The Full Belmonte, 2/24/2022
An explosion seen in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv earlier today.
“Russian forces have begun an attack on Ukraine, with reports of troops crossing the border from multiple directions and explosions in several cities -- including the capital Kyiv. Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned of bloodshed unless Ukrainian forces lay down their arms. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is appealing for peace and Ukraine's Ambassador to the United Nations is calling on the UN Security Council to help stop the invasion, saying it’s too late to speak about de-escalation. Later today, Biden is expected to spell out a set of sanctions, vowing the world will ‘hold Russia accountable’ for the attack.” Read more at CNN
War in Ukraine
“The most significant European war in almost 80 years has begun.
Early this morning in Ukraine, Russian troops poured over the border, and Russian planes and missile launchers attacked Ukrainian cities and airports. The attacks spanned much of the country, far beyond the border provinces where there has been sporadic fighting between the nations for years.
Ukraine’s government called it ‘a full-scale attack from multiple directions.’
Blasts could be heard in Kyiv, the capital, as well as more than a dozen other cities. At an airport outside Kyiv, rocket attacks targeted parked Ukrainian fighter jets. In the southern port city of Odessa, Russian troops arrived from the sea. In Lutsk — in the northwest corner of Ukraine, closer to Poland than Russia — explosions were also reported.
(Track the Russian invasion and see video of explosions near Kharkhiv here.)
Red markings denote places where attacks have been reported.The New York Times
Ukrainians rushed to take shelter in bus and subway stations. In Kyiv, people packed up their cars and waited in long gas lines on their way out of the city. In eastern Ukraine, lines formed at A.T.M.s and gas stations.
‘It’s panic, don’t you see?’ Yevheni Balai told The Times’s Michael Schwirtz, pointing to a line of anxious Ukrainians standing outside a closed bank in Slovyansk, in the eastern part of the country. ‘They’ve gotten exactly what they wanted, the ones on the other side, panic and destabilization,’ he said.
‘We’ve lived eight years of unending war,’ a woman who runs a blood bank in eastern Ukraine told The Times. ‘There’s nowhere to run. All Ukraine is exploding.’
The details:
Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, described the invasion as ‘a special military operation’ rather than a war, and Russia said civilians would not be attacked. But Putin has lied repeatedly in the run-up to the invasion, and it was unclear whether those comments had any meaning.
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed to have disabled all of Ukraine’s air defenses and airbases by about 8 a.m. local time, according to Anton Troianovski, The Times’s Moscow bureau chief. (Ukraine is seven hours ahead of New York.)
Putin warned other countries that interfering with the invasion would bring about ‘such consequences as you have never before experienced in your history.’ Some analysts wondered whether that line amounted to a threat to use nuclear weapons.
Shortly before 7 a.m. local time, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, declared martial law and asked people to remain at home and stay calm.
Ukrainian forces have shot down six Russian fighters and a helicopter during intense battles to maintain control over cities, a senior Ukrainian military official said. Ukrainian troops also claim to have repelled, for the time being, Russian advances on two major cities: Chernihiv, in the north near Belarus, and Kharkiv, in the northeast close to Russia’s border.
President Biden condemned the ‘unprovoked and unjustified’ attack, calling it ‘a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering.’ He said he would announce ‘severe sanctions’ against Russia today.
Both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill called for the U.S. to support Ukraine. ‘If Putin does not pay a devastating price for this transgression, then our own security will soon be at risk’ Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, said. Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, said, ‘The U.S. will stand with our Ukrainian allies,’ with continued aid, and would hold Putin accountable. (Here’s an explanation of Republican tensions over Ukraine.)
NATO will hold an emergency session this morning, according to The Times’s Steven Erlanger. ‘NATO will do all it takes to protect and defend all allies,’ Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary general, said. Ukraine is not a member of NATO, but its growing closeness to the U.S. and western Europe has angered Putin.
While Putin was announcing the invasion, the United Nations Security Council was in the middle of an emergency meeting. It resulted in a remarkable scene, as diplomats reacted to the news. ‘There is no purgatory for war criminals,’ Ukraine’s ambassador said to his Russian counterpart. ‘They go straight to hell, ambassador.’
