IMPORTANT | | | Safe Haven No More? | Russian Missiles Are Getting Much Closer to Lviv An aircraft repair facility 4 miles from the historic city of Lviv in western Ukraine was hit by Russian missiles overnight. While no casualties were reported, it might signal the end of Lviv being a safe haven for Ukrainians and foreign journalists. Elsewhere, a warehouse storing weapons near the southern city of Voznesensk and a shopping center in Kharkiv were also hit. Despite all this, the U.K.’s Defense Ministry said Russian forces have made “minimal progress this week” and the Ukrainian Defense Ministry boasted that 14,200 Russian soldiers have been killed since the conflict began. Russia’s most recent update put the toll at 498. (Sources: BBC, NYT) |
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| | | | | They're Home | Joy at British-Iranians’ Release — But Why Did It Take So Long? Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori have returned home after years of detention in Iran. The duo were met by their families at a British air force base on Thursday. Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s 7-year-old daughter Gabriella was heard asking “is that mummy?” before rushing to hug her mother, who she hadn’t seen since 2016. By Friday, however, the finger-pointing had started with Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, who campaigned tirelessly with Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband for the pair’s release, saying, “The Foreign Office told us many times: ‘We could have got Nazanin out earlier if you didn’t make such a song and dance about this.’” (Sources: The Guardian, BBC) |
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| | | Going for Broke | Moderna Seeks Approval for Second Booster for All Adults Moderna announced Thursday that it’s asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization of a second booster of its coronavirus vaccine for “all adults.” Earlier this week Pfizer sought approval of a second booster for over-65s only. While it seems likely that the FDA, which is concerned about the waning potency of first booster shots, will move swiftly on Pfizer’s application, it’s unclear how they will respond to Moderna’s request. Moderna said it made the application so broad so that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could determine when and how to use second boosters. (Source: NYT) |
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| | | He Said, Xi Said | Biden and Xi Schedule Phone Call About Russia U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will speak on the phone today — their first direct talks since November — amid growing U.S. concerns about Beijing’s stance on the invasion of Ukraine. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Biden would use the call to “make clear that China will bear responsibility for any actions it takes to support Russia’s aggression,” noting there would be “costs” to such actions. Samir Puri, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said it’s a “flight of fancy to think that China would turn its back on its economic relationship with Russia.” (Source: Al Jazeera) |
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| | | Briefly | Here are some things you should know about today: “Witch hunt.” Nineteen members of Cambodia’s main opposition party were found guilty of “incitement” and “conspiracy” in a trial dismissed by critics as a “witch hunt.” (Source: NYT) Where’d it go? While reviewing a report from Nigeria’s auditor general, lawmakers have discovered that over 100 million barrels of crude oil — a quarter of the country’s total production — were unaccounted for by Nigeria’s state oil company in 2019. (Source: Al Jazeera) Found! Two young brothers who got lost trying to catch birds near Manicoré, Brazil, have been rescued after four weeks in the Amazon rainforest. They’re malnourished but are expected to make a full recovery. (Source: BBC) |
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| | | INTRIGUING | | | The Plot Thickens | Evidence Mounts That ‘COVID Toes’ Aren’t Caused by the Coronavirus As COVID-19 cases surged in the U.S. in March 2020, doctors noticed an influx of patients with chilblains — a painful inflammation of the toes. Suddenly the media was awash with stories about “COVID toes” — but most of the people with chilblains tested negative for the virus. A new study of 21 cases of people who developed chilblains during the early months of the pandemic couldn’t find a definitive link to the coronavirus. Instead, “COVID toe” could have been caused by “being at home, not wearing shoes and socks,” says lead author Jeff Gehlhausen of Yale School of Medicine. (Source: Nature) |
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| | | | | Going Dutch | Bolshoi Prima Ballerina Denounces War, Jumps Ship Olga Smirnova, a dancer with Bolshoi Ballet who is “against this war with every fiber of my soul,” has joined the Dutch National Ballet. The company is thrilled to have her, “even if the circumstances that drove this move are incredibly sad.” Other big names in Russian ballet to publicly denounce President Vladimir Putin’s war include Diana Vishneva, Vladimir Shklyarov and Alexei Ratmansky, former artistic director of Bolshoi Ballet. “I never thought I would be ashamed of Russia,” said Smirnova. “But … a line has been drawn that separates the before and the after.” She’ll make her Dutch debut in Raymonda April 3. (Source: BBC) |
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| | | Dud Spud | ‘Dug’ the Record-Breaking Spud Isn’t Actually a Potato There’ll be no Guinness World Record for Dug the Spud. DNA testing on the 17-pound “potato” dug up by Colin and Donna Craig-Brown in Waikato, New Zealand, last August has revealed that it’s actually some kind of gourd. “As you walk along through life, these s**ty sandwiches, someone chucks them in your lunchbox,” said Colin. But the couple, who’ve decked Dug in sunglasses and a hat and paraded him around town in a custom-made cart, still love him like a son. “I did plan to turn him into vodka, but it’d be a bit like barbecuing your pet lamb,” explained Colin. (Sources: Metro, Mirror) |
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| | | Own Goal | The American Subsidy That Plays Right Into Putin’s Hands Jokes don’t get cornier than Washington’s ethanol subsidy. On the face of it, the U.S. is playing hardball with Putin. But a decadeslong government program encouraging American farmers to grow more corn, ethanol’s main ingredient, could put the kibosh on that good work. It’s all part of a notoriously wasteful energy-independence strategy involving huge grants and subsidies. But since 2005, the corn obsession has seen America’s share of global wheat exports slip from 25% to 13%. Russia, meanwhile, has emerged as the world’s largest exporter of wheat. If Putin absorbs Ukraine, his empire will produce a third of global wheat exports. (Source: The Atlantic) |
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| | | Out of Bounds | Norman Is Adamant His New Saudi-Backed Tour Is ‘Good for Golf’ Two-time Open champion Greg “The Shark” Norman said his $255 million LIV Golf International Series, which is funded by the Saudi government, represents “evolution not revolution” — but none of the world’s top players have signed up yet. When asked about Saudi Arabia’s human rights record and concerns over sportswashing, or using sports to improve a country’s questionable reputation, Norman said he’s “proud” of the venture, calling it “good for the game of golf” and “not a political organization.” He said the U.S. PGA Tour “intimidates players by bullying and threatening them” — but as far as we know they haven’t assassinated any of their critics. (Sources: BBC, Golf Digest) |
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