The Full Belmonte, 4/6/2022
The remains of a Russian armored vehicle on Tuesday in Bucha, Ukraine, on the outskirts of Kyiv.
PHOTO: RODRIGO ABD/ASSOCIATED PRESS
“Russia should be booted from the U.N. Security Council or the council otherwise dissolved, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, citing the country’s alleged war crimes. He also warned that atrocities uncovered when Russian forces withdraw from the Kyiv area could be worse than those reported in the city of Bucha, where he said more than 300 civilians had been tortured or killed. Moscow has denied any responsibility and called video footage from Bucha staged. Among those executed was Olha Sukhenko, the mayor of the central Ukrainian village of Motyzhyn, and her family, who resisted Russian occupation.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The United States and the European Union plan to impose stiff new sanctions against Russia in retaliation for its ‘war crimes’ in Ukraine after revelations of atrocities in towns near Kyiv, including the discovery Tuesday of six burned and blackened corpses. The new penalties by the U.S. and its allies, which will be announced Wednesday, include a ban on new investment in Russia and are intended in part to ‘impose acute and immediate economic harm on Russia.’ The news comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the U.N. Security Council Tuesday that the U.N. must bring war crimes charges against Russian leaders. The European Union’s executive branch on Tuesday proposed a ban on coal imports from Russia. ‘Today we are proposing a 5th package of sanctions. To take a clear stand is crucial for the whole world,’ the E.U. Commission said in a Twitter post. ‘A clear stand against Putin’s war of choice. Against the massacre of civilians.’
In other developments, Russian forces overnight struck a fuel depot and a factory in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, and the number of casualties remains unclear, the region's Governor Valentyn Reznichenko said Wednesday on the Telegram messaging app via an Associated Press report.” Read more at USA Today
“The EU is considering sanctioning two daughters of Vladimir Putin. It isn’t publicly known whether the Russian president has children beyond the two with his ex-wife, Lyudmila Putina, and it couldn’t be learned if the daughters being targeted in the EU sanctions were those he has publicly acknowledged. The U.S. and the EU are set to unveil new coal and bank sanctions on Russia this week.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“More than 300 dogs have starved to death at a Ukrainian animal shelter after Russian troops left them trapped in cages for nearly a month during heavy bombings.” Read more at NPR
An apartment building in Borodyanka, a commuter town near Kyiv. The acting mayor told the N.Y. Times: "We think over 200 people died" in the bombing of four apartment buildings. Photo: Vadim Ghirda/AP
“The Ukraine prosecutor general's office says 50,000 investigators from five law-enforcement agencies are investigating war crimes, The Washington Post reports:
‘They are conducting interviews across the country and meticulously documenting evidence that they hope to use in war crimes prosecutions ... addressing small groups of mostly female and elderly displaced people in churches, classrooms and auditoriums.’
‘They explain that one day, there may be compensation for ... lost loved ones, personal injuries and property losses, and that Russia can be held accountable only if its victims tell their stories in painstaking detail.’
The prosecutor general's office told The Post it has ‘registered’ 4,204 war crimes, including the deaths of 161 children.
President Zelensky walks in Bucha, Ukraine, on Monday. Photo: Ronaldo Schemdit/AFP via Getty Images
Zelensky wants new Nuremberg: President Volodymyr Zelensky told the U.N. Security Council yesterday that those responsible for gruesome atrocities in Ukraine should be brought up on war crimes charges by a tribunal like the one established at Nuremberg after World War II.
Zelensky, speaking via video, said that civilians had been shot in the back of the head, thrown down wells, blown up with grenades in their apartments and crushed to death by tanks while in cars.” —AP Read more at Axios
Abortion rights advocates gather outside the Oklahoma Capitol on Tuesday, April 5, 2022, in Oklahoma City, to protest several anti-abortion bills being considered by the GOP-led Legislature.
“(CNN)The Oklahoma legislature on Tuesday gave final approval to a bill that would make performing an abortion illegal in the state, making exceptions only in the case of medical emergencies.
The bill, Senate Bill 612, would make performing an abortion or attempting to perform the procedure a felony punishable by a maximum fine of $100,000 or maximum 10 years in state prison, or both.
