The Full Belmonte, 4/12/2022
Mariupol's theater, destroyed by Russian bombing. Photo: Alexei Alexandrov/AP
“Ukrainian authorities believe more than 10,000 civilians have been killed in Mariupol, where corpses have ‘carpeted’ the streets of the port city, Axios' Zachary Basu reports.
The battle to hold Mariupol is ‘the heart of the war’ right now, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told AP.
The big picture: Seizing Mariupol, which lies between Crimea in the south and pro-Russian breakaway regions in the east, would allow Russian troops to link up and encircle a significant portion of Ukraine's military.
Embattled Ukrainian forces remain in control of the city, but Russia is laying the groundwork for a massive offensive to seize eastern Ukraine that could produce scenes reminiscent of World War II.
Graves of civilians near apartment buildings in Mariupol yesterday. Photo: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters
The bottom line: The siege of Mariupol will be recalled alongside the flattening of Grozny (Chechnya 1999-2000) and Aleppo (Syria 2016) when the history of Vladimir Putin's battlefield brutality is written.
Mariupol has been without electricity, water or heat since late February, and multiple attempts at establishing ‘humanitarian corridors’ have been impeded by Russian attacks.
An adviser to Zelensky said 90% of the buildings in the city have been destroyed, tweeting today: ‘The world remains silent and watches genocide online.’” Read more at Axios
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
“On Monday, President Joe Biden announced new regulations to crack down on ghost guns — privately made firearms without serial numbers that police say are increasingly involved in crimes.” [Vox] Read more at USA Today / Michael Collins
“The rule classifies the kits used to build ghost guns as firearms under the Gun Control Act.” [Vox] Read more at CNN / Kevin Liptak
“That means online sellers will have to have federal licenses, add serial numbers (to both guns and gun parts sold separately), and do background checks on buyers — like they would for any other gun. Ghost guns already in circulation must receive serial numbers. Federally licensed gun dealers must also keep records as long as they are in business.” [Vox] Read more at ABC News / Armando Garcia and Libby Cathey
“The announcement of the new rule coincided with the nomination of Steve Dettelbach, a US attorney in Ohio, to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the agency responsible for enforcing US gun laws.” [Vox] Read more at Associated Press / Michael Balsamo
“The moves come amid growing concern over gun violence. Police recovered 20,000 ghost guns at crime scenes in 2021 — a tenfold increase since 2016.” [Vox] Read more at Guardian / Martin Pengelly
“The White House is expected to name a new commander to lead all U.S. and allied forces in Europe. Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli, the current commander of U.S. Army Europe, speaks Russian, Italian and French and has served as a foreign area officer, according to his Army biography. He also was the director of Russia on the Joint Staff and holds two Ivy League degrees, including a master’s in Russian and East European Studies from Yale University.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“President Joe Biden will announce Tuesday another step to try to reduce prices for drivers paying more at the pump: expanding the availability of biofuels. While visiting an ethanol plant in Menlo, Iowa, a small farming community west of the state's capital of Des Moines, Biden will announce the administration's plans on allowing gasoline that uses a 15% ethanol blend to be sold during the summer, according to senior officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. Called E15, the blend can cost 10 cents per gallon less on average at the 2,300 gas stations where it's sold, the officials said. Administration officials said the action Biden will announce will increase the use of home-grown biofuels, reducing dependence on foreign fuels. Iowa is the nation's top producer of renewable fuel and the corn used to make it. Regular gas is averaging around $4.11 a gallon compared with $2.86 a year ago, AAA reports, and Biden is under political pressure to show he is doing what he can to ease the price of gas.” Read more at USA Today
“The federal Labor Department will give an updated look at how inflation is pinching pocketbooks Tuesday when the latest Consumer Price Index is released. Last month's CPI report showed 7.9% inflation over the previous 12 months, the highest year-over-year increase in decades. The index being released Tuesday is expected to show that prices shot up 8.4% from 12 months earlier, according to economists surveyed by the data firm FactSet for an Associated Press report. Rising prices have been evident at the grocery store, where a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture report warned ‘all food prices are now predicted to increase’ in the coming months.” Read more at USA Today
