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IMPORTANT
| | | Trigger Warning | Details Emerge of Random Rape, Murder and Torture by Russian Troops Since the Russians retreated from northern Ukraine, the New York Times spent more than a week in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, trailing local authorities and interviewing survivors. Reporters uncovered a pattern of random rape, torture and murder. “It’s very hard to bury your child. I would not wish that on my worst enemy,” said Ivan, whose son was killed, leaving behind two young children. “I cannot look my grandson in the eyes.” In Mariupol, where the Russian attack continues, details are harder to come by. Yesterday, the town’s mayor said that over 10,000 civilians had been killed. (Sources: NYT, PBS) |
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| | Somalia Drought Warning | ‘Act Now or 350,000 Children Will Die’ With Somalia entering what’s predicted to be its worst drought in a decade, almost half of the country’s children under five are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition by June. Humanitarian agencies are trying to send food supplies, water trucks and medical aid — but they have just 3% of the funding needed to respond to the crisis. “If nothing is done, it is projected that by the summer of this year, 350,000 of the 1.4 million severely malnourished children in the country will perish,” warned Adam Abdelmoula from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. (Source: BBC) |
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| | Baby Steps | Shanghai Eases COVID-19 Curbs for Some Residents For the first time in more than two weeks, some of Shanghai’s 26 million residents stepped out of their homes. The government is trying to find a way to balance the economic damage wrought by its “zero-COVID” strategy with the risk of larger waves of infection. Yesterday, 7,000 residential units that had reported no new infections for 14 days were classified as lower-risk. “It is understandable that people want to go out and get some air, and they need to go shopping for food and medicine and go for medical treatment,” said city health official Wu Qianyu. (Source: Reuters) |
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| | Cut in Half | World Bank: Ukraine Could Lose Almost Half Its Economy This Year A World Bank report released Sunday warned that Ukraine’s GDP could decline by 45.1% in 2022, adding that “the magnitude of the contraction will depend on the duration and intensity of the war.” Since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, Ukrainian bridges have been destroyed, ports have been hit by blockades and farmlands have been transformed into battlefields. Last year, Ukraine was the world’s fifth-largest exporter of wheat. The World Bank estimates that Russia’s economy will slide by 11.2% this year and that emerging markets in eastern Europe and central Asia will also be hit hard by the war. (Source: CNN) |
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| | Briefly | Here are some things you should know about today: Stalingrad defense. Former South African President Jacob Zuma’s decades-long corruption trial was delayed yet again, as his defense team raised the specter of more riots if the judge denied their postponement request. (Source: Daily Maverick) Inflation nation. As food, gas and housing costs surge, inflation in the U.S. in March looks set to reach another four-decade high. (Source: AP) Water worries. Chilean authorities have announced they may have to ration water in capital city Santiago if the 12-year drought persists. (Source: Al Jazeera) |
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INTRIGUING
| | Blazing a Trail | Somalia’s First All-Woman Media Outlet to Open When Bilan Media goes live on April 25, the United Nations-backed outlet will become Somalia’s first woman-run radio and television broadcaster. Bilan (the word means “bright and clear” in Somali) will shed light on the issues affecting women in Somalia. Deputy editor Fathi Mohamed Ahmed says that while Somalia does have female journalists, all the media outlets “are managed and owned by men,” so “women’s needs are not discussed in detail. For example, violence against women is not discussed in depth.” Islamic militants often kill Somali journalists and female correspondents have to battle many challenges not faced by men. (Source: VOA) |
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| | Dumpster Diving | Art Found in Connecticut Dumpster Is Worth Millions In 2017, mechanic Jared Whipple recovered hundreds of dirt-covered artworks from a dumpster outside an abandoned barn in Waterbury, Connecticut. It turns out the works were all by abstract expressionist artist Francis Hines, who had died the previous year. Hines was most famous for “wrapping” buildings in New York, including the Washington Square Arch and JFK Airport. Whipple’s stash is worth millions (one “wrapped” painting sells for $22,000), but it’s not only about the money: “I pulled it out of this dumpster and I fell in love with it,” he said. “My purpose is to get Hines into the history books.” (Source: AP) |
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| | | Avian Au Pairs | Cranes Known for Monogamous Devotion Sometimes Welcome a Third In India, the striking sarus crane is celebrated for its monogamy. “When one of the birds dies, the local mythology is that the other bird pines away in grief,” said scientist K. S. Gopi Sundar. In 1999, Sundar spotted what seemed to be a trio of cranes. Despite being poo-pooed by U.S. experts, he’s since found 193 other threesomes. Sundar’s research, published last month, shows that only two of the birds in each trio mate, with the extra female staying scarce when chicks hatch then returning to perform “au pair” duties. The trios seem better at raising young than couples. (Source: NYT) |
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| | Top Secret! | How Boris Johnson Pulled Off His Kyiv Visit U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson caught the world’s media unawares when he was seen strolling around Kyiv with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday. News of the trip — which was meant to be kept secret until BoJo was back on British soil — was leaked when the Ukrainian Embassy in London tweeted a photo of the two presidents captioned, “Surprise.” Johnson, who’d been “desperate” to visit Kyiv for weeks, flew to Poland before traveling to Kyiv by train. “I think that the Ukrainians have shown the courage of a lion, and you Volodymyr have given the roar of that lion,” he said. (Source: The Guardian) |
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| | Fairy-Tale Finale | Rank Outsider Amateur Wins Britain’s Grand National in Final Race You couldn’t make it up. Sam Waley-Cohen, the only amateur in a field of 41 riders, won the Grand National as a 50-1 outsider, pulling clear of 15-2 favorite Any Second Now in the final straight. More remarkable still was the fact that Waley-Cohen, racing his father’s horse Noble Yeats, had declared his intention to retire before the race. The first amateur to win the Grand National in 32 years bows out as arguably Britain’s greatest amateur. “It’s a dream! It won’t sink in for weeks — it feels like a fantasy, and I just don’t know what to say,” said Waley-Cohen. (Source: Telegraph, National World) |
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COMMUNITY
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