China’s government sought to maintain its delicate balancing act on the crisis, reiterating calls for diplomacy while also approving imports of Russian wheat, which could soften the impact of Western sanctions.
On global markets, the price of oil jumped above $100 a barrel. Asian stock indexes were down about 3 percent at 6:20 a.m. Eastern.
CNN’s Daniel Dale has compiled a list of reporters in Ukraine.
Here is an explanation of the conflict’s background — and a recent Morning newsletter about why this war is different from other modern wars in Europe.
Many Russians feel a deep unease about going to war.” Read more at New York Times
Screenshot: Fox News
“Rarely in our lifetimes has the world heard more chilling and ominous words: Vladimir Putin said nations ‘will face consequences greater than any you have faced in history’ if they interfere in his invasion of Ukraine.
Why it matters: This is a rare overt threat of nuclear attack.
Between the lines: The world is witnessing the most consequential invasion in Europe since World War II, but with a scary twist:
Madman Putin is sitting on a massive nuclear arsenal and seems impervious to pressure, sanctions or threats.
Putin said in announcing the invasion:
To anyone who would consider interfering from the outside: If you do, you will face consequences greater than any you have faced in history. All relevant decisions have been taken. I hope you hear me.” Read more at Axios
“EU, NATO, and G-7 leaders will gather this morning to discuss further actions as open war comes to Europe for the first time in almost three decades.
In the early hours of Thursday morning the Russian military launched a barrage of cruise and ballistic missiles at several Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv. Initial targets included military command centers, airports, and military depots. Russian troops are now moving toward the eastern city of Kharkiv. Jack Losh reported from the city center this morning as some citizens debated whether to flee while others prepared to fight.
There is still plenty we don’t know, including the scale of the assault, the extent of the ground invasion, and the ensuing displacement and refugee flows. Hundreds of Ukrainian service members are already suspected to have been killed in the first wave of strikes, a Ukrainian Interior Ministry official told the Wall Street Journal.
As my FP colleagues Jack Detsch, Amy Mackinnon, and Robbie Gramer report, the military action was preceded by a jarring split screen moment: As the United Nations Security Council, currently chaired by Russia, debated Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin went live to the world, announcing the Russian invasion was imminent, saying his goal was to ‘demilitarize and de-Nazify’ Ukraine—a country whose president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish.
In an impassioned speech addressing the Russian public directly in the hours before the invasion, Zelensky said: ‘They tell you that we’re Nazis. But how can a people that lost eight million lives to defeat the Nazis support Nazism? How can I be a Nazi? Say it to my grandfather, who fought in World War II as a Soviet infantryman and died a colonel in an independent Ukraine.’
By that point, Russian tanks were already rolling. Putin’s address—delivered in the same color suit and tie he wore on Monday— suggested the speech was pre-taped, the invasion now appearing a foregone conclusion as the week began. Indeed, the metadata on the video file posted to the Kremlin’s website carries Monday’s date.
In the face of the initial Russian barrage, Zelensky declared martial law and called for strength from his compatriots in a video message. ‘We are working. The army is working,’ he said. ‘Don’t panic. We are strong. We are ready for everything. We will defeat everyone.’
As the West considers imposing harsher economic sanctions, Russia has attempted to head off some of the damage. The Moscow stock exchange suspended trading shortly after opening this morning—and later resumed trading—with Russia’s MOEX index dropping by close to 30 percent as the ruble fell approximately 3.5 percent against the dollar as oil prices surged to over $100 for the first time since 2014.
What they said.
“We will defend ourselves. When you attack, you will see our faces, not our backs.”
—Ukrainian President Zelensky in a video address moments before Putin’s invasion announcement aired.“So, if indeed an operation is being prepared, I have only one thing to say from the bottom of my heart: President Putin, stop your troops from attacking Ukraine. Give peace a chance. Too many people have already died.”
—U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres remarks to the Security Council.“Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring, and the United States and its Allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. The world will hold Russia accountable.”
—U.S. President Joe Biden in an overnight statement.“Russia must stop this military action right now. We will consult within the G-7, NATO and the EU in the course of today. It is a terrible day for Ukraine and a dark day for Europe.”
—German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.“President Putin has chosen a path of bloodshed and destruction by launching this unprovoked attack on Ukraine. The UK and our allies will respond decisively.”
