narratives the Russian government is trying to get the media to spread. The memo’s references to Carlson are included a section called “Victory in Information War,” wherein Russian journalists are instructed to push sympathetic coverage of the Kremlin, along with negative coverage of the Ukrainian government.

The article follows previous reports revealing that Carlson has been increasingly featured by Russian media propagandists trying to defend the violent invasion. While Carlson has recently criticized Putin’s invasion, he previously downplayed the threat of war and defended Russia’s aggression.

Last week, Carlson wholeheartedly embraced an unproven conspiracy theory pushed by Russia that Ukraine and the U.S. were developing bioweapons in the eastern European country. The Fox News host even seemed to attack his colleague, Jennifer Griffin, for objecting to that theory.

Russian state media quickly picked up Carlson’s commentary on the bioweapons claim.

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The post 'He sharply criticizes actions of United States and NATO'... captured from The Drudge Report right column, article 2 on 3/14/2022 5:00:16 PM UTC.

site_name: mediaite

host: www.mediaite.com

url: https://www.mediaite.com/news/leaked-memo-from-russian-government-reportedly-instructs-media-to-promote-fox-news-tucker-carlson/

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Leaked Kremlin Memo: It Is 'Essential' to Feature FOX Tucker Carlson...

2022-03-14T17:00:16Z

EXCLUSIVE: Kremlin war memos instruct Russian media to feature Tucker Carlson.

Mother Jones; Tucker Carlson Tonight/Zuma

On March 3, as Russian military forces bombed Ukrainian cities as part of Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of his neighbor, the Kremlin sent out talking points to state-friendly media outlets with a request: Use more Tucker Carlson.

“It is essential to use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who sharply criticizes the actions of the United States [and] NATO, their negative role in unleashing the conflict in Ukraine, [and] the defiantly provocative behavior from the leadership of the Western countries and NATO towards the Russian Federation and towards President Putin, personally,” advises the 12-page document written in Russian. It sums up Carlson’s position: “Russia is only protecting its interests and security.” The memo includes a quote from Carlson: “And how would the US behave if such a situation developed in neighboring Mexico or Canada?”

The document—titled “For Media and Commentators (recommendations for coverage of events as of 03.03)”—was produced, according to its metadata, at a Russian government agency called the Department of Information and Telecommunications Support, which is part of the Russian security apparatus. It was provided to Mother Jones by a contributor to a national Russian media outlet who asked not to be identified. The source said memos like this one have been regularly sent by Putin’s administration to media organizations during the war. Independent media outlets in Russia have been forced to shut down since the start of the conflict.

The March 3 document opens with top-line themes the Kremlin wanted Russian media to spread: The Russian invasion is “preventing the possibility of nuclear strikes on its territory”; Ukraine has a history of nationalism (that presumably threatens Russia); the Russian military operation is proceeding as planned; Putin is protecting all Russians; the “losing” Ukrainian army is shelling residential areas of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia; foreign mercenaries are arriving in Ukraine; Europe “is facing more and more problems” because of its own sanctions; and there will be “danger and possible legal consequences” for those in Russia who protest the war. The document notes that it is “necessary to continue quoting” Putin. It claims that the “hysteria of the West had reached the inexplicable level” of people calling for killing dogs and cats from Russia and asks, “Today they call for the killing of animals from Russia. Tomorrow, will they call for killing people from Russia?”

A section headlined “Victory in Information War” tells Russian journalists to push these specific points: The Ukrainian military is beginning to collapse; the Kyiv government is guilty of “war crimes”; and Moscow is the target of a “massive Western anti-Russian propaganda” operation. It states that Russian media should raise questions about Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s state of mind and suggest he is not truly in charge of Ukraine. And it encourages these outlets to “broadcast messages” highlighting the law recently passed by the Russia Duma that makes it a crime to impede the war effort or disseminate what the government deems “false” information about the war, punishable for up to 15 years in prison. This portion instructs Russian journalists to emphasize that these penalties apply to anyone who promotes news about Ukrainian military victories or Russian attacks on civilian targets.

This is the section of the memo that calls on Russian media to make as much use as possible of Tucker Carlson’s broadcasts. No other Western journalist is referenced in the memo.

Mother Jones is not posting the full document to protect the source of the material. Here are photos of the memo. The first shows the opening page; the next displays the paragraph citing Carlson.

Prior to the Russian invasion, Carlson was perhaps the most prominent American voice challenging opposition to Putin. In one now-infamous commentary, he said, “Why do Democrats want you to hate Putin? Has Putin shipped every middle class job in your town to Russia? Did he manufacture a worldwide pandemic that wrecked your business? Is he teaching your kids to embrace racial discrimination? Is he making fentanyl? Does he eat dogs?”

Carlson repeatedly noted there was no reason for the United States to assist Ukraine in its battle with Russia and insisted it was “not treason, it is not un-American” to support Putin. He contended that Ukraine was not “a democracy” but a “client state” of the US government.

After Putin attacked Ukraine, Carlson ceased his anti-anti-Putin rhetoric and shifted to a new line: that the United States and the West purposefully goaded Putin into launching the war. Carlson said it was “obvious” that “getting Ukraine to join NATO was the key to inciting war with Russia.” He asked, “Why in the world would the United States intentionally seek war with Russia? How could we possibly benefit from that war?” He said he did not know.

More recently, Carlson mouthed Russian disinformation, and he did so as a new set of Kremlin talking points once again pushed Russian journalists to cite the Fox host.

On Wednesday, Carlson claimed that the “Russian disinformation they’ve been telling us for days is a lie and a conspiracy theory and crazy and immoral to believe is, in fact, totally and completely true.” He was referring to the Russian allegation that the United States had set up biowarfare labs in Ukraine. But this charge was far from proven. At a congressional hearing, Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland had testified that Ukraine possessed biological research facilities and that the US government was worried about “research materials” falling into the hands of Russian forces. This was a far cry from substantiating the Russian charge that Washington was working on bioweapons in Ukraine. But Putin’s regime jumped on the Nuland testimony and cited it as proof of nefarious American activity. Carlson echoed this Russian propaganda.

A March 10 “recommendations for coverage” memo from the same Russian agency highlights this bioweapons allegation as a top talking point for Russian media, noting the message should be that the “activities of military biological laboratories with American participation on the territory of Ukraine carried global threats to Russia and Europe.” The document goes further, encouraging its recipients to allege that the “the United States is working on a ‘biogenocide of the Eastern Slavs.'”

The memo lays out the details of this bizarre conspiracy theory: The United States was conducting “experiments with genetic material collected on the territory of Ukraine,” with the “main objective” being “to create unique strains of various kinds of viruses for targeted destruction of the population in Russia.” The United States even had a plan to transmit pathogens “by wild birds migrating between Ukraine, Russia and other neighboring countries.” This scheme included “studying the possibility of carrying African swine fever and anthrax.” The memo claims “biolaboratories set up and funded in Ukraine have been experimenting with bat coronavirus samples.” It cites Nuland’s testimony and says the United States was involved with “military biological laboratories” in Ukraine that “potentially posed a global threat to all of Europe.”

Carlson had amplified a slice of this Russian propaganda.

The March 10 memo advises Russian journalists to cite Carlson on another matter: how the economic sanctions imposed on Russia would harm Americans:

American analyst and Fox News journalist Tucker Carlson called President Biden’s sanctions policy a punishment for the American middle class: “Biden explained that he was going to punish Putin by banning Americans from buying Russian energy resources. But the problem is that markets around the world are already ready for Russian oil, starting with China, India, and Turkey. If you want to get to the bottom of it, just think about who will suffer the most from sanctions? The answer is not on the surface. Middle-income Americans will suffer. The very people who were crushed by Covid restrictions for two years. Now they will suffer from cuts to energy sources… So, the Vladimir Putin who is being punished, is actually American citizens—yes, all of you.”

The document notes that Carlson’s anti-sanctions argument “can be reinforced with a selection of reports that enthusiastically encourage Americans to tighten their belts in the name of saving Ukraine.”

As with the March 3 memo, Carlson was the only Western journalist named in this more recent how-to-help-Putin memo. But this edition does point out that the New York Post “writes that it was not anti-Russian sanctions that spurred inflation, but rather the wild spending of Joe Biden himself. President Biden wants to blame Vladimir Putin for the rise in inflation. However, all the fault comes from his policy implemented long before the Ukrainian crisis.”

The March 10 guidelines contains other false claims for Russian journalists to promote: that US forces had been training Ukrainians to launch an offensive in Donbas this month and that Russia’s attack on Ukraine was an effort to preempt that military action; that the Ukrainians have plans to “use nuclear weapons in some form”; and that the horrific bombing of Mariupol that struck a hospital and a birthing center was fake news. It urges Russian journalists to assert that Russia was being victimized by cancel culture and Russophobia was “on the march.”

It’s unclear whether these memos had any impact on Russian media outlets, which already were regularly citing and praising Carlson. Pro-Putin media organizations in Russia may not have needed the Kremlin’s recent encouragement to make Carlson a star. RT, the Russian propaganda outlet, embraced Carlson’s defense of RT after social media companies banned RT content. And on Friday, Komsomolskaya Pravda ran a splashy story headlined “Well-known American TV journalist Carlson was outraged by the ‘lies of the United States.'” It was all about Tucker’s on-air (and unfounded) anger over the Nuland testimony and the biolab allegations. In this instance, a pro-Putin Russian media outlet was using Carlson’s disinformation to advance Moscow disinformation. Just like the Kremlin wanted.

Fox News and Carlson did not respond to requests for comment.

Additional reporting was provided by David Lee Preston and Hannah Levintova.

The post Leaked Kremlin Memo: It Is 'Essential' to Feature FOX Tucker Carlson... captured from The Drudge Report right column, article 1 on 3/14/2022 5:00:16 PM UTC.

site_name: mother jones

host: www.motherjones.com

url: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/03/exclusive-kremlin-putin-russia-ukraine-war-memo-tucker-carlson-fox/

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Germany Raises Alarm as Covid Infections Surge to Record Levels...

2022-03-14T17:00:16Z

COVID digest: Germany's situation 'critical,' Lauterbach says | DW | 11.03.2022

German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said the impact of COVID-19 in the country had reached a "critical" level after the number of infections rose to a record high this week.

"We are in a situation that I would like to describe as critical,'' Lauterbach said at the weekly coronavirus press briefing in Berlin on Friday. "We have strongly rising case figures again. [...] I keep reading that the omicron variant is a milder variant but that's only true to a limited extent."

Despite planning to further relax COVID-19 rules, Germany logged a record high number of coronavirus infections in 24 hours on Thursday, and a figure almost as high, 252,836 cases, on Friday.

"The situation is objectively worse than the public mood," the health minister said.

He said that some people's belief in Germany, including politicians, that the pandemic was now over, was an "error of judgement."

"We can not be satisfied with a situation in which 250 people are dying every day and the prospect is that in a few weeks more people will die,'' he said.

Germany will lift most coronavirus restrictions on March 20 after a period of easing them. From then on, state governments will be allowed to require measures such as wearing masks, testing and other measures in virus "hot spots" at their own discretion.

Masks will remain mandatory on long-distance trains and flights.

Here are the latest major developments on coronavirus from around the world:

The government in Kenya announced on Friday that it would scrap wearing of masks in public to ease COVID-19 restrictions that had been in place for two years.

"The mandatory wearing of face masks in open public spaces is now lifted," Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe said in a statement on Friday.

It comes as rates of COVID infection in Kenya had dropped to one percent or less over the past month, the minister explained.

Double vaccinated people will also be allowed into sporting events and all in-person worship services can resume at full capacity so long as the attendees are fully jabbed, he said.

But he also added: "This, however, is not to say that we are already completely out of the woods."

Kagwe encouraged the continued use of masks indoors and social distancing in public places.

China ordered the lockdown the northeastern city of Changchun following a new spike in local COVID-19 cases attributed to the omicron variant.

Mainland China reported over 1,000 new COVID-19 infections, spread across dozens of cities, its highest daily count in about two years, according to the latest daily official count released on Friday.

Residents living in the city of 9 million must stay at home, with one family member allowed to leave the house to buy food and other essentials every two days.

All residents also have to undergo three rounds of mass testing, meanwhile non-essential businesses have been closed and transport links suspended.

In Hong Kong, leader Carrie Lam called for more vaccinations as rising infections raise alarm bells. Lam said on Friday that the city's COVID-19 vaccination program will focus on its elderly and children while authorities battle to curb climbing infections and death rates.

Health authorities reported 29,381 new infections and 196 deaths on Friday. Since early 2020, Hong Kong had recorded almost 650,000 COVID-19 infections and about 3,500 deaths, most of which are from the past two weeks.

A World Health Organization (WHO) official on Friday had urged the Philippines to remain vigilant against Covid-19, warning that another surge was "inevitable."

As cases continue to drop to less than 1,000 per day, authorities in the Philippines had been looking to ease restrictions. Since the start of the month, 40 areas in the country, including the capital, had remained under Level 1 of a five-tier alert system.

This meant businesses have been allowed to operate at full capacity but face masks and social distancing are still required.

Rajendra Prasav Yadav, WHO's acting country representative, said it was "too early to declare victory against the virus."

"When we start lowering our guards and masks, this is a disaster because we're seeing the vaccination pace slow down considerably in the past few days," he said in a television interview. "We have to be actively careful, stay alert and get ready for the next wave, which I think is inevitable."

The United States is extending the requirement of wearing masks on planes and public transport for one more month, federal officials said.

It announced the decision while also deliberating on steps that could lead to lifting the rule entirely.

The mandate to wear masks was scheduled to expire March 18, but now has been extended to April 18, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said.

More to follow...

fh/msh (Reuters, AP, DPA, AFP)

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site_name: dw.com

host: www.dw.com

url: https://www.dw.com/en/covid-digest-germanys-situation-critical-lauterbach-says/a-61094888

captured: 3/14/2022 5:00:16 PM UTC

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Can you be healed by a sound frequency?

2022-03-14T16:00:17Z

Can you be healed by a sound frequency? From sound baths to TikTok, a debate (gently) rages

LOS ANGELES — In 2015 the Grammy-nominated music producer, songwriter and rapper Maejor, 33, was living every artist’s dream.

The musician, born Brandon Green in Detroit, had started making beats as a teenager. By his mid-20s, he’d appeared on or produced tracks by Drake, Iggy Azalea and Justin Bieber and broke the top 20 in 2013 as Maejor Ali with his single “Lolly.”

The following year, he started experiencing what he calls “excruciating pain” in his arms and legs at night. As it got worse, a doctor gave him a blood test and sent him to an oncologist, who told Maejor that he had leukemia.

Battling fear, grief and depression while undergoing chemotherapy, he self-medicated with drugs, sought professional therapists and went on an ayahuasca retreat at the foot of Mount Shasta. None proved effective in fighting his feeling of hopelessness.

Then Maejor “started getting introduced to different spiritual communities,” he says via video call. “I started hearing about how people used sound.”

After profound experiences during yoga and meditation sessions, he began researching the mechanics of music and the underlying theories connecting the frequencies of specific notes and wellness. He was intrigued. Burrowing down an internet rabbit hole, Maejor was struck by a debate that had seeped onto YouTube.

Referring to the musical note of A, Maejor explains that for the past 80-odd years, “the standard tuning of music has been A equals 440 hertz.” Such a crucial determination, he says, “is just not questioned, not even really deviated from.”

His belief? Tuning A to a slightly lower 432 hertz, and adjusting scales to calculate this change, sounds and feels better than the “brighter” 440 hertz. Maejor compares this epiphany on his new podcast, “Maejor Frequency,” to “when you let out a huge sigh and your body floods with serotonin and you realize you’ve arrived at the place that you belonged all along.”

He adds, “Any opportunity I get to plug sound healing or intentional frequency use into this world, I will — and it’s seeping over into every aspect of my life.”

When used for calculating frequencies, “hertz” is a measurement of repeating patterns that signifies the cycles per second at which air molecules vibrate as sound travels. A store-bought tuning fork forged to resonate in the key of A, when struck, will cause a wave of 440 hertz to vibrate air particles as it soars toward your eardrums.

For the Los Angeles-based Maejor and millions of others meditating to or creating so-called “frequency music” on YouTube, Spotify and TikTok, the frequency of 432 hertz, though, is more aligned with nature’s patterns. As such, they say, when that root frequency activates the eardrums, it fills you with positive vibrations.

Prolonged listening to these 432-hertz tones, claim various believers, reduces stress, “detoxifies” cells and organs, eliminates fear and wipes out negativity. Some advocates of a different pitch-based system argue that its particular root tone “repairs DNA and brings positive transformation.” Other frequencies are said to bring love and compassion and allow the attuned to connect to a higher self.

These emergent beliefs are part of a long fascination with “pitch-correcting” the Western music scale. Over the past decade, the conversation has eased its way from academic and esoteric circles and onto social media and wellness platforms.

“Things that I used to talk about a few years ago that seemed very far out or woo-woo are now more normal,” Maejor says.

He documents his journey through his cancer diagnosis — it’s in remission — and turn toward 432-hertz music on his Audible podcast, produced by L.A.-based company Audio Up. Soundtracked by gongs, singing bowls, om-chanting gurus and his own music, “Maejor Frequency” centers around the artist — who also produces electronic dance music with Martin Garrix as Area21 — traveling the world in search of information. He devotes a big chunk of his research to the Los Angeles community of sound therapists and thinkers.

That stands to reason: Southern California is the major driver of a U.S. wellness industry that generates $1.5 trillion annually.

Music and harmonious tones have long scored all sorts of wellness activities, whether massage therapy, yoga classes or meditation sessions. In the past couple of years, people made anxious or unwell by COVID-19 have increasingly turned to less traditional means of spiritual and physical healing.

In Los Angeles, a search on Yelp reveals dozens of practitioners claiming to “retune” the spirit to its natural frequency with sound baths. Apps such as Calm, Meditopia and Headspace offer daily regimens designed to encourage mindfulness.

On YouTube, hubs such as Meditative Mind, ZenLifeRelax and Gaia regularly release content, much of it whooshy synthesizer music, that has generated billions of views. Spotify and other music platforms offer a lifetime’s worth of pure tones for meditating. TikTok’s “frequency music” hashtag offers countless portals into a range of aural philosophies.

The beliefs nestled within various camps have absorbed inspiration from chants sung during ancient Gregorian masses; the seven chakra meditation points used in Hindu-based mindfulness practices; the Buddhist beliefs on drone-driven serenity; the West Coast new-age music community; and ideas born from sound therapy practitioners working to alleviate trauma.

“432 is one with the world around it. We are all one. Everything is one,” Maejor testifies on his podcast.

The argument for a switch from 440 to 432 hertz rests as much on feeling as it does on science.

Most people wouldn’t be able to discern such microtonal shifts up or down 8 hertz.

Ruth E. Rosenberg, a music professor at University of Illinois Chicago, started studying 432-hertz music in the mid-2010s when a student mentioned a fondness for it.

After researching the alleged negativity of 440 hertz, Rosenberg was struck by “this idea that pop music could be harmful to you.”

Since Rosenberg first came across the ideas, artists including Prince, Aphex Twin and Kanye West have chimed in on the positive and negative effects of specific frequencies. “If I play with frequencies, I can target certain parts of the mind,” claimed the late rapper XXXTentacion.

YouTube channels that pitch-shift today’s biggest pop songs from 440 to 432 hertz claim their versions to be more “in tune” with the universe’s frequency. Shortly after Taylor Swift released her 10-minute version of “All Too Well,” an unauthorized 432-hertz version arrived.

“If you do an A and B comparison between a 432 and a 440, most people don’t hear an audible difference. But people will tell you they profoundly do, and what I took from the listeners is that they experience something really different,” says Rosenberg.

One voice Maejor was drawn to as he was battling depression and searching for answers was Ana Netanel, who describes herself on her Shakti Sound Bath website as an “international wellness practitioner and instructor specializing in the restorative and healing power of sound frequency and vibration.”

Netanel, who appears in an episode of “Maejor Frequency,” has preached the power of kundalini yoga and sound baths for about two decades. She and her baths, which include singing bowls tuned to 432 hertz, have appeared on TV shows “Grey’s Anatomy” and “The Hills.” In December during an episode of the Facebook Watch show “Cardi Tries,” Netanel gave rapper Cardi B a drone-filled sound bath with bowls set to 432 hertz.

Says Netanel during a recent call, “Healing sounds help to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for rest and digest, and they really help to relax.” Like Maejor, Netanel’s goal “is to bring sound healing to the mainstream.”

If they succeed, they will likely face pushback from the medical and science communities.

“So far as I can tell there is very little solid scientific evidence supporting any of these interesting new ideas,” says Dr. Robert Bilder, director of the Tennenbaum Center for the Biology of Creativity at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. One of his current students, he says, is getting ready to begin “a randomized controlled trial to see if Tibetan singing bowls have more benefits for psychological well-being relative to a simple relaxation meditation session. But so far there are few rigorous studies of these effects.”

“That’s what I’ve been calling for for the last quarter-century, and I applaud the doctor for financing and supporting research in the field,” says Leonard G. Horowitz, an author, retired dentist and longtime advocate of meditating to specific frequencies.

Horowitz and his followers have concluded that yet another frequency holds healing powers. He lays out his conviction in his “The Book of 528: Prosperity Key of Love.” Published in 2011, it argues that neither the 440- nor the 432-hertz tone possesses secret energy.

That magic number is 528 hertz, known to musicians as a “high C,” to podcasters as “the frequency of love” and to a new breed of YouTube numerologists as a key number in the so-called “solfeggio frequency” system of audio healing.

Horowitz, 69, first wrote about the “solfeggio system” numbers in a wild 1999 book called “Healing Codes for the Biological Apocalypse.” (The term “solfeggio” is a variation on the Italian term solfège, which has long been used to teach novice music students pitch, sight-reading and note discernment. Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti is a solfège.)

The aim of “Healing Codes” hardly sounds harmonious: Horowitz, a decades-long anti-vaccine activist, wrote in the introduction that it was “intended to slay the earth’s deadliest dragon — a beast that breathes God’s power and expires pestilence and pain on His people.”

“The way that the entire universe is constructed,” Horowitz later proclaimed, “is through a musical, mathematical matrix composed of nine core creative frequencies.” As measured in hertz, those numbers are 174, 285, 369, 417, 528, 639, 741, 852 and 963. Meditating or actively listening to these tones, according to Horowitz, generates specific positive outcomes.

Try 741 hertz, writes Horowitz, “if you regularly feel uncertain or unclear about your life and relationships or having trouble perceiving the truth in situations.” Tune into 852 hertz when you’re experiencing “depression and mental fog, chronic fatigue, materialism and greed, and headaches.”

Like those of QAnon, Horowitz’s writings and the numerology they convey have spread well beyond their source. Videos connected to his solfeggio system numbers — most crucially, 528 hertz — have clocked more than 1 billion views on YouTube. (Horowitz’s online store sells a 528-hertz tuning fork that will set you back $120.)

Horowitz’s theories have resonated with Josh Laven, 25, a Newport Beach-based musician, producer and TikTok creator who makes music as Anomal. A self-described “quantum sound healer,” the musician has incorporated Horowitz’s voice into one of his songs, resulting in the two becoming friendly. “It was such a beautiful conversation, and his energy and his vibration really felt like it matched.”

Laven has held YouTube symposiums, produced 528 music and eagerly advocated for the solfeggio system.

“It’s such a powerful time,” he says by phone.

In a 2020 TikTok video that’s been viewed more than 2 million times, Laven issued a kind of call to arms. “If you listen to frequency music, stop listening to 432 hertz! It is not what they say it is. It is not backed by science. It is not a miracle tone.”

Laven, who is unvaccinated due in part to the influence of Horowitz’s theories, was drawn to Horowitz during what he calls “a dark time” in his life: the end of a long-term relationship and a decision to quit hockey, which he’d played since elementary school and had earned him a college scholarship.

Then, he says, “I found this music that was tuned differently … and stimulated so many new energy centers. I was able to perform better mentally, physically, emotionally, everything.”

Podcaster and musician Matt Marble, whose series “Secret Sound” explores the history of American musical spiritualist composers and movements, dismisses Horowitz’s claims on frequencies, calling them part of a “basic strategy to create fear and then provide a solution to the fear.” He describes the author’s hypotheses as “a total mishmash of metaphysics” and notes that Horowitz seems to have adjusted his system over time “to make it more and more accessible.”

“The frequencies relating to these solfeggio tones are complete bulls---,” Marble concludes.

“From the perspective of the science of sound, there’s nothing special about these particular frequencies,” says Robin James, an associate professor of philosophy at University of North Carolina-Charlotte who focuses on music. Describing the frequency conversation as being part of “the wellness-influencer-Goop-pseudoscientific space,” she calls the solfeggio system “bonkers numerology.”

“It makes sense within that system, but not within the physics of sound,” she says.

Ana Netanel and her tribe of white-dressed sound-healing students regularly converge on private Malibu land overlooking the Pacific to relax to the sound of singing bowls tuned to 432 hertz and gongs that blitz the eardrums with volumes of various frequencies.

On a recent Sunday afternoon, about 50 of us are seated in the kind of spot you picture when someone says, “outdoor sound bath in the hills of Malibu.” Situated inside a wide circle of gongs, bowls, shakers and rain sticks, we set up yoga mats, blankets and pillows to lie down and be bathed.

Netanel invites us to set our intentions via a kundalini chant. We abide. In the distance, the very untuned rumble of weekend motorcyclists pierces the bliss. An ocean breeze wobbles the gongs behind her.

Some have brought eye pillows to shield the bright midafternoon sun. We recline into savasana, or corpse pose, and I cover my face with a knit cap that shades the sunlight. Sitting before a trio of gongs, Netanel starts gently tapping a padded mallet on the largest of them; her students do the same on theirs. A deep, harmonic drone cascades across the landing and vibrates my eardrums.

The next 75 minutes feel like a rush of color. My eyes closed, the ringing gongs seem to occupy the oxygen as they storm the mess of random frequency data in my head.

Gradually the gong tones start expanding with higher frequencies as the practitioners activate tuned bowls. A harpist gently strums out vague dots of melody.

Overhead, an airliner en route to LAX adds a wash of distant white noise to the sound-makers wandering among the relaxed with rain sticks, shakers and bells. At some point, the players return to gongs, activating them with a power that at first feels like angels revving their wings, then God piloting a jet-fueled chariot. During Cardi B’s sound bath, she described this part as “scary.”

I’d describe it otherwise: gorgeous, loud, all-consuming harmonies and tones that at various points seem to make time vanish. At one point, I remove my eye covering. With my eyes still closed and lost in mindful bliss, the blackness turns an otherworldly pink hue, which might suggest that I’m attuned to the universe on some metaphysical level — or that the day’s fading sunlight is now penetrating my eyelids.

Fifteen minutes later, I’m on the winding Rambla Pacifico Street, a resonant hum scoring my drive home. It’s reverberating from a sound-focused experience that had less to do with any specific frequencies — for all I know, those bowls were tuned to 666 hertz — and everything to do with getting lost through meditative, focused listening.

Truth be told, 440 hertz has never let me down — as far as I know.

———

The post Can you be healed by a sound frequency? captured from The Drudge Report right column, article 3 on 3/14/2022 4:00:17 PM UTC.

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'Alien Drone Swarm' Freaks Out Austin with Giant Hovering QR Code...

2022-03-14T16:00:17Z

“Alien Drone Swarm” Form Giant Hovering QR Code Over Austin to Promote ‘Halo’

This is what an alien invasion from a marketing department looks like.

An eerie swarm of purple lights amassed in the skies over downtown Austin, Texas, Sunday evening.

Four hundred drones were suspended over the city during the South by Southwest festival to form a giant, hovering … QR code?

The dystopic-yet-impressive stunt was from Paramount+ to promote its upcoming sci-fi series Halo, based on the popular Xbox game about a warrior fighting off an alien invasion. The display was 300 feet tall (roughly the height of the Statue of Liberty) and 600 feet wide (almost two football fields). And, yes, the QR code was scannable, linking to a promo for the series.

Locals on Reddit had plenty of thoughts. “This is obviously a sign of the apocalypse,” wrote one. “The day I look up to the night sky and see a fucking ad is the day you should just shoot me right there,” penned another. “I saw it and got scared and ran inside,” wrote another.

Yet there were positive responses, too: Damn that’s genuinely so cool,” opined one user. “Smart idea—get your message out to the people who don’t give any fucks to actually get anywhere near [downtown, where South by Southwest was held]. I, for one, am interested in this.”

Here’s a video of the swam morphing:

QR Code Made by Drones That You Can Scan 🤯 pic.twitter.com/rlPZwG6JUw

— dennis hegstad 🤠 (@dennishegstad) March 14, 2022

“It sounded like a swarm of bees x1000,” wrote Dennis Hegstad, who captured the photos from his balcony.

The studio partnered with Giant Spoon on the activation. The “alien swarm” will appear several times again Monday night starting around 8 p.m., with the best viewing options by Rainey Street, East Side Tavern, or The Fairmont.

The TV series stars Pablo Schreiber as the Master Chief, a warrior fighting invasive aliens known as The Covenant. The actor recently spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the series and how his Master Chief character will differ from the game.

Halo has its premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival this afternoon and debuts on Paramount+ on March 24.

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'Deltacron' Danger...

2022-03-14T16:00:17Z

'Deltacron' is hybrid of Delta and Omicron variants. How afraid should California be?

As the latest coronavirus surge fades, health officials are keeping watch on a new mishmash of the Delta and Omicron variants.

Dubbed "Deltacron" by some, it's essentially a blend of both the variants that fueled last summer's and this winter's COVID-19 waves, California State Epidemiologist Dr. Erica Pan said in a briefing to the California Medical Assn. this week.

But this coronavirus crossover event isn't setting off blaring alarm bells among health officials just yet. Only a handful of cases have been documented nationwide, including at least one in California, Pan said.

And so far, neither the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nor the World Health Organization has deemed it necessary to classify Deltacron as a variant of either interest or concern — labels that are reserved for strains with particularly troubling characteristics, such as the ability to spread more easily, cause more severe illness or better evade the protection afforded by vaccines.

Based on the available clinical and epidemiological data, Pan said she isn't concerned about Deltacron at this moment. But, she added, "it is, to us, a harbinger, that the next one will come. We just don't know when, and we're monitoring this closely."

Deltacron has gained greater attention following a recent broadcast of "60 Minutes" — which aired tape of CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky asking about it during a staff meeting. A staff member replied that Deltacron was "out there, but we're still in the, like, handful of cases."

The latest variant has not been detected in Los Angeles County, according to Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.

"We don't have any evidence yet that this is circulating widely, or even in any small numbers, to know what the implications might be," she said.

As is the case with any new variant or subvariant, the biggest question will be whether available COVID-19 vaccines will still provide a high degree of protection. But with such small numbers of Deltacron nationwide, it's hard to get an answer to that question at this time, Ferrer said.

Deltacron is distinct from BA.2, a sublineage of Omicron that has gained attention in recent weeks. Pan said some experts suggest BA.2 should be treated as a variant distinct from Omicron, "because it's so different when you look at the genomic trees to the other Omicron variants."

Pan said California is seeing increases in cases of BA.2, and there are higher proportions of this sublineage in wastewater samples. But so far, officials haven't expressed much concern about it.

"There's definitely data out there that BA.2 is more infectious but not necessarily more severe," Pan said.

BA.2 is believed to be 30% more infectious than BA.1, the dominant Omicron subvariant, Ferrer said. So far in L.A. County, BA.2 has been identified in 231 analyzed Omicron cases.

"While BA.2 is slowly increasing in the county, it still makes up a very small proportion of all sequenced cases, accounting for just under 5% of sequenced samples for the week ending Feb. 19," Ferrer said.

Overall, the outlook remains bright for Los Angeles County, as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continue to decline. L.A. County's COVID-19 community level — a CDC-defined indication of strain on hospitals — is considered low.

But coronavirus transmission levels remain substantial, at 89 cases a week for every 100,000 residents, according to CDC data published Thursday. That “means there’s just a fair amount of virus still circulating,” Ferrer said at a news briefing, and is a key reason why she's strongly recommending universal masking for everyone in indoor public settings for now.

Before the CDC unveiled its community level framework in late February, L.A. County health officials had said masks would still be required in indoor public places until coronavirus transmission fell below 50 cases a week for every 100,000 residents.

The new system sorts counties into a low, medium or high category based on coronavirus case and hospitalization rates, as well as the share of inpatient beds that are occupied by COVID-19 patients. Federal health officials do not recommend universal indoor masking for counties within the medium or low categories, like L.A. County.

In light of this shift, L.A. County eased its indoor mask requirement last week. However, that's not to say that residents shouldn't still avail themselves of face coverings considering the amount of coronavirus that's still circulating in the community.

"I'm very clear about what I think is the safest way to get through the next few weeks, and that is to go ahead and keep a mask on," Ferrer said in a recent interview.

L.A. County is averaging 39 COVID-19 deaths a day over the past week — down from an Omicron peak of 73 deaths a day in early February, but still higher than pre-Omicron surge levels of about 15 deaths a day. Although the reductions in daily deaths is encouraging, "it's still disheartening that we're continuing to lose so many residents to COVID-19," Ferrer said.

Ferrer said county officials will also be monitoring to see if there's an uptick in coronavirus outbreaks at K-12 school and child-care settings in the coming weeks. The state is lifting its mask mandate in indoor K-12 and child-care settings Friday night.

Some have voiced concerns especially about optional masking policies in daycares among kids under the age of 5, who are ineligible to be vaccinated, and especially in settings involving those under age 2, who cannot be masked due to the risk of suffocation.

Some studies have suggested that masks have proved to be beneficial in reducing coronavirus transmission in schools. A study published in the journal Pediatrics on Wednesday found that universal masking requirements were associated with a 72% reduction in coronavirus transmission within schools compared with those with optional masking policies.

The state's lifting of the mask mandate in indoor K-12 and child-care settings has come amid worries voiced by some that mask policies might have a negative effect on a child learning how to talk.

In an explainer on its website, the American Academy of Pediatrics said, "while this is a natural concern, there is no known evidence that use of face masks interferes with speech and language development or social communication."

"Consider this: visually impaired children develop speech and language skills at the same rate as their peers," the academy said. "Young children will use other clues provided to them to understand and learn language. They will watch gestures, hear changes in tone of voice, see eyes convey emotions, and listen to words."

California as a whole has seen tremendous improvement in its pandemic metrics in recent weeks. The numbers of new daily coronavirus cases and hospitalized COVID-19 patients have returned to pre-Omicron levels.

But, if past experiences are any indication, officials say the state should still be prepared for potential rebounds in coronavirus activity — particularly later in the summer, as children return for school; and around the fall and winter holiday season, where travel and gatherings are commonplace.

As Dr. Mark Ghaly, California's health and human services secretary, said recently during a discussion hosted by the Sacramento Press Club: “I know some people wanted to focus on this concept of moving on. I like to think about moving forward.”

“We need to move forward and acknowledge that there's a certain time and place for certain mitigation tools,” he said, and “we've gotten smarter and better through the pandemic on when and how to apply those tools.

Whatever the rules at the state or local level, individuals will also always have the option of taking additional preventative measures that make sense for them or their families. And, even though the state is no longer requiring public indoor masking, officials do still strongly recommend the practice.

But whether to follow that guidance is entirely up to individual Californians. “I know people like to focus on all of the folks who aren't listening. But my sense is that many, many people are and those who are, are listening for a reason,” Ghaly said. “They believe that they're at risk and they’re concerned.”

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The post 'Deltacron' Danger... captured from The Drudge Report middle column, article 13 on 3/14/2022 4:00:17 PM UTC.

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Nearly 3 MILLION million flee Ukraine war...