The legislation, which first passed the state Senate last year, passed the state Republican-led House on Tuesday by 70-14, without debate or questions on the floor. The legislation now heads to Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who previously promised to sign every bill limiting abortion that came across his desk.
The governor's office declined to comment on Tuesday, but the bill's main author, GOP state Sen. Nathan Dahm, told CNN that he and the governor had previously spoken about the legislation and Stitt had said he would sign it.” Read more at CNN
“More than 45 million people are under an enhanced severe weather threat across the Southeast US this morning, where a powerful storm could deliver a triple threat of wind, tornadoes and flooding. Parts of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and the western Carolinas could see damaging winds and a few tornadoes in the coming days, according to the latest forecasts. A flood watch is also in effect for about 2 million people in the region, with some isolated areas getting around 5 inches of rain. The storm system is hitting the region at an unfortunate time, as most areas remain in recovery mode from recent tornadoes and treacherous thunderstorms. At least two people were killed yesterday by the storms, local officials said.” Read more at CNN
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been among Twitter’s louder critics, assailing the social-media platform on free-speech grounds.
PHOTO: POOL/VIA REUTERS
“Twitter plans to appoint Elon Musk to its board for a two-year term. The Tesla chief executive, a major tweeter, on Monday disclosed a 9.2% stake in the company, making him its largest shareholder. As long as he remains a director, he can’t own more than 14.9%, according to a securities filing. While neither Twitter nor Musk would comment on that cap, the law in Delaware—Twitter’s legal home—makes it difficult for an investor who owns more than 15% to launch a hostile bid for a company.” Read more at Wall Street Journey
“Ivanka Trump planned to testify remotely to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Lawmakers on the panel will ask her about then-President Donald Trump’s conversation with then-Vice President Mike Pence on the morning of the attack and her efforts to get her father to tell rioters to stand down. In January, the panel asked her to testify voluntarily.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The House will vote Wednesday on whether to hold Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino, who were advisers to former President Donald Trump, in contempt of Congress after their monthslong refusal to comply with subpoenas from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. If approved as expected, the criminal referrals will be sent to the Justice Department, which would decide whether to prosecute. The House committee investigating the attack voted late last month to urge the full House to find Navarro and Scavino in contempt. Navarro, 72, a former White House trade adviser, was subpoenaed in early February over his promotion of false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election that the committee believes contributed to the attack. Scavino, a communications aide, was with Trump the day of the attack on the Capitol and may have ‘materials relevant to his videotaping and tweeting’ messages that day, the committee said.” Read more at USA Today
“President Joe Biden plans to extend the moratorium on federal student loan payments through Aug. 31, the Associated Press reported, citing a federal official. For tens of millions of Americans, student debt limbo will continue another three months. The move will mark the fifth extension since the pause took effect in March 2020. This time, inflation is climbing and gas prices are soaring in connection to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The freeze saves 41 million borrowers about $5 billion a month, the Department of Education has said previously. Though borrowers likely will appreciate the extra wiggle room, many have grown frustrated with the continued extensions without a plan for widespread forgiveness. Both conservative and liberal politicians are expected to pan the Biden administration's actions.” Read more at USA Today
“SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Former Trump administration officials are pressing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to declare an ‘invasion’ along the U.S.-Mexico border and give thousands of state troopers and National Guard members sweeping new authority to turn back migrants, essentially bestowing enforcement powers that have been a federal responsibility.
The urging comes as the Republican governor prepares to announce Wednesday ‘unprecedented actions’ to deter migrants coming to Texas after the Biden administration announced last week it will end the use of a public health law that has limited asylum to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
It is unclear whether Abbott, who is up for reelection in November and is already installing more border barrier and allowing troopers to arrest migrants on trespassing charges, supports the aggressive proposals former Trump officials are pushing. Abbott did not elaborate on what steps he will announce Wednesday.” Read more at AP News
“WASHINGTON (AP) — Capitol Hill has a fox problem. And that’s not the lead-in to a joke.
Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif., learned firsthand Monday evening while walking to the Capitol for votes. Now he’s undergoing a series of four rabies shots out of an abundance of caution.
Bera said he felt something lunge at him from behind as he walked near one of the Senate office buildings. He turned and used his umbrella to fend off what he thought would be a small dog, but he soon realized he was tangling with a fox.