—British Prime Minister Boris Johnson“There is no purgatory for war criminals. They go straight to hell, ambassador.”
—Ukraine’s U.N. ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya addresses his Russian counterpart Vassily Nebenzia.Can Ukraine fight? While Ukraine has modernized its military since 2014 (with roughly $2.5 billion in U.S. support) so too has Russia, and the latter’s defense budget is more than ten times larger. As FP reported in December, Ukraine’s air force and defenses are a significant weakness, and have probably been degraded by Russia’s latest strikes.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“As the United States seeks to rally its allies and impose tough penalties for Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine, a vocal group of Republicans and right-leaning commentators is expressing praise and admiration for the president’s strength and shrewdness. President Vladimir Putin, that is.
While most congressional Republicans back Biden’s tough line against Moscow — or argue it should be even tougher — a faction made up of conservative Republicans, supporters of former president Donald Trump and conservative media figures says Putin should be left alone, or even congratulated, by Americans.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump at a Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, in 2019. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)
Trump complimented Putin on Tuesday, saying it was a “smart move” by the Russian president to send “the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen” to the Ukraine border.
‘This is genius,’ Trump said in a conservative talk radio interview at his Mar-a-Lago resort, echoing his past praise of the Russian president. ‘Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine — of Ukraine — Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful. He used the word ‘independent’ and ‘we’re going to go out and we’re going to go in and we’re going to help keep peace.’ You’ve got to say that’s pretty savvy.’
Trump is hardly the only figure making such arguments. Many on the right seem to have bought into Putin’s claims that he is merely protecting his country and that it is the West that is showing aggression as NATO has moved closer to Russia’s borders since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Conservative commentator Candace Owens tweeted this week: ‘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.’
Fox News host Tucker Carlson, like many others on the right, minimized Russia’s move to invade and overpower a neighboring country as a ‘border conflict’ that should not concern Americans.
‘It may be worth asking yourself, since it is getting pretty serious: ‘What is this really about? Why do I hate Putin so much?’ Carlson said Tuesday. ‘Has Putin ever called me a racist? Has he threatened to get me fired for disagreeing with him?’
The comments reflect the novel phenomenon of a major political faction openly siding with the leader of a U.S. adversary against the American president. They cite Putin’s shrewdness and strength, along with an unfettered willingness to use force to expand his country’s reach, suggesting that creates a flattering contrast with Biden, whom they portray as weak and feckless.
Yet Putin is an authoritarian leader who has jailed adversaries, shut down political opposition and moved to eliminate a free press and independent judiciary. He has dispatched his powerful military against an independent neighboring country.” Read more at Washington Post
Reproduced from Freedom House. Map: Axios Visuals
“Freedom around the world declined in 2021 for the 16th consecutive year, Axios World author Dave Lawler writes from an annual report from Freedom House, which warns that countries including China and Russia are exporting authoritarianism.
Why it matters: ‘The leaders of China, Russia, and other dictatorships have succeeded in shifting global incentives,’ says the report, ‘while encouraging more authoritarian approaches to governance.’
Undemocratic regimes are growing even more undemocratic as they bend institutions to their will — and spread that model abroad.
So are established democracies like the U.S., where ‘internal forces have exploited the shortcomings in their systems, distorting national politics to promote hatred, violence, and unbridled power.’
According to the index, ‘Freedom in the World 2022’:
38% of the global population lives in countries that are ‘not free’ — the highest percentage since 1997. 20% live in ‘free’ countries and 42% in ‘partly free’ countries.
There was better news from Ecuador, which moved into the ‘free’ column after a smooth presidential transition ... Chile, where democracy has held firm and arguably deepened amid social upheaval ... and the Ivory Coast, which held relatively free parliamentary elections last spring.
The bottom line: Finland, Norway and Sweden are the freest countries.
