Ukraine war has left at least 345 million people facing food insecurity

Ukraine war has left at least 345 million people facing food insecurity

The Telegraph reports: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has left the world on the brink of a “triple F” crisis with at least 345 million people facing food insecurity, the World Food Programme has warned. Matthew Hollingworth, the emergency coordinator for the WFP in Ukraine, said millions of extra people had been left vulnerable as a result of food, fuel and fertiliser shortages and a spike in prices triggered by the war. “We are extraordinarily concerned for more than 345 million…

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Turkey backs NATO membership for Sweden, Finland

Turkey backs NATO membership for Sweden, Finland

The Wall Street Journal reports: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is on a course to admit Finland and Sweden following an agreement with Turkey, a move that would add vast territory and new military abilities in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The two Nordic countries, which had long shunned joining the alliance, abruptly changed their stance following Moscow’s attack on its neighbor on Feb. 24. Both countries applied for NATO membership a month ago, but Turkey had balked,…

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Ukraine war: Kremenchuk shopping centre attack claims fact-checked

Ukraine war: Kremenchuk shopping centre attack claims fact-checked

BBC News reports: Within hours of the attack on a shopping centre in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, false and unproven claims began circulating online. Stories were spread by Russian Telegram channels and by Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations. They included rumours that the attack was “false” or “staged” – and were repeated on Russian television. On Tuesday, Russia’s defence ministry released a statement claiming the shopping centre was “non-functioning” and that the bombing of…

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‘This is a bombshell’: Trump aides left speechless by Hutchinson testimony

‘This is a bombshell’: Trump aides left speechless by Hutchinson testimony

CNN reports: Aides to former President Donald Trump were left speechless amid the first half of Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony on Tuesday, acknowledging to CNN that her testimony was “a bombshell” with potentially huge repercussions for Trump. Trump was already bracing for an explosive day of testimony from Hutchinson, who previously told the House select committee that the former President approved of rioters chanting violent threats against Vice President Mike Pence on January 6, 2021. “This is a bombshell. It’s stunning….

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Ocasio-Cortez wants justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh impeached for ‘lying under oath’

Ocasio-Cortez wants justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh impeached for ‘lying under oath’

The New York Times reports: Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is calling for a House investigation into whether two Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade should be impeached for lying at their confirmation hearings about their views of the landmark abortion-rights case. In a Sunday interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat and progressive firebrand, said that she thinks the justices, Neil Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh, were dishonest when discussing Roe at…

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Women who are denied abortions risk falling deeper into poverty. So do their kids

Women who are denied abortions risk falling deeper into poverty. So do their kids

NPR reports: Like most women seeking an abortion, Brittany Mostiller already had children when she unexpectedly got pregnant again. “I had two young daughters both under the age of 5, sharing a two-bedroom apartment with my sister,” she says. She’d also just been laid off from her overnight job as a greeter for Greyhound buses. Her unemployment benefits were less than her wages there, and nearly all of them went toward rent and utilities. “I’m not even sure I had…

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Who knew losing our rights would feel this bad?

Who knew losing our rights would feel this bad?

Molly Jong-Fast writes: They overturned Roe v. Wade on a sunny and hot Friday in June. I was taking my daughter for a haircut when the Supreme Court released its ruling declaring that our bodies were no longer ours. Roe had been the crowning achievement of my mother’s generation of activism, and it was gone—a right we’d had for 49 years erased in pages of text we saw a draft of last month. And maybe it fit that as I…

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The coming legal battles of post-Roe America

The coming legal battles of post-Roe America

Vox reports: When the Supreme Court issued its 6-3 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, declaring that there is no longer a constitutional right to end a pregnancy, it ushered in a series of new and fiercely contested legal questions about who can be punished for doing so, and where, under newly restrictive state laws. Can a state punish a resident for getting an out-of-state abortion? Can it punish the provider in another state who facilitated it? Or as…

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NATO to put 300,000 troops on high alert in response to Russia threat

NATO to put 300,000 troops on high alert in response to Russia threat

The Guardian reports: Nato’s secretary general has said this week’s Madrid summit will agree the alliance’s most significant transformation for a generation, putting 300,000 troops at high readiness in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance’s forces in the Baltic states and five other frontline countries would be increased “up to brigade levels” – doubled or trebled to between 3,000 and 5,000 troops. That would amount to “the biggest overhaul of our collective defence and…

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Tracking where Russia is taking Ukraine’s stolen grain

Tracking where Russia is taking Ukraine’s stolen grain

BBC News reports: There’s mounting evidence that Russian forces in occupied areas of Ukraine have been systematically stealing grain and other produce from local farmers. The BBC has talked to farmers and analysed satellite images and shipping data to track where the grain is going. A few dozen miles from the frontline, Ukrainian farmer Dmytro describes how the business he nurtured over 25 years was lost in four months of Russian occupation. The BBC tried to contact more than 200…

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America is in the ‘figure it out yourself’ era of the pandemic

America is in the ‘figure it out yourself’ era of the pandemic

Ed Yong writes: In 2018, while reporting on pandemic preparedness in the Democratic Republic of Congo, I heard many people joking about the fictional 15th article of the country’s constitution: Débrouillez-vous, or “Figure it out yourself.” It was a droll and weary acknowledgment that the government won’t save you, and you must make do with the resources you’ve got. The United States is now firmly in the débrouillez-vous era of the COVID-19 pandemic. Across the country, almost all government efforts…

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Six years on, Brexit delivers more paperwork and less business

Six years on, Brexit delivers more paperwork and less business

The Observer reports: On 23 June 2016, Geoffrey Betts, the managing director of a small office supplies business in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, had high hopes for his firm, and the British economy, when he voted for Brexit. “I thought we would be like … ‘here we go, here we go. We are going to become the most competitive country in Europe and we are going to be encouraging business.’ Now I think: ‘What have we done?’” His firm, Stewart Superior, has…

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Viruses survive in fresh water by ‘hitchhiking’ on plastic, study finds

Viruses survive in fresh water by ‘hitchhiking’ on plastic, study finds

The Guardian reports: Dangerous viruses can remain infectious for up to three days in fresh water by hitchhiking on plastic, researchers have found. Enteric viruses that cause diarrhoea and stomach upsets, such as rotavirus, were found to survive in water by attaching to microplastics, tiny particles less than 5mm long. They remain infectious, University of Stirling researchers found, posing a potential health risk. Prof Richard Quilliam, lead researcher on the project at Stirling University, said: “We found that viruses can…

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Secretive operation involving allied commandos rushes weapons to Ukrainian troops

Secretive operation involving allied commandos rushes weapons to Ukrainian troops

The New York Times reports: As Russian troops press ahead with a grinding campaign to seize eastern Ukraine, the nation’s ability to resist the onslaught depends more than ever on help from the United States and its allies — including a stealthy network of commandos and spies rushing to provide weapons, intelligence and training, according to U.S. and European officials. Much of this work happens outside Ukraine, at bases in Germany, France and Britain, for example. But even as the…

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