Bera said the encounter lasted about 15 seconds. A bystander yelled to alert others and the fox fled as U.S. Capitol Police officers ran up on the scene. A medical doctor, Bera looked for puncture wounds. He didn’t see evidence of any, but there was some abrasion, so he consulted the Capitol physician, who told him not to take any chances and to get treated.
He said he went to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after votes for the first of a series of four shots.” Read more at AP News
“A highly contagious bird flu has spread through U.S. chicken farms in at least 24 states in less than two month, killing nearly 23 million birds. The strain poses little risk to humans, but we'll still feel its effect through the rising cost of chicken.” Read more at NPR
“As the political divide in the U.S. has grown, many groups have popped up to invite political opposites to sit down for a civil discussion. Some say the divisions may be too wide to bridge, but founders of these so-called Red/Blue workshops believe in small, positive changes.” Read more at NPR
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
“Former President Barack Obama visited the White House on Tuesday for the first time since he left office five years ago to mark the 12th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act.” Read more at NPR
“Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), one of the longest-tenured Republicans in the House of Representatives, has decided to retire rather than seek reelection in 2022, according to four people familiar with his decision.
Upton was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump in January 2021, saying in a statement that ‘our country cannot and will not tolerate any effort by any president to impede the peaceful transfer of power.’ Now, Upton is the fourth of those 10 to retire, joining Reps. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio), John Katko (R-N.Y.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) in exiting Congress.” Read more at POLITICO
“President Biden proposed recalculating what counts as affordable employer-based health insurance for families. Some people unable to pay for coverage for their families would be able to get Affordable Care Act subsidies. The definition of affordable is determined by the cost of the coverage for the employee and not for the employee’s spouse or children. The so-called family glitch impacts about five million people, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“For decades the identity of an elusive figure, dubbed the ‘Days Inn’ and ‘I-65’ killer evaded police. Law enforcement officials say they’ve solved the case.” Read more at USA Today
“During the height of the protests around the murder of George Floyd, when donations topping $90 million were pouring in, the group that runs Black Lives Matter was closing a cash deal on a $6 million property, New York magazine exclusively reports. The 6,500-square-foot home has ‘more than half a dozen bedrooms and bathrooms, several fireplaces, a soundstage, a pool and bungalow, and parking for more than 20 cars,’ the magazine says, quoting a real estate notice for the property. When questioned, the BLM leadership told the magazine they had ‘always planned’ to disclose the purchase and that no one lives there full time. It was intended as a creative space, despite what the magazine discloses has produced ‘relatively little content’ on the property. The expenditure could now call into question the group’s tax-free status, even though it was purchased two months before the organization was officially awarded the status by the IRS. Either way, New York questions the secrecy of the matter. ‘It creates the impression that money donated to the cause of racial justice has been spent in ways that benefit the leaders of Black Lives Matter personally,’ the author writes.” Read more at New York Magazine
Pipeline components stored outside of Abbotsford, British Columbia, last June.
PHOTO: COLE BURSTON/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
“The Biden administration wants more oil from Canada but not a new pipeline to bring it.
Options include transporting more oil via rail, pumping more from existing lines and installing larger pipelines along permitted routes. Those approaches, however, offer limited potential because rail transport is expensive and existing pipelines are at or near capacity. On his first day in office, President Biden effectively killed the Keystone XL pipeline, which would’ve meant 830,000 barrels a day of Canadian crude.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Europe’s largest mall operator will leave the U.S. market by the end of 2023.
The exit comes four years after Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield paid about $14 billion for some of the country’s top-performing shopping centers. The portfolio includes the Westfield World Trade Center in Manhattan, Century City in Los Angeles and the Garden State Plaza in northern New Jersey. The Paris-based company wants to slash its debt and refocus on its flagship properties in Europe.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
A Russian Zircon hypersonic cruise missile is launched in 2021. Photo: Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP
“The U.S., U.K. and Australia are teaming up on hypersonic weapons, the Biden administration announced today.
The U.S. also said it recently completed its second in-flight test of a hypersonic cruise missile.
Why it matters: The announcements deepen the countries' efforts to counter China in the Indo-Pacific region, Axios' Jacob Knutson reports.