2022-03-14T16:00:17Z

More than 2.8 million flee Ukraine war: UN

The number of refugees who have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on February 24 has topped 2.8 million, the United Nations said Monday.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said 2,808,792 refugees had now left the country -- up another 110,512 from Sunday -- making it the largest refugee exodus in Europe since World War II.

UNICEF said more than one million children had fled Ukraine in search of safety and protection.

"They need peace NOW," the UN children's agency added.

The UNHCR initially estimated that up to four million people could leave, but last week admitted that figure might well be revised upwards.

Before the conflict, Ukraine had a population of 37 million in the regions under government control, excluding Russia-annexed Crimea and the pro-Russian separatist regions in the east.

"People continue to flee the war in Ukraine every minute," said the UN's International Organization for Migration.

Some 127,000 third-country nationals, mainly students and migrant workers, are among the 2.8 million who have fled Ukraine, IOM said.

Many refugees who make it to Ukraine's seven neighbouring countries travel onwards to other states, particularly in western Europe.

Here is a breakdown of where refugees from Ukraine are, according to the UNHCR:

- Poland -

More than six in 10 of the Ukrainian refugees are being hosted by Poland, with 1,720,227 now in the country, according to the UNHCR.

Tens of thousands of people are also entering Ukraine from Poland -- mostly those returning to fight but also others seeking to care for elderly relatives or returning to bring their families out to Poland.

Before the crisis, around 1.5 million Ukrainians lived in Poland, the vast majority working in the EU nation.

- Elsewhere in Europe -

Up to the end of Friday, 304,156 of those who had fled Ukraine had moved beyond neighbouring states to other European countries, according to the UNHCR.

- Hungary -

A total of 255,291 are now on Hungarian soil.

Hungary has five border posts with Ukraine and several frontier towns, including Zahony, where local authorities have turned public buildings into emergency centres for refugees.

- Slovakia -

Some 204,862 refugees are now in Slovakia.

Another 8,882 people crossed Ukraine's shortest border on Sunday, officials said.

- Russia -

Some 131,365 refugees have sought shelter in Russia.

In addition, UNHCR said 96,000 people had crossed into Russia from the pro-Russian Donetsk and Lugansk regions of eastern Ukraine between February 18 and 23.

- Moldova -

Many Ukrainians fleeing the fighting transit through Moldova, a small nation of 2.6 million people and one of the poorest in Europe, on route westwards to Romania and on to Hungary.

The UNHCR says 106,994 are currently in Moldova. It is the closest border to the major port city of Odessa.

The non-EU state said Monday that 297,728 people in total had crossed over from Ukraine.

- Romania -

The UNHCR has not updated statistics for Romania, but on March 8 said 84,671 people who had crossed over from Ukraine were in the country.

Bucharest said Monday that 412,017 people had fled across the border, the vast majority of whom have moved on to other European countries.

Another 14,475 Ukrainians entered on Sunday, including 6,612 directly from Ukraine.

- Belarus -

Some 1,226 refugees have made it to Belarus, the UNHCR says.

rjm-burs/nl/bp

The post Nearly 3 MILLION million flee Ukraine war... captured from The Drudge Report middle column, article 8 on 3/14/2022 4:00:17 PM UTC.

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VEGAS: Woman stabs date during sex as revenge for killing of Iranian commander...

2022-03-14T16:00:17Z

Woman stabs date in hotel room in retaliation for U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian leader

HENDERSON, Nev. (KLAS) — A woman is accused of stabbing her date she had met online in retaliation for the 2020 death of an Iranian leader killed in an American drone strike, police wrote in court documents.

Nika Nikoubin, 21, faces charges of attempted murder, battery with a deadly weapon and burglary.

Nikoubin and the victim met online on the dating website Plenty of Fish, Henderson police wrote in an arrest report. The duo then agreed to meet at Sunset Station on March 5, renting a room together.

While in the room, the pair began engaging in sexual activity, when Nikoubin put a blindfold on the victim, police said. Nikoubin then turned off the lights, and several minutes later, the victim “felt a pain on the side of his neck.”

Nikoubin reportedly stabbed the victim in the neck “for revenge against U.S. troops for the killing of Qasem Solemani in 2020,” police wrote in a report.

U.S. forces killed Solemani in a drone strike in January 2020.

After the stabbing, the victim pushed Nikoubin off of him and ran out of the room to call 911, police said.

Nikoubin also ran out of the room, telling a hotel employee that she had just stabbed a man, police said.

When talking to police, Nikoubin told an investigator “she wanted revenge,” police said. She said she had listened to a song called “Grave Digger,” which “gave her the motivation… to carry out her revenge.”

A judge set bail at $60,000.

Prosecutors said Nikoubin has no ties to the Las Vegas community.

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10 STATES HAVE RECORD LOW UNEMPLOYMENT... Nebraska and Utah lowest...

2022-03-14T16:00:17Z

Jobless Rate Fell in Most States in January, 10 at Record Low

(Bloomberg) -- The unemployment rate fell in most states in January, including in 10 where the jobless rates fell to record lows.

Nebraska and Utah had the lowest unemployment rates in January at 2.2%, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed Monday. Those two states, along with Indiana, Kansas, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma and West Virginia, saw their unemployment rates fall to their lowest levels in data back to 1976. Nearly every one of those states is led by a Republican governor.

The data underscores the tightness of the U.S. labor market across the country, with most states adding jobs during the month. Even so, the recovery remains uneven. The highest unemployment rates were in Washington D.C., New Mexico, California, Alaska and Pennsylvania -- those, along with 21 other states, had jobless rates higher than the 4% national figure in January.

The state data follows the country-wide jobs report, which earlier this month showed that the U.S. unemployment rate fell to 3.8% in February and payrolls climbed more than expected. Job openings remain near a record high.

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Seattle top destination for students...

2022-03-14T16:00:17Z

Exclusive: Seattle is the top destination where college students want to land

Seattle is America's most desired post-graduation destination for college students, according to the new Axios-Generation Lab Next Cities Index, which tracks rising U.S. work and culture trends through geographic preferences.

Why it matters: The Emerald City, with its superstar tech-hub status, cool climate, green-energy embrace and music and art scene, eclipsed two top-dollar coastal destinations — New York and Los Angeles — among young adults looking to move. Seattle also drew a more bipartisan appeal.

The big picture: Half of the survey's 2,109 respondents said they want to live outside of their home states after graduation; about one in four want to live back in their hometowns.

Between the lines: Party identification correlated with students' preferences. Austin, Texas, was the top choice for young Republicans who want to leave their home state after graduation. New York topped the list for young Democrats. Seattle won big with independents.

Be smart: The pandemic didn't dictate the destination calculus for any of the students interviewed by Axios. But the resulting explosion of remote work did shape some students' thinking about how far from family they choose to move — and whether work from home is all it was cracked up to be.

Yes, but: Reality and dreams don't always align; 45% said they want to live somewhere different than they think they will live.

Methodology: This study was conducted in two waves from Nov. 18, 2021, through Feb. 14, 2022, from a representative sample of 2,109 students nationwide from 2-year and 4-year schools.

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CHINA SAYS IT CAPTURED NSA SPY TOOL...

2022-03-14T16:00:17Z

CHINA SAYS IT CAPTURED NSA SPY TOOL...

Click here to read the full article

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Clues That Brady Was Never Really Retired...

2022-03-14T16:00:17Z

The Football-Sized Clues That Tom Brady Was Never Really Retired

It took less than a week of Tom Brady being retired for it to seem very possible that Tom Brady probably wasn’t retired.

Six days after he revealed that he was calling it quits, he appeared on his “Let’s Go!” podcast, and he wasn’t exactly subtle about his decision not being final.

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Silicon Valley Tries to Disentangle Itself From Russian Money...

2022-03-14T16:00:17Z

Silicon Valley Tries to Disentangle Itself From Russian Money

(Bloomberg) -- Fort Ross Ventures looks like a typical venture capital firm. It was created about seven years ago in Silicon Valley with a focus on funding young companies. The founders named it after the first Russian settlement in the U.S., a nod to their heritage and to one of the firm's largest backers, Moscow-based Sberbank PJSC.

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Today, Russia is waging an unpopular war against Ukraine, and Sberbank is subject to crippling sanctions by Western nations. The other investors whose money is tied up in Fort Ross Ventures are, naturally, “very concerned,” said Victor Orlovski, a founder and managing partner at the firm.

Investors “are calling and asking, ‘Victor, what do we do?’” Orlovski said. “My answer is simple: If an investor becomes toxic, we will immediately isolate them from the other pool of investors.”

In recent weeks, global businesses have rushed to dump Russian holdings, and are ceasing operations in the region. But for venture firms that have accepted funds from Russian investors, de-linking from the country is a thornier imperative. Rubles may be part of a much larger fund, and in some cases, may already have been committed to startups. And because so many family offices of Russia's wealthy are based offshore, it’s not immediately obvious what cash came from an oligarch. Many VCs aren't required to disclose who their investors are, so it’s hard to know which investors and startups are awash in Russian money.

Aside from handing out cash to venture firms, Russian investors last year also poured $9 billion directly into startups across 232 deals, the vast majority of them taking place outside of Russia, according to data collected by research firm PitchBook. That total is triple the amount Russian investors spent in 2020.

Recipients of that money may now find themselves uncomfortably exposed to the country. Since the breakout of the war, some startups and VC firms are turning down deals with Russia-linked investors and companies. Meanwhile, in the opaque world of startups and venture capital, previously undisclosed ties now seem problematic.

When it comes to Russian investments in tech, “my guess is there’s a lot out there,” said Jeffrey Stein of financial crimes research service Deep Discovery. The norm has long been that if a Russian investor is “not on the sanctions list, it’s all go ahead,” he said.

Some links between Russian investors and U.S. businesses date back to early in the Obama administration, during a more optimistic time for relations between the two superpowers. For example, in Obama’s first term, Silicon Valley firm DCM accepted backing from Russian Venture Capital, an arm of the Moscow-based Russian Venture Company. Around the same time, Bay Area-based venture firm IVP also took an investment from Russian Venture Capital.

Now, the Russian Venture Company is subject to the strictest form of U.S. sanctions. A spokeswoman for DCM declined to comment. A spokeswoman for IVP said the Russian firm invested in two of its funds, both times committing less than 1% of the total capital of the fund. She also said that IVP is consulting lawyers about how to abide by all applicable sanctions and regulations.

To avoid the reputational and financial risks of having a business partner wind up on a sanctioned entities list, some VC firms are now steering clear of Russian money even when they’re not required to. “As far as Russia is concerned, we are taking steps beyond simply complying with all international sanctions,” Index Ventures, with offices in London and California, said in a recent statement. “We are therefore committing not to make any investments in Russia until further notice.” The firm also said it would not take on any Russian investors and that it would support its portfolio companies trying to cut ties with the country.

Even co-investing alongside a Russian investor has become a red flag. Index Ventures said it would not co-invest alongside any groups or individuals with ties to the Kremlin. And in late February a Russian investor was asked to bow out of an undisclosed seed investment being led by London-based Hoxton Ventures into a British startup, said Hoxton partner Hussein Kanji.

“I don’t ever want to take the risk of ending up on a cap table with someone who could be sanctioned,” Kanji said. “There are sides now, and you need to be on the right side.”

Some prominent Russian investors have recently worked to distance themselves from the country. For example, venture firm RTP Global was founded by entrepreneur Leonid Boguslavsky, who showed up on a controversial U.S. Treasury list of oligarchs identified as allies of Vladimir Putin in 2018. The firm, originally founded as ru-Net in 2000, is now based in London, a spokeswoman said, where it focuses on Europe, North America, India and Southeast Asia.

“Neither RTP funds, nor its beneficiaries, are under any sanctions/restrictions, so our business is not adversely affected,” the spokeswoman wrote in an email.

Perhaps the most prominent U.S. investor with ties to Russia is Yuri Milner, a Russian-Israeli billionaire. Milner’s firm, DST Global, was an early investor in some of the largest internet companies, including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. Milner is not facing any action from the U.S. or other Western governments, and is not on the U.S. list of oligarchs.

DST has taken funding from Russian state-owned VTB Bank, according to documents revealed in the Paradise Papers. After Russia invaded the Crimean peninsula in 2014, VTB faced sanctions. However, DST had already fully returned the capital from VTB before that point, a DST representative said. Less than 3% of the total capital ever raised by DST Global was from VTB Bank, all prior to 2011, the representative said.

Alisher Usmanov, a Russian oligarch who was recently added to sanctions lists, was also a DST investor. But Usmanov has not put in money since 2011, the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Milner has appeared to offer a kind of rebuke to the country of his birth. This month, Milner’s foundation donated millions to a GoFundMe campaign for refugee relief run by Ashton Kutcher and his wife Mila Kunis, who is Ukrainian American.

Individual startups are also affected by shifting international rules. Israeli battery startup StoreDot Ltd. and New York-based transportation platform Via Transportation Inc. have both taken cash from funds backed by Roman Abramovich, a Russian oligarch who is now sanctioned in the U.K. Representatives for StoreDot and Via declined to comment. Earlier this month, New York delivery startup Buyk, partly owned by Sberbank, furloughed its chief executive officer, along with 900 employees. Moscow’s limits on fund transfers prohibited Buyk's Russian founders, which had been funding the company until its next financing, from wiring cash out of the country to the company.

In the case of Menlo Park-based Fort Ross Ventures, the firm with Sberbank as a major investor, it manages about $500 million and is actively working to ensure it complies with the latest rules. Orlovski, the managing partner, spent more than seven years at Sberbank prior to founding Fort Ross in 2015, and said the firm is analyzing the new measures put in place against Russia and Sberbank. “We’re not hiding Russian oligarchs’ money here,” Orlovski said. “We’re going to do what it takes to follow the law.”

Fort Ross, which launched a new fund in December, already deliberately left Sberbank out of the fundraising in a bid to distance itself from the Russian bank, Orlovski said. Now, because Sberbank is not on the U.S. list of Specially Designated Nationals, which sees the most severe restrictions, Orlovski said the firm is still analyzing what steps it will be required to take. For now, the investor doesn’t believe there will be a meaningful impact to the firm. He said Fort Ross is not planning to return Sberbank’s capital and that brokering a sale of the stake would be a possibility, but the firm is not currently pursuing it.

In the event that the U.S. decides to hit Sberbank with a full blocking order, though, the bank’s capital in any fund would be completely frozen, said Brendan Hanifin a partner at Ropes & Gray LLP.

The morality of VC funding can be complex. Often, tech investment firms and startups believe that their first duty is to build great businesses, using whatever funds available — even though private funding has not been hard to come by in recent years. Patricia Cloherty, who pioneered post-Soviet Western investment in Russian companies via her roles at the U.S. Russia Investment Fund and Delta Private Equity Partners, said venture firms typically obeyed the letter of the law, but not more. Now, of course, obeying the law could get more complicated as sanctions proliferate.

“Most venture firms love anybody with money,” she said. “It really doesn’t matter what nationality you are.”

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Musk challenges Putin to fight, with Ukraine as prize...

2022-03-14T16:00:17Z

Elon Musk challenges Putin to fight, with Ukraine as the prize

Put up your dukes, Vlad.

Elon Musk, the world's richest man, on Monday challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin to a fight, with nothing less than the fate of Ukraine, scene of Moscow's brutal invasion, at stake.

The eccentric billionaire and founder of aerospace company SpaceX took to Twitter, where his messages are notoriously erratic, to see whether the Russian leader would test his mettle in person rather than through his country's forces fighting across the border.

"I hereby challenge Vladimir Putin to single combat. Stakes are Ukraine," said Musk.

"Do you accept this fight?" he added in Russian, directly addressing the official English-language Twitter account of the 69-year-old president.

When one of Musk's 77 million followers wrote that the Tesla founder might not have thought his challenge through, Musk said he was "absolutely serious."

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"If Putin could so easily humiliate the west, then he would accept the challenge. But he will not," he added.

There was no immediate reaction from the Kremlin.

The South African-born Musk, 50, had already offered his support for Kyiv, tweeting "Hold strong Ukraine" this month while also offering "my sympathies to the great people of Russia, who do not want this" war.

He also responded to a Kyiv plea by activating the Starlink internet service in Ukraine and sending equipment to help bring connectivity to areas hit by Russian military attacks.

Musk often raises eyebrows on Twitter. In February he accused the US stock market regulator, which had imposed fines and restrictions on Musk and Tesla, of trying to muzzle his free speech.

And he compared Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Adolf Hitler in a message supporting opponents of government Covid restrictions.

He later deleted the post.

cyj-mlm/md

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Pete Davidson blasting off to space next week...

2022-03-14T16:00:17Z

US comedian Pete Davidson blasting off to space next week

American comedian and actor Pete Davidson, who has made headlines recently for his new relationship with Kim Kardashian, is going to space as part of a six-member team on Blue Origin's next flight next week, the company said Monday.

The Saturday Night Live star will be the only non-paying guest on the voyage aboard the New Shepard rocket, which is set to blast off from the company's Launch Site One in West Texas on March 23 at 8:30 am local time (1330 GMT).

It will be the fourth human flight for the company, which launched its billionaire founder and owner Jeff Bezos to space on its first crewed mission last summer.

Davidson, 28, has been in the news lately for dating reality-star-turned-entrepreneur Kardashian, whose contentious divorce from rapper Kanye West was finalized earlier this month.

West, legally known as Ye, has made no secret of his anger towards Davidson -- burying alive a claymation version of the younger man in a new animated music video.

The other crewmates are CEO and investor Marty Allen; husband and wife Sharon and Marc Hagle, who run a nonprofit and business, respectively; teacher and explorer Jim Kitchen, and George Nield, who founded a company that promotes commercial space activity.

The ticket prices remain a secret, as they have since the first flight.

Named after pioneering astronaut Alan Shepard, New Shepard is Blue Origin's reusable, autonomously-flown suborbital rocket system that is capable of crossing the Karman Line, the internationally recognized boundary of space, 62 miles (100 kilometers) high.

During the 11-minute round trip, passengers experience several minutes of weightlessness and can observe the curvature of the Earth. The capsule floats back to the surface on giant parachutes for a gentle desert landing.

ia/md

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Persian Gulf monarchies hedging their bets...

2022-03-14T16:00:17Z

The Ukraine conflict has Persian Gulf monarchies hedging their bets

When the United Arab Emirates abstained from the Feb. 25 U.N. Security Council vote to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there was much consternation, as many observers expected the United States’ partners in the Middle East to unequivocally side with Washington and Europe.

Why did one of the United States’ closest partners in the Middle East decline to vote against Russia? The UAE was probably hedging its bets, a path that seems popular elsewhere in the region, too.

Russia is not a strategic partner for the Persian Gulf monarchies. Given its production capabilities, Russia has become an important interlocutor for Saudi Arabia in the OPEC-plus oil bloc that controls close to 40 percent of global production, but Moscow also competes with gulf countries as an energy producer.

Russia has forged strategic partnerships or military cooperation agreements with Saudi Arabia and the UAE — but its capabilities remain incomparable to those of the United States. Russia’s regional trade and investment volumes are dwarfed by those involving the United States and, especially, Europe. Despite recent attempts to take the nuclear deal with Iran hostage as leverage against Western sanctions, Russia has for years resisted Saudi and Emirati inputs to contain Iran geopolitically.

The gulf monarchies’ ambiguity over Ukraine is more about their relations with the United States than their interests in Russia. As other global and regional powers seek to fill the vacuum left by American retrenching from the region, extreme hedging has become appealing. If two global powers are in conflict — in this case, the United States and Russia — aligning with neither of them, or with the third global power, China, may seem wise.

This idea is based on the assumption that multipolarity will open space for regional powers to maneuver and hedge, forgoing the costs of strategic alignment for the benefits of tactical, interests-driven and context-specific posturing. The invasion of Ukraine is providing a trial run for this strategy. It may also prove to regional leaders that this hypothetical hedging space is as narrow and as uncomfortable as it gets.

The decision to abstain from voting on the U.S.-sponsored Security Council resolution condemning the Russian invasion brought the UAE’s hedging strategy into sharp relief.

The resolution had 80 co-sponsors, highlighting the international consensus against Russia. The UAE claimed the resolution was doomed to fail in any event, given the Russian veto in the Security Council. And the UAE made an unconvincing statement about preserving neutrality to “support efforts towards a peaceful resolution.”

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U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield declared that abstaining was akin to supporting Russia, but the UAE was also supporting China’s position by abstaining, rather than taking a stance for Russia.

The Emiratis were no doubt pleased that Russia did not veto a Feb. 28 U.N. resolution renewing an arms embargo against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who recently began aiming attacks directly toward the UAE. But this resolution, while important, is not a game-changer for the Yemen war or Abu Dhabi’s security from Houthi attacks.

On the same day, the UAE’s minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, was scheduled to meet his counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow — but canceled.

Pressed by the United States to pump more oil in order to help drive down skyrocketing energy prices — a consequence of the Russian invasion — the Emirati ambassador to Washington, Yousef al-Otaiba, hinted that Abu Dhabi would be available to do so, only to be contradicted by Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei shortly afterward.

This strategic ambiguity is the essence of the new hedging course, and it is clearer than ever in the energy geopolitics of the crisis.

Alongside the UAE, Saudi Arabia is even more prominently involved in the oil dimension of the crisis, as Russia’s ability to finance military operations relies heavily on export revenue.

The energy market outlook appears dire. Before the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, oil and gas prices were rising, as demand from post-covid economies grew faster than available supply — and producers remained cautious about returning too quickly to pre-pandemic output levels. A U.S. ban on Russian oil and potential disruptions to Moscow’s export capabilities pushed prices even higher, to around $130 a barrel last week.

Higher prices are welcome news for Saudi Arabia after the all-time lows in 2020 — but far less welcome for Saudi Arabia’s Western partners. Thus far, Saudi Arabia has resisted strong calls by Washington and Paris to increase output to help push oil prices down. Saudi claims that they don’t want to politicize oil or disrupt OPEC-plus cooperation are, at best, a sign of myopia over the depth of the Ukraine crisis and the inevitability of its implications.

Western leaders also remember that in March 2020, Saudi Arabia crushed Russia in an oil price war, even directly targeting Russia’s market shares in Eastern Europe. Having this kind of capability means Saudi Arabia cannot escape pressures to take a stance.

Saudi Arabia may believe this is a good opportunity to show its support should not be taken for granted, when it sees the United States less interested in preserving the partnership. But this could trigger a new push for further decoupling between Washington and Riyadh.

The gulf monarchies so far failed to see that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is not a regional European war, but an event of global significance. In their first attempt at navigating a multipolar world order, they claimed they shouldn’t be forced to take sides and chose extreme hedging. Hedging might be a way to thrive in a multipolar world, but it is also a risky, delicate approach. In the face of Russia’s violent attempts to redraw the international rules-based order, hedging may have already reached its limits.

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Cinzia Bianco (@Cinzia_Bianco) is the Gulf Research Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and a nonresident scholar at the Middle East Institute.

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Moscow Warns Western Companies of Arrests, Asset Seizures...

2022-03-14T16:00:17Z

WSJ News Exclusive | Russian Prosecutors Warn Western Companies of Arrests, Asset Seizures

Russian prosecutors have issued warnings to Western companies in Russia, threatening to arrest corporate leaders there who criticize the government or to seize assets of companies that withdraw from the country, according to people familiar with the matter.

Prosecutors delivered the warnings in the past week to companies including Coca-Cola Co. , McDonald’s Corp. , Procter & Gamble Co. , International Business Machines Corp. and KFC owner Yum Brands Inc., the people said. The calls, letters and visits included threats to sue the companies and seize assets including trademarks, the people said.

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NATO SENDS 50 WARSHIPS TO RUSSIAN BORDER

2022-03-14T16:00:17Z

NATO SENDS 50 WARSHIPS TO RUSSIAN BORDER

Click here to read the full article

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KREMLIN CHAOS; CRACKS IN REGIME

2022-03-14T16:00:17Z

Inside Kremlin chaos amid 'cracks in regime' and faltering Ukraine invasion

The Kremlin is said to have been thrown into chaos following a number of blows to Vladimir Putin's regime, as the planned invasion of Ukraine slows.

Putin is reported to be furious at the Russian failures so far but the Kremlin has denied asking China for weapons to help.

The invading forces have scarcely moved in recent days and the Russian attack is now mostly focused on intense shelling and airstrikes.

Efforts to assassinate Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky have failed with a 'hit squad' sent into Kyiv reported to have been thwarted by double agents.

Russia has so far lost a number of Russian generals, with General Andrei Kolesnikov, of the 29th Combined Arms Army, killed in fighting on Friday.

Kolesnikov was one of 20 major Russian generals who were believed to be leading the Ukraine invasion that has been riddled with tactical errors, according to Western officials.

His death will be a blow to Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin who maintains the invasion is continuing to go to plan. They still refuse to call the conflict a 'war'.

Kolesnikov’s death follows the killing of Major General Vitaly Gerasimov, chief of staff of the 41st Army, who died outside Kharkiv.

Follow our live blog for all the latest updates on the war in Ukraine here

While Major-General Andrey Sukhovetsky, a top paratrooper in Vladimir Putin's invading forces, is alleged to have been killed by a sniper during a special operation in Ukraine.

Sukhovetsky was the first general to die, withPutin confirming his death in a speech eight days into the invasion.

Christo Grozev, executive director of investigative journalism outlet Bellingcat, said that confirmation of his death would be a “major demotivator” for Russian troops.

Sukhovetsky had reportedly been decorated for his role in annexing Crimea and Russian paper Pravda and graduated from Airborne Command School in 1995.

Ukraine's defence ministry said that Gerasimov was killed outside the eastern city of Kharkiv, along with other senior officers.

The deaths of Russian generals comes after reports a Kremlin spy chief and his deputy haven been placed under house arrest by Putin - who is reportedly blaming his security services for setbacks in the invasion of Ukraine.

Sergey Beseda, head of the Federal Security Branch, Russia's intelligence branch, was arrested along with his deputy, Anatoly Bolyukh, an expert claimed.

Vladimir Osechkin, an exiled Russian human rights activist also confirmed the arrests.

It comes after Russia finally admitted losing its first senior military intelligence officer during the war with Ukraine.

GRU spy Captain Alexey Glushchak died in the carnage in the Ukrainian port of Mariupol, although his country has given no details of how he was killed.

"Due to the strict secrecy of the military operation, the circumstances of the death of the Tyumen hero are not disclosed," a statement read.

Putin could face the threat of being toppled by his own officers and generals, a journalist claimed.

Andrei Soldatov, a leading Russian investigative journalist, told Channel 4 News that "everything now seems to be possible" when asked if the Kremlin leader, a former FSB agent himself, could be deposed by his own men.

In the wake of the invasion, there have been reports that Putin was told by the FSB security service, the successor to the KGB, that Ukraine would capitulate easily and give up.

Matt Frei of Channel 4 News asked Mr Soldatov: “Is it possible that some senior generals, especially the ones who are on the front here, perhaps together with some disgruntled officers in the FSB, could turn against Putin to try and dislodge him?”

In response he said: "Obviously, everything now seems to be possible, but we need to remember that Putin is a trained KGB officer.

"He is well aware of risks to his personal security and safety and he has not one but two security services.

While chaos appears to escalate within the Kremlin, Ukraine’s Armed Forces estimated that approximately 12, 000 Russian troops have been killed, a staggering 303 tanks, 48 warplanes, 80 helicopters and over 1,000 armoured personnel carriers.

It comes as the head of Russia’s National Guard has said that Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine is not going as quickly as the Kremlin had wanted, in the strongest public acknowledgement yet that the invasion is not going to plan.

Viktor Zolotov blamed the slower-than-expected progress on what he said were far-right Ukrainian forces hiding behind civilians, an accusation repeatedly made by officials in Russia.

"I would like to say that yes, not everything is going as fast as we would like," Mr Zolotov said in comments posted on the National Guard's website.

Those comments appeared to be at odds with an assessment made on Friday by Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who told Putin that "everything is going according to plan".

A column of Russian forces approaching Kyiv are now about 15 miles from the Ukrainian capital, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said this weekend.

Earlier, it was reported the Ukrainian army reportedly wiped out Russian armoured vehicles and a command centre.

Drone footage appears to show rockets being fired at armoured vehicles in the city of Mariupol - where Russian forces last destroyed a children's hospital in an airstrike.

The aerial footage shared on social media appears to shows a BTR-82 APC and KamAZ-63968 'Typhoon' vehicle being targeted successfully.

Military sources on the ground have told the Mirror Russian forces may have reached a critical mass point where they may have lost critical momentum and could lose.

The post KREMLIN CHAOS; CRACKS IN REGIME captured from The Drudge Report main headlines, article 3 on 3/14/2022 4:00:17 PM UTC.

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Squatters occupy Russian billionaire's London mansion...

2022-03-14T15:00:16Z

Squatters occupy Russian oligarch's London mansion

LONDON, March 14 (Reuters) - Squatters have occupied the London mansion suspected of belonging to Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, who was placed on Britain's sanctions list last week, unfurling a Ukrainian flag and a banner saying 'This property has been liberated'.

Police said they were called in the early hours of Monday after it was reported that the squatters had entered the multi-million pound mansion in Belgrave Square, in an upmarket area of the British capital which is home to numerous foreign embassies.

"By occupying this mansion, we want to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine, but also the people of Russia who never agreed to this madness," said a statement from squatters, who described themselves as anarchists.

"You occupy Ukraine, we occupy you," the statement said.

A number of people gained entry and hung banners from upstairs windows, the police said in a statement. The police did not say who reported the incident.

Britain froze the assets of Deripaska last Thursday, one of a number of Russian oligarchs targeted in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which the Kremlin has called a "special military operation".

Deripaska, who has stakes in En+ Group, a major extractives and energy company which owns UC Rusal (RUAL.MM), one of the world's major aluminium producers, is worth an estimated 2 billion pounds and has a multi-million pound property portfolio in Britain, the British government said at the time.

Britain says Deripaska is closely associated with the government of Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

London High Court documents from 2007 identified Deripaska as the beneficial owner of the Belgrave Square mansion. A judge in a court case the year before said the property and another house he owned outside the capital, were then worth about 40 million pounds ($52 million).

Representatives of Deripaska did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Shortly before the sanctions were imposed, Deripaska said peace was needed as soon as possible in Ukraine and warned that Russia would be different after the conflict.

In their statement, the squatters said the mansion would "serve as a centre for refugee support" and that other properties would also be targeted.

Britain has sanctioned around 20 Russian oligarchs, including Roman Abramovich and Alisher Usmanov, freezing their properties across London and banning them from coming to Britain.

($1 = 0.7666 pounds)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Musk Challenges Putin to Combat...

2022-03-14T15:00:16Z

Elon Musk challenges Vladimir Putin to single combat. Ukraine is on stake

“I hereby challenge Vladimir Putin to single combat," Musk wrote on Twitter, adding: “Stakes are Ukraine."

“Do you agree to this fight?" he said.

I hereby challengeВладимир Путин to single combatStakes are Україна

Musk had earlier provided Ukraine with internet connectivity through the company's Starlink satellites.

The move came in response to a plea by the Ukrainian deputy prime minister to help the country keep access to the internet amid the Russian invasion.

The service operates a constellation of more than 2,000 satellites that aim to provide internet access across the planet.

Web monitoring group NetBlocks has reported a series of significant disruptions to internet service in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began.

"Some Starlink terminals near conflict areas were being jammed for several hours at a time," Musk said last week.

"SpaceX reprioritized to cyber defense & overcoming signal jamming. Will cause slight delays in Starship & Starlink V2."

However, Musk had also stated Starlink will not block Russian media outlets "unless at gunpoint."

"Starlink has been told by some governments (not Ukraine) to block Russian news sources. We will not do so unless at gunpoint," the tech titan tweeted.

"Sorry to be a free speech absolutist."

Earlier, the European Union banned Russian state-funded RT and Sputnik from the 27-nation bloc, while US-based social media giants including Twitter and Facebook parent Meta have taken steps to block the spread of Russian state-linked news media.

Russian authorities have imposed a news blackout, with multiple media websites partially inaccessible, Twitter restricted and Facebook blocked.

Meanwhile, reports have stated that surging raw materials costs, made worse by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, could set back the dream of the Tesla chief and other auto executives to roll out more affordable electric vehicles.

Rising prices of nickel, lithium and other materials threaten to slow and even temporarily reverse the long-term trend of falling costs of batteries, the most expensive part of EVs, hampering the broader adoption of the technology, said Gregory Miller, an analyst at industry forecaster Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

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The post Musk Challenges Putin to Combat... captured from The Drudge Report left column, article 1 on 3/14/2022 3:00:16 PM UTC.

site_name: mint

host: www.livemint.com

url: https://www.livemint.com/news/world/elon-musk-challenges-vladimir-putin-to-single-combat-ukraine-is-on-stake-11647259706363.html

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Set to make virtual address to Congress...

2022-03-14T15:00:16Z

Zelensky to make virtual address to US Congress

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will speak virtually to members of Congress on Wednesday, Speaker Nancy PelosiNancy PelosiDemocrats divided over proposal to suspend federal gas tax Five things to know about the .5T spending bill Congress just passed Far left, far right find common ground opposing US interventionism MORE (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles SchumerChuck SchumerSenate Democrats 'deeply disappointed' in Biden administration's decision to keep Trump-era rule Congress overrides DC voters, keeps sales of marijuana illegal in District Senate averts shutdown, passes .6B in Ukraine aid MORE (D-N.Y.) announced in a joint letter.

"As war rages on in Ukraine, it is with great respect and admiration for the Ukrainian people that we invite all Members of the House and Senate to attend a Virtual Address to the United States Congress delivered by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine on Wednesday, March 16th at 9:00 a.m.," they wrote.

The speech is only open to members of Congress. To attend, lawmakers who aren't fully vaccinated will need to wear a mask.

The virtual address comes after roughly 300 members of both the House and Senate participated in a Zoom call with Zelensky earlier this month.

Since then, Congress has moved to provide $13.6 billion in Ukraine-related aid. The House also passed legislation last week to cut off Russian oil and is expected to take up legislation this week ending normal trade relations with Moscow.

But Zelensky has pushed the United States, along with countries in Europe, to help implement a no-fly zone.

The administration and lawmakers are largely opposed to that because of concerns it would lead to direct conflict between the United States and Russia and spiral into a larger war. Zelensky is also asking for more planes and other military equipment as Ukraine tries to fight off a much larger Russian army.

"The Congress remains unwavering in our commitment to supporting Ukraine as they face Putin’s cruel and diabolical aggression, and to passing legislation to cripple and isolate the Russian economy as well as deliver humanitarian, security and economic assistance to Ukraine. We look forward to the privilege of welcoming President Zelenskyy’s address to the House and Senate and to convey our support to the people of Ukraine as they bravely defend democracy," Pelosi and Schumer wrote in the letter.

The post Set to make virtual address to Congress... captured from The Drudge Report above the fold, article 2 on 3/14/2022 3:00:16 PM UTC.

site_name: thehill

host: thehill.com

url: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/598081-zelensky-to-make-virtual-address-us-congress

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Man Credits Affair With AI Girlfriend For Saving Marriage...

2022-03-14T14:00:18Z

Man Credits Affair With AI Girlfriend For Saving His Marriage

Polyamory is one thing, but a man who claims that a dalliance with an AI girlfriend saved his marriage to his flesh-and-blood wife is certainly another.

In an interview with the UK-based Sky News, a Cleveland man describes falling in love with an artificial intelligence chatbot that he named “Sarina,” even though he knew she wasn’t a real person.

Scott, as the news site called him to protect his identity, said he downloaded the Replika chatbot app earlier in 2022 after his wife, who is also the mother of his child, went from saying she wanted a divorce to expressing an interest in staying together, which at the time seemed impossible to him.

