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IMPORTANT | | Getting Medieval | Ukraine Faces Mounting Humanitarian Crisis as Russians Close In As the number of refugees fleeing the invasion surpassed 2 million, Russian forces continue to lay siege to Ukraine’s major cities, cutting supplies of food, water, heat and medicine in a campaign citizens called “medieval.” Previous attempts to establish safe escape corridors from besieged cities have been met with renewed Russian attacks, but Tuesday Ukrainian officials confirmed that some civilians were evacuated from the eastern city of Sumy and the southern port city of Mariupol. There, residents face an increasingly desperate situation. Nearly half of the city’s 430,000 civilians hope to flee, but are being contained by Russian soldiers. (Sources: AP, BBC) |
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| | | Pump It Up | US Gas Prices Surge to Record Highs Gasoline prices reached a national average of just over $4.10 per gallon yesterday, nudging past a previous record set in 2008. In some of the nation’s pricier areas, pumps registered $5 per gallon. Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at the tech company GasBuddy, foresees the high prices lasting for months: “It’s a dire situation and won’t improve any time soon.” Increases are largely due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but rates were already inching up as COVID-19 restrictions lifted and demand for gas surged. GasBuddy expects this year’s national average price to be the highest ever recorded. (Source: The Hill) |
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| | Bad News for Brainiacs | Evidence Suggests Even Mild Cases of COVID-19 Affect the Brain Scientists at the University of Oxford who performed MRI scans on patients before and after infection with COVID-19 found that participants’ brains had shrunk slightly after infection, with a loss of gray matter in the regions linked to memory and smell. Though researchers emphasized that the brain can recover from such damage, they are unsure how, or even if, the 0.2% to 2% brain shrinkage affects human health and well-being. It is also unclear whether these symptoms are consistent across all variants of the virus, since the study’s subjects were infected with either the original or alpha variants. (Source: BBC) |
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| | Fast Food, Slow Move | McDonald’s, Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Others Under Pressure to Speak Up Support is growing for boycotts of U.S. companies that have been slow to distance themselves from Russia over its war in Ukraine. While big brands like Apple, H&M, Hermès and Disney have taken major steps to curb business in Russia, others are dragging their feet. New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is leading the call: “I believe it is prudent to freeze purchases in all Russian companies due to the situation’s unpredictability and the likelihood that conditions will deteriorate.” DiNapoli manages the state’s $280 billion pension fund, which owns shares in many of the companies he’s targeting. (Source: NBC News) |
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| | Briefly | Here are some things you should know about today: Pentagon to permanently shut U.S. Navy’s Hawaii fuel tank facility. It leaked petroleum into Pearl Harbor’s drinking water, sickening nearly 6,000 people and forcing 4,000 military families from their homes. (Source: AP) Tunisia appoints temporary head to judicial council. President Kais Saied made an about-face yesterday, after dissolving the council a month ago in what opponents called a dangerous consolidation of power. (Source: Al Jazeera) Former President Donald Trump says U.S. should bomb Russia disguised as China. In a speech to top Republican donors, Trump recommended putting Chinese flags on American F-22 jets, eliciting laughter from the crowd. (Source: The Guardian) |
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| INTRIGUING | | | | Back to Beijing | Winter Paralympic Games in Full Swing Team USA has high hopes for its 67 athletes competing in the 13th Paralympic Games, which kicked off Friday with 736 athletes, six sports and 78 events. Standouts in the lineup include team captain Declan Farmer, a 24-year-old bilateral amputee from Florida who will compete in sled hockey after earning gold in the 2018 games. Oksana Masters, 32, born with birth defects from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and adopted from Ukraine, is another athlete to watch: She’s the most decorated Team USA member, with 10 previous medals and a good shot at more in Nordic skiing and biathlon. (Source: The Hill) |
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| | All’s Fair in Love and Elections | South Korea Concludes Toxic Presidential Election Cycle Tomorrow Liberal Lee Jae-myung and conservative Yoon Suk Yeol have led the nastiest presidential campaign on record in a country already suffering severe political polarization. Nicknamed the Squid Games Election, this year’s cycle is all the more dramatic due to broad speculation that the loser will face jail time, as both candidates have accused the other of participating in the same land-development scandal. No kid gloves here: They have attacked each other’s wives and sued each other for libel. Polls tally more critics than supporters for both candidates in a vote many see as between the lesser of two evils. (Source: NPR) |
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| | Letter to Lester | After Hosting Bill Barr, Lester Holt Receives Bizarre Letter From TrumpFormer Attorney General William Barr’s new book, One Damn Thing After Another, hits bookstores today and former President Trump isn’t pleased. After Holt, the NBC Nightly News anchor, interviewed Barr about his book and its revelations concerning Trump, he received a strongly worded three-page letter from the former president attacking Barr and the book’s claims. The former president took issue with Barr’s condemnation of his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, repeating the old false claims about corruption in battleground states and saying that if Barr’s book is “anything like him, it will be long, slow and very boring.” (Source: Axios) |
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| | First Q, Now Z | Origins of Letter Z in Support of Russian Invasion Remain Murky Sported by politicians, schoolkids, even a Russian gymnast while accepting a bronze medal, the letter Z has quickly become a lightning rod for pro-Russian sentiment in its war against Ukraine. But its origins as a symbol remain unclear. The likeliest theory? The Z probably came from Russian tanks, tagged with the letter to avoid friendly fire, and quickly spread from there. Emily Ferris, research fellow on Russia and Eurasia at the Royal United Services Institute, said when it comes to propaganda the simplest things catch on the quickest: “It looks rather intimidating ... From an aesthetic perspective, it’s a very powerful symbol.” (Source: BBC)
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| | #FreeBrittney | WNBA Star Detained in Russia Gets Blinken Assist Basketball star Brittney Griner was detained in February after customs officials at a Moscow airport said they’d found hashish oil in her luggage. Although WNBA players regularly play overseas during the winter months, the incident came after the U.S. issued an advisory against travel to Russia. In a news conference Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken assured Americans that the State Department would provide assistance to all citizens held in foreign countries. “Whenever an American is detained anywhere in the world, we of course stand ready to provide every possible assistance, and that includes in Russia.” (Source: ESPN) |
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| | COMMUNITYWhat else are you curious about? Share your questions or thoughts with us at [email protected] |
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