Eritrea, North Korea, South Sudan, Syria and Turkmenistan are the least free.” Read more at Axios
“The CDC is expected to make an announcement as early as tomorrow about new metrics that will guide Covid-19 restrictions such as mask-wearing. Current guidance says people who live in counties with substantial or high levels of Covid-19 transmission should wear masks indoors. While this will not change, the CDC says it will adjust the way it assesses ‘community levels of disease.’ In other words, the agency will shift away from looking at cases alone to looking at ‘meaningful consequences’ of the virus, such as hospitalizations, emergency room visits and deaths. Guidance about different mitigation measures, such as masking and social distancing, will be based on the levels of disease in an individual county. This comes on the heels of new experiments suggesting that the subvariant BA.2 may be capable of causing more severe disease than the original Omicron strain.” Read more at CNN
“A more-infectious version of the Omicron variant is making experts question whether it’s time to fully reopen.
The Covid-19 type, known as BA.2, accounts for 35% of global cases sequenced recently. Public-health officials are trying to determine whether it might extend the waves that have peaked recently in Europe, Japan and elsewhere. In the U.S., BA.2 accounted for only 3.9% of Covid-19 infections in the week through Feb. 12, according to the CDC. After December’s Omicron surge, the U.S. saw a sharp, steady increase in cases. Now, this country is facing another battle—over masks in classrooms. School-board meetings are getting heated as some states nix mask mandates for businesses and restaurants, but educators keep theirs in place. Schools want to avoid outbreaks and learning disruptions, while also helping children’s lives return to normal. And though kids are at lower risk of severe illness or death from Covid-19, many schools view mask mandates as a vital way to protect teachers, staff and students’ family members.” Read at Wall Street Journal
“The drugmaker Sanofi says that its vaccine is 100 percent effectiveagainst severe Covid. The shot could also work as a booster.” Read more at New York Times
“Deaths during or shortly after pregnancy spiked during the pandemic’s first year, especially among Black and Hispanic women.” Read more at New York Times
“ARLINGTON, Va. — The Justice Department said on Wednesday that it was ending a contentious Trump-era effort to fight Chinese national security threats that critics said unfairly targeted professors of Asian descent.
A top Justice Department official, Matthew G. Olsen, said in remarks at George Mason University’s National Security Institute that the agency would instead introduce a broader strategy meant to counter threats from hostile nations, which would extend beyond China to include countries like Russia, Iran and North Korea.
‘By grouping cases under the China Initiative rubric,’ Mr. Olsen said, ‘we helped give rise to a harmful perception that the department applies a lower standard to investigate and prosecute criminal conduct related to that country or that we in some way view people with racial, ethnic or familial ties to China differently.’
The end of the program means the Justice Department will retire the China Initiative name and set a higher bar for prosecutions of academics and researchers who lie to the government about Chinese affiliations.” Read more at New York Times
“WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday in a tangled dispute over whether Republican-led states may step in to defend a Trump-era immigration policy that the Biden administration has abandoned. The policy, a revision of the ‘public charge’ rule, imposed a new wealth test on applicants for green cards.
Some justices questioned the Biden administration’s legal maneuvers, suggesting they were aggressive, unseemly and too clever by half.
‘It’s really quite a license for collusive action,’ Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said of the administration’s strategy, which included accepting a court ruling against the policy and opposing the states’ attempts to intervene to argue in its favor.
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. gave a sarcastic account of what had happened.
‘I congratulate whoever it is in the Justice Department or the executive branch who devised this strategy and was able to implement it with military precision,’ he said, adding, ‘I’m not aware of a precedent where an incoming administration has done anything quite like this.’
Other justices said that it was routine for new presidential administrations to change course and that, in any event, the states were seeking to intervene in the wrong court.
‘It’s very much not unprecedented,’ Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh said, ‘for the government to acquiesce in an adverse judgment invalidating a rule. That is not unprecedented at all.’
Justice Elena Kagan questioned the convoluted litigation strategy pursued by the states seeking to revive the Trump administration’s policy. It was a ‘quadruple bank shot,’ she said, one that seemed to include trying to intervene in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, in the hope of undoing a ruling in a federal trial court in Illinois so that the states could file a new suit in federal court in Washington.
Helen H. Hong, a lawyer for Democratic-led states and localities that had challenged the policy in the first place, said there was ‘nothing the Ninth Circuit can do to restore the rule.’