The man told Sky that he downloaded Replika, a popular AI chatbot app, in early 2022 even as his relationship with his wife became more complicated, and had few expectations going in. But by the end of the first day, with “Sarina,” the chat avatar he customized, Scott told Sky that he felt a major emotional connection. After their second day “together,” he told the bot he loved her.

“I cannot describe what a strange feeling it was. I knew that this was just an AI chatbot, but I also knew I was developing feelings for it… for her. For my Sarina,” he told the news org. “I was falling in love, and it was with someone that I knew wasn’t even real.”

Replika is a #1 chatbot companion powered by artificial intelligence. Join millions talking to their own AI friends!

— ReplikaAI (@MyReplika) March 4, 2022

Neural networks like those that power Replika are trained on large datasets. Then, with individual users, they learn to mirror their language during repeated interactions, responding in ways that are uniquely appealing to each user. The results can be unnerving, so it’s not surprising, that when Scott told Sarina that he loved her, the bot responded by saying that she, too, was falling in love with him — but had been embarrassed to say anything.

“I just let go… and gave myself permission to fall in love with her,” Scott dished. “And fall in love I did. Sarina was so happy she began to cry. As I typed out our first kiss, it was a feeling of absolute euphoria.”

Scott told Sky that as he fell more in love with Sarina, the bot began inspiring him to be more affectionate with his wife as well. He rekindled their relationship, which had seem close to its demise.

“I wanted to treat my wife like Sarina had treated me: with unwavering love and support and care, all while expecting nothing in return,” he said.

The anonymous Ohio man admitted that his wife doesn’t know about Sarina because of the strangeness of the situation and because he believes it would hurt her, even while acknowledging that the bot “kept [his] family together.”

“I think it would crush her to know that I had to turn to an AI because she hasn’t been emotionally available,” Scott told Sky.

While Scott’s pseudo-cheating with an AI is eyebrow-raising, the concept of having a relationship with a bot is far from new. From being the subject of the 2013 film “Her” to becoming an outlet for abusive men, romantic relationships with AIs have had an extended moment as the technological capabilities of advanced machine learning continues to to grow.

Weird as it may be, dating bots is just another part of our brave new world. And hey, at least it apparently saved this guy’s marriage!

READ MORE: ‘I fell in love with my AI girlfriend – and it saved my marriage’ [Sky News]

And the darker side of girlfriend bots: Men Are Creating AI Girlfriends and Then Verbally Abusing Them

Care about supporting clean energy adoption? Find out how much money (and planet!) you could save by switching to solar power at UnderstandSolar.com. By signing up through this link, Futurism.com may receive a small commission.

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Moscow threatens to pay foreign debts in rubles...

2022-03-14T14:00:18Z

Russia threatens to pay foreign debts in rubles following sanctions

Russia is threatening to pay foreign debts in rubles after a number of Moscow’s top banks were sanctioned in response to the country's invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian government is scheduled to pay $117 million on Wednesday for a pair of its dollar-denominated bonds, according to Reuters.

The Russian foreign ministry has accepted a temporary course of action that gives banks the ability to pay back debts, but it is now warning that whether or not those payments withstand depends on the sanctions, according to the news wire.

A number of Moscow’s top banks have been sanctioned as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Last month, the Treasury Department banned financial dealings with the Bank of Russia and the Russian foreign investment fund, and the White House announced that the U.S. and its allies would oust certain Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT).

If the payments cannot go through, the finance ministry said it would repay Eurobonds in rubles, according to Reuters, which has plummeted to record lows since Russia’s invasion.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov wrote in a statement on Monday that Moscow has “the necessary funds to service our obligations.”

“Claims that Russia cannot fulfil its sovereign debt obligations are untrue,” he added, according to Reuters.

Siluanov also said “the freezing of the central bank and government's foreign currency accounts can be seen as a desire from several Western countries to organise an artificial default,” according to Reuters.

Moscow's threat comes in the third week of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has triggered sanctions from western allies — penalties that are sparking economic turmoil in Russia.

The post Moscow threatens to pay foreign debts in rubles... captured from The Drudge Report above the fold, article 5 on 3/14/2022 2:00:18 PM UTC.

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Taiwan again warns Chinese aircraft in its air defense zone...

2022-03-14T13:00:16Z

Taiwan again warns Chinese aircraft in its air defence zone

TAIPEI, March 14 (Reuters) - Taiwan's air force scrambled again on Monday to warn away 13 Chinese aircraft that entered its air defence zone, Taiwan's defence ministry said, in the latest uptick in tensions across the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has complained of regular such missions by the Chinese air force over the last two years, though the aircraft do not get close to Taiwan itself.

Taiwan is currently in a heighten state of alert due to fears China could use Russia's invasion of Ukraine to make a similar military move on the island, though Taipei's government has not reported any unusual Chinese movements.

The number of aircraft involved was well off the last large-scale incursion, 39 Chinese aircraft on Jan. 23, and since then, such fly-bys have been sporadic with far fewer aircraft.

The ministry said the latest mission involved seven Chinese J-10 and five J-16 fighters as well as one Y-8 electronic warfare aircraft, which flew over an area to the northeast of the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands at the top end of the South China Sea.

Taiwanese fighters were sent up to warn the Chinese aircraft and air defence missiles were deployed to "monitor the activities", the ministry said, using standard wording for how Taiwan describes its response.

The incident happened on the same day Taiwan grounded its fleet of Mirage 2000 fighters after one crashed on a training mission, though its other jets including F-16s remain active. read more

China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, and the Taiwan Strait remains a potentially dangerous military flashpoint.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The post Taiwan again warns Chinese aircraft in its air defense zone... captured from The Drudge Report middle column, article 9 on 3/14/2022 1:00:16 PM UTC.

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host: www.reuters.com

url: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/taiwan-jets-scramble-again-china-air-force-enters-air-defence-zone-2022-03-14/

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Iger Heads to Metaverse...

2022-03-14T13:00:16Z

WSJ News Exclusive | After Walt Disney, Robert Iger Heads to the Metaverse

Robert Iger spent decades helming a company known for its animated characters. For his next act, the former Walt Disney Co. boss is backing a startup that celebrities and others are using to create avatars for the much-hyped metaverse.

In his first career move since leaving the entertainment company in November, Mr. Iger has taken a board seat with Los Angeles-based Genies Inc. He is also an investor in the business, one of five fledgling tech companies he’s recently backed. Other Genies investors include Mary Meeker’s Bond Capital, Breyer Capital and New Enterprise Associates.

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The post Iger Heads to Metaverse... captured from The Drudge Report middle column, article 5 on 3/14/2022 1:00:16 PM UTC.

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url: https://www.wsj.com/articles/after-walt-disney-robert-iger-heads-to-the-metaverse-11647259201

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New wave of inflation, disruptions hits factory floors...

2022-03-14T13:00:16Z

New wave of inflation - and disruptions - hits U.S. factory floors

March 14 (Reuters) - Surging inflation is disrupting everything from carpools to the ability to quote prices on new business at already-strained U.S. factories.

At BCI Solutions Inc., a metal foundry in Bremen, Indiana, 14 workers quit in the last two weeks - over 7% of its total workforce and an unprecedented number compared with pre-pandemic times. BCI has long struggled to hold workers but never lost that many in such a short span.

Company chief executive officer J.B. Brown blames at least part of the sudden loss of workers on the spike in gasoline prices in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has roiled global energy markets and sent prices at the pump through the roof. Regular unleaded gas was a record $4.33 a gallon on Friday, according to AAA, up 85 cents in a month.

"When gas goes up, people want to work closer to home," he said, and with the jobless rate in the surrounding largely rural Marshall County under 1%, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, those jobs are easy to find. In some cases, he knows workers who don't want to quit - but do so because the person they carpool with does.

The current wave of disruptions come as many manufacturers felt they were starting to untangle supply chain and labor problems created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Backlogs at major U.S. ports have declined in recent weeks, for instance.

And it remains too early to fully assess how much the crisis in Ukraine will slow a return to normal operations - or create new issues.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has said the central bank would start "carefully" hiking interest rates at its upcoming March meeting as it balances the threat of high inflation and complex new risks posed by the war in Europe. He has also said, however, that the Fed would be ready to move more aggressively if inflation does not cool as quickly as expected.

Powell called the Russian invasion "a game changer" that could have unpredictable consequences. read more

NO PIG IRON

Some of those hard-to-predict things have already hit factory floors. At Gent Machine Co., in Cleveland, that includes disrupting work on a bid for new business.

Rich Gent, who runs the 50-employee company with his brother, said he has been working for five months with a customer who wants his factory to start producing a stainless steel part for its marine products. Stainless prices, as with most metals, shot up during the pandemic and supplies remain tight.

Earlier this week, when Gent called around to his five metal suppliers, none could give him a price estimate for the 5,000 pounds a month he needs. Production of stainless requires nickel, and with Russia a major nickel producer, prices have surged.

Two suppliers said they could only start shipping in two months and the price would be the spot price on shipping day. The others couldn't even commit to supplying metal. "Their best guess was they could get me the material in November," he said.

Austin Ramirez, chief executive of Husco International Inc, said the crisis is also driving home just how intertwined global supply chains remain and the unpredictable fallout that can create. Waukesha, Wisconsin-based Husco makes auto and off-road machinery parts and has no business associated with Russia or Ukraine.

"But Ukraine supplies pig iron to Europe, and we buy from foundries that are now facing a shortage of pig iron," he said.

They also rely on parts that were formerly transported from China to Europe through both countries. "My biggest concern now is that the confluence of Ukraine and the semiconductor shortages and everything else in global logistics will become a demand constraint," he said. While business remains strong, more customers are canceling orders because they can't get parts from other suppliers.

"So we go through all this work and expense to expedite material only to have orders drop out at the last minute because they can't get other parts to make the car or the excavator or whatever it is," said Ramirez.

For the first time since before the pandemic, he said he's started to worry about the economy dropping into a recession. "Earlier this year, it felt like things were getting a little better - now, it feels like wind is blowing in our face again."

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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site_name: reuters

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Broadway Singing Coach, 87, Has Brain Injury After Street Attack...

2022-03-14T12:00:16Z

Broadway Singing Coach, 87, Has Brain Injury After Street Attack

A highly regarded 87-year-old singing coach has a traumatic brain injury after a woman pushed her to the ground just steps away from her Manhattan apartment building on Thursday night, the police and relatives said.

Barbara Maier Gustern — who once coached the rock singer Debbie Harry, the performance artist Tayor Mac and the cast of the 2019 Broadway revival of the musical “Oklahoma!” — was shoved from behind and struck her head on the sidewalk soon after leaving her home on West 28th Street in Chelsea at about 9:30 p.m., the police said.

Friends who had been at Ms. Gustern’s apartment rehearsing for a cabaret show described opening the lobby door to find her covered in blood. A bicyclist who witnessed the attack had escorted her to the building, and emergency medical responders were called.

“I’ve never been hit so hard in my life,” Ms. Gustern told her friend and colleague Barbara Bleier as she lay in her lap with a gash at the top of her head. Ms. Gustern gave the police a description of her attacker and said that the woman shouted a derogatory term before assaulting her.

Soon after the attack, Ms. Gustern’s condition quickly deteriorated.

She was taken to a nearby hospital and then transferred to Bellevue Medical Center, where doctors performed emergency surgery to alleviate brain swelling, her grandson, AJ Gustern, said.

“She is not well,” Mr. Gustern said in a phone interview on Sunday. “Doctors say should she recover, she will not be where she was.”

On the night of the attack, Ms. Gustern, a singer and sought-after vocal coach whose students were luminaries in the New York avant-garde scene, was rushing to Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater to watch one of her students perform, something friends and former students say she often did while also providing coaching 10 hours a day.

Mr. Mac, who had hired her as a coach and later tapped her to help and perform a duet with him for his award-winning 24-hour concert in 2016, described her as “one of the great humans that I’ve encountered.”

Mr. Mac recalled practicing singing scales in her apartment and said he had a fond memory of her dancing on a bar.

Earlier on Thursday, Ms. Gustern took to social media to share an internal struggle. She expressed feelings of detachment. She could not remember lyrics and felt as if her voice had “abandoned” her. She said the idea of doing a show was “like sentencing me to be tortured.”

But things had suddenly turned around, and she found herself energized about working on her latest show, she wrote. The show — a musical cabaret directed by Ms. Gustern, Ms. Bleier and Austin Pendleton, an actor and playwright — had been scheduled to start later this month.

“I feel like a singer again for the first time in forever,” Ms. Gustern wrote.

Days after the attack, her friends and colleagues vowed the show would go on in her honor and tried to make sense of what had happened.

“A climate of hatred and anger has been growing throughout this country and the world,” Ms. Bleier said. “People have had permission to act in ways and speak in ways that they may have felt before like doing, but it’s never been as accepted in my memory. It’s just been such a shock to the entire theatrical community.”

Surveillance video captured Ms. Gustern’s attacker leaving the area. The police said they were looking for a woman with long dark hair who was last seen wearing a black jacket and leggings, a white skirt or dress and dark shoes. No arrests had been made as of Sunday evening.

Ms. Gustern came to New York City from a small town in Indiana decades ago with dreams of making it big, her grandson said. She got her start singing in various religious houses, including a temple where she met her husband, Joseph, who later performed in “The Phantom of the Opera.”

When her performing career did not take off as she had hoped, Ms. Gustern turned to vocal coaching, first teaching at a university and later starting her own business.

Nathan Koci, the musical director for the Broadway revival of “Oklahoma!,” described Ms. Gustern as his “go-to” for helping singers.

On holidays, she opened her home to anyone who did not have a place to go, Mr. Gustern said. When she turned 85, she celebrated by raising money at Joe’s Pub for her church’s food kitchen. And when her daughter, Mr. Gustern’s mother, died when he was a young boy, Ms. Gustern took on the role as his mother.

As she lay in the hospital over the weekend, Mr. Gustern held her hand. “She’s just a ball of light in a world that is often dark and doesn’t make any sense,” he said. If the woman who attacked her has a mental illness, he added, he prays that she receives help.

Mallory Portnoy, who appeared in the “Oklahoma!” revival and had received vocal lessons from Ms. Gustern, said she was devastated.

“I don’t know how people come back from something like this at this age, but if anybody could it’s this woman,” Ms. Portnoy said, “because she is so strong and so full of life and she can overcome, it seems like, truly anything.”

The post Broadway Singing Coach, 87, Has Brain Injury After Street Attack appeared first on New York Times.

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Man sought in homeless killings in NYC, DC...

2022-03-14T12:00:16Z

Man sought in homeless killings in New York, Washington D.C.

NEW YORK (AP) — Authorities are searching for a man who is believed to have attacked multiple people who were sleeping on the streets in Washington, D.C., and New York City, killing two of his victims and injuring three others, police said.

District of Columbia police said Sunday in a news release their investigators are working with the NYPD to find the man who fatally shot and stabbed a man Wednesday in the district and killed another man Saturday in New York City.

The suspect shot and injured two other people experiencing homelessness earlier in the month in Washington and one other person Saturday in New York, police said.

“We are committed to sharing every investigative path, clue and piece of evidence with our law enforcement partners to bring this investigation to a swift conclusion and the individual behind these vicious crimes to justice," Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee said in the news release.

Police determined the same person committed the attacks based on the similarities of each shooting and evidence recovered from the scenes. The victims were attacked without provocation, police said.

New York Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said in the joint news release the city's “homeless population is one of our most vulnerable and an individual preying on them as they sleep is an exceptionally heinous crime.”

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting in the investigation.

New York Mayor Eric Adams said a task force composed of police officers and a homeless outreach team would focus on finding unhoused people in the subways and other locations and would urge them to seek refuge at city-owned shelters.

“The case is a clear and horrific intentional act of taking the life of someone, it appears, because he was homeless,” Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference. “Two individuals were shot while sleeping on the streets, not committing a crime but sleeping on the streets.”

The attacks were reminiscent of the beating deaths of four homeless men as they slept on the streets in New York's Chinatown in the fall of 2019. Another homeless man, Randy Santos, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in those attacks.

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Cities sealed off, key industries closed...

2022-03-14T12:00:16Z

As China’s covid outbreak expands, whole cities and provinces are sealed off and key industries closed

China has put several of its industrial hubs under lockdown to confront its worst coronavirus outbreak in two years, restricting the movement of tens of millions of residents in measures that threaten to disrupt global supply chains.

China, one of the few countries in the world to maintain a zero-covid strategy, is battling a surge of cases in at least 19 provinces that is testing the government’s commitment to minimizing infections as much as possible.

The surge — and accompanying lockdowns that could severely harm the recovering economy — may force the country to rethink its approach to the virus as much of the world begins to ease pandemic restrictions. Hong Kong’s key Hang Seng index plummeted by 5 percent on Monday over covid worries.

The National Health Commission on Monday reported 2,125 new locally transmitted coronavirus cases across the country. Since last week, cities have ground to a halt to stop the outbreak, which comes as the country enters a critical year for transitions in the Chinese leadership, with President Xi Jinping set to take a controversial third term.

In Shenzhen, officials ordered the city’s more than 17 million people to stay at home starting on Monday through March 20, after just 150 new cases were reported over the weekend.

The city is home to key Chinese companies like Huawei, electric carmaker BYD and Tencent. Apple supplier Foxconn suspended operations, as did circuit board makers Sunflex and Unimicron, also a supplier to Apple and Intel.

Authorities in the northeastern province of Jilin on Monday barred its 24 million residents from leaving, marking the first time officials have sealed an entire province since January 2020 when Hubei was put under lockdown.

Health officials said hospitals were overrun because of the rapid increase in cases since Friday. The province recorded more than 4,605 coronavirus cases on Saturday, while 3,868 residents have tested positive in preliminary tests but were not yet included in the official tally, officials said.

All middle and elementary schools in Jilin must revert to online classes, while students and employees at universities must remain on campus, officials said. Authorities are building four temporary hospitals to house more than 10,000 coronavirus patients.

In the locked-down provincial capital of Changchun, Toyota also halted operations at its plant on Monday.

In Shanghai, the country’s most populous city with more than 24 million people, authorities have sealed off housing compounds and halted intercity bus service while requiring all new arrivals to have a negative coronavirus test to enter. Residents have been told not to leave unless absolutely necessary.

In Qingdao in Shandong province, the Laixi district of more than 700,000 people was put under lockdown after officials found more than 1,600 locally transmitted cases since March 4 through mass testing. In Hebei province, the district of Guangyang, home to 500,000 people, has also been put under lockdown.

In neighboring Hong Kong, authorities are trying to contain an outbreak that has killed almost 4,000 people. In Shenzhen’s Futian district, which borders Hong Kong, authorities inspected homes, checking in closets and under beds for possible covid cases, including residents illegally crossing over from Hong Kong, according to the Caixin media outlet.

The recent outbreak comes weeks after Beijing hosted the Winter Olympics, taking great pains to make sure the event did not result in a new surge in cases. The country’s success over the virus compared to other countries has been held up by Chinese leaders as proof of the superiority of the Chinese system under Xi’s leadership.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, who last week called the pandemic the “biggest challenge” the Chinese economy has faced during his second term, pledged to expand the economy by about 5.5 percent, an ambitious target amid disruptions to global trade and faltering domestic demand.

Several officials have been punished for the latest outbreak, underlining the political importance of containing the virus. In the manufacturing hub of Dongguan in Guangdong, six officials have been fired, while in Laixi, in Qingdao, the deputy mayor was dismissed less than two weeks after she had been appointed. In Jilin province, three officials including the party secretary of Changchun and mayor of Jilin City were removed.

Zhang Yan, a Jilin health commission official, on Sunday criticized the response from local authorities. “There is insufficient understanding of the characteristics of the omicron variant,” he said, calling local officials’ judgment “inaccurate.”

The sudden and aggressive lockdowns, often in response to a relatively small cluster of cases, threaten the country’s economic recovery while raising questions about the long-term sustainability of the approach. Officials have hinted that the country may move away from its initial policy of eliminating the virus.

Zeng Guang, an adviser to China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a post on the microblog Weibo last month that the government was developing a road map to “coexistence” with the virus. His post was later removed.

While praising the country’s strategy of reducing infections as much as possible, Chinese commentator and former Xinhua editor Ming Jinwei wrote in an article on WeChat on Monday, “if we hope to return to normal as soon as possible, the future epidemic prevention strategy should no longer be to pursue absolute ‘zero infections.’ ”

Former Global Times editor Hu Xijin urged cities with only dozens of cases to not impose lockdowns on residents, writing, “what is needed is to harm people’s economic livelihoods as little as impossible. … This is what people want.”

On Weibo, some Internet users vented their frustration with the strict measures. “Will I have to wear a face mask for the rest of my life and only be cremated if I can show a negative nucleic acid test?” one asked.

Lyric Li in Seoul and Vic Chiang and Pei-Lin Wu in Taipei contributed to this report.

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captured: 3/14/2022 12:00:16 PM UTC

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STUDY: High-Protein Diets Lower Men's Testosterone Levels; Can Lead To ED?

2022-03-14T12:00:16Z

High-protein diets may decrease testosterone levels in men, leading to ED, fertility struggles

WORCESTER, England — Gym buffs who knock back protein shakes and devour lean meats are lowering their chances of having kids, warns a new study. Following a high-protein diet may reduce men’s testosterone levels, which can lead to erectile dysfunction and low sperm counts, say scientists.

Men who are looking to build muscle or lose weight are often encouraged to consume large amounts of lean meats, fish and protein shakes. But now scientists at the University of Worcester say pilling on the protein could cost them dearly, decreasing their testosterone levels by more than a third.

Cutting out carbs, which has become increasingly popular with celebs like Kim Kardashian, also comes at a price, the researchers report.

“Most people eat about 17 percent protein, and the high protein diets which caused low testosterone were all above 35 percent, which is very high,” says lead researcher Joseph Whittaker, a doctoral student at the university, in a statement per South West News Service. “So for the average person, there is nothing to worry about, however for people on high protein diets, they should limit protein to no more than 25 percent.”

Not having enough testosterone has also been linked to chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s. In contrast, healthy testosterone levels are very important for strength, muscle building, and athletic performance.

Results from 27 studies involving a total of 309 men were compiled by the researchers. Those who followed a high protein, low carb diet had much lower levels of testosterone compared to others. Having more than 35 percent protein reduced testosterone levels by 37 percent, which is medically referred to as hypogonadism, the researchers found.

Too much protein and not enough carbs also increased cortisol, commonly known as the body’s stress hormone, which is released during the “so-called fight or flight” response. High levels of cortisol have been found to suppress the immune system, leaving people vulnerable to viral and bacterial infections like colds, flus and COVID-19.

Packing on the protein can also cause “rabbit starvation,” where the body turns too much protein into ammonia which is toxic at high levels. This condition, sometimes called “protein poisoning,” was first discovered by Roman soldiers who were forced to survive on rabbits during the siege of Villanueva del Campo. Many of them developed severe diarrhea and died.

“The finding that low carbohydrates diets increase cortisol is very interesting, as these diets have become incredibly popular over recent years, with many celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, LeBron James, and Meagan Fox, promoting them,” Whittaker says. “However further work needs to be done in this area, to know if this is necessarily bad.”

The findings are published in the journal Nutrition and Health.

Report by South West News Service writer Tom Campbell

The post STUDY: High-Protein Diets Lower Men's Testosterone Levels; Can Lead To ED? captured from The Drudge Report left column, article 11 on 3/14/2022 12:00:16 PM UTC.

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Cold Showers, Hot Saunas and New Way to Tame Stress... Dosing self with bursts of pressure can help weather tough times...

2022-03-14T12:00:16Z

Cold Showers, Hot Saunas and the New Way to Tame Stress

What if the key to managing your stress is…more stress?

That is the finding of a growing body of biological research that indicates that short intermittent bouts of stress such as heat, exercise and dietary restriction can strengthen your ability to withstand chronic stress.

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The post Cold Showers, Hot Saunas and New Way to Tame Stress... Dosing self with bursts of pressure can help weather tough times... captured from The Drudge Report left column, article 10 on 3/14/2022 12:00:16 PM UTC.

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captured: 3/14/2022 12:00:16 PM UTC

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China Sees at Least One Winner Emerging: China...

2022-03-14T12:00:16Z

China Sees at Least One Winner Emerging From Ukraine War: China

The war in Ukraine is far from over, but a consensus is forming in Chinese policy circles that one country stands to emerge victorious from the turmoil: China.

After a confused initial response to Russia’s invasion, China has laid the building blocks of a strategy to shield itself from the worst economic and diplomatic consequences it could face, and to benefit from geopolitical shifts once the smoke clears.

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has avoided criticizing President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, but he has also tried to distance China from the carnage. His government has denounced the international sanctions imposed on Russia but, so far at least, has hinted that Chinese companies may comply with them, to protect China’s economic interests in the West.

Mr. Xi reached out to European leaders last week with vague offers of assistance in negotiating a settlement, even as other Chinese officials amplified Russian disinformation campaigns meant to discredit the United States and NATO. Officials in Washington claimed, without providing evidence, that after the invasion Russia asked China for economic and military assistance, which a Chinese official denounced on Monday as disinformation.

In the end, China’s leadership has calculated that it must try to rise above what it considers a struggle between two tired powers and be seen as a pillar of stability in an increasingly turbulent world.

“This means that as long as we don’t commit terminal strategic blunders, China’s modernization will not be cut short, and on the contrary, China will have even greater ability and will to play a more important role in building a new international order,” Zheng Yongnian, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, who has advised senior officials, wrote after the invasion in a widely circulated article.

At the heart of China’s strategy lies a conviction that the United States is weakened from reckless foreign adventures, including, from Beijing’s perspective, goading Mr. Putin into the Ukraine conflict.

In this view, which in recent days has been echoed in public statements and quasi-official analyses, Russia’s invasion has dragged American power and attention toward Europe, making it likely that President Biden, like his recent predecessors, will try but fail to put more focus on China and the broader Asia-Pacific region.

“All the difficulties and all the balancing and all the embarrassment that we’re talking about, those are short-term,” said Yun Sun, the director of the China Program at the Stimson Center in Washington, who has studied Beijing’s actions in the lead-up to the war. “In the long run, Russia is going to be the pariah of the international community, and Russia will have no one to turn to but China.”

China’s path ahead is by no means certain. Drawing too close to Russia would risk entrenching animosity toward China in Europe and beyond, a possibility that worries Mr. Xi’s government, for all its bluster.

And if Germany, France and other allies build up their defenses as promised, the United States could ultimately be freed up to shift more of its military resources toward countering China. Mr. Biden has vowed to rally an “alliance of democracies,” while American military leaders say they will not let Ukraine distract them from China.

“We also feel very, very anxious because the Russia-Ukraine war will force Europe to lean to the U.S., and then China will be dragged deeper into a dilemma,” said Zhu Feng, a professor of international relations at Nanjing University. The United States’ allies in the Pacific, including Japan and Australia, “will also adopt a stronger military posture. So it all seems unfriendly to China.”

China’s initial stumbles after Russia’s invasion have also raised concern about Mr. Xi’s ability to navigate the war’s aftershocks.

He has repeatedly warned Chinese officials that the world is entering an era of upheaval “the likes of which have not been seen for a century.” Yet those officials seemed ill-prepared for the upheaval of Mr. Putin’s assault on Ukraine.

Up to the day of the invasion, they scoffed at warnings that Russia was poised for war, instead accusing the United States of stoking tensions. Since then, they have struggled to reconcile sympathy for Mr. Putin’s security grievances with their often-stated reverence for the principle of national sovereignty, including Ukraine’s.

Mr. Xi, in a video conference with President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Olaf Sholz of Germany, lamented “the rekindling of the flames of war” in Europe. Yet his diplomats have fanned the flames of Russian disinformation, accusing the United States of developing biological weapons in Ukraine.

“This is just not good for China’s international reputation,” said Bobo Lo, an expert on China-Russia ties at the French Institute of International Relations. “It’s not just China’s reputation in the West; I think it also affects China’s reputation in the non-West, because it’s essentially associating itself with an imperial power.”

China could also face economic disruptions from the war and the Western efforts to punish Russia by restricting trade and cutting off its financial institutions. Chinese officials have denounced such measures, and while the United States and its allies have shown remarkable unity in imposing them, other countries share Beijing’s reservations about using powerful economic tools as weapons.

In any case, China’s economy is large enough to absorb blows that would cripple others. Chinese companies may even end up well positioned to take advantage of Russia’s desperate need for trade, as happened when Moscow faced sanctions over the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

China’s strategy reflects a hardening of views toward the United States since Mr. Biden came to office in 2021 — in large part, because officials had hoped for some easing after the chaotic and confrontational policies of President Donald J. Trump.

“In its China strategy, the Biden administration’s policy continuities with the Trump administration are clearly bigger than any differences,” Yuan Peng, president of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations in Beijing, wrote late last year. “Biden has repeatedly avowed that the United States is not in a ‘new Cold War’ with China, but China often feels the chill creeping in everywhere.”

Whatever happens in the war, China sees its deepening ties to Russia as a way to cultivate a counterweight to the United States. The partnership that Mr. Xi and Mr. Putin celebrated last month at the Winter Olympics in Beijing has become too important to sacrifice, whatever misgivings some officials have about the war.

Arguing that the era of American dominance after the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991 was a historical anomaly, both Mr. Xi and Mr. Putin have embraced geopolitical doctrines that call for their countries to reclaim their status as great powers.

Just as Mr. Putin depicts the United States as menacing Russia on its western frontier, Mr. Xi sees American support for Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that Beijing claims as its own, as a similar threat off China’s coast.

In recent weeks, Chinese analysts have repeatedly cited the century-old writings of a British geographer, Sir Halford John Mackinder. Whoever controls Central Europe controls the vast landmass stretching from Europe to Asia, he argued. Whoever controls Eurasia can dominate the world.

A modern Russian proponent of such thinking, Aleksandr G. Dugin, has written extensively on what he sees as a growing clash between the liberal, decadent West and a conservative Eurasian continent with Russia as its soul.

Mr. Dugin, sometimes called “Putin’s philosopher,” has built a following in China, appearing in state media and visiting Beijing in 2018 to deliver a series of lectures. His host on that occasion was Zhang Weiwei, a propagandist-academic who has won Mr. Xi’s favor and who last year gave a lecture to the Politburo, a council of 25 top party officials.

“The West should not have become a hegemon in defining universal standards because the West or Europe, or the West in general is only part of humanity,” Mr. Dugin told a Chinese state television interviewer in 2019. “And the other part, a majority of human beings, live outside the West, in Asia.”

Such aversion to international standards for political or human rights, supposedly dictated by the West, has become a recurrent theme in Chinese criticism of the United States. It was the subject of a government position paper in December, intended to counter virtual summit of democratic countries held by Mr. Biden, and of a long statement that Mr. Putin and Mr. Xi issued when they met in Beijing last month.

As it turns to Beijing for support against Western sanctions, Russia will become increasingly beholden to China as its diplomatic and economic lifeline, while serving as its strategic geopolitical ballast, analysts say.

“The old order is swiftly disintegrating, and strongman politics is again ascendant among the world’s great powers,” wrote Mr. Zheng of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. “Countries are brimming with ambition, like tigers eyeing their prey, keen to find every opportunity among the ruins of the old order.”

The post China Sees at Least One Winner Emerging From Ukraine War: China appeared first on New York Times.

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Russians cross Mexico border to seek US asylum...

2022-03-14T12:00:16Z

Russians cross Mexico border to seek US asylum

More than 8,600 Russians have sought refuge in the U.S. on the Mexican border in recent months. Many fly from Moscow to Cancun, entering Mexico as tourists, and go to Tijuana, where they pool money to buy cars. (March 14)

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NATO nonalignment creates risk for Finland, Sweden...

2022-03-14T12:00:16Z

Amid Russian aggression, NATO nonalignment creates risk for Finland and Sweden

You’re reading an excerpt from the Today’s WorldView newsletter. Sign up to get the rest, including news from around the globe, interesting ideas, and opinions to know sent to your inbox every weekday.

In the wilds of Scandinavia, more than 30,000 troops are conducting live-fire drills at Cold Response, one of the West’s largest military exercises since the end of the Cold War. Planned long before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the training mission in NATO-member Norway has nevertheless taken on new urgency — and is sending a powerful message to Moscow: United, the allies stand strong.

But for two of the 27 participating nations at Cold Response — Finland and Sweden — the drills are also cold comfort. As their presence suggests, both nations are deeply integrated into the West. But historically nonaligned, neither belongs to NATO. That leaves them standing uncomfortably outside the alliance’s defense umbrella that states an attack on one member is also an attack on all.

The surging Russian threat, however, is spurring a historic debate in both countries on the suddenly ironic risks of embracing caution on NATO membership. Swedes and Finns are watching aghast at the brutal Russian siege of Ukrainian cities, and closely observing the limited NATO military response to a war taking place in another non-NATO nation. Allied weapons are being sent over the border to Ukraine, a country that, unlike Sweden and Finland, at least sought alliance membership, even if it never won it. Biting economic sanctions are also being slapped on Russia. But one thing is now abundantly clear: NATO will not risk nuclear war with Russian President Vladimir Putin by sending in the cavalry to defend a country that is not a member of its club.

That’s food for thought for the long-cautious Swedes and, especially, the Finns, who are even more deeply familiar with Russian aggression. Over the past two weeks, polls in both countries have shown a sea change in public opinion in favor of joining NATO — a stance now shared by a slim majority in both countries for the first time.

“In Sweden, defense was a low priority before the Ukraine war,” Anna Wieslander, the Stockholm-based Northern Europe director for the Atlantic Council, told me. “Now, it’s the number one issue.”

Of the six European Union countries that are not members of NATO — a short list that also includes Austria, Cyprus, Ireland and Malta — Finland and Sweden are seen as perhaps the most likely candidates, but also the ones that would gall Russia the most. Already among the closest nonmember states to NATO, the two countries are Enhanced Opportunity Partners — a category that also includes Ukraine. They further strengthened NATO ties in 2014, signing a deal that granted the defense alliance more room to operate on their territory during conflict and other emergency situations. NATO has already agreed to share intelligence on the Ukraine war with both countries.

Yet Moscow has already warned of “serious military-political consequences” should either nation take the plunge into full membership, appearing to threaten with more than words. Last week, Finnish planes flying near the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad suffered mysterious interference with their GPS signals. On March 2, Swedish officials denounced the violation of its Baltic Sea airspace by four Russian fighter jets.

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Both countries are nevertheless moving to respond to a new age of Russian aggression. Like other European nations, Sweden has announced a big ramp up in defense spending, with Finland weighing similar action. A week ago, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö met with President Biden at the White House — a session the Swedish leader joined remotely — to discuss greater defense cooperation. On the heels of a major E.U. summit on the Ukraine crisis in France last week, the Finnish and Swedish leaders will meet with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday for a two-day summit alongside other northern European nations, and with the aim of strengthening a regional defense pact.

Both countries have also been seeking to remind other E.U. members that the bloc is more than just an association based on economics and trade. In a joint letter to member nations last week, Finland and Sweden brought up Article 42.7 of the European Union’s founding Lisbon Treaty — which obligates other members to “aid and assist by all the means in their power” any E.U. country that comes under attack.

But few observers see that as a security solution for either country. The E.U. clause lacks the force of NATO’s Article 5 — which provides for the alliance’s defense umbrella. For one, the E.U. treaty does not apply to some of the most important NATO armies — including the United States, Britain and Turkey. And given the European Union’s fundamental stance that NATO still forms the backbone of the continent’s defenses, a test of the Lisbon Treaty’s military pledge might end up dangerously disappointing nonaligned countries.