Leaders of the three countries said they renewed commitment to the pact today in part because of Russia's invasion.
The trilateral security partnership was announced in September as an effort to help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines and develop advanced defense technologies.
The big picture: China's hypersonic missile test last year caught U.S. intelligence officials by surprise. President Biden recently confirmed that Russian forces have used hypersonic missiles against Ukrainian targets.
Hypersonic missiles are highly maneuverable in flight, making them difficult to detect on radars and destroy with missile defense systems.” Read more at Axios
“Covid-19 cases in China hit a record high. The country recorded more than 16,400 new local infections for Monday, according to the National Health Commission, the highest daily tally in mainland China in more than two years. More than 80% of the latest daily cases were in Shanghai, where the lockdown of its 25 million residents continued.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“People in Shanghai are facing food shortages, disruptions in medical care, and censorship during lockdown, amid China's biggest wave of infections since early 2020, Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian reports for Axios China.
The bottom line: China's ‘zero-COVID’ policy has saved countless lives, but the extreme measures required to fully contain the highly transmissible Omicron variant are causing other kinds of suffering.” Read more at Axios
“Hong Kong’s No. 2 official, John Lee, will be the only candidate to seek the city’s top post, local media reported, as China seeks to elevate a chief proponent of its sweeping crackdown on opponents.” Read more at Bloomberg
“The first Darfur war crimes trial started today. Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman pleaded not guilty to more than 30 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.” Read more at Axios
“Pakistan’s highest court is due to rule on the constitutional validity of a parliamentary ruling that canceled a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Imran Khan, who then dissolved the legislature and called for elections.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Peruvian President Pedro Castillo lifted a lockdown he’d imposed on Lima in an attempt to curb protests against inflation that plunged the nation’s capital into chaos.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Iraq’s parliament vote. Iraqi lawmakers have until today to choose a new president or raise the specter of fresh elections. Iraq’s parliament has repeatedly been unable to agree on a presidential candidate since October 2021 elections, with three successive votes failing for lack of a quorum stemming from a boycott from a major Shiite bloc. The Apr. 6 deadline is an extension set by Iraq’s federal court after politicians failed to choose a new national leader within the timeline set out by the country’s constitution. Lawmakers are currently 47 days past the original deadline.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Kuwait’s government quits. Kuwait’s government resigned on Tuesday. Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al Hamad Al Sabah took the decision before a no-confidence vote in his leadership scheduled for this week. It is the third time in 18 months that Kuwait’s government resigned and comes after its defense and interior ministers quit earlier this year.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“The celebrated Iranian film director Asghar Farhadi has been found guilty of plagiarizing a film student’s work for his new film A Hero by an Iranian court. The two-time Oscar winner’s verdict cannot be appealed in accordance with Iranian law, and his sentencing could include prison time and turning over all income earned from the film to his former student Azadeh Masihzadeh, whose documentary All Winners All Losers he reportedly stole from. Farhadi’s film A Hero has earned more than $2.5 million worldwide after premiering at Cannes Film Festival last year, where it won the Grand Jury award. Amazon Prime has the U.S. rights for the film.” Read more at Hollywood Reporter
Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan last week.Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
A new mystery
“To many people’s surprise — including mine — new Covid-19 cases in the U.S. have not begun to rise. Over the past two weeks, they have held roughly steady, falling about 1 percent, even as the highly contagious BA.2 subvariant of Omicron has become the dominant form of Covid in the U.S.
Across much of Europe, by contrast, cases surged last month after BA.2 began spreading there, and many experts expected a similar pattern here. That hasn’t happened. ‘It has not taken off,’ Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota epidemiologist, told me.
Chart shows 7-day averages as of April 4. | Sources: New York Times database; Johns Hopkins University
What’s going on? Today’s newsletter looks at four possible explanations.
More immunity
Even though the U.S. has a lower vaccination rate than Western Europe, this country may still have built up more immunity — thanks to our politically polarized response to the virus.
In liberal parts of the U.S., vaccination rates can be even higher than in Europe. In conservative communities, many Americans have been so dismissive of Covid that they have long been living almost normally. As a result, the virus has already swept through these communities, conferring at least some immunity on many people.