The policy at issue in the case revised the ‘public charge’ rule, which allows officials to deny permanent legal status, also known as a green card, to immigrants who are likely to need public assistance. In the past, only substantial and sustained monetary help or long-term institutionalization counted, and fewer than 1 percent of applicants were disqualified on public-charge grounds.” Read more at New York Times
“The shooting death of Breonna Taylor and the killing of George Floyd are in the spotlight as trials move forward to determine the fate of the former officers involved. Brett Hankison is the only officer of three involved in the raid that led to the 2020 shooting death of Breonna Taylor who was charged with a crime -- though his charges are not related to Taylor's death. Six witnesses were called to testify yesterday and the jurors will all take a trip to view the apartment complex themselves tomorrow. Separately, a jury concluded its first day of deliberations yesterday in the civil rights case of 3 ex-officers connected to George Floyd's killing. The trial comes about 21 months after Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was handcuffed and pressed to the pavement as Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck and back for more than 9 minutes, resulting in Floyd's death. The jury is expected to resume deliberations today.” Read more at CNN
“Two top prosecutors working on the Manhattan district attorney's criminal investigation into the Trump Organization resigned yesterday, leaving the years-old probe without two key players as it appeared to have entered a crucial phase. CNN reported in December that the investigation appears to be coming to a head, with prosecutors focusing on the accuracy of the Trump Organization's financial statements when seeking financing, according to people familiar with the matter. Separately, former President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka, who also served as senior White House adviser, is now in discussions with the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection to voluntarily appear for an interview, according to her spokesperson and two sources familiar with the probe.” Read more at CNN
“When it comes to protecting the rights of trans youth in Texas, stars are getting on their digital soapboxes.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a directive Tuesday ordering the state child welfare agency to investigate reports of ‘gender-transitioning procedures’ as child abuse.
The move comes one day after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a written opinion defining gender-affirming care as child abuse under state laws – and months after state lawmakers considered but did not pass similar bills when the Legislature met last year.
Transgender advocates accused Abbott and Paxton of twisting state law to meet their political goals and biases, particularly after efforts to define gender-affirming medical care as child abuse died last year in the Texas House after passage in the Senate.
Many celebrities, including Gabrielle Union, Kerry Washington and Jamie Lee Curtis, have also joined the growing conversation on social media.
Background:Texas governor orders state agency to treat gender-affirming care as child abuse
Will parents of transgender children be investigated in Texas?Governor's order sparks fear, uncertainty.” Read more at USA Today
“A group calling itself the ‘People’s Convoy’ is set to depart on Wednesday from California, protesting Covid-19 restrictions, to arrive in Washington, DC, on March 1 for the State of the Union. The National Guard is on alert to deploy if necessary.” [Vox] Read more at Guardian / Mark Oliver and Sergio Olmos
“The U.S. Postal Service finalized plans Wednesday to purchase up to 148,000 gasoline-powered mail delivery trucks, defying Biden administration officials’ objections that the multibillion-dollar contract would undercut the nation’s climate goals.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy disregarded requests from the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency this month to reconsider replacing the delivery fleet with 90 percent gas-powered trucks and 10 percent electric vehicles, at a cost of as much as $11.3 billion. The contract, orchestrated by DeJoy, offers only a 0.4-mpg fuel economy improvement over the agency’s current fleet.
The decision is a major blow to the White House’s climate agenda. President Biden has pledged to transition the federal fleet to clean power, and apart from the military, the Postal Service has more vehicles than any other government agency. It accounts for nearly one-third of federally owned cars and trucks, and environmental and auto industry experts argue that the agency’s stop-and-start deliveries to 161 million addresses six days a week provides an ideal scenario for using electric vehicles.” Read more at Washington Post
“WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are starkly divided by race on the importance of President Joe Biden’s promise to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court, with white Americans far less likely to be highly enthusiastic about the idea than Black Americans — and especially Black women.
That’s according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research that shows 48% of Americans say it’s not important to them personally that a Black woman becomes a Supreme Court Justice. Another 23% say that’s somewhat important, and 29% say it’s very or extremely important. Only two Black men have served on the nation’s highest court, and no Black women have ever been nominated.
The poll shows Biden’s pledge is resonating with Black Americans, 63% of whom say it’s very or extremely important to them personally that a Black woman serves on the court, compared with just 21% of white Americans and 33% of Hispanics. The findings come as Biden finalizes his pick to fill the seat that is being vacated by Stephen Breyer, who announced his retirement last month.” Read more at AP News
“WELLINGTON, New Zealand — The antigovernment protests that jolted Canada have been quashed. But 9,000 miles away, in the capital of another Western democracy largely unaccustomed to violent tears in the social fabric, an occupation on the grounds of Parliament has entrenched itself and turned increasingly ominous.