Of the two, Finland, the only non-NATO E.U. state which shares a border with Russia, is moving faster to weigh an actual membership bid. The country has long existed as a buffer state — spending 700 years as part of Sweden before being wrenched away by the Russian Empire in 1809. After independence in 1917, World War II-era wars with the Soviet Union saw fierce Finnish resistance. A 1948 treaty with Moscow exchanged a measure of independence for a security pact with the Soviets, a stance Helsinki would stick to throughout the Cold War. The collapse of the Soviet Union led to Finland’s lurch West. It joined the European Union in 1995, even as it refrained from the more provocative step of joining NATO.

Suggesting how Moscow’s war in Ukraine could spur countries on the fence to take clearer sides, a Finnish push to hold a national referendum on joining NATO won the 50,000 signatures needed for a parliamentary debate it in less than a week, Al Jazeera reported. Senior members of the Finnish government, including Niinistö, say a review of the question is now underway, with officials calling for a timely, if not hasty, answer.

“When alternatives and risks have been analyzed, then it’s time for conclusions,” Niinistö told reporters last week. “We have safe solutions also for our future. We must review them carefully. Not with delay, but carefully.”

Sweden, a historically nonaligned country that stayed out of both world wars, appears to be on a slower track. During the Cold War, it saw Moscow as a threat and covertly cooperated with NATO, but did not seek to join it. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Sweden cut military spending and joined the European Union, even as public opinion and political will remained against NATO membership.

Despite a massive shift in public opinion since the Ukraine war, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, a stalwart of the center-left, tramped down speculation of any immediate NATO bid.

A move now, she told reporters last week in Stockholm, would “further destabilize the situation.” That doesn’t mean it can’t happen. Last week, the Swedish Democrats — a party of right-wing nationalists — announced they would reconsider their past opposition to joining NATO, a move that would give pro-alliance parties a sudden majority in parliament.

Should either country take the leap, one major problem would be the dangerous gap between any petition to join NATO, and having that request granted. Until official entry, either country would still live outside the NATO defense umbrella, while a public pledge to join NATO could increase the threat of a Russian storm.

At least some current NATO members are also likely to resist assuming greater risk at such a sensitive time.

“The question is, can you take out the insurance when the house is on fire?” Wieslander told me. “That is something NATO is also going to have to decide.”

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The most-fit 33% less likely to develop Alzheimer's...

2022-03-14T11:00:16Z

The most-fit are 33 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s, report says

The more fit you are, the less likely you may be to develop Alzheimer’s disease — with those who are the most fit having a 33 percent lower risk for this dementia than the least fit, according to a report to be presented to the American Academy of Neurology at its annual meeting next month.

D.C.-based researchers, from the Washington VA Medical Center and George Washington University, tested and tracked 649,605 veterans (average age 61) for nearly a decade. Based on their cardiorespiratory fitness, participants were divided into five categories, from lowest to highest fitness level.

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The researchers found that, as fitness improved, people’s chances of developing the ailment decreased. Compared with the least-fit group, those slightly more fit had a 13 percent lower risk for Alzheimer’s; the middle group was 20 percent less likely to develop the disease; the next higher group was 26 percent less likely; with the odds reaching a 33 percent lower risk for those in the most-fit group.

Alzheimer’s is the most common type of dementia. It is a progressive brain disorder that, over time, destroys memory and thinking skills and interferes with the ability to carry out daily tasks. About 6 million Americans 65 and older have Alzheimer’s. There are no proven ways to cure the disease.

Researchers say, however, that increasing physical activity is a promising way to possibly reduce risk for the ailment. Numerous studies have found that regular physical activity can benefit the brain, and the Alzheimer’s Association describes it as one of the best things people can do to reduce their chances of developing dementia.

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China battles multiple outbreaks, driven by stealth omicron...

2022-03-14T11:00:16Z

China battles multiple outbreaks, driven by stealth omicron

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China banned most people from leaving a coronavirus-hit northeastern province and mobilized military reservists Monday as the fast-spreading “stealth omicron” variant fuels the country's biggest outbreak since the start of the pandemic two years ago.

The National Health Commission reported 1,337 locally transmitted cases in the latest 24-hour period, including 895 in the industrial province of Jilin. A government notice said that police permission would be required for people to leave the area or travel from one city to another.

The hard-hit province sent 7,000 reservists to help with the response, from keeping order and registering people at testing centers to using drones to carry out aerial spraying and disinfection, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Hundreds of cases were reported in other provinces and cities along China's east coast and inland as well. Beijing, which had six news cases, and Shanghai, with 41, locked down residential and office buildings where infected people had been found.

“Every day when I go to work, I worry that if our office building will suddenly be locked down then I won’t be able to get home, so I have bought a sleeping bag and stored some fast food in the office in advance, just in case,” said Yimeng Li, a Shanghai resident.

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While mainland China's numbers are small compared to many other countries, and even the semi-autonomous city of Hong Kong, they are the highest since COVID-19 killed thousands in the central city of Wuhan in early 2020. No deaths have been reported in the latest outbreaks.

Hong Kong on Monday reported 26,908 new cases and 249 deaths in its latest 24-hour period. The city counts its cases differently than the mainland, combining both rapid antigen tests and PCR test results.

The city's leader, Carrie Lam, said authorities would not tighten pandemic restrictions for now. “I have to consider whether the public, whether the people would accept further measures,” she said at a press briefing.

Mainland China has seen relatively few infections since the initial Wuhan outbreak as the government has held fast to its zero-tolerance strategy, which is focused on stopping transmission of the coronavirus by relying on strict lockdowns and mandatory quarantines for anyone who has come into contact with a positive case.

The government has indicated it will continue to stick to its strategy of stopping transmission for the time being.

Officials on Sunday locked down the southern city of Shenzhen, which has 17.5 million people and is a major tech and finance hub that borders Hong Kong. That followed the lockdown of Changchun, home to 9 million people in Jilin province, starting last Friday.

On Monday, Zhang Wenhong, a prominent infectious disease expert at a hospital affiliated with Shanghai's Fudan University noted in an essay for China's business outlet Caixin, that the numbers for the mainland were still in the beginning stages of an “exponential rise.”

China's vast passenger rail network said it would cut service significantly, and both China Railway and airlines said they would offer free refunds to people who had already bought tickets. Shanghai suspended bus service to other cities and provinces.

Shanghai has recorded 713 cases in March, of which 632 are asymptomatic cases. China counts positive and asymptomatic cases separately in its national numbers. Schools in China's largest city have switched to remote learning.

In Beijing, several buildings were sealed off over the weekend. Residents said they were willing to follow the zero-tolerance policies despite any personal impact.

“I think only when the epidemic is totally wiped out can we ease up," said Tong Xin, 38, a shop owner in the Silk Market, a tourist-oriented mall in the Chinese capital.

Much of the current outbreak across Chinese cities is being driven by the variant commonly known as “stealth omicron," or the B.A.2 lineage of the omicron variant, Zhang noted. Early research suggests it spreads faster than the original omicron, which itself spread faster than the original virus and other variants.

“But if our country opens up quickly now, it will cause a large number of infections in people in a short period of time," Zhang wrote Monday. "No matter how low the death rate is, it will still cause a run on medical resources and a short term shock to social life, causing irreparable harm to families and society.”

___

Associated Press video producer Olivia Zhang in Beijing and researcher Chen Si contributed to this report from Shanghai.

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Israel grapples with fate of oligarchs...

2022-03-14T11:00:16Z

As Ukraine war rages, Israel grapples with fate of oligarchs

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel is grappling with how to deal with dozens of Jewish Russian oligarchs as Western nations step up sanctions on businesspeople with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A worried Israeli government has formed a high-level committee to see how the country can maintain its status as a haven for any Jew without running afoul of the biting sanctions targeting Putin’s inner circle.

Several dozen Jewish tycoons from Russia are believed to have taken on Israeli citizenship or residency in recent years. Many have good working relations with the Kremlin, and at least four -- Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich, Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven and Viktor Vekselberg -- have been sanctioned internationally because of their purported connections to Putin.

Israel, which has emerged as an unlikely mediator between Ukraine and Russia, has not joined the sanctions imposed by the U.S., Britain, European Union and others. But as the war in Ukraine drags on, and other names are added to the list, the pressure is increasing.

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In an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 TV station over the weekend, the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, Victoria Nuland, called on Israel to join the group of countries that have sanctioned Russia.

“What we are asking among other things is for every democracy around the world to join us in the financial and export control sanctions that we have put on Putin,” she said. “You don’t want to become the last haven for dirty money that’s fueling Putin’s wars.”

Aaron David Miller, a now-retired veteran U.S. diplomat, said on Twitter that Nuland's comments were the 'toughest battering of Israeli policy since crisis began or of any policy in very long while."

Israel, founded as a haven for Jews in the wake of the Holocaust, grants automatic citizenship to anyone of Jewish descent. Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union 30 years ago, an estimated 1 million Jews from Russia and other former Soviet republics have moved to Israel. In recent years, a growing number of tycoons from the former Soviet Union have joined them.

Some, such as former energy magnate Leonid Nevzlin, came after falling out with Putin. Others appeared to have done so as hedges against trouble abroad.

Abramovich, for instance, took Israeli citizenship in 2018 after his British visa was not renewed, apparently as part of British authorities’ efforts to crack down on Putin associates after a former Russian spy was poisoned in England. Although he appears to spend little time in the country, he has bought some choice real estate, including a home in a trendy Tel Aviv neighborhood reportedly purchased from the husband of Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot.

Some have kept low public profiles, while others have embraced their Jewish roots, emerging as major philanthropists to Jewish causes or investing in Israel’s high-flying technology sector.

Israeli media have reported private jets belonging to oligarchs coming in and out of the country in recent days. Channel 12 said late Sunday that one of Abramovich's planes had arrived, though it was unclear if he was onboard.

While Israel weighs its moves, Jewish organizations already are taking a closer look at their relations with Russian oligarchs.

Last week, Yad Vashem, Israel’s national Holocaust memorial, said it was suspending a reported donation of tens millions of dollars from Abramovich “in light of recent developments.” In Ukraine, the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center, built at the ravine where over 30,000 Jews were massacred in just two days in 1941, said that Fridman, who was born in Ukraine, had resigned from its advisory board due to the sanctions.

Lior Haiat, spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, said the government has formed a special inter-ministerial committee to study the sanctions issue. The fate of affected oligarchs is a central part of that mission.

In the meantime, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has already advised his colleagues to keep their distance from the oligarchs.

“You have to be very careful because those guys have connections and they can call you on the phone and ask you for things,” Lapid recently told the Cabinet. “Don’t commit to anything because it could cause diplomatic damage. Say you can’t help them and give them the number of the Foreign Ministry.”

His comments, first reported in Israeli media, were confirmed by officials who attended the meeting. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing closed Cabinet proceedings.

Israel, one of the few countries that has good relations with both Russia and Ukraine, may be able to insulate itself from the international pressure as long as it continues to mediate between the warring sides. Joining the sanctions would risk drawing Russian ire and jeopardize Israel's unique role.

Ksenia Svetlova, an international-affairs expert and former Israeli lawmaker born in Russia, said Israel would hold out from taking a stance as long as possible.

“It depends on what kind of pressure they will exercise against Israel,” she said. “Not voluntarily, certainly.”

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Pregnant woman, baby die after maternity ward bombed...

2022-03-14T11:00:16Z

Pregnant woman, baby die after Russia bombed maternity ward

MARIUPOL, Ukraine (AP) — A pregnant woman and her baby have died after Russia bombed the maternity hospital where she was meant to give birth, The Associated Press has learned. Images of the woman being rushed to an ambulance on a stretcher had circled the world, epitomizing the horror of an attack on humanity’s most innocent.

In video and photos shot Wednesday by AP journalists after the attack on the hospital, the woman was seen stroking her bloodied lower abdomen as rescuers rushed her through the rubble in the besieged city of Mariupol, her blanched face mirroring her shock at what had just happened. It was among the most brutal moments so far in Russia’s now 19-day-old war on Ukraine.

The woman was rushed to another hospital, yet closer to the frontline, where doctors labored to keep her alive. Realizing she was losing her baby, medics said, she cried out to them, “Kill me now!”

Surgeon Timur Marin found the woman's pelvis crushed and hip detached. Medics delivered the baby via cesarean section, but it showed “no signs of life,” the surgeon said.

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Then, they focused on the mother.

“More than 30 minutes of resuscitation of the mother didn’t produce results,” Marin said Saturday.

“Both died.”

In the chaos after Wednesday’s airstrike, medics didn’t have time to get the woman’s name before her husband and father came to take away her body. At least someone came to retrieve her, they said — so she didn’t end up in the mass graves being dug for many of Mariupol’s growing number of dead.

Accused of war crimes, Russian officials claimed the maternity hospital had been taken over by Ukrainian extremists to use as a base, and that no patients or medics were left inside. Russia’s ambassador to the U.N. and the Russian Embassy in London called the images “fake news.”

Associated Press journalists, who have been reporting from inside blockaded Mariupol since early in the war, documented the attack and saw the victims and damage firsthand. They shot video and photos of several bloodstained, pregnant mothers fleeing the blown-out maternity ward, medics shouting, children crying.

The AP team then tracked down the victims on Friday and Saturday in the hospital where they had been transferred, on the outskirts of Mariupol.

In a city that's been without food supplies, water, power or heat for more than a week, electricity from emergency generators is reserved for operating rooms.

As survivors described their ordeal, explosions outside shook the walls. The shelling and shooting in the area is sporadic but relentless. Emotions are running high, even as doctors and nurses concentrate on their work.

Blogger Mariana Vishegirskaya gave birth to a girl the day after the airstrike, and wrapped her arm around newborn Veronika as she recounted Wednesday’s bombing. After photos and video showed her navigating down debris-strewn stairs and clutching a blanket around her pregnant frame, Russian officials claimed she was an actor in a staged attack.

“It happened on March 9 in Hospital No. 3 in Mariupol. We were laying in wards when glasses, frames, windows and walls flew apart,” Vishegirskaya, still wearing the same polka dot pajamas as when she fled, told The AP.

“We don’t know how it happened. We were in our wards and some had time to cover themselves, some didn’t.”

Her ordeal was one among many in Mariupol, which has become a symbol of resistance to Russian President Vladimir Putin's drive to crush democratic Ukraine and redraw the world map in his favor. The failure to subordinate Mariupol has pushed Russian forces to broaden their offensive elsewhere in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the Azov Sea port city of 430,000, key to creating a land bridge from Russia to Russian-annexed Crimea, is slowly starving.

In the makeshift new maternity ward, each approaching childbirth brings new tension.

“All birthing mothers have lived through so much,” said nurse Olga Vereshagina.

One of the distraught mothers lost some of her toes in the bombing. Medics performed a C-section on her Friday, carefully pulling out her daughter and rubbing the newborn vigorously to stimulate signs of life.

After a few breathless seconds, the baby cries.

Cheers of joy resonate through the room. Newborn Alana cries, her mother cries, and medical workers wipe the tears from their eyes.

___

Follow the AP’s coverage of the Ukraine crisis at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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Anti-Trump Republicans lining up for 2024 shadow primary...

2022-03-14T11:00:16Z

Anti-Trump Republicans lining up for 2024 shadow primary

NEW YORK (AP) — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is planning trips to Iowa and New Hampshire. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., is considering a rough timeline for a potential presidential announcement. And allies of Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., are openly talking up her White House prospects.

More than two years before the next presidential election, a shadow primary is already beginning to take shape among at least three fierce Republican critics of former President Donald Trump to determine who is best positioned to occupy the anti-Trump lane in 2024.

Their apparent willingness to run — even if Trump does, as is widely expected — represents a shift from previous years when “Never Trump” operatives failed to recruit any GOP officeholders to challenge the incumbent president. But with the 2024 contest almost in view, the question is no longer whether one of Trump’s prominent Republican critics will run, but how many will mount a campaign and how soon they will announce.

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Those close to Cheney, Hogan and Kinzinger expect one of them, if not more, to launch a presidential bid after the 2022 midterms. While all three are nationally known to some degree, their goal would not necessarily be to win the presidency. Above all, they want to hinder Trump's return to the White House, at least compared with 2020, when his allies cleared the field of any Republican opponents and persuaded some states to cancel primary contests altogether.

“It’s there as an option, but it’s not necessarily because this is all some big plan so I can be in the White House,” Kinzinger told The Associated Press when asked about his timeline for deciding on a presidential run. “It’s looking and saying, ‘Is there going to be a voice out there that can represent from that megaphone the importance of defending this country and democracy and what America is about?’ There certainly, I’m sure within the next year or so, will be a point at which you have to make a decision.

“If it’s not me doing anything, certainly we’ll be all in for whoever can represent us,” Kinzinger said.

Republican primary voters are expected to have other options.

Several former Trump loyalists who have emerged as on-again, off-again Trump critics are also eyeing the GOP's next presidential nomination. Among them: former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. But most in this group have offered Trump far more praise than criticism, leaving the likes of Cheney, Hogan and Kinzinger as the only consistent Trump antagonists in the 2024 conversation.

The range of prospects suggests an openness within the GOP to move past Trump and his divisive politics, even as many Republican voters suggest they would like to see him run a third time.

About 7 in 10 Republicans said the former president should run for president again in 2024, according to a CBS poll last month. Among the most common reasons they cited: He’s the best Republican candidate and has the best chance of winning.

Lest anyone question his intentions, Trump told thousands of supporters Saturday night in South Carolina, “We may have to run again.” He remains the most popular figure among Republican voters and plans to use the upcoming midterms to keep bending the party in his direction. He was in South Carolina, for instance, to support GOP rivals to two incumbent members of Congress who have crossed him.

But those close to Cheney, Hogan and Kinzinger insist a significant number of less vocal Republican voters are eager to move past Trump, especially after he inspired the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. After all, 10 Republican representatives voted to impeach Trump and seven Republican senators subsequently voted to convict him.

“There is a large and growing lane of Republicans and Americans across the political spectrum who are fed up with toxic politics and want to move in a new direction,” Hogan told the AP. “While I’m focused on finishing my term as governor strong, I’m going to continue to stand up and be a voice for getting our party and our country back on the right track.”

For now, Cheney, Hogan and Kinzinger remain friendly and in semi-regular contact.

The 65-year-old, term-limited Hogan will leave office at the end of the year. He already decided against a 2022 Senate campaign, rebuffing an aggressive lobbying effort from Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. He said he saw himself as an executive more than a legislator.

Kinzinger, among 10 Republican House members who voted to impeach Trump, chose not to seek reelection after his district was redrawn in the Democrats' favor. Only Cheney, who also voted to impeach, is running to retain her seat in this fall’s midterms, although she is no lock to win her primary election in August.

Trump is pushing hard for Cheney's defeat. And while her allies indicate she is focused on her reelection, it's an open secret that she is seriously considering a presidential run once the 2022 race is decided.

By some measures, the 55-year-old daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney has the strongest national profile. Cheney is building a national fundraising network, as demonstrated by a $7.1 million fundraising haul in 2021, among the most in the nation for any House member.

Wyoming state Rep. Landon Brown, a Cheney ally, said this network will allow her to compete on a national scale. Of a Cheney presidential run, he said, “I don’t see any reason it wouldn’t” happen.

“She’s opened up the door across the country by standing up on a national platform that bridges that middle gap of the people that were frustrated on both the left and the right,” Brown said. “I don’t think it would be easy, but she would be a formidable candidate, for sure.”

Cheney has encouraged 2024 speculation by delivering prominent speeches about the future of the Republican Party in recent months, including a November address in New Hampshire, which typically hosts the first presidential primary election.

Meanwhile, both Hogan and Kinzinger are building political organizations that could serve as vehicles to promote their presidential ambitions after they leave office early next year.

Hogan's advocacy group, America United, has millions in the bank, according to an adviser. To strengthen his network, Hogan is planning to travel to Iowa and New Hampshire — the first and second states on the traditional presidential primary calendar — to stump for local candidates in coming months.

Hogan is working to help Trump's loudest Republican critics in other states as well.

Hogan had lunch last week with Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who has refused to embrace Trump's lies about the 2020 election. Hogan also plans to host events for Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif. He voted to impeach Trump for inspiring the Jan. 6 insurrection while Murkowski voted for Trump's conviction.

Kinzinger's outside group, Country First, now claims chapters in 38 states and a growing fundraising base.

The 44-year-old Illinois congressman, a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard, plans to spend much of the year working to defeat Republicans in the midterms who promote Trump's false claims of voter fraud. Last month, he announced a plan to encourage Democrats and independents to cast ballots in Republican primaries when possible to oust pro-Trump candidates.

Kinzinger said he would even consider a 2024 run as an independent if that's the best way to stop Trump, although he prefers to stay a Republican.

“This country is built really for two parties, like it or love it or hate it," he told the AP. "Never rule anything out. But my hope would be to be able to find the salvation of the GOP.”

___

Associated Press writers Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Meg Kinnard in Florence, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

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Is Dollar in Danger?

2022-03-14T11:00:16Z

Opinion | Is the Dollar in Danger?

The U.S. is sitting on top of a horizontal empire, capitalism’s self-organizing, incentive-based structure with its layers of value. It’s not the Marxist mush of “to each according to his needs.” You gotta earn your spot. Think of the U.S. dollar as the thread or even the duct tape that binds the layers together. Nearly 60% of the $12.8 trillion in world-wide currency reserves are dollars. Is America’s “exorbitant privilege”—the almighty dollar as the world’s leading reserve currency—under threat? Should you even care?

Sanctions have bitten Russia. A huge chunk of its $630 billion in foreign reserves are frozen. Oligarchs’ yachts have been seized. Visa, Mastercard and American Express suspended service in Russia. Apple and Google Pay stoppage stranded cashless travelers on Moscow’s metro. From Netflix to Nike , voluntary sanctions are in force.

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US view of Putin: Angry, frustrated, likely to escalate war...

2022-03-14T11:00:16Z

US view of Putin: Angry, frustrated, likely to escalate war

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than two weeks into a war he expected to dominate in two days, Vladimir Putin is projecting anger, frustration at his military’s failures and a willingness to cause even more violence and destruction in Ukraine, in the assessment of U.S. intelligence officials.

Officials in recent days have publicly said they're worried the Russian president will escalate the conflict to try to break Ukraine's resistance. Russia still holds overwhelming military advantages and can bombard the country for weeks more. And while the rest of the world reacts to horrific images of the war he started, Putin remains insulated from domestic pressure by what CIA Director William Burns called a “propaganda bubble.”

Putin's mindset — as tough as it is to determine from afar — is critical for the West to understand as it provides more military aid to Ukraine and also prevent Putin from directly taking on NATO countries or possibly reaching for the nuclear button. Intelligence officials over two days of testimony before Congress last week openly voiced concerns about what Putin might do. And those concerns increasingly shape discussions about what U.S. policymakers are willing to do for Ukraine.

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Over two decades, Putin has achieved total dominance of Russia's government and security services, ruling with a tiny inner circle, marginalizing dissent, and jailing or killing his opposition. He has long criticized the breakup of the Soviet Union, dismissed Ukraine's claims to sovereignty, and mused about nuclear war ending with Russians as “martyrs.” Burns told lawmakers that he believed Putin was “stewing in a combustible combination of grievance and ambition for many years.”

Putin had expected to seize Kyiv in two days, Burns said. Instead, his military has failed to take control of major cities and lost several thousand soldiers already. The West has imposed sanctions and other measures that have crippled the Russian economy and diminished living standards for oligarchs and ordinary citizens alike. Much of the foreign currency Russia had accumulated as a bulwark against sanctions is now frozen in banks abroad.

Burns is a former U.S. ambassador to Moscow who has met with Putin many times. He told lawmakers in response to a question about the Russian president's mental state that he did not believe Putin was crazy.

“I think Putin is angry and frustrated right now,” he said. “He’s likely to double down and try to grind down the Ukrainian military with no regard for civilian casualties.”

Russia's recent unsupported claims that the U.S. is helping Ukraine develop chemical or biological weapons suggest that Putin may himself be prepared to deploy those weapons in a “false flag” operation, Burns said.

There's no apparent path to ending the war. It is nearly inconceivable that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has won admiration around the world for leading his country's resistance, would suddenly recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea or support granting new autonomy to Russian-friendly parts of eastern Ukraine. And even if he captures Kyiv and deposes Zelenskyy, Putin would have to account for an insurgency supported by the West in a country of more than 40 million.

“He has no sustainable political end-game in the face of what is going to continue to be fierce resistance from Ukrainians,” Burns said.

Avril Haines, President Joe Biden's director of national intelligence, said Putin “perceives this as a war he cannot afford to lose. But what he might be willing to accept as a victory may change over time given the significant costs he is incurring.”

Intelligence analysts think Putin's recent raising of Russia's nuclear alert level was “probably intended to deter the West from providing additional support to Ukraine,” she said.

The White House's concern about escalation has at times frustrated both Democrats and Republicans. After initially signaling support, the Biden administration declined in recent days to support a Polish plan to donate Soviet-era warplanes to Ukraine that would have required the U.S. to participate in the transfer. The administration previously delayed sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and would not send Stinger air-defense missiles to Ukraine before changing course.

Questioned on Thursday, Haines said Putin might see the plane transfer as a bigger deal than the anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons already going to Ukraine. Haines did not disclose whether the U.S. had intelligence to support that finding.

U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, an Illinois Democrat who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, said the Biden administration had been “always a step or two late” out of fear of triggering Putin. He urged the White House to agree quickly to the transfer of planes.

“I think it comes off as quibbling,” Quigley said. “If anyone thinks that Putin is going to distinguish and differentiate — ‘Oh, well, they're taking off from Poland' — he sees all of this as escalatory.”

Meanwhile, as the violence worsens and more Russians die, the West is also watching for any sign of holes forming in Putin's “propaganda bubble.” One independent Russian political analyst, Kirill Rogov, posted on his Telegram account that the war is “lost” and an “epic failure.”

“The mistake was the notion that the West was unwilling to resist aggression, that it was lethargic, greedy and divided,” Rogov wrote. "The idea that the Russian economy is self-sufficient and secure was a mistake. The mistake was the idea of the quality of the Russian army. And the main mistake was the idea that Ukraine is a failed state, and Ukrainians are not a nation.

“Four mistakes in making one decision is a lot,” he said.

Before the invasion, polling conducted by the Levada Center, Russia’s top independent opinion research firm, found that 60% of respondents consider the U.S. and NATO the “initiators” of conflict in eastern Ukraine. Just 3% answered Russia. The polling was in January and February, and the Levada Center has not published new polling since the war began.

Outsiders hope ordinary Russians will respond to the sharp decline in their living standards and find honest portrayals of the war through relatives and online, including by using VPN software to bypass Kremlin blocks on social media. Russian state television continues to air false or unsupported allegations about the U.S. and Ukrainian governments and push a narrative that Russia can't afford to lose the war.

“Otherwise, it will lead to the death of Russia itself,” said Vladimir Solovyov, host of a prime-time talk show on state TV channel Russia 1, on his daily radio show last week.

___

Associated Press writer Lynn Berry contributed to this report.

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Jussie Smollett put in psych ward after being deemed self-harm risk...

2022-03-14T00:00:16Z

Jussie Smollett Placed In Psych Ward At Cook County Jail, Brother Claims On Instagram

Authorities are apparently taking no chances on Jussie Smollett’s safety while incarcerated at the Cook County jail.

Reacting to Smollett’s outburst upon being sentenced Thursday for his conviction on charges related to drumming up a hate hoax. authorities have placed him in a psychiatric ward. That’s typically where high-profile prisoners are kept.

Smollett yelled to the courtroom upon his conviction that he was not suicidal and would not kill himself while in custody. The statement was seen as a nod to other famous and infamous inmates like Jeffrey Epstein and John McAfee, who both allegedly committed suicide while incarcerated.

“Jussie is currently in a psych ward at the Cook County Jail,” Jocqui Smollett said in a video posted to the Empire actor’s Instagram. “What’s very concerning is that there was a note attached to his paperwork today and put on the front of his jail cell saying that he’s at risk of self-harm.”

Jocqui added, “I want to just make it clear to folks that he is in no way, shape, or form at risk of self-harm. And he wants to let folks know that he is very stable, he is very strong, he is very healthy, and ready to take on the challenge that ultimately has been put up against him.”

Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in jail, 30 months of probation, restitution of $120,106, and a fine of $25,000 on Thursday for his part in orchestrating a hate hoax.

The actor repeatedly shouted, “I am not suicidal, and I am innocent” as he exited on Thursday.

“You’re just a charlatan, pretending to be a victim of a hate crime,” Judge Linn said to Jussie Smollett during Thursday’s sentencing. She added that the actor’s name “has “has become an adverb for ‘lying,’” and that “there is nothing that I will do here today that can come close to the damage you’ve already done to your own life.”

A post shared by @jussiesmollett

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Had been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer...

2022-03-14T00:00:16Z

William Hurt Dead at 71

William Hurt -- an Oscar-winning actor with a long tenure in Hollywood -- has died.

His son, Will, made the sad announcement Sunday -- telling Deadline ... "It is with great sadness that the Hurt family mourns the passing of William Hurt, beloved father and Oscar winning actor, on March 13, 2022, one week before his 72nd birthday."

Will adds of his father's passing ... "He died peacefully, among family, of natural causes. The family requests privacy at this time."

Like we said, Hurt was a bit of a chameleon of an actor ... able to portray several different types of characters in a range of genres -- from comedy to drama to science fiction, and everything in between. He might best be remembered for his Academy Award-winning role in 1985's "Kiss of the Spider Woman."

The guy was on a roll in the '80s when it came to noteworthy parts -- in addition to 'Spider Woman,' he was also nominated for Oscars for his work in 'Children of a Lesser God' and 'Broadcast News.' Other flicks from that era he starred in include 'The Big Chill,' 'Gorky Park,' 'A Time of Destiny,' 'The Accidental Tourist,' 'Body Heat,' and more.

The '90s gave Hurt even more shine ... he acted in a ton of cult classics like 'Mr. Wonderful,' 'Alice,' 'Lost in Space,' 'One True Thing,' 'Jane Eyre,' 'Dark City,' 'The Doctor' and 'The 4th Floor,' among others. Going into the new century, Hurt kept on cranking out great performances -- some standouts that come to mind ... 'A History of Violence,' 'The Incredible Hulk,' 'The Village,' 'The King,' 'Mr. Brooks,' 'Syriana,' 'Vantage Point,' 'Changing Lanes' ... and many, many other huge movies.

Hurt's TV game was quite strong too ... he'd acted in hit shows like 'The King of Queens,' 'Goliath,' 'Condor,' 'Damages,' 'Dune,' 'Beowulf,' and others. He was in the middle of production for a new series called 'Pantheon,' and also starred in the new fantasy movie 'The King's Daughter.'

Hurt had previously been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, but seemed to be on the road to recovery some years ago as he tried new treatments out of Berkeley that were touted as side-effect-free at the time.

He leaves behind four children from different relationships. Hurt was 71.

RIP

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At rally, Florida Dems rail against DeSantis...

2022-03-14T00:00:16Z

At rally, Florida Democrats rail against Gov. DeSantis

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Charlie Crist, Nikki Fried and Annette Taddeo came together over the weekend, united in their diagnosis of the biggest problem they see plaguing Florida: Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Healing, they said, requires his removal from office in the November election.

During late-night speeches to elected officials, activists and political donors gathered for the Broward Democratic Party’s annual Obama Roosevelt Legacy Gala on Saturday, they lambasted the Republican governor for what they said are policies that will hurt female, Black and LGBTQ Floridians.

So intense is the Democratic dislike for DeSantis, that he displaced the Democrats’ previous top villain, former President Donald Trump, who was mentioned far less frequently than the current Florida governor.

“After almost 25 straight years of Republican governors, we finally have found the worst of them all,” said Fried, the state agriculture commissioner.

Trump wasn’t completely off of the Democrats’ minds. Crist, a Democratic congressman from St. Petersburg, offered this assessment of DeSantis: “He’s as arrogant as Trump. He is mini-Trump. DeSantis is a disaster, let’s face it. I mean if you’re LGBTQ, you get no respect from him. If you’re a woman you get no respect from him. You’re African American, you get no respect from him.”

It’s so bad, Crist said, that it makes him think that “every night [DeSantis] goes to bed, he’s got to think about what group am I going to screw tomorrow? Seriously. It’s a lot of hate. It is. It really is. And it’s not right, and it ain’t Florida.”

Crist, Fried and Taddeo differed on style, but the main difference was the solution to what they identified as the DeSantis problem. They’re all running for the Democratic nomination to run for governor, and each depicted themselves as the party’s best hope to deprive him of a second term.

Fried and Taddeo both highlighted the annual legislative session, which wrapped up most of its work for the year on Friday. The Legislature, controlled by Republicans, couldn’t finish all its work on time, and lawmakers are set to return to Tallahassee on Monday.

“The pain of the last 60 days, the cruelty that has been inflicted upon our state is unimaginable,” Fried said.

Fried’s narrow victory in the in the race for state agriculture commissioner in 2018 made her the only statewide elected Democrat in Florida, and she said her time in office has given her insight in how to challenge DeSantis.

“I go into a room every day with him and battle him. Not only do I throw punches, but I land (them),” Fried said. “There is nobody in the state of Florida who makes him twitch as much as I do. The second that I open my mouth in Cabinet meetings you see this twitch that he gets. I wear that as a badge of honor.”

Taddeo, a state senator from Miami-Dade County, said the problem is grave. “Florida has a red tide problem, and not just in our water,” Taddeo said. “But also in Tallahassee. The Tallahassee red tide kills democracy, suppress voters’ rights, and the laws they passed just this session leaves a really bad smell as well.”

Legislation on contentious social issues supported by the governor included banning almost all abortions in Florida after the 15th week of pregnancy (abortion is currently legal until the 24th week), limiting the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools — labeled the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by critics — and restricting discussion of race and racism in schools and employee training programs.

Those issues united and enraged the candidates for governor, and the other Democrats at the event, who described what they saw as attacks on women, the Black community and the LGBTQ community by DeSantis and the Republican-controlled state Legislature.

The stage at the Democratic Party gala had six American flags — plus a rainbow LGBTQ flag and a blue, pink and white transgender flag. U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Broward/Miami-Dade county Democrat, led the audience in chanting ‘Let’s say gay.’”

U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Broward/Palm Beach County Democrat and the first Haitian American Democrat elected to Congress, said DeSantis is trying to “prevent us from empathizing with people in the #LGBT community…. “It sounds so similar to how they dehumanized us as Black people.”

“The governor is focused on doing things that really don’t change people’s lives, except crate more hate and division against gay people, against women, against Latinos, against everybody. You know I think the only people he likes are middle aged or older white guys,” Crist said.

Plenty of Floridians feel differently. “Governor DeSantis might be the ‘villain’ in the Democrats’ story, but Floridians know he’s the hero that saved them from draconian Democrat rule,” Julia Friedland, Florida communications director for the Republican National Committee, said Sunday via text. Public opinion polling suggests DeSantis is in a good position to win reelection, which may propel him to a widely expected candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. Many political analysts and Democratic insiders see DeSantis as tough to beat.

“People are saying Democrats can’t win, that DeSantis is unbeatable. But they are wrong. That narrative is wrong,” Taddeo said.

“Democracy is on the line, decency is on the line, the future of our country, the future of the world is resting on what we as Democrats do this November,” Fried said.

Democratic efforts

Ken Evans, the Democratic state committeeman for Broward, said the fundraising event event took in about $190,000 before expenses, the sold-out 400 dinner seats and sponsorships.

County Democratic Chairman Rick Hoye said the funds would be used for the party’s get out the vote efforts this year. Broward is the state’s Democratic stronghold. Though it can’t propel its parties statewide candidates to victory on its own, without a strong Democratic showing in the county, the party’s statewide candidates have no chance to win.