“Philadelphia is reinstating its indoor mask mandate. The Omicron BA.2 variant has increased newly reported Covid-19 cases across the Northeast, so starting next week, residents and visitors to the city will be required to wear masks in indoor public spaces. Philadelphia’s health department lifted its mandate for schools and eased other precautions just over a month ago.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The risk of developing inflammatory heart conditions after Covid-19 vaccination is relatively low, two large studies found, especially when compared with the heart-related risks from Covid-19 disease itself and from vaccines against other diseases.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Pacific Gas and Electric has agreed to pay a $55 million settlement over two massive wildfires in California that were sparked by the company's faulty utility equipment. The 2019 Kincade Fire burned more than 77,000 acres in Sonoma County and destroyed nearly 400 homes. The 2021 Dixie Fire charred close to a million acres, making it California's second-largest wildfire in history. That fire burned for more than three months, claimed one life and destroyed more than 1,300 homes. Criminal charges over the Kincade Fire will be dismissed and none will be sought in the 2021 Dixie Fire, the agreement said, according to PG&E. The embattled utility company previously agreed to pay a $125 million fine, according to a settlement with the California Public Utilities Commission.” Read more at CNN
“A former Virginia police officer who stormed the US Capitol has been found guilty on all six charges he faced for his participation in the riot on January 6, 2021. Thomas Robertson, a former sergeant of the Rocky Mount police in Virginia, faced charges including impeding law enforcement officers, obstructing an official proceeding, entering and remaining in restricted grounds and tampering with evidence. Prosecutors also cited online posts Robertson allegedly wrote a month before the attack where he called for an ‘opened armed rebellion.’ Hundreds of alleged rioters are still heading to trial and many of them currently face misdemeanor charges. More than 530 criminal cases related to the January 6 attack are still pending.” Read more at CNN
Capt. Sukhbir Singh Toor and three other Sikhs sued the Marine Corps on Monday.Credit...Mark Abramson for The New York Times
“A Marine artillery captain named Sukhbir Singh Toor has been on a mission over the past year to become the first Sikh in the United States Marine Corps allowed to openly practice his religion while in uniform.
During that time he has won a string of victories against the strict dress standards of the Marine Corps, and he can now wear the beard, long hair and turban required of a faithful Sikh while on duty. But recently, the Marine Corps dug in, refusing to allow him or any other Sikh to wear a beard on a combat deployment or during boot camp, saying that beards would hinder the corps’s ability to function and put lives at risk.
On Monday, Captain Toor and three other Sikhs sued the Marine Corps in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, saying the corps’s refusal to grant a religious waiver is arbitrary and discriminatory, and violates the constitutional right to free exercise of their religion.” Read more at New York Times
“ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Pakistani Parliament selected the opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif to become the country’s prime minister on Monday, ushering in a new government after the ouster of Imran Khan and capping a week of political turmoil that pushed the fragile democracy to the brink.
The vote came two days after Mr. Khan, the former cricket star turned politician, was removed from office in a no-confidence vote in Parliament after he lost the support of top military leaders late last year.
The political crisis escalated last week after Mr. Khan demonized the opposition as traitors, and defied the Constitution to dissolve Parliament in an effort to block the vote — stoking fears that the country’s powerful military might intervene, as it has several times before in Pakistan’s tumultuous 75-year-history.
Mr. Sharif is the younger brother of Nawaz Sharif, who served as prime minister three times, and like other family members, he has been dogged by accusations of graft and malfeasance that were the focus of several corruption investigations. Now, Shehbaz Sharif’s rise to prime minister is seen in some circles as an implicit rebuke of Mr. Khan’s professed mission of dismantling Pakistan’s political dynasties and rooting out corruption in politics.” Read more at New York Times
“Charm offensive | Emmanuel Macron mingled with crowds in parts of northern France that voted for his election opponent, Marine Le Pen, as he stepped up his bid to shed his image as ‘president of the rich.’ Le Pen was also out campaigning yesterday, focusing on surging food and energy costs as a key theme ahead of the April 24 presidential runoff.
