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Why Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens global food supplies

Why Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens global food supplies

Tim Lang and Martin McKee write: Reliable access to adequate nutrition is essential for physical and mental health. Vladimir Putin’s illegal reinvasion of Ukraine reminds us that we take our food supply for granted. The consequences will be felt far beyond Ukraine’s borders. The immediate threat is to those under siege. Unable to escape Russian shelling, they are running out of food and water. This is a clear breach of the Geneva Convention, which proscribes “starvation of civilians as a…

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Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian peace negotiators suffered suspected poisoning

Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian peace negotiators suffered suspected poisoning

The Wall Street Journal reports: Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian peace negotiators suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning after a meeting in Kyiv earlier this month, people familiar with the matter said. Following the meeting in the Ukrainian capital, Mr. Abramovich, who has shuttled between Moscow, Lviv and other negotiating venues, as well as at least two senior members of the Ukrainian team developed symptoms that included red eyes, constant and painful tearing, and peeling skin on their faces and…

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The drone operators who halted a Russian convoy heading for Kyiv

The drone operators who halted a Russian convoy heading for Kyiv

The Guardian reports: One week into its invasion of Ukraine, Russia massed a 40-mile mechanised column in order to mount an overwhelming attack on Kyiv from the north. But the convoy of armoured vehicles and supply trucks ground to a halt within days, and the offensive failed, in significant part because of a series of night ambushes carried out by a team of 30 Ukrainian special forces and drone operators on quad bikes, according to a Ukrainian commander. The drone…

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Autocracy hypocrisy: U.S. and Israel strengthen ties with the Middle East’s anti-democratic rulers

Autocracy hypocrisy: U.S. and Israel strengthen ties with the Middle East’s anti-democratic rulers

The Wall Street Journal reports: New diplomatic and security ties are reshaping the Middle East as former enemies seek unity in containing Iran, the U.S. rethinks its security role in the region, and Russia and China seek to exploit openings left by Washington. A historic summit starting Sunday in Sde Boker, Israel, illustrates the changing alignments, bringing Arab, Israeli and U.S. officials together for the first time on Israeli soil for talks on expanding their budding partnership. Israeli and Arab…

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War-zone collaboration becomes essential for journalists from rival news organization

War-zone collaboration becomes essential for journalists from rival news organization

The Wall Street Journal reports: In the hours after three journalists working for Fox News in Ukraine took fire on March 14, staffers from rival news organization CNN stepped up to assist the cable network. Clarissa Ward, chief international correspondent for CNN, and Trey Yingst, a foreign correspondent for Fox News, worked in CNN’s makeshift newsroom in a Kyiv hotel suite, calling morgues and hospitals to track down Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova, a consultant for…

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Ukrainians are dying for democracy while in America, Republicans won’t stand up to Trump

Ukrainians are dying for democracy while in America, Republicans won’t stand up to Trump

John M. Bridgeland writes: The contrast now between Ukraine and the United States is striking, but in an unexpected way – in the defense of democracy. The world is seeing the bravery of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people, who are willing to die to defend their democracy and freedom. When offered a flight out of the country, President Zelenskyy and his family chose to stay. As Russian tanks roll into Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, Ukrainians are…

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Zelenskyy: West needs more courage in helping Ukraine fight

Zelenskyy: West needs more courage in helping Ukraine fight

The Associated Press reports: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused the West of cowardice as his country fights to stave off Russia’s invading troops, making an exasperated plea Sunday for fighter jets and tanks to sustain a defense as the war ground into a battle of attrition. Speaking after U.S. President Joe Biden said in a lacerating speech that Russian President Vladimir Putin could not stay in power — words the White House immediately sought to downplay — Zelenskyy lashed out…

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Russian soldiers release Ukraine town’s mayor and agree to leave after protests

Russian soldiers release Ukraine town’s mayor and agree to leave after protests

The Guardian reports: A mayor in a Ukrainian town occupied by Russian forces has been released from captivity and the soldiers have agreed to leave after a mass protest by residents. Slavutych, a northern town close to the Chernobyl nuclear site, was taken by Russian forces but stun grenades and overhead fire failed to disperse unarmed protesters on its main square on Saturday. The crowd demanded the release of mayor Yuri Fomichev, who had been taken prisoner by the Russian…

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Ukraine willing to be neutral, says Russia wants to split nation

Ukraine willing to be neutral, says Russia wants to split nation

Reuters reports: Ukraine is willing to become neutral and compromise over the status of the eastern Donbass region as part of a peace deal, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday, even as another top Ukrainian official accused Russia of aiming to carve the country in two. Zelenskiy took his message directly to Russian journalists in a video call that the Kremlin pre-emptively warned Russian media not to report, saying any agreement must be guaranteed by third parties and put to…

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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine crystallizes divide between U.S. allies and rest

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine crystallizes divide between U.S. allies and rest

The Observer reports: “Decide who you are with” Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the European Council, pointing to a choice that is becoming increasingly hard to avoid, as the sheer violence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine crystallises the division of the world into two camps. The camp that stands with Russians is becoming easier to define with every passing day of the war. The colour-coded scoreboard at the UN general assembly in recent weeks, recording the votes on resolutions deploring the attack…

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Trump backers push election change that would make counting slower, costlier and less accurate

Trump backers push election change that would make counting slower, costlier and less accurate

Politico reports: Trump supporters are pushing to prohibit machine counting of ballots in future elections around the country, which election officials say could make vote-counting slower, more expensive and — most importantly — less accurate. Legislators in at least six states this year have introduced proposals to prohibit the use of ballot tabulating machines. Local jurisdictions in Nevada, New Hampshire and elsewhere have also been considering similar measures. The proposals stem from baseless conspiracy theories stoked by former President Donald…

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What we can learn about the universe from just one galaxy

What we can learn about the universe from just one galaxy

Rivka Galchen writes: Imagine if you could look at a snowflake at the South Pole and determine the size and the climate of all of Antarctica. Or study a randomly selected tree in the Amazon rain forest and, from that one tree—be it rare or common, narrow or wide, young or old—deduce characteristics of the forest as a whole. Or, what if, by looking at one galaxy among the hundred billion or so in the observable universe, one could say…

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Biden denounces Russian invasion, casting it as part of a decades-long attempt to crush democracies

Biden denounces Russian invasion, casting it as part of a decades-long attempt to crush democracies

The New York Times reports: President Biden delivered a forceful denunciation of Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine on Saturday, declaring “for God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power” and casting the military clash in Europe as the “test of all time” in a decades-long battle to defend democracy. In a speech from a castle that served for centuries as a home for Polish monarchs, Mr. Biden described the face-off with Mr. Putin as a moment he has long…

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Dirty bomb ingredients go missing from Chernobyl monitoring lab

Dirty bomb ingredients go missing from Chernobyl monitoring lab

Science reports: When the lights went out at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on 9 March, the Russian soldiers holding Ukrainian workers at gunpoint became the least of Anatolii Nosovskyi’s worries. More urgent was the possibility of a radiation accident at the decommissioned plant. If the plant’s emergency generators ran out of fuel, the ventilators that keep explosive hydrogen gas from building up inside a spent nuclear fuel repository would quit working, says Nosovskyi, director of the Institute for Safety Problems…

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