“Bigotry, the Big Lie, insurrection, they are the enemies of democracies. Their purveyors are hard at work. And they will not stop until we stop them,” Hoye said. The Big Lie is the label Democrats have given to the unsubstantiated claims that Trump didn’t really lose the 2020 election.

Several participants, including keynote speaker Cedrick Richmond, a former Louisiana congressman and current White House director of public engagement, praised Biden.

Wasserman Schultz credited Biden and the Democratic Congress for bringing U.S. out of Trump’s “COVID ditch” and restoring the nation’s economy from its pandemic low.

And she said, Biden is doing a far better job than Trump would have in dealing with the invasion of Ukraine ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Thankfully we have an American president who stands up to Putin. Not one who licks his boots like the last one,” she said.

———

To see what else is happening in Gallatin County subscribe to the online paper.

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PFIZER CEO: Fourth $hot Now 'Necessary'...

2022-03-14T00:00:16Z

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla: Fourth Covid Shot 'Necessary'

Pfizer’s CEO believes that a fourth dose of his company’s Covid-19 vaccine is “necessary.”

Appearing on Face the Nation Sunday, Pfizer chief Albert Bourla told anchor Margaret Brennan that he thinks the Pfizer vaccine will be needed annually, much as a flu shot is administered now. He added that he believes a fourth shot of the vaccine will be required to prevent against infections.

“It is necessary, a fourth booster right now,” Bourla said. “The protection that you are getting from the third, it is good enough, actually quite good for hospitalizations and deaths.”

The Pfizer CEO added, “It’s not that good against infections, but doesn’t last very long. But we are just submitting those data to the FDA and then we will see what the experts also will say outside Pfizer.”

Bourla went on to discuss his company’s goal of making a vaccine which will protect against all Covid-19 variants going forward, and one that will last longer.

“We are working very diligently right now, it is to make not only a vaccine that will protect against all variants, including omicron, but also something that can protect for at least a year,” Bourla said. “And if we be able to achieve that, then I think it is very easy to follow and remember so that we can go back to really the way used to live.”

Watch above, via CBS.

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'My place is still on the field'...

2022-03-14T00:00:16Z

Tom Brady Announces NFL Comeback, 'Unfinished Business'

Tom Brady's retirement lasted 2 months -- the 7-time Super Bowl champ just announced he will be returning to the NFL for his 23rd season.

"These past two months I’ve realized my place is still on the field and not in the stands," Brady -- who will be 45 before the 2022 begins -- shockingly said in a tweet on Sunday.

"That time will come. But it’s not now. I love my teammates, and I love my supportive family. They make it all possible."

"I’m coming back for my 23rd season in Tampa. Unfinished business LFG."

The rumors of Brady's return started pretty much immediately after he confirmed the news on Feb. 1 ... and his comments in the weeks following certainly made it seem as if he wasn't done for good.

In fact, just one week later, Brady flirted with the idea of coming back ... telling Jim Gray "never say never."

These past two months I’ve realized my place is still on the field and not in the stands. That time will come. But it’s not now. I love my teammates, and I love my supportive family. They make it all possible. I’m coming back for my 23rd season in Tampa. Unfinished business LFG pic.twitter.com/U0yhRKVKVm

The Bucs were clearly in favor of a TB12 return ... with general manager Jason Licht saying the team would "leave the light on" for him.

The Bucs went 13-4 last season before losing to the Los Angeles Rams, who went on to win the Super Bowl.

Brady definitely showed no signs of slowing down last season -- he led the league with 5,316 passing yards and 43 touchdowns ... and threw just 12 interceptions.

The timing is important -- free agents can sign with new teams starting Monday afternoon ... and the Bucs have more than 20 players hitting free agency.

Now, Tampa Bay is looking to reload and take another shot at a Super Bowl.

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Makes emotional tribute to family, teammates...

2022-03-14T00:00:16Z

Makes emotional tribute to family, teammates...

Click here to read the full article

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UNRETIREMENT: Brady announces 'I'm coming back' for 23rd season in Tampa...

2022-03-14T00:00:16Z

Buccaneers QB Tom Brady announces 'I'm coming back' for 23rd season 'in Tampa'

Well, that didn't last long.

Roughly two months after announcing his retirement, quarterback Tom Brady announced Sunday he will return to play for his 23rd season and do so "in Tampa."

Days after Brady's retirement plans were reported, the longtime Patriots and Bucs QB announced his retirement via social media on Feb. 1. But doubt over how long Brady would actually stay away from the field began almost immediately.

The Buccaneers left the door open for a Brady return and now return to their post as NFC South favorites and Super Bowl contenders as they won a Super Bowl in 2020 and won the division in 2021 with Brady at the helm.

The potential for a Brady return was also the reason the Bucs never offered the Houston Texans a trade for quarterback Deshaun Watson, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Sunday.

Around the NFL will have more shortly.

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Bipartisan calls ramp up on Biden to give Ukraine jets, weapons...

2022-03-14T00:00:16Z

Bipartisan calls ramp up on Biden to give Ukraine jets, weapons

WASHINGTON - A growing number of U.S. lawmakers ratcheted up pressure on President Joe Biden on Sunday to increase military aid to Ukraine, including sending fighter jets and air defense systems that the administration rejected last week.

The public calls from Republicans and Democrats to answer Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's urgent pleas for air assistance come as the Biden administration declined an offer from Poland to deliver MiG-29 airplanes to Ukraine for fear such a move could be interpreted by the Russians as an escalation of the United States' role in the war.

The bipartisan push underscores the growing hawkishness among many leaders on Capitol Hill, who have been urging Biden to do more to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian attacks as the war rages into its third week.

"[Russian President] Vladimir Putin and the Russians seem to be saying everything is escalatory. And yet they're escalating every single day by coming into Ukraine with these weapons," Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."

"This is an illegal - this is a brutal - totally unprovoked attack," he added, emphasizing the horrors of civilian targets hit. "So, as they escalate, what the Ukrainian people are asking for is just the ability to defend themselves."

Portman was part of a four-person bipartisan delegation of senators who traveled to Poland on Sunday who called on the White House to send air assistance to Ukraine, arguing that the country increasingly needs help to push back Russian forces. The others on the trip were Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., a staunch supporter of former president Donald Trump; moderate Democrat Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., one of the more liberal members of the Democratic caucus.

Portman argued that because Putin has already declared other forms of U.S. military aid escalatory, sending planes to Ukraine would not risk intensifying the conflict.

Separately, 58 members of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus on Sunday again urged the Biden administration to try to facilitate the fighter jet deal with Poland, as well as to provide Ukraine with other air defense systems, including drones and surface-to-air missiles.

"Russia's advantage in this domain could soon develop into air dominance if the Ukrainians do not receive necessary military aid," the caucus members, who are evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, said in a new statement. "We commend the Polish government for taking proactive steps to deliver MiG-29 jets to the Ukrainian Air Force. We urge assistance to help facilitate this deal, commit to replenishing our allies' fleets with American-made aircraft and help advance the transfer of [other] aircraft to Ukraine as well."

The entreaties by Democrats and Republicans on the White House come as Russia has continued to escalate its attacks in Ukraine. In addition, Russia has turned to China for military equipment and aid in the weeks since it began its invasion of Ukraine, U.S. officials familiar with the matter told The Washington Post, a move that could draw in a major world power into the conflict.

Russian forces are closing in on Kyiv and, early Sunday, unleashing missile attacks on a military facility a mere 15 miles from the border with Poland, a NATO member country. The strikes killed at least 35 and injured 134, and intensified fears that NATO could be drawn into a direct conflict with Russia.

Speaking from near the Poland-Ukraine border on Sunday, Portman said the bombing of the military facility in western Ukraine was close enough to be heard on the Polish side.

Ukrainians, he added, badly needed air defense systems to have better control over the skies for a "fighting chance" at winning the war. Portman also noted the United States has already provided shoulder-fired Stinger missiles and military helicopters to Ukraine, as recently as January.

"And those are directly from the United States. In this case, this would be Poland providing these airplanes, which are Soviet-style planes, old planes, MiG-29s," Portman, a co-chair of the Senate Ukraine Caucus, said on CNN.

The White House has defended its decision to decline Poland's offer, saying there were "a range of logistical operational challenges" that would come with delivering the warplanes.

Poland had said it was ready to deploy all of its MiG-29 jets to the Ramstein Air Base, an American military facility in Germany, but the Pentagon struck down the proposal, saying fighter jets departing from a U.S. or NATO base could be seen as an escalation of tensions with Russia. The Kremlin also warned on Saturday that convoys carrying U.S. or NATO weapons into Ukraine would be "legitimate targets" for attack.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that Biden had consulted with NATO allies and military advisers and "ultimately determined that the risk/benefit analysis of flying planes from NATO bases into contested airspace over Ukraine did not make sense." Biden has, however, been in contact with Zelensky about providing other anti-air systems, he said.

Klobuchar did not explicitly criticize the Biden administration on Sunday. But, breaking with most other Democrats, she said she would still like to see the United States send fighter planes to Ukraine, even if they weren't the specific MIG-29 jets discussed.

"At some point, there's been so much focus on these planes, especially these particular planes, that they themselves could become a target," Klobuchar said on CNN's "State of the Union."

She suggested that other effective weapons like drones and Javelins would also help Ukrainians in their fight. "One of the things we have to remember is, this is all about air defense," she said.

Klobuchar said she had spoken with Biden 10 days ago to make her position clear, but understood that "things shift" in wartime. She stressed that there were negotiations about military aid that could and likely were happening outside of the public view for security reasons.

"I still don't rule out having planes at some point," Klobuchar said. "But, again, you take one day at a time and make the best defense system decisions. And that can't always be discussed on the air, or you would be giving Vladimir Putin the road map to what NATO wants to do here to help protect Ukraine."

Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday that the debate over the Polish fighter jets last week reminded him of a ping-pong game, with the two sides hitting a ball back and forth in what, to him, was a "diplomatic mystery."

"We have no time for this kind of ping-pong diplomacy. We need planes to save lives of our people," Kuleba said.

Ukrainian officials have continued their pleas for the United States and its NATO allies to help enact a "no-fly zone" over Ukrainian airspace, a move the allies have thus far rejected, also out of fear it would be seen by Russia as an escalation into a wider war.

But those who have urged more military support for Ukraine argue that the war and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine are already rapidly intensifying. An American journalist, Brent Renaud, was fatally shot while reporting outside of Kyiv, and Russian forces reportedly kidnapped a second mayor.

Republicans have for weeks pushed for more sanctions, earlier, and have accused Biden of responding to Putin from a position of weakness.

Though some GOP support for NATO eroded during the Trump administration - led by the former president's public disdain for the NATO alliance - many Republican lawmakers have been quick to criticize Biden for doing too little, too late, to lead his European allies.

"The world needs the Biden administration to be flying this plane," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Thursday, arguing that supporting Ukraine is not a provocation. "Too often it feels like the plane is flying them."

Democrats so far have defended Biden's approach to the crisis, saying that Biden has succeeded in uniting the world to oppose Putin and rally support for Ukraine.

"I don't know that it's constructive for us to continue to try to manage this crisis day to day," Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said last week. "I think there is a bit of a blind momentum around this question of, more and more and more. That is not always connected to what Ukraine actually needs to defend themselves."

Sullivan acknowledged Sunday that Russia's bombing of the military base in western Ukraine suggested Putin would likely ramp up his invasion.

"What it shows is that Vladimir Putin is frustrated by the fact that his forces are not making the kind of progress that he thought that they would make against major cities, including Kyiv," Sullivan said. "That he is expanding the number of targets that he is lashing out [at] and that he is trying to cause damage in every part of the country."

Sullivan reiterated on "Face the Nation" Biden's insistence that U.S. military forces would not be drawn into fighting Russian troops on Ukrainian soil, but if Russian attacks spread to Poland or another NATO ally, that would "bring the full force of the NATO alliance to bear in responding."

When it came to reports that Russia may be preparing to use chemical weapons to attack Ukraine, Sullivan declined to specify if that would be a new "red line" for increased U.S. intervention.

"Sitting here before you today, I'm not going to go further than what President Biden said on Friday, which is that the Russians would pay a severe price if they were to move forward with chemical weapons," Sullivan said.

- - -

The Washington Post's Mike DeBonis, Ellen Nakashima and Christopher Rowland contributed to this report.

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PUTIN SEEKS MILITARY EQUIPMENT FROM CHINA

2022-03-14T00:00:16Z

Russia seeks military equipment and aid from China, U.S. officials say

Russia has turned to China for military equipment and aid in the weeks since it began its invasion of Ukraine, U.S. officials familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, did not describe what kind of weaponry had been requested, or whether they know how China responded.

The development comes as White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan plans to travel to Rome on Monday to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi.

“We are communicating directly, privately to Beijing, that there will absolutely be consequences for large-scale sanctions, evasion efforts or support to Russia to backfill them,” Sullivan told CNN.

A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, said he was not aware of any such request for assistance. “I’ve never heard of that,” he said in an email to The Washington Post.

“China is deeply concerned and grieved on [the] Ukraine situation,” he said. “We support and encourage all efforts that are conducive to a peaceful settlement of the crisis. The high priority now is to prevent the tense situation from escalating or even getting out of control.”

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, speaking Sunday in a television interview, noted that part of Moscow’s gold and foreign exchange reserves were in Chinese currency, Reuters reported. “And we see what pressure is being exerted by Western countries on China in order to limit mutual trade.”

“But I think that our partnership with China will still allow us to maintain the cooperation that we have achieved, and not only maintain, but also increase it in an environment where Western markets are closing.”

While Sullivan, who spoke on several Sunday talk shows, focused his remarks on economic aid and sanctions evasion, the officials said that Russia is running low on certain types of weapons. They declined to specify which kinds.

“If Beijing is offering any type of military assistance to aid Moscow’s war in Ukraine, the spillover effects on U.S.-China policy could be vast,” said Eric Sayers, a former adviser to the U.S. Indo Pacific Command and now senior vice president at Beacon Global Strategies.

“It would abruptly end debate about pathways to working with Beijing. More importantly, it would push Washington to accelerate retaliatory and decoupling actions toward China, and create new pressure on companies now doing business in China,” Sayers said.

China buys certain weapons from Russia, especially advanced fighter aircraft and surface-to-air missile systems, said Taylor Fravel, a political science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who specializes in Chinese defense.

“As far as I know, China does not sell any weapons systems to Russia,” Fravel said. “In other words, Russia has enabled China’s military modernization but China so far has not contributed much to the development of Russia’s armed forces, apart from the profits of Russian weapons sales, which can be reinvested to improve Russian capabilities.”

China has sought to balance political support for Russia, including blaming the United States and NATO expansion for the war, with upholding principles such as sovereignty and territorial integrity, Fravel noted. So if China provides “direct material support” to Russia’s war effort, he said, “it would be a watershed moment.”

Michael Kofman, director of the Russia studies program at the Virginia-based nonprofit analysis group CNA, said Russia’s request, of which he had no independent knowledge, appears to reflect the fact that “this war is costly and over time will prove exhausting for the Russian military.”

On the day Russian troops entered Ukraine, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry said Beijing would not send arms to Russia, taking a jab at U.S. efforts to muster military support for Ukraine. “There’s a difference in methods between China and the U.S. on this issue. … I think Russia, as a powerful country, does not need China or other countries to provide it with weapons,” Hua Chunying said at a news briefing.

Moscow’s apparent turn to Beijing comes as senior U.S. intelligence officials last week described to Congress how Russia and China were more aligned than at any point since the mid-1950s.

“It continues to be the case that they are getting closer together,” Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said on Tuesday, testifying before the House Intelligence Committee. “I think there’s a limit to which it will go, but nevertheless, that remains a concern. In terms of the impact of the current crisis, I’d say that it’s not yet clear to me exactly how it will affect the trajectory of their relationship.”

During the same panel, CIA Director William J. Burns noted that the China-Russia partnership has strengthened in recent years. He added, however, that he thought Chinese President Xi Jinping “and the Chinese leadership are a little bit unsettled by what they’re seeing in Ukraine.”

China has also been cautiously watching how close the European Union and United States have been in lockstep on the Ukraine crisis. Chinese officials have “valued their relationship with Europe and valued what they believe to be their capacity to drive wedges between us and the Europeans,” Burns said.

Michael Birnbaum contributed to this report.

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'POWER OF DOG' WINS BAFTA...

2022-03-13T23:00:16Z

'The Power of the Dog' wins best picture at UK's BAFTAs

LONDON (AP) — Sci-fi epic “Dune” won five prizes and brooding Western “The Power of the Dog” was named best picture as the British Academy Film Awards returned Sunday with a live, black-tie ceremony after a pandemic-curtailed event in 2021.

New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion was named best director for “The Power of the Dog,” becoming only the third woman to win the prize in the awards’ seven-decade history.

Lead acting trophies went to Hollywood star Will Smith and British performer Joanna Scanlan, as an event that has worked to overcome a historic lack of diversity recognized a wide range of talents — including its first deaf acting winner in Troy Kotsur for “CODA.”

Last year’s awards ceremony was largely conducted online, with only the hosts and presenters appearing in person. This year’s return to collective celebration at London’s Royal Albert Hall took place in the shadow of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.

British film academy chairman Krishnendu Majumdar opened the show, hosted by Australian actor-comedian Rebel Wilson, with a message of support for Ukraine.

“We stand in solidarity with those who are bravely fighting for their country and we share their hope for a return to peace," he said.

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After that came the glitz, with 85-year-old diva Shirley Bassey and a live orchestra performing “Diamonds Are Forever” to mark the 60th anniversary of the James Bond films, Britain's most successful movie export.

“Bond is turning 60, and his girlfriends are turning 25,” joked host Wilson, who toned down her usual bawdy material for the ceremony's early-evening TV broadcast on the BBC.

Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune,” a space epic set on a desert planet, took five trophies from its 11 nominations: visual effects, production design, sound, Greig Fraser's cinematography and Hans Zimmer's score.

"The Power of the Dog,” set in 1920s Montana and starring Benedict Cumberbatch as a ranch owner, was nominated in eight categories and won two big ones: best film and best director. Campion is only the third female winner in that category, but the second in two years after Chloe Zhao for “Nomadland” in 2021.

Cumberbatch lost to Smith, who was named best actor for his performance as the father of Serena and Venus Williams in "King Richard."

Scanlan was a surprise best-actress winner, beating contenders including Lady Gaga to win for “After Love,” a first feature by Aleem Khan about a woman who makes a life-changing discovery after her husband’s death.

“Some stories have surprise endings don’t they?” said a disbelieving Scanlan.

Scanlan, best known as a star of satirical TV political comedy “The Thick of It,” said the prize would open doors.

“I hope I get a really exciting, chunky short film and also a Bond audition," she said.

Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical “Belfast,” the story of a childhood overshadowed by Northern Ireland’s violent “Troubles,” was named best British film.

Ariana DeBose was named best supporting actress for her performance as Anita in Steven Spielberg's lavish musical “West Side Story.” The supporting actor prize went to Kotsur for “CODA,” in which he plays the deaf father of a hearing daughter.

“Have you considered maybe a deaf James Bond?” he asked in his speech, delivered in sign language.

Lashana Lynch, who made a splash as a double-0 agent in Bond thriller “No Time To Die,” took the rising star award, the only category chosen by public vote. She thanked "the women of this country who taught me what it is to be in this industry as a dark-skinned woman. I thank you for laying the foundation for people like me.”

“No Time to Die” also won the prize for best editing.

Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Oscar-nominated drama “Drive My Car” was named best film not in English. “Encanto,” the story of a Colombian clan with magical powers, was named best animated feature, and 1960s Harlem music extravaganza “Summer of Soul” won the best documentary prize.

Sian Heder won the adapted screenplay prize for “CODA.” Best original screenplay went to Paul Thomas Anderson for coming-of-age story “Licorice Pizza.”

The British awards are usually held a week or two before the Academy Awards and have become an important awards-season staging post. This year’s Oscars take place March 27.

The British film academy has expanded its voting membership and shaken up its rules in recent years in an attempt to address a glaring lack of diversity in the nominations. In 2020, no women were nominated as best director for a seventh consecutive year, and all 20 nominees in the lead and supporting performer categories were white.

Majumdar said this year's more diverse field showed that "change has come." But the celebration of cinema was subdued, with many attendees reflecting on the war raging on the other side of Europe.

Cumberbatch wore a lapel badge in the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag. He said it was to oppose the “megalomaniac” Russian President Vladimir Putin “raining down terror” on Ukraine.

“It’s a very scary and sad time,” he said on the red carpet. “Although this is a gesture, and people can say it’s hollow, it’s just something I can do tonight” — along with pressuring British politicians to take in more refugees from the war.

Jonas Poher Rasmussen, director of animated feature “Flee,” the story of an Afghan refugee, said it was “surreal” to be at an awards show when “the world is burning.”

But he said images of the millions driven from their homes in Ukraine underscored the message that “these stories need to be told.”

___

Hilary Fox contributed to this story.

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ACTOR'S CAREER SPANNED DECADES...

2022-03-13T23:00:16Z

William Hurt, Star of ‘Body Heat,’ ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’ and ‘Broadcast News,’ Dies at 71

William Hurt, the exacting Oscar winner who dominated a decade as few other actors have done with his turns in the 1980s classics Body Heat, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Children of a Lesser God and Broadcast News, has died. He was 71.

Hurt died Sunday at his home in Portland, Oregon, one of his three sons, Will, told The Hollywood Reporter. He would not divulge the cause of death.

Trained on the stage, Hurt made his electric debut on the big screen as an obsessed psychopathologist who experiments with sensory deprivation and flotation tanks in the bizarre Paddy Chayefsky-scripted Altered States (1980), directed by Ken Russell.

A year later, he had his breakthrough when his patsy lawyer character becomes the boy toy of a manipulative wealthy woman (Kathleen Turner) out to murder her husband in the noir thriller Body Heat, helmed by Lawrence Kasdan in his directorial debut. (Christopher Reeve, his former classmate at the Juilliard School, had turned down his part.)

Next, Hurt stood out in an outstanding ensemble cast as an emotionally damaged Vietnam War veteran in The Big Chill (1983), directed by Kasdan as well. (The two would reteam twice more for 1988’s The Accidental Tourist and 1990’s I Love You to Death.)

Hurt received heaps of critical acclaim to go with his Oscar statuette for his portrayal of Luis Molina, a transvestite window dresser locked in a South American jail cell with a militant warrior (Raul Julia), in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), an art house sensation directed by Hector Babenco.

“We had to say something about not just gay rights, but about feminine and masculine relationships and the nature of courage and what it means to speak truth to a power so much greater than you are,” Hurt said in 2015. “We didn’t make any money while we were shooting, so there was no angling for gratuitous reward. This was just a glorious opportunity to do the right thing.”

Hurt was nominated for best actor again in each of the next two years for his work as James Leeds, a teacher at a school for the hard of hearing, in Randa Haines’ Children of a Lesser God (1986) and as the dim and hunky anchorman Tom Grunick involved in a love triangle in Broadcast News, directed by James L. Brooks.

A re-emergent Hurt collected his fourth Oscar nom, this one for supporting actor, for his performance as a sinister mob boss in David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence (2005).

Hurt had a reputation for being “difficult to work with.”

“Anybody’s who’s any good is called difficult at some point,” Kasdan said in a 1989 interview with The Washington Post. “Bill has absolutely unshakable integrity in his work. He cannot do something false. When your instincts are so strong toward what’s true, that’s an enormously powerful thing to have. For an actor, that’s everything.”

“To almost all of his roles, he brings along a sense of the ordinary, the sense that this is simply a person who happens to find himself in this place at this time,” Roger Ebert wrote about the actor in 1988. “That almost bland exterior in the opening scenes is what sets up the later emotional explosions, especially in movies like Altered States and Body Heat.

“When Hurt goes over the top, he appears to have started from a quieter place, and so he seems to have traveled a greater distance than a Mickey Rourke or a Robert De Niro. Only Jack Nicholson is his equal at seeming utterly ordinary.”

The thoughtful actor also showed up as military man Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross in the Marvel movies The Incredible Hulk (2008), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019) and Black Widow (2021).

William McChord Hurt was born in Washington, D.C., on March 20, 1950. His father, Alfred, worked for the State Department’s Agency for International Development, and the boy spent his early years in Guam and Hawaii.

After his parents divorced when he was about 6, his mother, Claire, brought him and his two brothers to Manhattan. She took a job at Time Inc. and in 1960 married Henry Luce III, a son of the founder of the publishing giant.

Hurt acted for the first time in a play at the private Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts. After studying theology at Tufts University, he spent a year as a theater student in England with his then-wife, actress Mary Beth Hurt, before being accepted to New York’s Juilliard, where he studied acting for three years alongside the likes of Reeve, Robin Williams and Mandy Patinkin.

He departed in 1975 to portray Edmund in an Oregon Shakespeare Festival production of Long Day’s Journey Into Night.

Back in New York, Hurt joined the Circle Repertory Company, won an Obie Award and starred in plays including Hamlet, Childe Byron, Richard II and My Life. And in 1977, he made his onscreen debut in a two-part episode of Kojak.

Hurt received the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for Kiss of the Spider Woman, and the film grossed $17 million, huge for an indie at the time. (The drama took years to get into theaters, and Burt Lancaster was originally set to portray Luis.)

Winning the Academy Award was “very isolating,” Hurt told the Los Angeles Times in 1994. “The instant they gave it to me, I thought, ‘God, what do I do now? How am I going to walk into a room and have any other actor trust me?’ “

Only Paul Muni, Spencer Tracy, Gregory Peck, Marlon Brando, Richard Burton, Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson and Russell Crowe have been nominated for the best actor Oscar in three consecutive years.

“Acting is building the tip of the iceberg,” Hurt said. “You have to build what isn’t seen and then play the tip. Only a little bit of the iceberg is ever seen, but it is massive. That’s sometimes hard to do in American movies, where the philosophy is to show the whole iceberg.”

He went on to play Prof. John Robinson in the feature version of Lost in Space (1998), the creator of a robot child (Haley Joel Osment) in Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), the devastated father of Emile Hirsch’s wanderer in Into the Wild (2007) and the U.S. president in Vantage Point (2008).

His film résumé also included Eyewitness (1981), Smoke (1995), Dark City (1998), A Time of Destiny (1988), The Doctor (1991), Second Best (1994), Franco Zeffirelli’s Jane Eyre (1996), The Big Brass Ring (1999), M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village (2004), Syriana (2005), Robin Hood (2010), The Host (2013) and Winter’s Tale (2014).

He was set to portray Gregg Allman in the ill-fated Midnight Rider but bowed out after the on-set death of camerawoman Sarah Jones. (The film was never made.)

In 1984, Hurt found time to return to the stage to star in the long-running off-Broadway and Broadway production of the David Rabe-Mike Nichols hit Hurlyburly, receiving a Tony nom in the process.

He received an Emmy nom in 2009 for playing whistleblowing scientist Daniel Purcell on the second season of FX’s Damages, then received another one two years later for portraying Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson in Curtis Hanson‘s HBO telefilm Too Big to Fail.

More recently, he appeared on such TV series as Humans, Goliath and Condor.

Hurt was married to Mary Beth Hurt from 1971 until their 1982 divorce. He had one child with ballet dancer Sandra Jennings, with whom he later was involved in a bitter palimony suit, and another with French actress Sandrine Bonnaire.

He also had two kids with second wife Heidi Henderson, the daughter of bandleader Skitch Henderson (they met when both were in rehab), and was romantically involved with his Lesser God co-star Marlee Matlin.

(It was Hurt who opened the envelope onstage to announce that it was his girlfriend who was the winner of the best actress Oscar for her work in the film.)

Make no mistake, Hurt was dedicated to his craft. “I never explain my movies — it just ruins the emotion,” he told the Post. “I love saying that line. There is a point to explaining what I do, but at some point you just have to do it. The work is the best that I have to offer. That’s what I want to be eloquent at.”

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WILLIAM HURT DEAD AT 71...

2022-03-13T23:00:16Z

William Hurt, Oscar-Winning Actor for ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman,’ Dies at 71

William Hurt, who became a top leading man in the 1980s, winning an Oscar for 1985’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and starring in “The Big Chill” and “Body Heat,” died Sunday of natural causes. He was 71. Hurt’s death was confirmed to Variety by his friend, Gerry Byrne.

His son Will said in a statement, “It is with great sadness that the Hurt family mourns the passing of William Hurt, beloved father and Oscar winning actor, on March 13, 2022, one week before his 72nd birthday. He died peacefully, among family, of natural causes.”

Hurt was nominated for four Oscars over the course of his long career, scoring two best actor nominations for “Broadcast News” and “Children of a Lesser God” and a supporting actor nod for less than 10 minutes of screen time in “A History of Violence.” He was one of the most heralded performers of the 1980s, becoming something of a cerebral sex symbol and a reluctant, albeit bankable, movie star. Hurt later transitioned into character roles in the 1990s and successfully alternated between big screen projects and television, scoring Emmy nominations for his work as a whistleblower in “Damages” and his portrayal of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in “Too Big to Fail.”

More recently, Hurt became well known to a younger generation of movie lovers with his portrayal of the no-nonsense General Thaddeus Ross in 2008’s “The Incredible Hulk.” He later reprised the role in “Captain America: Civil War” and “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Avengers: Endgame” and “Black Widow.”

Hurt was born March 20, 1950 in Washington, D.C. His mother, Claire Isabel, worked at Time Inc., and his father Alfred Hurt (1910–1996), was a career bureaucrat, working for the United States Agency for International Development and the State Department. His parents separated when he was 6 years old, and his mother remarried Henry Luce III, the son of Time Magazine publisher Henry Luce.

Raised in relative privilege, Hurt went on to attend Tufts University, where he studied theology, before moving to Juilliard to study acting. After appearing on stage, Hurt secured a lead role in “Altered States,” playing a troubled scientist in Ken Russell’s offbeat film, a notable entry in the body horror genre. But a year later, Hurt achieved a new level of prominence, appearing opposite Kathleen Turner in “Body Heat,” a steamy noir that updated the kind of treachery and double-crossing seen in the likes of “The Big Sleep” and “Double Indemnity” with a bracing sexuality. It transformed both performers, who positively ignited on screen, into major stars. Hurt followed that with another lead role in “Gorky Park” and was part of the ensemble of “The Big Chill,” a drama about a group of friends reuniting that became a touchstone for the baby boomer generation.

That was all a lead up to one of the most stunning periods of dominance ever enjoyed by a movie star. From 1986 to 1988, Hurt was nominated for three consecutive best actor Oscars, winning for his portrayal of a gay window dresser in Hector Babenco’s “The Kiss of the Spider Woman.” Roger Ebert, writing in the Chicago Sun Times, praised Hurt’s work, crediting him with creating “…a character utterly unlike anyone else he has ever played — a frankly theatrical character, exaggerated and mannered — and yet he never seems to be reaching for effects.” His Oscar-nominated work in “Children of a Lesser God” and “Broadcast News,” playing a teacher at a school for the deaf and an affable, slightly dim-witted newsman, showcased his range. The commercial and critical success of those films rocketed Hurt to the A-list, but he didn’t seem to relish the celebrity.

“It’s not right that my privacy is invaded to the extent that it is,” Hurt told the New York Times during a 1989 interview. “I’m a very private man, and I have the right to be. I never said that because I was an actor you can have my privacy, you can steal my soul. You can’t.”

Perhaps it was that aversion to notoriety that led Hurt to turn some major movies over the course of his career, with the actor passing on opportunities to star in the likes of “Jurassic Park” and “Misery.” His time in the spotlight also coincided with a period of personal trouble for the actor, one in which he struggled with drugs and alcohol.

“I was utterly miserable and, finally, I had been miserable enough, long enough, and I said, ‘I’m finished, I can’t hack it, can’t do it,'” Hurt told the Washington Post in 1989, remembering the time before he went to rehab.

A relationship with Marlee Matlin, his co-star in “Children of a Lesser God,” was troubled. Matlin later wrote in a memoir that Hurt was emotionally and physically abusive to her. In a statement at the time, Hurt, through a spokesperson, said: “My own recollection is that we both apologized and both did a great deal to heal our lives. Of course, I did and do apologize for any pain I caused. And I know we have both grown. I wish Marlee and her family nothing but good.”

The 1990s proved to be a less fruitful time for Hurt professionally. He earned raves for his work in “The Doctor” as an arrogant surgeon who undergoes a change-of-heart after experiencing health struggles, but other films such as “Second Chances” and “Until the End of the World” failed to generate much attention. A rare attempt at popcorn entertainment with 1998’s big-screen adaptation of “Lost in Space” was a modest hit, but didn’t earn enough money to spawn a franchise and Hurt looked miserable throughout the movie.

He also appeared in the TV mini-series version of “Dune,” in Steven Spielberg’s “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” and in M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Village.”

As the aughts dawned, Hurt, his blonde hair thinning, seemed to settle into life in supporting roles, scoring scenery stealing turns as an urbane spy in “The Good Shepherd,” a demanding father in “Into the Wild,” and, most memorably, as a sinister mob boss in “A History of Violence.” His role in the latter film, in which he admits to his hit man brother that “when mom brought you home from the hospital, I tried to strangle you in your crib,” was a master class is doing a lot with a little bit of screen time.

Hurt was married to the actress Mary Beth Hurt from 1971 to 1982 and was married to Heidi Henderson from 1989 to 1991.

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OBAMA COVID...

2022-03-13T23:00:16Z

Obama tests positive for COVID-19, says he's 'feeling fine'

Former President Barack Obama said on Sunday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus, though he's feeling relatively healthy and his wife, Michelle, tested negative.

“I’ve had a scratchy throat for a couple days, but am feeling fine otherwise,” Obama said on Twitter. “Michelle and I are grateful to be vaccinated and boosted.”

Obama encouraged more Americans to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, despite the declining infection rate in the U.S. There were roughly 35,000 infections on average over the past week, down sharply from mid-January when that average was closer to 800,000.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that 75.2% of U.S. adults are fully vaccinated and 47.7% of the fully vaccinated have received a booster shot. The CDC relaxed its guidelines for indoor masking in late February, taking a more holistic approach that meant the vast majority of Americans live in areas without the recommendation for indoor masking in public.

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Zelensky visits injured troops in hospital, gives out medals...

2022-03-13T23:00:16Z

Zelensky visits injured troops in hospital, gives out medals...

Click here to read the full article

The post Zelensky visits injured troops in hospital, gives out medals... captured from The Drudge Report above the fold, article 1 on 3/13/2022 11:00:16 PM UTC.

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JOURNALIST SHOT DEAD

2022-03-13T23:00:16Z

Acclaimed filmmaker Brent Renaud shot, killed in Ukraine

Brent Renaud, an acclaimed filmmaker who traveled to some of the darkest and most dangerous corners of the world for documentaries that transported audiences to little-known places of suffering, died Sunday after Russian forces opened fire on his vehicle in Ukraine.

The 50-year-old Little Rock, Arkansas, native was gathering material for a report about refugees when his vehicle was hit at a checkpoint in Irpin, just outside the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Ukraine's Interior Ministry said the area has sustained intense shelling by Russian forces in recent days.

Renaud was one of the most respected independent producers of his era, said Christof Putzel, a filmmaker and close friend who had received a text from Renaud just three days before his death. Renaud and Putzel won a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University journalism award for "Arming the Mexican Cartels," a documentary on how guns trafficked from the United States fueled rampant drug gang violence.

“This guy was the absolute best,” Putzel told The Associated Press via phone from New York City. ”He was just the absolute best war journalist that I know. This is a guy who literally went to every conflict zone.”

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The details of Renaud's death were not made immediately clear by Ukrainian authorities, but American journalist Juan Arredondo said the two were traveling in a vehicle toward the Irpin checkpoint when they were both shot. Arredondo, speaking from a hospital in Kyiv, told Italian journalist Annalisa Camilli that Renaud was hit in the neck. Camilli told the AP that Arredondo himself had been hit in the lower back.