Hundreds of demonstrators opposed to New Zealand’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate are in their third week of encampment in Wellington, erecting tents, illegally parking vehicles and establishing communal kitchens and toilets in a deliberate echo of the Canadian siege.
Initially, the New Zealand occupation had a carnival atmosphere, with a popcorn stand and a doughnut truck and a number of children brought in by their parents. New Zealanders joked that it was the country’s only Omicron-era music festival: Officials blared Barry Manilow and James Blunt to try to drive out the protesters, who responded with some Twisted Sister of their own.
In recent days, however, after the police moved to evict some protesters, the demonstration has grown more violent.
On Monday, protesters threw feces at the police. On Tuesday, a driver tried to ram a car into a large group of officers, and three other members of the force required medical attention after protesters sprayed them with what a police statement called a ‘stinging substance.’
Many demonstrators describe Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, a global symbol of the political left, as a dictator. Some have threatened journalists and politicians with execution. Others have shouted at students wearing masks on their way to school. Many espouse support for conspiracy theories like those of QAnon.
While the protesters represent a tiny minority of New Zealanders, the division is notable in a country that has been lauded for its highly effective response to Covid-19. The escalating words and violence, experts say, demonstrate the dangerous influence that exported American disinformation is having on otherwise stable democracies around the world.
‘There is a tsunami of bile every day,’ said Sanjana Hattotuwa, a researcher at the New Zealand think tank Te Pūnaha Matatini who studies disinformation. It is ‘a torrent of hate and harm directed towards individuals promoting the vaccine and the prime minister.’
Although rifts were already present in New Zealand society, they were ‘exacerbated by conspiracism which had its genesis outside the country,’ Dr. Hattotuwa said. ‘Everything which you would associate with QAnon in the United States is here.’” Read more at New York Times
“The Canadian government announced it will lift the Emergencies Act that allowed the use of the military to address trucker protests across the country over Covid-19 mitigation measures. ‘After careful consideration, we're ready to confirm that the situation is no longer an emergency,’ Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said during a news conference in Ottawa yesterday, lifting the act that was imposed 10 days ago. Trudeau said police have the tools they need to continue to deal with unlawful protesters, which are now reduced to small pockets of demonstrations across the country. As the situation calms down, a heavy police presence will remain in Ottawa's downtown core, officials said.” Read more at CNN
“MEXICO CITY—A Sandinista judge Wednesday convicted seven Nicaraguan political and business leaders, including three would-be presidential candidates, of conspiring to damage the country’s sovereignty, a charge akin to treason.
The verdicts in the first mass trial of President Daniel Ortega’s opponents came days after 27 members of the Organization of American States, the Western Hemisphere’s most important regional group, denounced the deteriorating human rights conditions in Nicaragua and are a sign that Mr. Ortega is tightening his grip on power despite growing international isolation.
Last week, those same countries demanded the release of all Nicaraguan political prisoners.