Macron and Le Pen are courting the 7.7 million people who backed far-left veteran Jean-Luc Melenchon in the first round of the vote.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Many of Shanghai's 26 million residents are facing food shortages:
The Chinese government's strict COVID lockdowns have ground one of the world's biggest, busiest cities to a halt, Axios China author Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian writes.
Why it matters: Scenes of residents rationing vegetables and begging local officials to allow them to search for food has cast a shadow on the Chinese government's COVID response.
What's happening: Shanghai residents across the city are scrambling for food, as empty grocery shelves, unreliable government provisions and strained food delivery services make it hard to secure enough to eat.
Extreme lockdown conditions and censorship mean journalists can't easily report from the ground. Shanghai residents have turned to social media for support, posting photos of their few remaining vegetables — and videos of people demanding local health authorities allow them to leave their buildings to look for food.
A video posted to the Chinese social media platform Weibo showed a drone flying through a Shanghai neighborhood, broadcasting to residents to remain in their homes.
Shanghai authorities have forced children who have tested positive to quarantine separately from their parents if they test negative.
What we're watching: Xi Jinping has signaled the country must continue its zero-COVID policy. That means intense pressure on local authorities to eliminate outbreaks, no matter the cost.
It's politically difficult for Xi to admit error. Later this year, he'll push for a third term in office.” Read more at Axios
“Russian TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova has been hired by the German media company Die Welt, a month after she drew worldwide attention for bursting onto the set of a live broadcast on Russian state television to protest the war in Ukraine.
Ovsyannikova, 43, was hired as a freelance correspondent for Die Welt’s newspaper and TV channel, publishing firm Axel Springer said Monday.” Read more at Washington Post
“Putin meets Lukashenko. Russian President Vladimir Putin holds talks with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, a spaceport in Russia’s far east. The meeting comes as Lukashenko has demanded to be part of any negotiations to resolve the war in Ukraine and said that ‘there can be no separate agreements behind Belarus’s back.’” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Tai meets Jaishankar. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai meets with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Washington today. Jaishankar’s meeting follows one on Monday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and comes after U.S. President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a video call.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that Biden ‘made clear’ to Modi that ‘he doesn’t believe it’s in India’s interest to accelerate or increase imports of Russian energy or other commodities.’ At a press conference with Blinken, Jaishankar said that Washington’s ire when it comes to Russian energy purchases should be focused on Europe instead. ‘I suspect, looking at the figures, probably our total purchases for the month would be less than what Europe does in an afternoon,’ he said.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“The trial of Ali Kushayb marks the first time anyone has been held accountable for atrocities connected to the Darfur region of Sudan. He's charged with 31 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. For many victims, the trial brings hope for justice along with reminders of past trauma.” Read more at NPR
Photo: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
“They can't free the ship. So they're trying to lighten the load, one box at a time.
Above: A tugboat pushes a barge of containers away from the Ever Forward, which ran aground in the Chesapeake Bay, near Baltimore, 30 days ago.
Only four or five boxes an hour can be offloaded from the sister ship of the notorious Ever Given, which got stuck in the Suez Canal last year.
The Coast Guard says the plan is to remove 500 of 5,000 containers.” Read more at Axios
“Thousands of Etsy sellers are closing up shop this week as part of a strike in response to the company's increase in transaction fees.” Read more at NPR
“The Lerner family — which purchased the Washington Nationals 16 years ago and led the club to a World Series championship in 2019 — has begun exploring bringing on additional partners or a possible sale, The Washington Post reports.” Read more at Axios
“The L.A. Lakers fired Frank Vogel, their championship-winning head coach, after one of the most disappointing seasons in NBA history.” Read more at Axios
“ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter has apologized for a tweet he sent after the death of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins.” Read more at USA Today
“The Atlanta Dream selected Rhyne Howard of Kentucky as the No. 1 pick in the W.N.B.A. draft.” Read more at New York Times
“Lives Lived: The children’s book writer Patricia MacLachlan won acclaim for ‘Sarah, Plain and Tall,’ about a young woman who moves to a pioneer homestead. MacLachlan died at 84.” Read more at New York Times