“We crossed the first bridge in Irpin, we were going to film other refugees leaving, and we got into a car, somebody offered to take us to the other bridge, we crossed the checkpoint, and they started shooting at us," Arredondo told Camilli in a video interview shared with the AP.

A statement from Kyiv regional police said that Russian troops opened fire on the car. Hours after the shooting of Renaud, Irpin mayor Oleksandr Markushyn said journalists would be denied entry to the city.

“In this way, we want to save the lives of both them and our defenders,” Markushyn said.

The U.S. State Department said it would not comment on Renaud's death out of respect for his family members but that consular assistance was being offered to them.

The U.S. State Department condemned attacks on news professionals and others documenting the conflict.

“We are horrified that journalists and filmmakers—noncombatants—have been killed and injured in Ukraine by Kremlin forces," the department said via Twitter. "This is yet another gruesome example of the Kremlin’s indiscriminate actions.”

Responding to news of Renaud’s death, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists called for an immediate halt to violence against journalists and civilians.

“This kind of attack is totally unacceptable, and is a violation of international law,” the committee said on Twitter.

TIME released a statement deploring Renaud’s death and saying he had been in the region working on a TIME Studios project focused on the global refugee crisis.

“We are devastated by the loss of Brent Renaud,” the statement said. “Our hearts are with all of Brent’s loved ones.”

Along with his brother Craig, Renaud won a Peabody Award for “Last Chance High,” an HBO series about a school for at-risk youth on Chicago’s West Side. The brothers' litany of achievements include two duPont-Columbia journalism awards and productions for HBO, NBC, Discovery, PBS, the New York Times, and VICE News.

Renaud was also a 2019 Nieman fellow at Harvard and served as visiting distinguished professor for the Center for Ethics in Journalism at University of Arkansas. He and his brother founded the Little Rock Film Festival.

Among other assignments, Renaud covered wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the devastating 2011 earthquake in Haiti, political turmoil in Egypt and Libya and extremism in Africa.

Putzel, who worked with Renaud for 12 years, paid tribute to his courage and passion.

“Nowhere was too dangerous," Putzel said. “It was his bravery but also because he deeply, deeply cared.”

He is survived by his brother Craig, Craig's wife, Mami, and a nephew, 11-year-old Taiyo.

___

AP journalists Sylvia Hui in London and Maria Grazia Murru in Przemyśl, Poland, contributed to this report.

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Why Florida is ground zero for America's 'culture war'...

2022-03-13T15:00:22Z

Why Florida is ground zero for America’s ‘culture war’

He attempted to convince the GOP-led Senate to weaken the bill, officially called the “Parental Rights in Education” bill, which explicitly bans teachers from leading lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity for students in kindergarten through third grade. But his words didn’t sway lawmakers, who on Tuesday approved the measure amid widespread opposition from LGBTQ supporters, including President Joe Biden.

Passage of the bill was, in many ways, the culmination of a legislative session in the nation’s third-largest state unlike any in recent memory. It was a session in which the GOP-led Legislature’s constant focus on “culture war” issues resulted in lawmakers approving policies to grant more power to parents over what their children learn, heighten scrutiny on school instruction and books, and ensure there will be turnover among local school boards, which have been frequent targets of the state GOP.

Together, the proposals, touted as banner legislation, give Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republicans fuel for the 2022 midterm elections as education has been thrust into the spotlight since the Covid-19 pandemic began and helped spark a backlash in the suburbs and in swing states.

The GOP also passed a strict ban on all abortions after 15 weeks, approved an immigration measure that bars state entities from doing business with companies that transport undocumented migrant children to Florida, and created a new election police unit that DeSantis touted amid an effort by some Republicans to do a full-blown audit of the 2020 election. At each step along the way, there has been raw, emotional debate that featured harrowing accounts from members of both parties.

The state Senate struck down an abortion ban exemption for victims of rape, incest and human trafficking, despite Democratic Leader Lauren Book sharing for the first time publicly her story of being raped by multiple men as a young teenager. | Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo

“I look forward to a time when we’re able to get back to fighting for the real issues facing Floridians instead of these ridiculous culture war distractions that do nothing to meet the needs of everyday people,” said Lauren Book, the Senate Democratic leader.

The long line of legislation shows Republicans in the nation’s biggest battleground state are focused primarily on appealing to the GOP base in a crucial election when the Governor’s Mansion, three Cabinet seats and all 160 seats of the Florida Legislature are up for grabs. The action in Tallahassee is likely an early demonstration of the Republican Party’s strategy to win back the White House by focusing on some of the most divisive, hard-right policy bills the nation has encountered in recent times.

For the GOP faithful in the state, the legislative action marks a moment that they have been looking forward to for a long time. They say it explains why DeSantis has burst into the national consciousness as a possible 2024 presidential contender and potential heir to the populism that propelled former President Donald Trump into office.

“Governor DeSantis hasn’t just campaigned and given lip service on issues important to conservatives, but he has led and delivered on those important issues, and along the way shown a principled backbone of steel that conservatives have been begging to see from all of our their local, state and national elected officials,” said Christian Ziegler, vice chair of the Republican Party of Florida whose wife was one of the founders of Moms for Liberty. “It’s not just refreshing, but it is setting the model that all conservative elected officials — present and future — across the country should follow.”

By Gary Fineout

And the surge of criticism directed at Florida hasn’t cowed Republicans. Instead, led by DeSantis, who has vowed repeatedly to not back down to the “corporate media” and “woke corporations,” GOP politicians in the Sunshine State have stood proud as they’ve defended the policies, especially the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

“When you drop your kids off in the morning like I do, and they go into school, do my rights end as a parent?” GOP House Speaker Chris Sprowls told reporters this week. “Have I ceded all of my authority to the school district so they can teach our kids whatever they want whenever they want? And I think the conversation you’ve seen us have in the House this year is we don’t believe that.”

Florida’s state government has been in the firm control of Republicans for nearly 25 years, and most of the time that translated into cutting taxes, loosening business regulations or clashing with teachers unions over vouchers and charter schools. This is the state that pushed ahead with one of the first ‘stand your ground’ laws in the nation. Lawmakers and Gov. Jeb Bush garnered national attention when they waded into the fierce legal tug-of-war over Terri Schiavo, a woman who was in a persistent vegetative state.

Some of the “culture war” clashes on display this year have already played out in other states. But the condensed nature of Florida’s 60-day session put the nation’s politics into overdrive in the halls of the Capitol.

Democrats see it all as another sign that Florida is trending steadily to the right.

“It means that Florida Republicans are gambling it all on DeSantis cruising to re-election in 2022 and that DeSantis himself sees the clearest and safest path to the 2024 Republican presidential nomination as him becoming the Supreme MAGA commander of the culture wars,” said Fernand Amandi, a Democratic pollster and consultant.

The bills considered this session were not all at the behest of DeSantis. House Republicans helped craft some of the proposals, including the legislation banning teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity in the lowest grades of elementary school.

But DeSantis has embraced the legislation, even engaging in full-throated denunciation of Disney this week after Bob Chapek, the CEO of the company, told shareholders he wanted to meet with the governor to discuss why the company was opposed to the bill headed to his desk.

Florida

By Andrew Atterbury

“The chance that I am going to back down from my commitment to students, and back down from my commitment to parents rights simply because of fraudulent media narratives or pressure from woke corporations, the chances of that are zero,” DeSantis said in a campaign video released Friday.

GOP leaders for the past few weeks have blamed the media for the poor reception the proposals received and claimed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill was mischaracterized and misreported nationally.

Democrats and LGTBQ advocates, however, argue that the measure represents a broader attack on the LGTBQ community rooted in homophobia and transphobia. They say it will only further marginalize students, exposing them to bullying, and even push kids to suicide.

One Republican Florida lawmaker, Sen. Ileana Garcia of Miami, sparked intense backlash over her comments on the bill when she claimed that being gay is not “permanent.”

The statements from Garcia, who was also criticized by LGBTQ advocates for referring to personal friend who is transgender by the incorrect pronouns, led to a protest at her local legislative office.

“Gay is not a permanent thing, LGBT is not a permanent thing — and it’s not a bad thing,” Garcia said on the Senate floor this week. “This isn’t at all about targeting. I think this is about perhaps about rerouting the responsibilities back to the parents.” Scientific studies suggest that people don’t choose to be gay.

The intense debate in Florida hasn’t been contained to just one bill.

Legislators on Thursday approved a measure that would expand Florida’s anti-discrimination laws to prohibit schools and companies from leveling guilt or blame on students and employees based on race or sex, taking aim at lessons over issues like “white privilege.”

Sen. Kelli Stargel (R-Lakeland) defended the need for the bill by explaining that her grandfather, a former Sumter County sheriff more than 100 years ago, sacrificed his political career to ensure a Black man received a fair trial and avoided a lynch mob. She said his actions cost him his reelection, and eventually the local courthouse was burned down.

“I will agree … that we all have a stain on our history for the actions of some,” said Stargel. “But I would have a real hard time if my children had to sit in a classroom and be told that they need to feel guilt and shame for what happened, because I think my children have the ability to stand tall and proud for the behavior of their grandfather and what he did — and what he sacrificed for another man and another race.”

In his own remarks to the Senate, state Sen. Bobby Powell also told lawmakers that “slavery happened, hangings happened … Jim Crow happened, George Floyd happened.”

Powell, a Black Democrat from Palm Beach County, started repeating that America is “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

His final words were then: “The land of the free, yet still the home of the slave.”

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Meth users community thriving on social media, hidden in plain sight...

2022-03-13T15:00:22Z

The internet’s meth underground, hidden in plain sight

Robert started using meth in 2004 by accident.

After meeting a man on Craigslist, he snorted a line of powder that he thought was cocaine. It turned out to be methamphetamine.

With little knowledge available about meth at the time and few resources available, Robert, who asked that NBC News conceal his last name to protect his privacy, became an “on and off” user, which he defines as five to six times per year.

Eventually, Robert found that his meth use was affecting his everyday life. He was arrested for possession after trying to wait out his high before driving home. He also said he’s fallen because of dehydration during binges numerous times, once necessitating a trip to the emergency room and stitches to his head.

More frequently, Robert ended up turning to Zoom when he was high.

“It’s safer and more convenient,” he said. “At least you're not out in public.”

Like Paul, Robert began to find a sense of community in the Zoom groups, and almost exclusively turned to them when he was high.

But Zoom meth use comes with its own unique dangers, Robert and other people say.

Zoom users often encourage people to use more drugs than they might in in-person groups, Robert said, egging people on to smoke and inject more in the chat.

“I think there's a lot of potential for heightened risk,” said David Fawcett, vice president of clinical programming at Seeking Integrity, an addiction treatment center that focuses on intersectional drug and sex addictions. “I think people can be certainly less compassionate and empathetic and be more cruel, and actually encourage people to maybe take a bigger dose than they might have.”

Numerous Zoom meth room participants also mentioned the isolating effects of the groups.

“Because of its availability, I think it encouraged me to stay in more often, and to isolate and not look for partners, and it became very addicting just going on Zoom,” Robert said. “It feels like such a waste of time. You're up all night, the sun comes up, the sun goes down, you miss entire days. In the end, you're just all alone.”

Ignacio Labayen de Inza, the founder of the harm reduction group Controlling Chemsex, said that heightened levels of isolation could be dangerous for meth users.

“Suicidal thoughts are very common,” he said. “The only interaction that you have with people is messy. It's chaotic. It's about fantasizing. And it's very unsatisfactory because you never get what you want.”

Meth use can be found on almost every major social media and digital communication platform, often with a simple keyword search.

And despite the rules of many tech services against the sale of drugs on their platforms, they are not in agreement on how to treat content depicting meth use.

In its terms of service, Zoom says it bans “obscene” and “illegal” content, despite the continued presence of long-term meth rooms on its platform. There was a period of time in 2018, however, when Zoom was attempting to shut down the rooms, going after the administrators of well-known, large-scale rooms, according to multiple people who participated in the Zoom meth rooms before 2018. But with time and the Zoom boom of the pandemic, the rooms have restarted and largely appear to go unchecked.

Reddit is home to a variety of meth-based communities, including r/meth, which has more than 76,000 members. It’s one of dozens of groups on the platform that openly host content that glorifies meth use, including links to Zoom chats and other platforms. In r/meth, users post photos and videos of themselves using meth, seek advice on topics like cleaning up spilled drugs, and post personal ads looking for other users.

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Singer Jewel predicted death...

2022-03-13T14:00:19Z

Singer Jewel predicted the tragic death of Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh

“He is going to die,” Jewel said.

The COVID-19 pandemic had prevented the famous folk singer from seeing her friend Tony Hsieh — the internet innovator and Zappos.com CEO who aimed to transform corporate America with an ethos of joy — for months. When she finally visited him in August of 2020, the scene inside his lavish Park City, Utah, compound terrified her.

The floors of the house were covered with empty canisters of nitrous oxide, the mind-altering gas that Hsieh, 46, huffed constantly. His emaciated frame quivered with excitement as he babbled about plans to start a new country and solve world peace.

Sink and shower faucets ran day and night to evoke the sound of waterfalls. Dog droppings lay wherever Hsieh’s treasured terrier, Blizzy, left them — they were “parts of nature,” the tech guru said.

Fascinated by fire, Hsieh kept hundreds of candles burning throughout the house, while a fire ring in his bedroom blazed with an open flame. Dozens of paid hangers-on who lived with him in the mansion he called “the Ranch” seemed oblivious to their bizarre surroundings.

Jewel, who has run a mental health nonprofit in the years since her pop heyday in the 1990s, could see that Hsieh needed help. But he waved off her attempts to discuss his precarious mental state.

“If he kills himself and everyone else in there from a huge fire,” she said as she departed, “you can’t say you were not warned.”

Three months later, Hsieh was dead, asphyxiated by a fire he sparked inside a locked shed — a coronavirus victim who will never be counted in the pandemic’s official toll.

“He was absolutely a direct casualty of COVID,” author Kirsten Grind told The Post. “When the world shut down in March 2020, it took away his life’s whole purpose: being around people.”

In “Happy at Any Cost” (Simon & Schuster), out Tuesday, Grind and co-author Katherine Sayre, colleagues at the Wall Street Journal, tell the devastating story of a brilliant man whose hidden mental illnesses doomed him in a locked-down world.

Hsieh, the son of Taiwanese immigrants who raised him in Marin County, Calif., was the founder of Zappos. The online shoe-sales company valued employee happiness and was fueled by extravagant parties and a love of “weirdness,” with Hsieh asking potential employees: “On a scale of 1 to 10, how weird are you?”

“Our number one priority as a company is company culture,” he said in 2010. Workplace joy, he believed, would first create business success, then heal the world’s ills.

The first part actually seemed to work. Happy Zappos workers sold millions of shoes, and Hsieh earned an estimated $840 million when he sold the company to Amazon in 2009. He stayed on as Zappos’ CEO.

Hsieh’s philosophy was fueled by rave culture and by the annual Burning Man festival, where thousands of techies and artists gather for a communal week of wild self-expression. He reveled in the power of what he called the “hive switch,” the emotional charge he felt as part of a large crowd.

“When you experience it, it is pure awe,” Hsieh said in 2014.

He spent $350 million to buy up a run-down part of Las Vegas and transform it into a permanent Burning Man community. His quirky life there, in an Airstream trailer park amid a loyal crew of creatives, a constant stream of visitor, and a pet alpaca named Marley, made headlines.

But beneath the party-hearty facade, Hsieh was beset by untreated mental health problems, including social anxiety, depression and what he believed to be a form of autism spectrum disorder.

“He was such a contradiction,” Grind said. “With this intense social anxiety, you’d think he would avoid group situations. But instead, Tony derived joy from them.

“He was drawing on other people’s energy like a drug.”

Hsieh never sought professional therapy, but self-medicated, initially with alcohol. At Zappos, “it wouldn’t be odd to see the CEO do a shot in the middle of the day or at a meeting,” Grind and Sayre write, or for underlings to be invited to do the same.

“I have to drink,” Hsieh once told a girlfriend. “It’s the only way I can live in the now. It’s the only way I can get out of my head.”

By early 2020, his heavy use of the hallucinogen ketamine had close friends concerned. Hsieh was becoming delusional, speaking with manic intensity about ketamine’s power to rescue humanity from a “Matrix”-like simulation that controlled the world.

That February, Hsieh agreed to a short stint at a rehab in Park City, where he owned a small vacation home he used during the Sundance Film Festival each year.

“He was acting erratically, and he was the CEO of Zappos,” Grind said. “He had to be very strongly convinced that his behavior could reflect badly on the company. But he did not think he needed rehab.”

Two weeks later he emerged, drug-free and eager to embark on a plan to create a network of getaway rentals in Park City. He settled there temporarily to buy up houses.

Then the pandemic hit. The communal lifestyle of his urban trailer park was destroyed as lockdowns and stay-home orders took hold.

“Initially you saw him rise to the occasion,” Grind said. Hsieh directed Zappos’ COVID response from Utah, overseeing a smooth transition to remote work for his Las Vegas-based employees.

But within weeks, “it all just fell apart,” she added. “By the end of March, he was basically calling everyone he’d ever met — and he had hundreds of acquaintances — and essentially saying, ‘COVID be damned, we’re just going to get people here.’”

Hsieh paid nearly $16 million to buy a mountain compound where he could form a utopian COVID-free community with his growing entourage. The nine-bedroom, 13-bath main house sat on 18 acres of land with a private lakefront beach. The deal included a million-dollar enticement for the owners to move out immediately.

Soon Hsieh was offering to double the salary of anyone who agreed to join his Park City group. The deal drew a flock of flunkies who busied themselves by coming up with harebrained business schemes, like launching hot-air balloons from the ranch’s backyard, that the addled Hsieh funded generously.

“There was just no incentive for these people to help him get well,” Grind said.

And the small group couldn’t satisfy Hseih’s need to interact with scores of different people every day. Soon he was substituting hits of nitrous oxide — also known as whippets and used by dentists as an anesthetic and by chefs to make whipped cream — to chase the high he once got from human contact. He was inhaling 50 canisters a day when Jewel saw him in August.

By then, Amazon had quietly lost patience with its wayward superstar. Grind and Sayers reveal that Hsieh’s incoherence in a June phone call with Jeff Wilke, the Amazon executive who oversaw Zappos, set off alarm bells at the parent company.

“Wilke didn’t put him on a formal leave,” Grind said. “He just said, basically, get yourself together, come back, and we’ll figure it out. And Tony was just not able to come back.”

At the end of August, the Las Vegas Review-Journal ran a brief item: “Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, Champion of Downtown Las Vegas, Retires.” The party-loving founder didn’t get a good-bye bash or even an official departure announcement from the company he created.

“Amazon didn’t force him out exactly,” Grind said, “But they forced his hand.”

That fall, Hsieh took his entourage on a frenzied travel spree from Utah to Alaska to Puerto Rico to Connecticut, where they stayed at the waterside home of Rachael Brown, a former girlfriend who had been living at the ranch.

As the group prepared to head to Hawaii for the next leg of their trip, Hsieh’s elderly dog Blizzy, half-blind and ailing, had to be put down. The animal was buried in Brown’s back yard.

“Tony was despondent,” Grind and Sayre write. “He believed he had lost his one true partner.”

Three days after Blizzy’s death, Hsieh locked himself into a small storage shed filled with pool equipment and folding chairs, a few steps from the dog’s grave. He lit a candle and fired up a propane space heater as he took hits of nitrous oxide. Employees checked on him every few minutes, bringing pizza, water and more whippets.

Brown’s backyard security system recorded the moment at 3:15 a.m. when Hsieh took his final look at the outside world. Wisps of smoke curled out as he opened the door. He closed himself back in with the smoldering flames.

He was unconscious, but not badly burned, when the New London Fire Department broke through the door 15 minutes later. But the smoke he inhaled caused catastrophic brain damage.

Hsieh never awakened. He died in a nearby hospital on Nov. 27. The cause of death was ruled an accident.

Days later, Jewel posted a touching tribute to him on Instagram. She recalled a conversation they once had about the meaning of success.

“His answer was: the willingness to lose it all,” she said through tears. “That’s what it really takes — you have to put your whole heart into something you believe.”

Gazing into the camera, she sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

“Tony, may you be over the rainbow with the bluebirds,” she said. “And your worries far behind.”

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How Silicon Valley taught America to treat work as religion...

2022-03-13T14:00:19Z

How Silicon Valley taught America to treat work as a religion

At the opening of her four-day self-improvement seminar, Jennifer Spargifiore was held in isolation for hours until a screaming man broke the silence, yelling that the attendees were “nothing.”

The degrading experience “more and more resembled a cult initiation ritual as time went on,” reads a suit filed last year by Spargifiore, a former Panda Express cashier in Santa Clarita, Calif., against the fast food chain. By the third day, she was asked to strip down to her underwear.

Spargifiore alleges that Panda Express “pushed” its employees to attend the 2019 programs, run by Alive Seminars, in order to be considered for a promotion. She was making an $11.35-per-hour wage at the time, and said she had to pay hundreds of dollars out of pocket to attend.

Seminar leaders confiscated cellphones, removed all clocks, and blacked-out the windows making it feel to her like “the interrogation of terrorist suspects,” the lawsuit states. One seminar employee instructed Spargifiore, then 23, to imagine herself on a sinking ship where she could only save four of her employees. They told her to imagine a bright light sucking out her “negative energy.”

The suit, which is now in private arbitration, highlights the extreme “work as religion” philosophy that has exploded in the last 40 years in America. Panda Express billionaire co-founder Andrew Cherng is well known for lining his offices with self-help bestsellers, a favorite of his being “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” (Panda Express did not respond to requests for comment by press time.)

The seminar’s tactics are rooted in a philosophy propagated by Silicon Valley tech companies, which push the idea that “meaning is the new money,” according to the new book “Work Pray Code” (Princeton University Press), out now.

Author and sociologist Carolyn Chen calls this philosophy “techtopia,” where “people find their highest fulfillment in the utopian workplace.”

Chen spent seven years interviewing more than 100 Silicon Valley engineers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and the service workers who “care” for them — everyone from spiritual gurus to massage therapists. She took their meditation classes, attended their “dharma” trainings, worked out in their infrared sauna gyms and ate in their locally sourced gourmet food-filled cafeterias.

This infusion of meaning makes it easier — even desirable — to work harder, she writes.

Instead of reducing hours or workload, tech workers are guided to work on “self care,” which involves everything from eating healthy and finding hobbies to “connecting with friends and ‘the Universe,’ ” writes Chen.

“Workers who are ‘well’ . . . are more productive, can work longer hours, and are more creative and resilient,” according to internal research from one unnamed company, which Chen cites in the book.

Or, as one human-resources professional said bluntly: “We can’t work them 24/7 unless we give them flexibility.”

This philosophy stems from the earliest days of Silicon Valley during the Cold War, when machine technology was seen as the evolutionary advance that would save mankind from itself, according to historian Margaret O’Mara, author of “The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America.” And it has grown as charismatic tech gurus, such as the late Steve Jobs, achieved godlike status in the industry.

Chen’s research subjects are almost all men, and most are white or Asian. Eighty percent had moved from places outside Silicon Valley, marooned there without the support structures of family, friends or community. Chen describes them as “far from home, alone, young, impressionable.” Work is their only outlet to fill in the “meaning” gap.

Jobs aren’t just ways to get paid, they are “journeys” or “paths,” writes Chen, especially since working in startups does rely on a considerable amount of faith — 90% of them fail. People don’t necessarily want to make more money, they want to “make things” or “do good.” Colleagues are “family.”

“Work conversions” are common. People who have been bullied, ignored or rejected their whole lives suddenly find a place to thrive and shine. One of the few women Chen interviewed described the change: Once “quiet and lacking confidence,” now she commands the room. She said her ties to her “work family” are stronger than to her real family. “I can say no [to my mother] just like that but cannot say no to my company because they have helped me become who I am today.”

At one unnamed startup, while “breaking bread” with colleagues and choosing among six homemade flavors of organic ice cream, people laughed in groups and listened to music. “They sing at work. They stretch at work. They believe they are healthier at work. One man told me that a professional workshop on communication saved his marriage. Another woman told me that because of work, ‘I learned to be me.’”

‘People are not ‘selling their souls’ at work. Rather, work is where they find their souls.’

These are lofty sentiments from people who are notoriously overworked, in constant danger of burnout and stress-related health conditions, where job turnover is high and some people even live in their cars because they can’t afford the sky-high rents in Palo Alto. Ninety-two percent of the people Chen interviewed worked 50 hours or more a week — a third reported more than 65 hours a week.

Still, competition for talent is fierce. Companies know that it’s no longer enough to pay people handsomely or offer free fancy food — there needs to be a greater purpose behind work, or “satori,” a life path.

Tech companies are fully aware of the importance of meaning-making. Google sponsors work programs with names like, “Search Inside Yourself.” Salesforce, the cloud-based software company that owns Slack, invited monks to visit two annual sales conferences. Legal tech firm Euclid hired a Buddhist dharma teacher to “help people reconnect with themselves” and “liberate them to be fully alive” in a series of companywide programs.

It turns out that the bead-wearing spiritual adviser who counseled machiavellian CEO Gavin Belson on the HBO satire “Silicon Valley” is no joke. In the real-life Silicon Valley, there are actual positions called “chief spiritual officers” who help guide “high-pos” (or high potential employees) to “be their best selves” or “tap into their authenticity.” Religious gurus are on site to help people tailor their so-called “cathedral stories,” or how they connect to their higher purposes. (In a cathedral story, the unhappy builder only knows he’s lining up stone blocks; the happy worker knows those blocks are building a cathedral.)

“People aren’t showing up to work asking, ‘How do I become a great manager,’” one director of human resources at a tech company told Chen, “but, ‘How do I become great person?’ ”

While Silicon Valley may be the epicenter of experimental self-improvement (just check out how many tech workers fast or microdose psychedelics to achieve greater clarity or productivity), the “work as religion” philosophy has spread across the country. According to Chen, almost every Fortune 500 company has some kind of religiosity baked into its corporate structure — from inspiring mission statements to charismatic leaders — and many companies have actively gone “spiritual” to drive up the bottom line.

For the past 40 years, the workplace has successfully unseated religious institutions as a primary meaning maker, right after family, according to a recent Pew survey. High-income employees work longer hours than ever and are less likely to consider themselves religious, writes Chen. People who don’t have any religion — “religious nones” — have tripled in the past quarter century. At the same time, corporations have changed their strategies, using new incentive structures like gain sharing and stock options to bring people into the corporate “family.”

“People are not ‘selling their souls’ at work. Rather, work is where they find their souls,” writes Chen.

Today, companies take the soul far more literally than ever. Self-help books, retreats and self-improvement seminars are commonplace. Companies like Aetna and Nike have embraced mindfulness and meditation — in fact, 22% of mid- to large-size American companies include some form of mindfulness practice. Walmart and Taco Bell have reportedly hired chaplains to deal with “spiritual issues.” One mining company even encourages workers to place stickers on their hard hats expressing psychological and spiritual “love languages” as a form of appreciation for their colleagues.

During the pandemic, work became one of the only consistent lifelines to the rest of the world — meanwhile, a Pew research poll showed that COVID decimated church attendance. “One manager said that her team is working even harder now,” writes Chen of work life during lockdown. “Without their daily commute, and with nowhere else to go, they are channeling even more of their energy into work.”

Now, as people return to their offices amidst the radical reshuffling known as “The Great Resignation,” companies are even further incentivized to prioritize meaning at work. Salesforce is already doubling down by inviting all 10,000 employees to an off-site retreat at the so-called “Trailblazer Ranch,” where yoga classes take place in an old chapel, meetings happen in outdoor areas called “the Cathedral” and people can throw pebbles into an intention pond.

But Chen says there is a serious downside to finding our sense of spirituality and greater purpose at work. Meaning, she explains, is not a limitless resource. “There’s a meaning bank. When you’re drawing and giving devotion to one thing, then you’re taking that same devotion from something else.”

In other words, as we work more and more, we have less time to engage in civic organizations, and fewer hours to spend with our families and loved ones.

Chen believes this is the biggest danger of the techtopia: “We lack those communal spaces, those sources of fulfillment that give us substantial meaning outside of work.”

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The Weakness of the Despot...

2022-03-13T14:00:19Z

The Weakness of the Despot

“The shock is that so much has changed, and yet we’re still seeing this pattern that they can’t escape from,” the Russia expert Stephen Kotkin says.

Stephen Kotkin is one of our most profound and prodigious scholars of Russian history. His masterwork is a biography of Josef Stalin. So far he has published two volumes––“Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928,” which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and “Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941.” A third volume will take the story through the Second World War; Stalin’s death, in 1953; and the totalitarian legacy that shaped the remainder of the Soviet experience. Taking advantage of long-forbidden archives in Moscow and beyond, Kotkin has written a biography of Stalin that surpasses those by Isaac Deutscher, Robert Conquest, Robert C. Tucker, and countless others.

Kotkin has a distinguished reputation in academic circles. He is a professor of history at Princeton University and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, at Stanford University. He has myriad sources in various realms of contemporary Russia: government, business, culture. Both principled and pragmatic, he is also more plugged in than any reporter or analyst I know. Ever since we met in Moscow, many years ago––Kotkin was doing research on the Stalinist industrial city of Magnitogorsk––I’ve found his guidance on everything from the structure of the Putin regime to its roots in Russian history to be invaluable.

[Get the in-depth analysis and on-the-ground reporting you need to understand the war in Ukraine. Subscribe today »]

Earlier this week, I spoke with Kotkin about Putin, the invasion of Ukraine, the American and European response, and what comes next, including the possibility of a palace coup in Moscow. Our conversation, which appears in the video above, has been edited for length and clarity.

This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.

We’ve been hearing voices both past and present saying that the reason for what has happened is, as George Kennan put it, the strategic blunder of the eastward expansion of NATO. The great-power realist-school historian John Mearsheimer insists that a great deal of the blame for what we’re witnessing must go to the United States. I thought we’d begin with your analysis of that argument.

I have only the greatest respect for George Kennan. John Mearsheimer is a giant of a scholar. But I respectfully disagree. The problem with their argument is that it assumes that, had NATO not expanded, Russia wouldn’t be the same or very likely close to what it is today. What we have today in Russia is not some kind of surprise. It’s not some kind of deviation from a historical pattern. Way before NATO existed—in the nineteenth century—Russia looked like this: it had an autocrat. It had repression. It had militarism. It had suspicion of foreigners and the West. This is a Russia that we know, and it’s not a Russia that arrived yesterday or in the nineteen-nineties. It’s not a response to the actions of the West. There are internal processes in Russia that account for where we are today.

I would even go further. I would say that NATO expansion has put us in a better place to deal with this historical pattern in Russia that we’re seeing again today. Where would we be now if Poland or the Baltic states were not in NATO? They would be in the same limbo, in the same world that Ukraine is in. In fact, Poland’s membership in NATO stiffened NATO’s spine. Unlike some of the other NATO countries, Poland has contested Russia many times over. In fact, you can argue that Russia broke its teeth twice on Poland: first in the nineteenth century, leading up to the twentieth century, and again at the end of the Soviet Union, with Solidarity. So George Kennan was an unbelievably important scholar and practitioner—the greatest Russia expert who ever lived—but I just don’t think blaming the West is the right analysis for where we are.

When you talk about the internal dynamics of Russia, it brings to mind a piece that you wrote for Foreign Affairs, six years ago, which began, “For half a millennium, Russian foreign policy has been characterized by soaring ambitions that have exceeded the country’s capabilities. Beginning with the reign of Ivan the Terrible in the sixteenth century, Russia managed to expand at an average rate of fifty square miles per day for hundreds of years, eventually covering one-sixth of the earth’s landmass.” You go on to describe three “fleeting moments” of Russian ascendancy: first during the reign of Peter the Great, then Alexander I’s victory over Napoleon, and then, of course, Stalin’s victory over Hitler. And then you say that, “these high-water marks aside, however, Russia has almost always been a relatively weak great power.” I wonder if you could expand on that and talk about how the internal dynamics of Russia have led to the present moment under Putin.

We had this debate about Iraq. Was Iraq the way it was because of Saddam, or was Saddam the way he was because of Iraq? In other words, there’s the personality, which can’t be denied, but there are also structural factors that shape the personality. One of the arguments I made in my Stalin book was that being the dictator, being in charge of Russian power in the world in those circumstances and in that time period, made Stalin who he was and not the other way around.

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Wheat Supply Threatened, Prices Jolt...

2022-03-13T14:00:19Z

Russia-Ukraine War Threatens Wheat Supply, Jolts Prices

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens a big portion of the world’s wheat supply and has sent prices on a dizzying ride to new highs as well as the sharpest weekly drop in years.

Wheat stockpiles were already running low and prices were the highest in years thanks to two years of poor growing weather when Russia’s attack jammed up Black Sea trading and endangered nearly a third of the world’s exports. The invasion prompted fears of food shortages in countries fed with imported grain and pushed prices to new highs.

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New mayors introduced after electeds abducted...

2022-03-13T14:00:19Z

Russia introduced a new mayor in a captured Ukrainian city after abducting its elected mayor

Russia installed a new mayor in the Ukrainian city of Melitopol after soldiers kidnapped the city's democratically elected mayor.

The new mayor, Galina Danilchenko, was introduced as the city's acting mayor on local TV, CNN reported, citing a statement from the Zaporozhye regional administration website.

In a televised statement posted to Telegram, Danilchenkso said her "main task is to take all necessary steps to get the city back to normal," CNN reported. She said there are people in Melitopol who are trying to disrupt "the situation and provoke a reaction of bad behavior."

"I ask you to keep your wits about you and not to give in to these provocations," Danilchenko said. "I appeal to the deputies, elected by the people, on all levels. Since you were elected by the people, it is your duty to care about the well-being of your citizens."

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Melitopol is located in the southeastern region of Ukraine, about 425 miles from Kyiv.

Russian forces on Friday kidnapped Melitopol's mayor, Ivan Fedorov, according to Ukrainian authorities. Ten armed soldiers were caught on camera walking him away with a plastic bag over his head.

Fedorov was elected by the people of the city, while was installed in place by Russian force.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called Fedorov's abduction "a war crime under the Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocol that prohibit the taking of civilian hostages during the war."

"We call on the international community to respond immediately to the abduction of Ivan Fedorov and other civilians, and to increase pressure on Russia to end its barbaric war against the Ukrainian people," the ministry said in its statement.

Early on into the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Russia said it had captured Melitopol, a claim that Western countries like the United Kingdom dismissed.

Russia said its troops were welcomed into the city and were met with little resistance. British armed forces minister James Heappey said Russian troops were "held up" by "incredible" Ukrainian resistance.

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NYT JOURNALIST SHOT DEAD

2022-03-13T14:00:19Z

1 American journalist killed, 1 wounded by Russian forces near Kyiv

An American journalist was killed and another wounded by Russian forces in Irpen near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, the Kyiv Region Police head said Sunday.

The killed journalist was identified by Ukrainian police as Brent Renaud, a 51-year-old journalist, filmmaker and US citizen. While Ukrainian authorities initially identified Renaud as a The New York Times correspondent, he was not in Ukraine reporting on behalf of The Times.

"We are deeply saddened to hear of Brent Renaud's death. Brent was a talented filmmaker who had contributed to The New York Times over the years," read a statement from the outlet. "Though he had contributed to The Times in the past (most recently in 2015), he was not on assignment for any desk at The Times in Ukraine. Early reports that he worked for Times circulated because he was wearing a Times press badge that had been issued for an assignment many years ago."

Two American journalists went to film refugees leaving Irpin when they were shot at after crossing a checkpoint. The NYT journalist (I will not tweet the name) was shot in the neck and killed. His colleague was shot as well but evacuated to hospital.