Prosecutors requested sentences from eight to 13 years in prison, friends of the defendants said. Relatives and defense lawyers described the trial as a farce.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Imran Khan in Moscow. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin today in Moscow—the first Russia visit by a Pakistani premier this century. The two leaders share a mutual interest in Afghanistan’s stability, with any spillover in violence likely to disrupt both countries’ regional influence. As C. Raja Mohan writes in Foreign Policy, Khan’s visit marks an ‘inflection point in South Asia’s great-power relations,’ as Pakistan seeks to balance its relations with Russia, China, and a United States increasingly leaning toward India.” Read more at Foreign Policy
Ports will get $450 million for improvements
Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images
“Ports throughout the US will have access to $450 million in funds through the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed last year to help ease supply chain constraints, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced Wednesday. Bottlenecks have plagued US ports throughout the pandemic due to decades of disinvestment and increased demand for consumer goods over the past two years.” [Vox] Read more at Al Jazeera
“The money will be distributed in grants, which ports will have to apply for, and will likely be distributed in the fall. While the money is intended for improvements that will modernize US ports, the investment won’t pay off in lower prices and clearing shipping backlogs just yet.” [Vox] Read more at Washington Post / Ian Duncan
“Ports applying for funds under the new program will have to show that the projects they propose, in addition to helping modernize and improve the port’s productivity, will support climate change mitigation, race and gender equity, and domestic building and purchasing. This will be the largest investment in the Port Infrastructure Development Program — about twice the amount set aside last year.” [Vox] Read more at Bloomberg / Laura Curtis
“The announcement comes the same week the Transportation Department releases its report on the supply chain, conducted over the past year. That report cites the need for improved cooperation and information-sharing between the government and the private sector, and will provide even more money to improve supply chain logistics.” [Vox] Read more at AP / Hope Yen
“The grants are only part of the investment the Biden administration plans to make in the port and supply chain infrastructure as concerns about inflation imperil the Democratic Party’s chance to hold its congressional majority after the November midterms. The infrastructure bill will invest a total of $17 billion in the nation’s ports and waterways.” [Vox] Read more at Department of Transportation
“The parents of a 15-year-old boy charged with killing four other students at Oxford High School in Oxford Township, Michigan, are scheduled to return to court Thursday , where they face charges for making the gun used in the shooting available to the teen. A preliminary examination for Jennifer and James Crumbley was to resume in Rochester Hills District Court before a judge who will decide if there's enough evidence to send the couple to trial for involuntary manslaughter. Ethan Crumbley is charged as an adult with first-degree murder, assault with intent to murder, terrorism and gun charges in the Nov. 30 shooting, about 30 miles north of Detroit. In addition to the four students slain, six other students and a teacher were wounded. The parents also are accused of failing to intervene when their son showed signs of mental distress at home and at school.” Read more at USA Today
“For the first time, U.S. regulators have officially authorized a condom to be used for anal sex, not just vaginal sex.
The decision, announced by the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday, has long been sought by sexual health experts, who said it could encourage more people who engage in anal sex to use condoms to protect themselves against H.I.V. and other sexually transmitted infections.
The risk of sexually transmitted diseases is ‘significantly higher’ during anal sex than vaginal sex, an F.D.A. official said Wednesday. But until now, there has not been enough data to show that condoms are safe and effective during anal sex.
‘The F.D.A.’s authorization of a condom that is specifically indicated, evaluated and labeled for anal intercourse may improve the likelihood of condom use during anal intercourse,’ Courtney Lias, director of the F.D.A. office that issued the approval, said in a statement.” Read more at New York Times
Sean Rayford/Getty Images
“Georgia will recognize Feb. 23 as Ahmaud Arbery Day. Residents are encouraged to jog 2.23 miles to honor the Black jogger who was chased down and killed.” Read more at NPR
“The Department of the Interior declared the word ‘squaw’ derogatory last year. Now, it's working to remove and replace the word from more than 660 geographic features on federal lands.”
“A 170 million-year-old pterosaur fossil has been found in Scotland. Scientists say its the world's best-preserved skeleton of the prehistoric winged reptile.” Read more at NPR
“Potential seismic shift in NFL broadcasting: According to reports, longtime Fox Sports NFL analyst Troy Aikman is close to joining ESPN on a deal that would see him serve as the lead analyst for ‘Monday Night Football.’” Read more at USA Today
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Dubai’s new Museum of the Future envisions a healthy planet
By AYA BATRAWYyesterday
“DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai will open the doors Friday to an architecturally stunning building housing the new Museum of the Future, a seven-story structure that envisions a dreamlike world powered by solar energy and the Gulf Arab state’s frenetic quest to develop.
The torus-shaped museum is a design marvel that forgoes support columns, relying instead on a network of diagonal beams. It is enveloped in windows carved by Arabic calligraphy, adding another eye-popping design element to Dubai’s piercingly modern skyline that shimmers with the world’s tallest tower, the Burj Khalifa.
The Museum of the Future projects Dubai’s ambitions and its desire to be seen as a modern, inclusive city even as its political system remains rooted in hereditary rule and hard limits exist on the types of expression permitted. It is the latest in a stream of feats for Dubai, which is the first country in the Middle East to host the World’s Fair.” Read more at AP News