This laissez-faire approach has had horrible downsides. Covid death rates have been much higher in counties that voted for Donald Trump than those that voted for Joe Biden. But for people who survived a prior Covid infection, it does confer some immune protection, especially if it was recent.
‘Most of Europe has been pretty Covid averse,’ William Hanage, a Harvard epidemiologist, said on a recent episode of the ‘In the Bubble’ podcast, ‘whereas parts of the United States have been quite Covid curious.’ Hanage said that he still expected U.S. caseloads to rise soon. But, he added, ‘I don’t think it’s going to be as dramatic as Europe.’
If that’s correct, a preview is already visible in the Northeast, where cases have been rising lately, but not as steeply as in Europe.
Chart shows 7-day averages. | Source: New York Times database
One possible reason: There are not as many Americans vulnerable to infection. The earlier version of the Omicron variant seems to have infected about 45 percent of Americans, according to Andy Slavitt, a former Covid adviser in the Biden White House. That share appears to be higher than Europe’s.
Fewer tests
The shift toward at-home testing in recent months means that a smaller share of actual Covid cases may be showing up in the data that government agencies report and news organizations like The Times publish. The government data relies on laboratory tests.
Another potential factor depressing the volume of tests is reduced access for lower-income Americans. Some uninsured people now must pay for their own tests, and many testing clinics have closed.
All of which raises the possibility that Covid cases really are surging now, even if the data doesn’t show it.
Jessica Malaty Rivera of Boston Children’s Hospital told The Atlantic that the quality of current Covid data was ‘abysmal.’ Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former F.D.A. commissioner, told CNBC that he thought some parts of the country were ‘dramatically’ underreporting cases.
This chart suggests that underreporting is a real issue. As you can see, official testing in several European countries increased as BA.2 spread, while testing in the U.S. has declined modestly.
Comparisons across countries are affected by different testing policies and reporting methods. | Source: Our World in Data
Still, the shortage of testing does not seem to be the only reason that cases have not surged in the U.S. Trends in Covid hospitalizations typically lag case trends by only about a week. And hospitalizations have continued to fall in the U.S., to their lowest level in more than two years.
Just wait
Even if high levels of immunity have kept cases from rising so far, the effect may not be permanent. Remember: About 45 percent of Americans were infected with Omicron, which leaves about 55 percent who were not. While many of those 55 percent may have had an earlier version of Covid, immunity can wane over time.
The current moment might be one of those times when we’re asking why cases have not begun to rise right as they begin to rise. ‘It may be too early to see a signal,’ Jennifer Nuzzo, a Brown University epidemiologist, told me.
Another mystery
Throughout the pandemic, Osterholm — the Minnesota epidemiologist — has lamented that many scientists, journalists and laypeople exaggerate how much we actually know about Covid. His favorite example: The Alpha variant swept through Michigan and Minnesota last year and then largely died out, without causing case increases in other parts of the U.S. Another example: BA.2 has recently become the dominant variant in India, South Africa and some other countries without causing a spike in cases.
When I called Osterholm yesterday to ask why cases had not surged over the past few weeks, he simply said: ‘I don’t know, and I don’t think anybody really knows.’
Of all the variants, only the original Omicron was so contagious that it spread around the world in predictable ways, he said. Other versions of the virus have surged and receded in mysterious ways, much as a forest fire can die out without burning down an entire forest.
The bottom line: Cases still seem likely to rise, perhaps significantly, in the U.S. soon. But a new wave looks less certain than it did a few weeks ago. Regardless, the steps that can save lives in coming months remain the same: more vaccine shots, including boosters; and greater awareness of available treatments that offer extra protection for the vulnerable.” Read more at New York Times
Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images
“Tiger Woods plans to play the upcoming Masters in Augusta, Ga., he told reporters today.
‘It's up to me to endure the pain,’ he said.
Woods said late last year that he'd retire from full-time competitive golf after a car crash in February 2021.
What's next: He is set to play nine more practice holes tomorrow before making a final decision.” Read more at Axios
“Bobby Rydell dies: The 1950s teen idol, who starred in the hit musical film ‘Bye Bye Birdie,’ died Tuesday from pneumonia complications in Pennsylvania. He was 79.” Read more at USA Today