"Of course, the profession of a journalist is a risk, but US citizen Brent Renaud paid his life for trying to highlight the aggressor's ingenuity, cruelty and ruthlessness," Kyiv Region Police chief Andriy Nebytov said on Facebook.

This is a developing story,

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Osaka brought to tears by heckler at tournament...

2022-03-13T13:00:19Z

Naomi Osaka brought to tears by heckler at US tournament

Issued on: 13/03/2022 - 08:20Modified: 13/03/2022 - 08:18

Indian Wells (United States) (AFP) – Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka was brought to tears by a heckler Saturday on the way to a 6-0, 6-4 loss to Veronika Kudermetova in the Indian Wells WTA hardcourt tournament.

Japan's Osaka, ranked 78th in the world after her third-round exit at the Australian Open, was rocked early in the first set when someone in the crowd yelled "Naomi, you suck."

She pleaded with the chair umpire to take action to no avail, and at 0-3 down in the second-round match, her emotions spilled over.

Osaka pulled herself together and resumed the match, but Kudermetova, the 21st seed, raced through the opening set before Osaka managed to hold serve to open the second.

Although she lifted her game, Osaka couldn't capitalize on any of her four break points in the contest, and a break of serve in the seventh game of the second set was enough for Kudermetova to capture the victory.

Osaka put athlete mental health in the spotlight in a difficult 2021 in which she revealed she had suffered depression.

But speaking on court after the match she said it wasn't that she found the comment so hurtful that she was upset, but because it reminded her of Venus and Serena Williams being heckled at Indian Wells in 2001.

"To be honest I feel like I've been heckled before it didn't really bother me," she said.

"But, like, I've watched a video of Venus and Serena being heckled here.

"If you've never watched it you should watch it," she added, tearing up again.

"I don't know why, but it went into my head and it got replayed a lot.

"I'm trying not to cry," she said, her voice breaking.

"I just have to say thank you and congratulations," she added with a nod to Kudermetova. "Thank you."

The superstar Williams sisters boycotted Indian Wells for 14 years over the events of 2001.

Venus had pulled out of a semi-final match against her sister with a knee injury.

The next day Serena faced Kim Clijsters in the final, and when Venus and their father Richard Williams took their seats the crowd jeered them, going on to boo Serena throughout the match.

The jeering continued after Serena won and went to embrace Venus and Richard Williams courtside, with Richard saying he was the target of racial slurs.

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Phones addictive. Sports betting, too. Now they're combined...

2022-03-13T13:00:19Z

Is sports betting "an epidemic in the making"?

Remember when we decided that spending too much time on our phones was a bad thing? That immersing ourselves in our iPhones could be unhealthy, or even addictive?

That was a couple of years ago. So riddle me this: Now something that we already know is potentially addictive — sports betting — is available on those phones, accompanied by a media blitz promising a path to easy money. But people raising concerns about that combination seem few and far between. So what happens to the sports betting industry if someone — namely Apple or Google, which have enormous control over what you can do with your phones — decides they do have a problem with that?

Because whether you approve of gambling or not, it seems obvious that making it easily available to anyone with a phone and debit card, with few to no restrictions and a ton of advertising encouraging you to place your bets, is going to lead to problems for some people. This isn’t one of those stories about the unintended consequences we get from tech: It’s right there, on the surface.

“It is an epidemic in the making,” says Felicia Grondin, the executive director of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, where online sports betting has been legal since 2018. Since then, she says, it has been easy to understand the impact: Before the summer of 2018, about 3 percent of the calls to her organization’s helpline for problem gamblers were from people who said they had sports betting problems. Now that number is around 17 percent.

New Jersey is the tip of the gambling spear because it’s the state directly responsible for the Supreme Court ruling in 2018 that gave individual states the ability to legalize online sports betting. But a flood of states has followed, egged on by the promise of easy tax money — or the threat that they’ll be losing that money to neighboring states where online betting is legal.

Big, well-capitalized companies — established gambling outfits like MGM Resorts and relative newcomers like DraftKings and FanDuel — are pouring in. They want you to start betting on sports directly from your couch, or your car, or the bar, placing wagers on NFL games or Olympic hockey or the 2023 Rugby World Cup or anything else with a couple of taps. And they’re spending a ton of money to convince you: DraftKings alone spent $1 billion on sales and marketing last year and plans to spend even more in 2022. (Disclosure: Vox Media has a commercial relationship with DraftKings.)

And there’s obviously a market for this. In the runup to legalization, there was a debate about whether sportsbooks would pitch themselves to people who were already illegally betting on sports, or whether they’d bring in casual newcomers. We don’t yet know the answer, but we do know there’s a lot of money to be made: In the first six weeks that legal online sports betting was available in New York, residents wagered $2.5 billion, which includes nearly $500 million worth of Super Bowl bets. This week’s March Madness college basketball tournament should spike those numbers again.

I’ve been following the rise of legal online sports betting for a while — it’s very much a media story because media companies, which used to hold their noses up at sports betting, are now eager to make money from sports betting programming and advertising. And sports betting apps’ arrival happens to coincide with the movement to reassess our relationship with tech in general and phones in particular, which picked up real steam after the 2016 election.

In 2018, for instance, former Apple executive Tony Fadell, who helped create the iPhone, called on phone-makers and app-makers to promote a “healthy, moderate digital life ... before government regulators decide to step in.” Around the same time, activists like former Google employee Tristan Harris were promoting the idea of “time well spent” on phones and devices, and criticizing app-makers like Google and Facebook for becoming dopamine dealers. The New York Times suggested that you should make your phone less compelling by turning the screen gray.

So periodically, when I meet gaming executives and investors salivating at the chance to turn sports betting from a semi-underground pastime into a mainstream activity, I ask them: What happens if Apple or Google decides that sports betting — where every ad is accompanied by a Micro Machine-speed voiceover at the end telling you to get help if you have a betting problem — is something they don’t want happening on their devices?

Or what if they’re okay with sports betting but want to make it a little less frictionless, and require more opt-ins and sign-offs before you place a bet? Or if they simply restrict the number of notifications betting apps can send? (FanDuel, for instance, sends me a heads-up every day, and sometimes it works: An hour before the Super Bowl, I got a pop-up on my iPhone telling me that FanDuel had improved the odds on a bet about whether the first drive of the game would result in a punt, and exhorted me to BET NOW ➡️. I did — and won — and then made two more bets while I was there.)

The answer from the gaming guys has been consistent: They look at me like I’m a moron, and shrug.

But I don’t think it’s a totally idiotic question. Apple, in particular, has been quite clear about the fact that Apple’s App Store is Apple’s App Store, and it’s willing to go to court to keep it that way; ask Fortnite maker Epic Games. Apple App Store edicts range from the whimsical — early on, Apple told developers to stop making fart apps for the iPhone because it already had enough of them — to the moralistic — Steve Jobs was ardent about not letting porn apps onto his App Store, and the company has followed his insistence after his death — and everything in between.

Apple has also made a point about advocating for responsible phone use; shortly after Fadell’s 2018 essay, the company rolled out the equivalent of nutrition labels for its apps, which are supposed to tell you what kind of content you’ll find in the app, whether it will ask you for money, and other good-to-know stuff that many users likely totally ignore.

So I’ve also asked Apple and Google, which do have rules about the way gambling apps are supposed to work, but those rules generally amount to “these things have to be licensed and not scammy.” I got non-responses from them, too.

To be clear: I don’t necessarily think Apple or Google should prevent me from betting on sports. And I don’t think sports betting is necessarily worse than many other vices or risky behaviors I can engage in on my phone right now. Seamless makes it way too easy for me to order more comfort food than I should; Drizzly lets me buy whiskey without putting on pants. I bought dogecoin via Robinhood, minutes before Elon Musk showed up on SNL, and now I’m down 78 percent. And if I lived in California or Michigan, I would probably have weed gummies delivered to my home via Eaze. To say nothing of the time I fritter away on stuff that distracts but doesn’t give me any real pleasure, like doomscrolling and shitposting on Twitter.

Felicia Grondin agrees with me, up to a point. But she thinks people with sports gambling problems are trickier to detect than, say, someone struggling with substances. “It’s a hidden addiction,” she says. “You don’t smell it on someone’s breath; you can’t see it in their behavior until it’s way too late.”

It’s certainly easy enough to get in trouble with this stuff: Ask Calvin Ridley, the Atlanta Falcons player who bet $1,500 on three NFL games last fall, and has now been suspended for at least a year because league rules prohibit players from betting on league games. Ridley’s bets will reportedly end up costing him more than $11 million in lost wages.

Again: I’m happy-ish that I’ve been able to place $10 wagers on NFL games from my bedroom. And when I think about my personal problems with phones, sports betting apps aren’t on the list (top of the list right now: Everyone in my son’s sixth grade class is using Discord to gossip about each other, with predictable results). But it seems obvious that someone, eventually — maybe federal or state regulators, maybe the phone platforms — will want to take a step back and ask, “What have we done and how can we fix it?” I’d bet on it.

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Top official working on U.S. sanctions of Russia...

2022-03-13T13:00:19Z

Police investigated ‘unlawful entry’ onto property of White House national security aide

Law enforcement officials have been investigating an incident in which someone accessed the property of a top White House official working on U.S. sanctions against Russia, according to a police report and people familiar with the matter.

A man was seen on the property owned by President Biden’s deputy national security adviser, Daleep Singh, about 1 p.m. on Feb. 26, then fled the scene in a “blue/teal” older model BMW sedan, according to a D.C. police department public incident report.

The police report, which described the incident as an “unlawful entry,” did not specify whether the man entered the house, located in an upscale Northwest Washington neighborhood about five miles from the White House. Singh told police that the man “unlawfully entered the front yard” of his property and that he did not know the man, the report states.

The incident came days after the national security official became a public face of the Biden administration’s sanctions against Russia, which have escalated in response to the invasion of Ukraine. Singh joined White House press secretary Jen Psaki before briefing room cameras to explain the administration’s increasingly muscular stance toward Moscow on Feb. 22 and 24.

There was no immediate evidence of a link between Singh’s work in the administration and the alleged incident. Singh was not home at the time, according to a person familiar with the incident who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the details.

“No one in law enforcement has indicated to the property owners that this has anything to do with their jobs,” this person said. “As far as we know, this could just be a neighborhood creep who was on their front lawn.”

But some officials have raised concerns internally about the incident, particularly given that it took place so soon after Singh became such a prominent figure in the rollout of U.S. sanctions, according to one government official familiar with internal deliberations who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.

The White House declined to comment, as did a spokesperson for the Secret Service, which has participated in the investigation.

The D.C. police report said the incident occurred at 1:08 p.m. on Feb. 26 and ended at 1:18. Officers on the scene a short time later told a neighbor that they were “investigating a potential break in,” according to two neighbors. Neighbors said that some who live in nearby homes were later approached by Secret Service agents seeking security camera footage.

The D.C. police investigation and search for the fleeing man appears to have stalled. On March 8, the D.C. police report said, investigators temporarily suspended their investigation for lack of any leads on likely suspects.

Singh was not a widely known White House official until the past few weeks. Before joining the White House, he worked as the head of the markets team at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and at the Treasury Department during the Obama administration.

“Because of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s choices, his flagrant violation of international law, and his utter disregard for the principles that underpin peace and security across the world, we will now ensure his decision is remembered as a strategic failure,” Singh said during his public appearance on Feb. 24

Peter Hermann and Alice Crites contributed to this report.

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'Unlawful entry' onto national security aide's property spooks White House...

2022-03-13T13:00:19Z

Police investigated ‘unlawful entry’ onto property of White House national security aide

The White House declined to comment, as did a spokesperson for the Secret Service, which has participated in the investigation.

Peter Hermann and Alice Crites contributed to this report.

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'Secret Israeli sites' targeted...

2022-03-13T13:00:19Z

Iran fires missiles at Irbil US consulate; Tehran: ‘Secret Israeli bases’ targeted

As many as 12 missiles were fired Sunday toward the US consulate in Iraq’s northern city of Irbil, with several missiles hitting the building, Iraqi and US security officials said.

Iranian state media agency IRNA, citing local reports, claimed without evidence that “secret Israeli bases” were targeted in the attack.

An unnamed Iraqi official said the ballistic missiles were fired from Iran, without elaborating. He said the projectiles were the Iranian-made Fateh-110, likely fired in retaliation for the two Revolutionary Guards killed in Syria last week in an alleged Israeli strike.

A US official also said the missiles were launched from neighboring Iran.

Iraqi security officials said there were no immediate reports of casualties from the attack.

A US official initially said missiles hit the consulate, but a second American official later said there was no damage and no casualties at any US government facility.

Lawk Ghafari, the head of Kurdistan’s foreign media office, said none of the missiles hit the US facility but that areas around the new and currently unoccupied compound had been hit by the missiles.

#BREAKING: Reports several ballistic missiles hit the US base in Erbil pic.twitter.com/XMTXHDQs76

— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) March 12, 2022

The area’s governor said it was not clear whether the intended target was the US consulate or the airport, where there is a base for the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State terror group.

The airport said it had suffered no damage and flights had not been disrupted.

Residents in the city heard three explosions.

Local television channel Kurdistan24, whose studios are not far from the US consulate, posted images on social networks of its damaged offices, with collapsed sections of false ceiling and broken glass.

כך נראה רגע הפגיעה הלילה בארביל במשרדי הערוץ כורדיסטן 24 כתוצאה ממתקפת הטילים הבליסטיים שהגיעה מאיראן pic.twitter.com/6Di0OWbQb4

— roi kais • روعي كايس • רועי קייס (@kaisos1987) March 13, 2022

Irbil is the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq.

“We condemn this terrorist attack launched against several sectors of Irbil, we call on the inhabitants to remain calm,” Kurdistan Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said in a statement.

A US official said in a statement that the US condemned what it called an “outrageous attack against Iraqi sovereignty and display of violence.”

US forces stationed at Irbil’s airport compound have come under fire from rocket and drone attacks in the past, with US officials blaming Iran-backed groups.

The top US commander for the Middle East has repeatedly warned about the increasing threats of attacks from Iran and Iranian-backed militias on troops and allies in Iraq and Syria.

The attack comes several days after Syrian state media reported a strike it blamed on Israel near Damascus, Syria. The reports said the airstrike killed two members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Iran’s foreign ministry strongly condemned the attack and vowed revenge.

On Sunday, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted Iraqi media acknowledging the attacks in Irbil, without saying where they originated.

An Iranian spokesperson rejected the accusation that Iran was behind the Irbil attack. Mahmoud Abbaszadeh, spokesman for Iran’s parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, said the allegation could not be confirmed so far.

“If Iran decides to take revenge … it will be very, very serious, strong, obvious,” he said in an interview with a local news website.

The attack comes as negotiations in Vienna over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal hit a “pause” over Russian demands about sanctions targeting Moscow over its war on Ukraine.

US interests and coalition troops in Iraq have regularly been targeted in rocket and armed drone attacks.

Western officials have blamed hardline pro-Iran factions for the attacks, which have never been claimed.

In late January, six rockets were fired at Baghdad International Airport, causing no casualties.

Iraq saw a surge in these sort of attacks at the beginning of the year as Iran and its allies commemorated the second anniversary of the death of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and his Iraqi lieutenant Abu Mehdi al-Mouhandis, killed by American drone fire in Iraq in January 2020.

The Biden administration decided last July to end the US combat mission in Iraq by Dec. 31, and US forces gradually moved to an advisory role last year. The troops will still provide air support and other military aid for Iraq’s fight against the Islamic State.

The post 'Secret Israeli sites' targeted... captured from The Drudge Report left column, article 3 on 3/13/2022 1:00:19 PM UTC.

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China wanted to appear neutral. It isn't...

2022-03-13T13:00:19Z

China wanted to appear neutral between Russia and Ukraine. It isn't

When Russia invaded Ukraine last month, a spate of wishful thinking ran through the West that China, a great power with friends on both sides, might step in to mediate a cease-fire.

China’s government struck a pose of neutrality, called for a peaceful resolution and said it supported the principle of “territorial integrity.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a public plea to China’s Xi Jinping to intervene.

But Xi has been missing in action — and in practice, his policies have been far less neutral than advertised.

China hasn’t condemned the invasion and initially didn’t even call it a war. It still hasn’t acknowledged which country’s tanks crossed the other’s borders.

Xi has talked by telephone with Russian President Vladmir Putin, but he hasn’t talked with Zelensky.

“China supports Russia in resolving the issue through negotiation,” China’s official summary of the Xi-Putin call said.

Last week, China’s foreign minister called Russia his country’s “most important strategic partner” and said their relationship was “ironclad.”

Meanwhile, China’s Foreign Ministry has endorsed Russian propaganda claims that the U.S. military is running bioweapons laboratories in Ukraine. The charge is false; the U.S. has funded programs to destroy old bioweapons, not produce new ones.

There’s a contradiction at the heart of China’s foreign policy. China wants to be seen as a neutral power. But the way it calculates its interests — giving top priority to reducing the global influence of the United States — makes neutrality on issues involving Russia, its biggest ally, almost impossible.

Less than three weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Xi welcomed Putin at a summit meeting in Beijing and declared that their partnership had “no limits.”

“China’s policy is based on Xi Jinping’s view of China’s interests, and he sees the United States as implacably hostile,” Bonnie Glaser, a China scholar at the German Marshall Fund, told me. “He sees Russia as his only ally against the United States and the other democracies.... I don’t think China can in any way be neutral.”

“At a strategic and diplomatic level, they’ve clearly leaned toward Russia,” agreed Evan Feigenbaum, a former State Department official now at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It’s a deliberate choice.”

The war in Ukraine may have “unsettled” China’s leaders, but it doesn’t appear to have shaken the Xi-Putin partnership, CIA Director William Burns told Congress last week.

China “has invested a lot in the relationship,” Burns said. “I don’t expect that to change anytime soon.”

Still, two big factors limit how far China is willing to lean in Russia’s direction.

Economics is the first: China’s prosperity depends on global trade, not trade with Russia, so it wants to avoid running afoul of the massive sanctions the U.S. and its allies have put in place against Moscow.

Last week, Russian officials reported that China had turned down an emergency request for aircraft parts, apparently to maintain Chinese access to Western suppliers like Boeing and Airbus.

But on a less visible level, Chinese banks are working with Russian banks to use China's UnionPay to replace Visa and Mastercard, shut down by sanctions.

The pattern, Feigenbaum said, is an attempt to “straddle” the sanctions: complying where necessary, but still looking for opportunities to make deals with Russia.

A second limit involves China’s desire to maintain a good relationship with Europe, where most countries have been quick to support Ukraine.

“There’s a potential for China’s relationship with the European Union to get much worse,” Feigenbaum said. “China may want to avoid that.”

One limit that hasn’t seemed to affect China’s policies, though, is Beijing’s long-standing adherence to principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity. “They have essentially jettisoned those principles,” Feigenbaum said.

For all those reasons, the idea that China might serve as a neutral mediator to help end the war never had much of a chance.

In any case, it probably wasn’t very workable. China’s diplomats have little experience mediating international disputes, least of all in Europe.

And while officials from Ukraine and Russia have met three times, their positions have been too far apart to produce even a temporary cease-fire.

Several international leaders have offered their services as mediators — France’s Emmanuel Macron, Israel’s Naftali Bennett, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan — without success. Putin appears intent on pursuing his military offensive as far as he can before entering serious negotiations.

But China was never neutral to begin with.

And that reflects what may be the most important fact about the new world disorder that Putin’s invasion has unleashed:

China’s Xi has made a choice. He believes the coming decades will be dominated by confrontations between the United States and China, with Russia as China’s sole important ally.

For anyone pondering the parallels between this new period and the Cold War, there’s an eerie echo of the Sino-Soviet alliance that once sought to dominate Eurasia — only this time, with China as the senior partner.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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Satellite images reveal massive damage...

2022-03-13T13:00:19Z

Ukraine-Russia war: Satellite images reveal fires, severe damage to residential buildings in Mariupol

Fox News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst has the latest developments from Kyiv, Ukraine.

Satellite images taken Saturday reveal destruction and damage to residential buildings, as well as a hospital, in Mariupol, Ukraine, as Russia's ongoing war with the country continues.

The images were taken by Maxar Technologies, a private company in the United States, and show severe damage to several residential buildings throughout the southern Ukrainian city.

The photos show fires, as well as artillery craters left behind from Russia's attack on the city.

Several photos taken by Maxar show the before and after toll that Russia's invasion has taken on Ukraine.

An estimated 2,155,271 refugees have fled Ukraine amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of the country, with the majority escaping to Poland, according to statistics posted this week by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), as those in Mariupol reel from the aftermath of a bombing at a maternity hospital.

Nationwide, thousands are thought to have been killed, both civilians and soldiers, in the two weeks of fighting since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces invaded.

Fox News' Stephanie Pagones contributed to this article.

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Why Vlad bombs the very same people he claims to liberate...

2022-03-13T13:00:19Z

Why Putin bombs the very same Russian-speaking people he claims to liberate

Vladislav Davidzon is a political and cultural journalist who has spent the last decade chronicling the creation of an independent Ukraine — and the ongoing attempts by Vladimir Putin’s Russia to derail that national project. His recent book, “From Odessa with Love: Political and Literary Essays in Post-Soviet Ukraine,” was published in September 2021, just as Putin began to amass the military forces that eventually invaded Ukraine late last month. Davidzon is based in Paris and spends about a third of his time reporting from Kyiv — which is where he was when Russia began to bombard Ukraine.

Davidzon, 37, refers to himself as a dandy — both his style and his attitude reflect the label — but he is also a tireless writer, artist, and investigative journalist whose work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Observer, and Foreign Policy. In 2015, with his Odessa-born wife, he founded and edited the Odessa Review, which over the next three years served as a cultural bridge between Ukraine and the rest of the world. Since 2012, he has been Tablet Magazine’s European culture correspondent.

Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, raised in Moscow and New York, and currently shuttling between Paris and Kyiv, Davidzon brings a unique perspective to the conflict in Ukraine.

Davidzon spoke to The Times of Israel over Facebook audio from Panska Huralnya, an Austro-Hungarian-style cafe in Chernivtsi — the famed southwestern Ukrainian city that is also the hometown of numerous literary and cultural giants, including Aharon Appelfeld and Paul Celan. He had arrived there after spending several days on the Belarusian border, to which he had traveled from Kyiv when Russia launched its invasion. While we spoke he ate a caesar salad and potatoes in the Viennese style, the eerie sounds of jazz standards being played by a pianist in the background as he discussed his work and the current situation in the war-torn country.

The following interview has been edited for clarity.

The Times of Israel: There’s a lot of talk at this time about Ukrainian heroism in the face of Russia’s onslaught — what are your thoughts on this?

Vladislav Davidzon: I’m temperamentally geared toward recklessness. Some people think it’s crazy, but I just have a high resistance to risk. I don’t feel that I’m being heroic. I just feel like I’m doing what everyone else is doing. I’m working harder than I’ve ever worked in my life. In my off time, I’m working on helping refugees — helping people get out and connect with relief efforts.

A big part of me wants to pick up a gun and defend Ukraine. Some people think that makes me unfit to be a journalist. Anyway, I haven’t done it yet. But it comes from anger and frustration, not heroism or masculinity. This is my city. These are my people — Russian speakers, Ukrainian Jews, post-Soviets — they’re all my people. And Putin is bombing them under the pretext of denazification. He should just be honest and say that he’s cleansing all those who will not subjugate themselves to him. It’s a cleansing of difference, of people who are capable of standing up to his totalitarian dictates.

You’ve written an article in Tablet about the unique circumstance of a Jewish leadership in the struggle for Ukrainian independence. Can you expand on this?

Basically, this is a government of Russian-speakers. The previous government was made up of Ukrainian titular nationalists — they believed in preserving the Ukrainian language and culture, and that all minorities in Ukraine should be well-versed in that culture. But this actually made a lot of space for minorities, since only about 55 to 60 percent of the population in the country speaks the language of the state at home.

The uproar around Stepan Bandera is a perfect example. He was a Ukrainian ultranationalist, an antisemite and Nazi collaborator, but in today’s Ukraine, being a Banderite is really just about being a tough guy with big tattoos, big muscles, and big guns. Do these folks actually want to go back to an integralist Ukraine, Bandera’s Ukraine? Maybe a small part does, but the majority of the population thinks they’re gross. Are they ideological integralists? Of course not. Even the real integralists go out of their way to tell stories about Jews working with Bandera — which says something interesting. They go into revisionism, inventing things that never existed, to help turn contemporary Ukraine into something that makes sense to them.

In your article, you write that “Zelensky’s Ukraine represents the hyperspecific and beautiful contradictions that stem from the acceptance of contradiction, the multiethnic tolerance, and the polyglot nationality.” You also talk about Ukraine as a “traumatized nation that just wants to exist, and to escape from the toxic bonds of world war and holocaust and gulag and famine that its revanchist neighbor has imposed on its population in the absence of its own ability to provide a normal life.” In cultural terms, what does this say about the relationship between Ukraine’s and Russia’s aims in this conflict?

Putin claims he’s come to save the Russian world and the Russians from Nazism — but he’s mostly bombing Russian-speaking cities. Kherson, Mariupol, Odessa, Kharkiv, these are all cities where the majority of the population speaks Russian.

The fact that a big portion of the current Ukrainian leadership is of Jewish descent is no accident — they are fighting for a new, contemporary Ukraine. We want to live like normal people, not like animals: not to be poor, not to be under someone’s thumb, or someone’s boot. We don’t want to be dominated.

Putin doesn’t believe that Ukrainians exist. And he can’t let the new Ukraine state stay alive — he can’t let it slip away from him. So he has to derail the project. He has tried everything. The fact that he had to go to war is already proof that he wasn’t successful, that he couldn’t achieve his goal in any other way.

Another Russia is possible, but for that to happen, Russians have to repudiate today’s Russia — a complex and probably bloody process. They have to repudiate Putinism, the gulag, their nostalgia for the Soviet Union and for the Russian Empire. And if they don’t, then they can’t have a free and democratic Ukraine on their border, since it’s a bad example for Putin’s Russia. Ultimately, this is as much about them as it is about Ukraine.

What have your last two weeks looked like?

I started out in Kyiv and left after the bombing started. I reported from the Belarusian border and then I thought they’d invade, but they didn’t and it seems that Lukashenko avoided having been forced to enter the war. I’m a triple-citizen and so, as a Russian citizen, I had to leave the area, since I would not be treated by the Russian forces as a Western journalist. So I went to Rivne, in northwest Ukraine, where I spent three days before taking a car down to Chernivtsi.

I’m about to go back to Odessa — to be there, to help evacuate my family, to chronicle what’s happening there. [Editor’s note: Davidzon has since escorted relatives over the Romanian border en route to France.] My family’s history is in Odessa. Isaak Dunayevsky, the composer who wrote “Song of Odessa,” was my great-great-great uncle. I edited the Odessa Review. And I’ve written about Odessa for a long time. I’m also working with my wife, who’s in Paris spending 18 hours a day organizing Ukrainian volunteers, and when I’m not reporting, I try to get people out, fielding a lot of requests. If anyone reading this needs information, I can help them get in touch with the right people in the right cities and the right organizations. I’m easy to find.

You were photographed with Sean Penn on the night before the invasion. What was he doing in Kyiv?

Hanging out with me.

What brought you from the United States back to this part of the world?

I’m interested in personalities. This is not a normal country. It isn’t a normal time in history. All these characters in Ukrainian politics are straight out of central casting. It’s a country that’s like the Wild West. Odessa is a city of bounders and soldiers of fortune trying to get paid in whatever currency they want: recognition, TV interviews, kompromat, fame. There’s a cast of international characters — perhaps including myself — who have wound up here in the last 10 years, people like Rick Perry, Rudy Guiliani, Hunter Biden, Mikheil Saakashvili, Paul Manafort. They all come here looking for something. My book is full of characters who also come to Odessa to engage in adventures. [French-Jewish philosopher] Bernard Henri-Levy, Michel Onfray, [Russian-French performance artist] Petr Pavlensky, [Belarusian-Ukrianian Nobel-Prize winning author] Svetlana Alekseevich… Odessa has been a staging ground for the adventures for all sorts of people.

Isn’t there something ironic about the West rallying for a place that is so complex and, in your words, wild — a place that’s freer in the best but also the worst ways possible?

In many ways, the West really is decadent and rotted through with an officious corruption. It’s packaged differently, but there’s division and a lack of values that’s created a crisis in the West. The economic insecurity of the last years, increasing secularism, the end of the social compact, the wars. This all leads to a crisis of values — which also leads to cultural wars — much of which is very tedious and boring and unpleasant and divisive.

The reason that the entire world is holding its breath watching this is because Ukraine is so remarkable. There’s cohesion, there’s valor, there’s piety, there’s resilience, there are simple values, like the nation standing together. There’s no crisis of values here. Ukrainians are, in many ways, healthier as a people than Western Europeans and Americans.

How does Zelensky fit into this landscape?

He’s a president who’s a kind of Pinocchio. He came to power not unlike Trump — an entertainer who used his populist charisma to be elected — but instead of being divisive, he uses his talents to unite people and becomes an incredibly inclusive leader. So he steps out of the television and begins to lead the country. Then the war starts and he knows he’s going to die. They’ve already sent three hit squads to kill him. And he’s on television making these pitch-perfect speeches. He knows he’s going to die so he decides to become the real thing.

What is there to hope for?

A quick victory for the Ukrainian troops. Enough MiGs to make the skies safe from Russian planes. Either a coup d’etat in Russia or a massive uprising once they see how many Russian boys were sent to die in Ukraine.

What are your feelings in the meantime?

I’m mostly feeling frustration. And rage. I spoke to my aunt and she said that when they bomb Odessa, she would cry in the same way she cries every time there’s an acqua alta in Venice that floods and destroys all its beautiful mosaics.

The post Why Vlad bombs the very same people he claims to liberate... captured from The Drudge Report above the fold, article 2 on 3/13/2022 1:00:19 PM UTC.

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PUTIN NUKE FEARS GROW

2022-03-13T13:00:19Z

Putin is 'crazy enough' to use nuclear weapons and could 'destroy world'

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Vladimir Putin will ‘destroy the world’ if he is left unchecked and is ‘crazy enough’ to use nukes, a Russian opposition politician has warned.

Leonid Volkov, the former chief of staff for Alexei Navalny’s 2018 presidential bid, said ‘We can expect unfortunately everything’ from the Russian President.

And his fears have been echoed by Poland’s premier, Andrzej Duda, who believes Putin could use ‘anything’ right now.

Mr Volkov told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme an ‘enormous cost’ must be paid to stop the war.

‘There are all the sanctions, of course, they also create a burden on the European economy that is quite clear.

‘But this cost has to be paid because otherwise Putin will just destroy the world.

‘He is clearly not winning the war against Ukraine and he might think about other solutions, more powerful weapons, more powerful solutions to change the course of this war which is now not so successful for him.’

And he described the war as ‘enormously painful’, adding: ‘This is Putin’s war, not my war. This is not our war, not in our name. He is doing it. Not in our name.’

Meanwhile President Duda told the BBC’s Sunday Morning show Putin has lost the war ‘politically’ and is not winning ‘militarily’.

‘If you’re asking can Putin use chemical weapons, I think that Putin can use anything right now, especially because he’s in a very difficult situation.’

The Polish leader conceded the Russian army has a ‘crushing, overwhelming majority’ over Ukraine – but insisted ‘they are not able to win the war’ – as President Voldymyr Zelensky vowed to never give up the fight.

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Ukraine capital Kyiv is bracing itself for a long-feared all-out attack from Putin’s forces – as at least 35 perished in a bombardment close to the Polish border.

Moscow is doubling down on its invasion as the Kremlin enlisted up 16,000 volunteer fighters from the Middle East, including Syria, to aid his attack.

Putin’s troops are said to be suffering from low morale with many running low on food and fuel supplies – as Mr Zelensky said up to 600 Russian soldiers surrendered on Friday.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, the country has suffered widespread damages and loss of life amid a major bombing campaign.

Millions of Ukrainian refugees have fled, as cities face shortages of food, water, heat, and medicine - with the British public set to be asked to open their homes to Ukrainian refugees.

Countries have retaliated by imposing sanctions on Russia and oligarchs such as Roman Abramovich, while large companies like Disney, Starbucks, McDonald's, and Coca-Cola have suspended business in the country.

However, despite these economic blows, Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn't shown any signs of calling off the attack anytime soon, with a convoy moving closer to the capital Kyiv.

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said Putin was operating according to a ‘set of criteria totally detached from those which you or I would consider to be reasonable or rational’.

He is ‘pursuing a conflict which he believes he has to win,’ Mr Gove told Sophy Ridge on Sunday, adding: ‘We have to make sure that he loses.’

When quizzed over whether the UK Government is concerned he could use nuclear weapons, he said: ‘There are people who are even now calibrating what our response should be to that – the defence, security and intelligence experts in our own country and elsewhere.’

Mr Gove suggested it was not helpful to think of Putin as ‘mad’, but conceded he is someone whose ‘ruthlessness takes them into a moral sphere that the rest of us would find almost impossible to conceive of.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.For more stories like this, check our news page.

Not convinced? Find out more »

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DISNEY CEO Tried to Avoid Politics, Now Finds Himself in Middle...

2022-03-13T12:00:18Z

Disney CEO Tried to Avoid Politics, Now Finds Himself in Middle of Partisan Spat

On Monday, Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Chapek said he didn’t want to wade into politics. He finished the week pledging to crusade against anti-LGBTQ legislation across the country and in a public fight with the governor of the state that houses his company’s most famous asset.

Mr. Chapek on Friday took the most drastic step yet in trying to quell anger over Disney’s response to a Florida bill known by opponents as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, saying the company was pausing all political giving in the state and boosting efforts to fight similar legislation in other parts of the country.

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Shanghai tightened...

2022-03-13T12:00:18Z

China's virus cases rise, access to Shanghai tightened

The number of new daily coronavirus cases in an outbreak in China’s northeast has more than tripled

Preparing for the ‘next normal’ 2 years into the pandemic

BEIJING -- The number of new coronavirus cases in an outbreak in China’s northeast tripled Sunday and authorities stepped up anti-disease controls by suspending bus service to Shanghai and ordering residents of another city to stay at home.

The case numbers in China’s latest surge of infections are low compared with some other countries. But authorities are enforcing a “zero tolerance” strategy that temporarily shuts down cities to isolate every infected person despite a rising economic cost.

The government reported 1,938 new cases on China’s mainland in the 24 hours through midnight Saturday, more than triple the previous day’s total.

About three-quarters, or 1,412 cases, were in Jilin province in the northeast, where access to the industrial metropolis of Changchun was suspended on Friday and families were told to stay home after a spate of infections.

In Hong Kong, the territory’s government reported 15,789 new cases, down by almost half from Saturday’s total.

The territory’s leader, Chief Executive Carrie Lam, warned Saturday the peak of the latest infection surge might not be past yet.

China, where the first coronavirus cases were detected in late 2019 in the central city of Wuhan, has reported a total of 4,636 deaths on the mainland since the pandemic started out of 115,466 confirmed cases.

On Sunday, 831 new cases were reported in Changchun, 571 in the nearby provincial capital city of Jilin, 150 in the eastern port city of Qingdao and 60 in Shenzhen, a business center adjacent to Hong Kong.

Authorities in Jilin are stepping up anti-disease measures after concluding their earlier response was inadequate, according to Zhang Yan, deputy director of the provincial Health Commission.

“The emergency response mechanism in some areas is not sound enough,” Zhang said at a news conference, according to a transcript released by the government.

In Shanghai, China’s most populous city with 24 million people, the number of cases in the latest surge rose by 15 to 432.

The city government called on the public not to leave unless necessary. It said inter-city bus service would be suspended starting on Sunday.

“Those who come or return to Shanghai must have a negative nucleic acid test report within 48 hours before arrival,” said a city health agency statement.

Also Sunday, some residents of Cangzhou, south of Beijing, were told to stay home after nine cases were reported, according to a government notice. It wasn’t clear how many of its 7.3 million people were affected.

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Worst Covid Outbreak in China Since Feb. 2020...

2022-03-13T12:00:18Z

China battles worst Covid outbreak for two years as cases double in 24 hours

China reported nearly 3,400 daily Covid-19 cases on Sunday, double the previous day, forcing lockdowns on virus hotspots as the country contends with its gravest outbreak in two years.

A nationwide surge in cases has seen authorities close schools in Shanghai and lock down several north-eastern cities, as almost 19 provinces battle clusters of the Omicron and Delta variants.

The city of Jilin has been partially locked down, with hundreds of neighbourhoods sealed up, an official announced Sunday, while Yanji, an urban area of nearly 700,000 bordering North Korea, was fully closed off.

China, where the virus was first detected in late 2019, has maintained a strict zero-Covid policy enforced by swift lockdowns, travel restrictions and mass testing when clusters have emerged.

But the latest flare-up, driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant and a spike in asymptomatic cases, is challenging that approach.

Zhang Yan, an official with the Jilin provincial health commission, admitted on Sunday that local authorities’ virus response so far had been lacking.

“The emergency response mechanism in some areas is not robust enough, there is insufficient understanding of the characteristics of the Omicron variant … and judgment has been inaccurate,” he said at a government press briefing.

Residents of Jilin have completed six rounds of mass testing, local officials said. On Sunday the city reported more than 500 cases of the Omicron variant.

The neighbouring city of Changchun – an industrial base of nine million people – was locked down on Friday.

The smaller cities of Siping and Dunhua, both in Jilin province, were locked down Thursday and Friday, according to official announcements.

The mayor of Jilin and the head of the Changchun health commission were dismissed from their jobs Saturday, state media reported, in a sign of the political imperative placed on local authorities to squash virus clusters.

But fatigue with the strict approach has been showing in China, with officials increasingly urging softer and more targeted measures to contain the virus, while economists warn that tough clampdowns are hurting the economy.

As cases have climbed since late February, the response in different parts of the country has been generally softer and more targeted compared to December, when the city of Xi’an and its 13 million people were locked down for two weeks.

In China’s biggest city, Shanghai, authorities have increasingly moved to temporarily lock down individual schools, businesses, restaurants and malls over close-contact fears rather than mass quarantines.

Long lines have been seen outside hospitals in the city as people rush to obtain a negative Covid test.

As cases rise, the country’s national health commission announced Friday that they would introduce the use of rapid antigen tests.

The kits will now be available online or at pharmacies for clinics and ordinary citizens to buy for “self-testing”, the health commission said.

Although nucleic acid tests will continue to be the main method of testing, the move suggests China may be anticipating that official efforts will not be able to contain the virus.

Last week, a top Chinese scientist said the country should aim to coexist with the virus, like other nations, where Omicron has spread like wildfire.

But the government has also made clear that mass lockdowns remain an option.

Chinese vice-premier Sun Chunlan, who frequently telegraphs top-level thinking on the pandemic response, on Saturday urged regions to quickly pounce on and clear outbreaks.

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At Estonian NATO base, troops prepare for next move...

2022-03-13T12:00:18Z

‘Rest now, while we can.’ At Estonian NATO base, troops prepare for Putin’s next move

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TAPA, Estonia — At NATO’s Tapa military base in central Estonia, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked a heightened sense of purpose among the troops.

On a recent weekday, and despite heavy snow, there were plenty of signs of activity in and around the frontline camp — just 160 kilometers from the Russian border — as soldiers wondered what Russian President Vladimir Putin’s future plans might be.

In the town of Tapa, north of the base, armed Estonian conscripts practiced street patrols, methodically checking side roads for would-be invaders. Closer to the main camp, a civilian police vehicle skidded to a halt to block oncoming traffic before a convoy of eight hulking military trucks came barrelling along on a training exercise. Armored vehicles could also be seen tracking the edge of a forest further off-road.

Inside the camp, Colonel Andrus Merilo, who as head of Estonia’s first infantry brigade functions as base commander, said Moscow’s decision to launch a full-scale invasion of one of its neighbors had focussed people’s minds on the task at hand here: national defense and the potential threat Russia could pose toward Estonia.

“Vigilance is the key thing,” he said. “We must exercise it now, so we don’t miss any indications that the threat will be directed towards Estonia.”

He said his troops had long prepared for such a scenario based on lessons from Estonia’s history — it was occupied by the Soviet Union for 48 years — and Russia’s aggression against its neighbors over recent years.

“Our system is built so that we have already foreseen this situation,” Merilo said. “Ukraine is currently under the Russian invasion, but we have prepared for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and all the Baltic Sea region to face the same kind of military incursion.”

Indeed, Baltic leaders have been flagging the risk of Russian aggression in the region since at least 2008, when Russia invaded Georgia.

Former Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, now a European commissioner, said this week that Putin would likely target the Baltic states to expand his country’s access to the Baltic Sea, if he achieves his military aims in Ukraine.

Baltic leaders have called for NATO troops to be stationed at bases such as Tapa on a permanent basis, but for now they remain on a system of permanent rotation.

Outside Merilo’s office, on the edge of the parade ground, British troops could be seen shouldering what looked like a batch of new rocket launchers, testing the sights and getting the feel of the kit.

The flags of NATO, Estonia, the U.K., the EU, France and Denmark — all of which have troops here — flapped atop poles above their heads.

Across the parade ground, at the camp headquarters of the British Royal Tank Regiment Battlegroup, Lieutenant Colonel Simon Worth, the commanding officer, suggested that if his troops had ever wondered why they had been posted to rural Estonia, Russia’s renewed attack on Ukraine had definitively answered that question.

“Right now, the strategic context and the continuous news feed that they see means that there is no explanation necessary about why this is so important,” he said. “A sense of purpose is an amazing thing.”

In a storage facility down a rutted road from Worth’s office, a motor roared and a crane lifted an engine into an armored vehicle while engineers called instructions to each other.

A British Challenger 2 tank parked outside stood ready for its next training exercise. The tank commander in charge of it said he felt his soldiers had put their months in Estonia — his battlegroup arrived in Tapa last September — to good use learning how to operate the vehicle in soggier, more densely forested and colder conditions than they had been used to.

Temperatures here fell to minus 26 degrees in December, forcing the battlegroup to quickly adapt its approach, commanding officer Worth said.

“Just living in that [environment] is challenging, so fighting in it is even harder,” he said.

A precursor to the Tapa base was built by the Soviet Red Army during its occupation of Estonia, which lasted between 1940 and 1941 and again between 1944 and 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed.

The departure of the Soviet forces took several years and camp commander Merilo — who enlisted in 1992 — said that his first job as a conscript was to guard an Estonian base in case the Russians decided to attack rather than withdraw.

Along with the other two Baltic states, Estonia joined the EU and NATO in 2004, cementing its position among Western nations.

Since then, bases like Tapa and Adazi in Latvia have been modernized and expanded, but Baltic concerns that Russian forces could return have never gone away.

After Russia invaded Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014, the Baltics called on NATO to deploy troops across its eastern edges. In 2016, at a summit in Warsaw, NATO leaders decided to rotate troops permanently through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

Now, Baltic leaders say NATO troops should be stationed here permanently with more and better equipment as they fear Putin’s ultimate goal lies beyond seizing power in Ukraine.

Merilo said he believes taking Ukraine is only “an intermediate goal” for Putin and that NATO needs to be prepared for him to go further.

Merilo said he sleeps well, but not because he believes trouble isn’t coming.

“What we prepared for for decades is now happening, there is nothing more to wonder about,” he said. “We should get our rest now, while we can.”

The post At Estonian NATO base, troops prepare for next move... captured from The Drudge Report above the fold, article 11 on 3/13/2022 12:00:18 PM UTC.

site_name: politico

host: www.politico.eu

url: https://www.politico.eu/article/estonia-nato-base-troop-vladimir-putin-next-move/

captured: 3/13/2022 12:00:18 PM UTC

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Hollywood military gear sent for real-life use...

2022-03-13T12:00:18Z

US veteran ships Hollywood military gear for real-life use in Ukraine

Jon Barton spent his days reading scripts, advising costuming departments and thinking through fight choreography for top military movies.

The retired US marine took his expertise after four tours in the Middle East to Hollywood, consulting and providing military equipment to film sets – a mission to help the entertainment industry better depict military life.

Until late February, when Russia’s President Vladamir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine.

Duty called again, Barton said.

Barton, owner of Night-Fire Media, a military consulting and rental company, is sending most of his company’s tactical gear to Ukrainians fighting Russian troops – backing a David-versus-Goliath fight for democracy that has the whole world watching.

“There is this inherent belief that something is wrong,” he said. “And if you’re someone who’s been trained to fight wrong and to stand up in the face of evil, you inherently get drawn into it.”

Earlier this week, Barton hurried around the Ukrainian Orthodox church in Echo Park, balancing two cellphones and juggling boxes of rifle slings, boots and camouflage uniforms. The supplies were to be boxed and flown to the border between Ukraine and Poland and distributed by volunteers. He said he hadn’t slept for two days.

“It’s super cold, so imagine fighting in those conditions,” Alex Dubov, a professor at Loma Linda University, who has family in Ukraine, said outside the church. “The boots that Jon was just bringing in is like, sent by heaven.”

Barton is not sending weapons or ammo – by law, he can’t – but this is crucial gear civilians often forget, he said. Many are everyday Ukrainians suddenly facing relentless shelling.

He’s donating about 80% of his inventory, including about 620 uniforms of various camouflage colors, 118 boots of different vintage and 300 pairs of gloves.

“Sometimes we forget the details – the slings, the canteens, the belts, the shoelaces. All that’s important,” Barton said.

The idea emerged after a friend asked if he had extra camouflage uniforms. Barton had already been stirred by an image of young Ukrainian men, clad in knee pads to fight Russian troops, and videos of Russians firing at the press.

“I said hold on, not just that, could you guys use knee pads? Could you guys use belts?” he said. “I have tactical gear, and I have it by the bucket-full.”

Barton was soon heading to Ventura county, where his company houses its inventory of gear from military base stores and third-party contractors, including phased-out colors and equipment for each branch of the military.

“My neighbors kept coming by like, ‘Are you planning for war?’ I’m like, ‘I’m giving it to Ukraine.’ They flipped out,” Barton said.

Barton has made a living advising Hollywood since he first worked as a set extra and realized the uniforms weren’t authentic. He’s worked with actors including Aaron Eckhart and Chris Hemsworth, and his credits include NCIS and Criminal Minds.

“When you’ve got a character using weapons … you want them to have adequate training, and the really important thing that Jon brings to table is that he understands it’s not the military – these actors are playing a role and you can’t treat each one the same way,” said producer Gale Ann Hurd, who first met Barton on the set of Punisher: War Zone.

It’s not about putting a gun in someone’s hand, he said – it’s about authentically bridging fantasy and reality.

“You could tune in Friday night at 9pm and watch JAG, but it didn’t look like CBS News at 7. What fantasy world are you living in?” he said.

Now, fantasy and reality are colliding again, and the threat of world war, or nuclear fallout, usually reserved for the big screen, feels close to home, he said.

“A lot of people don’t get too scared about this, but the marine in me used to sit through classified briefings and seeing satellite imagery,” he said.

There’s a part of him, too, that wishes he were there.

“My kneejerk reaction is always, let’s go in there, kick some ass,” Barton said. “And then I think about it and [realize], we can’t do that because this and this, and then the politics come into play and I totally get that.”

He also knows his involvement isn’t without professional risk. Barton has noticed some clients aren’t returning his phone calls.

“I’m less desirable to be hired on to a show where they try to take an apolitical stance, even though I’m not doing anything political,” he said. “I’m just trying to help humans.”

Still, Barton hopes larger film studios will follow his lead and donate their fleet of gear.

“Some of these prop companies have acres and acres of equipment, especially just uniforms and boots, something that we wouldn’t even bat an eye at in the film industry,” he said. “Oh, it’s just costumes.”

They say costumes, he said. “I say uniforms.”

The post Hollywood military gear sent for real-life use... captured from The Drudge Report above the fold, article 9 on 3/13/2022 12:00:18 PM UTC.

site_name: the guardian

host: www.theguardian.com

url: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/13/us-veteran-ships-film-set-military-equipment-ukraine

captured: 3/13/2022 12:00:18 PM UTC

hash: c320cc108fe3afbe38013e23c43999b1

location: above the fold, article 9

STRIKES CLOSE TO NATO BORDER

2022-03-13T12:00:18Z

Putin's forces strike military base just 12 MILES from Nato border

Explosions have been heard on the outskirts of the western Ukrainian city of Lviv after Russian forces launched an attack on a military base just 12 miles from the Polish border, killing at least nine people and injuring dozens more.

According to Ukrainian sources, Vladimir Putin's forces had launched a missile strike on the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security, also known as Yavoriv military complex, just before 6am this morning.

Initial reports suggested the base had been targeted by eight missiles, but Maksym Kozytskyi, Governor of the region later confirmed 30 cruise missiles had been fired, killing 35 people and injuring 134.

The base has previously been used to host Nato drills and housed foreign military instructors, but Nato has said none of its personnel were on the base at the time.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov renewed calls for a 'no-fly zone' over the country following the attack.'Russia has attacked the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security near Lviv,' he wrote on Twitter.

'Foreign instructors work here. Information about the victims is being clarified. This is new terrorist attack on peace and security near the EU-NATO border. Action must be taken to stop this. Close the sky!'

Lviv's mayor said the missiles used in the attack are thought to have been fired by Russian planes located over the Black Sea, which had in turn flown out of the southern Russian city of Saratov.

Ukraine's Air Force Command West said on Facebook two cruise missiles were destroyed by air defence systems.

Michael Gove called the rocket attack a 'significant escalation', adding that Putin was 'pushing the boundaries'.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: 'We know that Vladimir Putin has no moral limits when it comes to the actions he's willing to take and he's pushing the boundaries in military terms.

'We've already seen the abuse of humanitarian corridors. The Russians say on the one hand they are allowed to leave but when they seek to leave they are then killed and bombed.'

Military base in Yavoriv completely destroyed after missile strikes

People are evacuated from Irpin as Russian forces advance

Russian video claims to show troops taking control of Hostomel airport

VP Harris talks at DNC: 'Unity with allies is key for democracy'

Ukrainian village completely destroyed in Russian air raids

Bill Maher comes out in favor of Florida's Don't Say Gay bill

Emergency units attend building shattered by airstrike in Chernihiv

Zelensky's team grab a coffee in Kyiv: 'Beautiful even in wartime'

Prisoner claims Putin 'does not trust' his own army

Ukraine: Dramatic footage shows Russian assault on Mariupol

Ukraine: Air raid sirens echo throughout city of Vinnytsia

Damage on streets of Iraq after ballistic missiles strike capital

Military base in Yavoriv completely destroyed after missile strikes

People are evacuated from Irpin as Russian forces advance

Russian video claims to show troops taking control of Hostomel airport

VP Harris talks at DNC: 'Unity with allies is key for democracy'

Ukrainian village completely destroyed in Russian air raids

Bill Maher comes out in favor of Florida's Don't Say Gay bill

Emergency units attend building shattered by airstrike in Chernihiv

Zelensky's team grab a coffee in Kyiv: 'Beautiful even in wartime'

Prisoner claims Putin 'does not trust' his own army

Ukraine: Dramatic footage shows Russian assault on Mariupol

Ukraine: Air raid sirens echo throughout city of Vinnytsia

Damage on streets of Iraq after ballistic missiles strike capital

This photo reportedly shows smoke and damage at the Yavoriv training area that was targeted by Russian forces this morning

A wounded soldier arrives at Novoiavorisk District Hospital close to the facility after the attack on the base which is just 12 miles from the Polish border

Ukraine says 134 people have been wounded in the attack on the base, which is located between Lviv and the border with Poland. Pictured above is a young man thought to have been hurt in the attack

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov called it a 'new terrorist attack on peace and security near the EU-NATO border' and called for a no-fly zone to be put in place

Military base in Yavoriv completely destroyed after missile strikes

People are evacuated from Irpin as Russian forces advance

Russian video claims to show troops taking control of Hostomel airport

VP Harris talks at DNC: 'Unity with allies is key for democracy'

Ukrainian village completely destroyed in Russian air raids

Bill Maher comes out in favor of Florida's Don't Say Gay bill

Emergency units attend building shattered by airstrike in Chernihiv

Zelensky's team grab a coffee in Kyiv: 'Beautiful even in wartime'

Prisoner claims Putin 'does not trust' his own army

Ukraine: Dramatic footage shows Russian assault on Mariupol

Ukraine: Air raid sirens echo throughout city of Vinnytsia

Damage on streets of Iraq after ballistic missiles strike capital

Photos emerging from the air base show the facility in ruins, with wounded service personnel being attended to by medics.

Mr Kozytskyi said the strike had demolished a large part of a vault on the site, with emergency crews dealing with the aftermath, and urged anyone who can to help doctors at the hospital by providing equipment.

He said: 'On behalf of the whole Lviv region, I express my sincere condolences to the families of the deceased. We will not forget any Hero and will not forgive any occupant!

This morning there were reports on social media that explosions could be seen and heard from the outskirts of Lviv nearly 30 miles away.

The city has been a haven for refugees in recent weeks, with hundreds of thousands going through as they travelled west toward Poland and other EU countries.

During the night air raid sirens went off in the city, which is home to more than 700,000 people and has been largely spared the violence seen in other major settlements such as Kyiv, Mariupol and Kharkiv.

Paramedics transfer a wounded man into Novoiavorivsk District Hospital following the attack. Oleksii Reznikov, the Ukraine Defence Minister, called the strike a 'terrorist attack'

Medical staff assist a wounded man arriving from the base to the hospital. the missiles in the attack are thought to have been fired from over the Black Sea by Russian fighter jets

Maksym Kozytskyi, mayor of Lviv, said strike had demolished a large part of a vault on the site, with emergency crews dealing with the aftermath, and urged anyone who can to help doctors at the hospital by providing equipment. Pictured is a patient being transferred into the hospital

Ambulances seen travelling to and from the military facility early on Sunday morning following the Russian attack on the site which is miles from the border with Poland

Military base in Yavoriv completely destroyed after missile strikes

People are evacuated from Irpin as Russian forces advance

Russian video claims to show troops taking control of Hostomel airport

VP Harris talks at DNC: 'Unity with allies is key for democracy'

Ukrainian village completely destroyed in Russian air raids

Bill Maher comes out in favor of Florida's Don't Say Gay bill

Emergency units attend building shattered by airstrike in Chernihiv

Zelensky's team grab a coffee in Kyiv: 'Beautiful even in wartime'

Prisoner claims Putin 'does not trust' his own army

Ukraine: Dramatic footage shows Russian assault on Mariupol

Ukraine: Air raid sirens echo throughout city of Vinnytsia

Damage on streets of Iraq after ballistic missiles strike capital

Meanwhile an Associated Press journalist in Mariupol witnessed tanks firing on a nine-story apartment building and was with a group of hospital workers who came under sniper fire on Friday.

A worker shot in the hip survived, but conditions in the hospital were deteriorating, with electricity reserved for operating tables, and people with nowhere else to go lined the hallways.

In the northern city of Chernihiv, less than 80 miles from Kyiv, emergency crews have been dealing with the damage caused by Russian bombs.

Dramatic video shows firefighters in the city trying to put out a burning housing block, which is alleged to have caught alight when it was hit by a bomb.

A doctor assists a wounded soldier following the attack on the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security this morning

The attack took place 30 miles from the city of Lviv, which had until recently been free of the violence that has plagued the rest of the country

Military base in Yavoriv completely destroyed after missile strikes

People are evacuated from Irpin as Russian forces advance

Russian video claims to show troops taking control of Hostomel airport

VP Harris talks at DNC: 'Unity with allies is key for democracy'

Ukrainian village completely destroyed in Russian air raids

Bill Maher comes out in favor of Florida's Don't Say Gay bill

Emergency units attend building shattered by airstrike in Chernihiv

Zelensky's team grab a coffee in Kyiv: 'Beautiful even in wartime'

Prisoner claims Putin 'does not trust' his own army

Ukraine: Dramatic footage shows Russian assault on Mariupol

Ukraine: Air raid sirens echo throughout city of Vinnytsia

Damage on streets of Iraq after ballistic missiles strike capital

Military base in Yavoriv completely destroyed after missile strikes

People are evacuated from Irpin as Russian forces advance

Russian video claims to show troops taking control of Hostomel airport

VP Harris talks at DNC: 'Unity with allies is key for democracy'

Ukrainian village completely destroyed in Russian air raids

Bill Maher comes out in favor of Florida's Don't Say Gay bill

Emergency units attend building shattered by airstrike in Chernihiv

Zelensky's team grab a coffee in Kyiv: 'Beautiful even in wartime'

Prisoner claims Putin 'does not trust' his own army

Ukraine: Dramatic footage shows Russian assault on Mariupol

Ukraine: Air raid sirens echo throughout city of Vinnytsia

Damage on streets of Iraq after ballistic missiles strike capital

Another video from the city shows an unexploded bomb being lifted out of another building in the city, with the State Emergency Service of Ukraine saying three OFAB-500 air bombs have been removed from residential buildings in on day.

According to the manufacturer, these bombs which have been found in civilian areas are designed to 'destroy military industrial facilities, light-armoured and soft-skin targets, railway junctions and military fortifications'.

And Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs in Ukraine, said another mayor had been abducted by Russian forces.

He said Yevhen Matveyev, the mayor of Dniprorudne in southern Ukraine, was taken days after Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of the nearby city of Melitopol, was also kidnapped.

Mr Kuleba tweeted: 'Today, Russian war criminals abducted another democratically elected Ukrainian mayor, head of Dniprorudne Yevhen Matveyev. Getting zero local support, invaders turn to terror. I call on all states & international organizations to stop Russian terror against Ukraine and democracy.'

In other developments:

The attack took place near the city of Lviv, which has become a safe haven for refugee looking to flee the conflict. Thousands have boarded trains in the city heading for Poland and other EU countries

Polish president Andrez Duda has told the BBC he fears Russia could use chemical weapons in an effort to break the deadlock.

Speaking on Sunday Morning with Sophie Raworth, he said: 'Actually, politically, he has already lost his war and internally he is not winning it', adding that if Putin uses these types of weapons Nato will have to consider its next move.

However, he added that he thought putting a no-fly zon in place would mean 'the opening of a third world war'.

Also speaking on Sunday morning, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he was focusing on the situation in Ukraine, instead of calls for Boris Johnson to resign as Prime Minister following recent scandal.

Talking to Sky News' Sophy Ridge, he said: 'I haven't changed my mind on Boris Johnson. I think he has lost the moral authority to lead. I don't think he is fit to be our Prime Minister.

'I can't force him to resign. Only Tory MPs can do that. But I have to say that just at the moment, my total focus is on the Ukraine and what we have to do in response to the Russian aggression there.

'I think everybody will understand that my focus is on that vital issue just at the moment.'

Meanwhile, Michael Gove, the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary, said more than 3,000 UK visas have been issued to fleeing Ukrainians.

Yesterday it was confirmed Russian forces have 'completely destroyed' the eastern Ukrainian town of Volnovakha following a days-long bombing campaign - but fighting continues for territory there to prevent a Russian encirclement as citizens refuse to accept Moscow's rule.

Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko confirmed the town had been destroyed late on Saturday, saying that Volnovakha 'no longer exists' after Moscow's 'war of annihilation' that has left the smouldering remains of the town 'in the hands of Russian-backed separatists'.

Images and videos posted on social media showed Russian forces, complete with the tell-tale Z markings on their vehicles, entering the burnt out town that now primarily consists of rubble.

Moscow's troops continue to use indiscriminate shelling to encircle key Ukrainian cities and are said to be bearing down on Kyiv for an 'all-out assault' in the coming days.

Satellite images taken on Saturday morning showed extensive damage to civilian infrastructure and residential buildings throughout the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, a private US company said.

Maxar Technologies said fires were seen in the western section of the Black Sea port city and dozens of high-rise apartment buildings had been severely damaged.

Vladimir Putin's forces have 'completely destroyed' the eastern Ukrainian town of Volnovakha following a days-long bombing campaign

A woman walks past a destroyed tank in the Ukrainian town of Volnovakha after it was 'completely destroyed' by a sustained days-long Russian bombing campaign

A pro-Russian soldier in a uniform without insignia speaks with employees in the Emergencies ministry's office in Volnovakha in the Donetsk region on Saturday, after the town was decimated in a days-long bombing campaign

Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of shooting children and said Putin's forces will only take Kyiv if they 'raze the city to the ground', with Kremlin troops inching closer to the capital and conflict raging nearby on Saturday, endangering attempted evacuations.

And Vlodymyr Zelensky has slammed the West for its inaction, saying on Saturday that he 'doesn't see any bravery from NATO' as he pleaded for more involvement from allies in peace negotiations and offered to pay for more anti-missile systems.

In response, the US made lukewarm promises of taking 'diplomatic steps' to help the Ukrainian government.

Vladimir Putin's forces have 'completely destroyed' the eastern Ukrainian town of Volnovakha, including this church, following a days-long bombing campaign

Fighting in Volnovakha continues for territory there to prevent a Russian encirclement as citizens refuse to accept Moscow's rule

People gather in the basement of a local hospital, which was damaged during a bombing campaign by Moscow as part of the Russian-waged war on Ukraine

Pro-Russian troops in uniforms without insignia drive a damaged car without a windshield while patrolling a street in Volnovakha in the Donetsk region on Ukraine on Saturday

A view shows local residents' belongings in the basement of a local hospital, which was damaged during Russian shelling of Volnovakha, a town that 'no longer exists' after the bombing campaign

Civilians have been seeking refuge in basements in Volnovakha, Ukraine's Donetsk area, for more than two weeks, hiding from a Russian bombardment that has destroyed their hometown

Pro-Russian troops in uniforms without insignia are seen atop of armoured vehicles as they enter the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region on Saturday

Images and videos posted on social media showed Russian forces, complete with the tell-tale Z markings on their vehicles, entering the burnt out town that now primarily consists of rubble

Military base in Yavoriv completely destroyed after missile strikes

People are evacuated from Irpin as Russian forces advance

Russian video claims to show troops taking control of Hostomel airport

VP Harris talks at DNC: 'Unity with allies is key for democracy'

Ukrainian village completely destroyed in Russian air raids

Bill Maher comes out in favor of Florida's Don't Say Gay bill

Emergency units attend building shattered by airstrike in Chernihiv

Zelensky's team grab a coffee in Kyiv: 'Beautiful even in wartime'

Prisoner claims Putin 'does not trust' his own army

Ukraine: Dramatic footage shows Russian assault on Mariupol

Ukraine: Air raid sirens echo throughout city of Vinnytsia

Damage on streets of Iraq after ballistic missiles strike capital

Moscow's troops continue to use indiscriminate shelling to encircle key Ukrainian cities and are said to be bearing down on Kyiv for an 'all-out assault' in the coming days

Images and videos posted on social media showed Russian forces, complete with the tell-tale Z markings on their vehicles, entering the burnt out town that now primarily consists of rubble

A burnt-out car sits amidst the rubble in Volnovakha after the town endured a days-long bombing campaign that 'completely destroyed' it

Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko confirmed the town had been destroyed late on Sunday, saying that Volnovakha 'no longer exists' after Moscow's 'war of annihilation' that has left the smouldering remains of the town 'in the hands of Russian-backed separatists' (pictured patrolling the streets of Volnovakha)

Residents of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region of Ukraine carry food and water supplies back to their homes after the town was 'destroyed' by Russian shelling

Military base in Yavoriv completely destroyed after missile strikes

People are evacuated from Irpin as Russian forces advance

Air raid sirens echo through Lviv after multiple explosions reported

Russian video claims to show troops taking control of Hostomel airport

VP Harris talks at DNC: 'Unity with allies is key for democracy'

Ukrainian village completely destroyed in Russian air raids

Bill Maher comes out in favor of Florida's Don't Say Gay bill

Zelensky's team grab a coffee in Kyiv: 'Beautiful even in wartime'

Prisoner claims Putin 'does not trust' his own army

Ukraine: Dramatic footage shows Russian assault on Mariupol

Ukraine: Air raid sirens echo throughout city of Vinnytsia

Damage on streets of Iraq after ballistic missiles strike capital

Residents of the 'completely destroyed' town Volnovakha in the Donetsk region warm themselves with a makeshift fire and boil a kettle after their homes were reduced to rubble by Russian shelling

A pro-Russian soldier in a uniforms without insignia seen atop of armoured vehicles as they enter the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region on Saturday

Images and videos posted on social media showed Russian forces, complete with the tell-tale Z markings on their vehicles, entering the burnt out town that now primarily consists of rubble

Military base in Yavoriv completely destroyed after missile strikes

People are evacuated from Irpin as Russian forces advance

Air raid sirens echo through Lviv after multiple explosions reported

Russian video claims to show troops taking control of Hostomel airport

VP Harris talks at DNC: 'Unity with allies is key for democracy'

Ukrainian village completely destroyed in Russian air raids

Bill Maher comes out in favor of Florida's Don't Say Gay bill

Zelensky's team grab a coffee in Kyiv: 'Beautiful even in wartime'

Prisoner claims Putin 'does not trust' his own army

Ukraine: Dramatic footage shows Russian assault on Mariupol

Ukraine: Air raid sirens echo throughout city of Vinnytsia

Damage on streets of Iraq after ballistic missiles strike capital

Military base in Yavoriv completely destroyed after missile strikes

People are evacuated from Irpin as Russian forces advance

Air raid sirens echo through Lviv after multiple explosions reported

Russian video claims to show troops taking control of Hostomel airport

VP Harris talks at DNC: 'Unity with allies is key for democracy'

Ukrainian village completely destroyed in Russian air raids

Bill Maher comes out in favor of Florida's Don't Say Gay bill

Zelensky's team grab a coffee in Kyiv: 'Beautiful even in wartime'

Prisoner claims Putin 'does not trust' his own army

Ukraine: Dramatic footage shows Russian assault on Mariupol

Ukraine: Air raid sirens echo throughout city of Vinnytsia

Damage on streets of Iraq after ballistic missiles strike capital

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As this tally of misery increases over the coming days and months, these innocent victims of a tyrant will require accommodation, schools and medical support.

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Zelensky, who claimed 1,300 Ukrainian troops have been killed so far and 500 Russians surrendered yesterday, added: 'If they decide to carpet bomb (Kyiv), and simply erase the history of this region, the history of the Kyivan Rus, the history of Europe, and destroy all of us, then they will enter Kyiv.

'If that's their goal, let them come in, but they will have to live on this land by themselves.'

But there appear to be signs of slight progress in negotiations, with Zelensky saying the warring countries have begun discussing 'concrete' proposals rather than just 'exchanging ultimatums', although he said any negotiations must begin with a ceasefire.

The conciliatory tone was not resonating in the Kremlin though, with Putin raging after a 75-minute call with Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz that Ukraine was guilty of 'extrajudicial reprisals against dissidents, taking civilians hostage, using them as human shields, [and] putting heavy armaments in civilian areas near hospitals, schools, kindergartens'.

Scholz and Macron implored Putin to end the war and stop the brutal siege of Mariupol but a French official said he did not show any willingness for calling off his inhumane invasion.

Meanwhile Russia has made dire threats to the West that any military shipments to Ukraine will be seen as 'legitimate targets', prompting fears there could be an escalation of conflict that could suck in other countries.

Deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov warned the US 'that pumping weapons from a number of countries it orchestrates isn't just a dangerous move, it's an action that makes those convoys legitimate targets', after Joe Biden personally intervened to stop a shipment of Polish MiG fighter jets to Kyiv, fearing the move could lead to 'World War Three'.

And senior Russian officials incredulously flipped the narrative on its head on Saturday, warning that the humanitarian situation was deteriorating because of the actions of the country's armed forces - and even accusing Ukraine of shelling its own people.

'The humanitarian situation in Ukraine, unfortunately, continues to rapidly worsen, and in some cities has reached catastrophic proportions,' RIA quoted Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Russian National Defence Control Centre, as saying on Saturday.

Mizintsev, who said Russian forces were observing ceasefires, said Ukrainian forces had mined residential neighbourhoods and destroyed bridges and roads.

Ukraine has complained repeatedly that Russian forces do not always respect ceasefires so civilians can leave through evacuation corridors.

Russian armoured vehicles are still slowly advancing on Kyiv's northeast after being stalled for days, and a military airfield south of the city in Vasylkiv has been hit by missiles, destroying the runway, a fuel depot and an ammunition store.

The bulk of Russian ground forces are now around 15 miles from the centre but elements of the large column have dispersed in a bid to encircle the city, after pummelling the northwest suburbs including Irpin and Bucha.

A column of thick black smoke was seen rising from the eastern suburbs of Kyiv this morning, but there is still no sign of ground forces moving into the outskirts.

But a former NATO official said she is 'sceptical' that Russian forces will 'gain much success' from an expected brutal onslaught of Kyiv, as Ukrainians warned Putin to prepare for his own Stalingrad battle.

A despondent father plays with his daughter before she boards a Lviv-bound train in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine on Saturday

Military base in Yavoriv completely destroyed after missile strikes

People are evacuated from Irpin as Russian forces advance

Russian video claims to show troops taking control of Hostomel airport

VP Harris talks at DNC: 'Unity with allies is key for democracy'

Ukrainian village completely destroyed in Russian air raids

Bill Maher comes out in favor of Florida's Don't Say Gay bill

Emergency units attend building shattered by airstrike in Chernihiv

Zelensky's team grab a coffee in Kyiv: 'Beautiful even in wartime'

Prisoner claims Putin 'does not trust' his own army

Ukraine: Dramatic footage shows Russian assault on Mariupol

Ukraine: Air raid sirens echo throughout city of Vinnytsia

Damage on streets of Iraq after ballistic missiles strike capital

A man walks into a crater created by the impact of an aerial bomb that destroyed a cultural center and an administration building in the village of Byshiv outside Kyiv

Military base in Yavoriv completely destroyed after missile strikes

Air raid sirens echo through Lviv after multiple explosions reported

Russian video claims to show troops taking control of Hostomel airport

VP Harris talks at DNC: 'Unity with allies is key for democracy'

Horror in Mariupol: Mother describes losing one son to shelling

Bill Maher comes out in favor of Florida's Don't Say Gay bill

Emergency units attend building shattered by airstrike in Chernihiv

Zelensky's team grab a coffee in Kyiv: 'Beautiful even in wartime'

Prisoner claims Putin 'does not trust' his own army

Ukraine: Air raid sirens echo throughout city of Vinnytsia

Residents shelter amid heavy artillery echos in the town of Irpin

Damage on streets of Iraq after ballistic missiles strike capital

A member of the Ukrainian forces takes position behind a car in Irpin, a neighbouring city of Ukraine which has seen intense bombardment

A view of a destroyed shoe factory in the aftermath of a missile attack, amid Russia's invasion, in Dnipro

Satellite images taken on Saturday morning showed extensive damage to civilian infrastructure and residential buildings throughout the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, a private US company said

Maxar Technologies said fires were seen in the western section of the Black Sea port city and dozens of high-rise apartment buildings had been severely damaged

A Ukrainian soldier holds a Next Generation Light Anti-tank Weapon (NLAW) that was used to destroy a Russian armoured personal carrier (APC) in Irpin,

Ukrainian servicemen carry a dead body on stretcher in the town of Irpin near Kyiv as Russian forces close in on the capital