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In Ukraine, turning air raid sirens into a piece of music

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In Ukraine, turning air raid sirens into a piece of music

People wait out an air raid alarm at the Teatralna metro station during the massive Russian drone and missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Aug. 26.

Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images


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KYIV, Ukraine — Air raid sirens warning of Russian attacks are a constant in Ukraine. Thousands of the alarms have presaged Russian air strikes over the past two years. Some Ukrainians still take cover whenever they can. Others largely ignore them.

One of those sirens began to wail recently as a 28-year-old singer, Diana Oganesyan, was walking late at night in the capital Kyiv.

“I was on my way home from my friend’s birthday. The air siren just caught me in the middle of the street when there were no shelters nearby,” Oganesyan said. “So I was kind of stuck there.”

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As a singer, she did what came naturally. She began to harmonize with the siren and recorded herself on her phone. When she posted it on social media, it went viral.

“I didn’t expect it to get so much attention,” she said. “Of course, I’m not happy that [air strikes are] happening, but I’m glad that my voice and the power of social media are bringing attention to the war in Ukraine.”

She says her small act reflects the resilience of Ukrainians.

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“No matter what’s happening, life has never stopped,” she explained. “We’re making art. We open businesses. Guys are opening restaurants now, making festivals, drawing flowers around the holes from the bullets. This is what we do.”

When Russia launches major airstrikes, as it has recently, some residents in Kyiv and other large cities with subway systems will go underground and wait out the assault. Occasionally, they spontaneously break into song, as they did here in Kyiv, expressing their love for the city.

In addition to the actual siren, Ukraine’s government created the Air Alert app that offers its own warning on cellphones.

“Attention! Increased air threat in your area! Please proceed to the nearest shelter,” it says.

A Ukrainian government app provides regular updates on Russian air raids.

A Ukrainian government app provides regular updates on Russian air raids.

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So how are Ukrainians coping?

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“Previously, we always tried to find a bomb shelter,” said Olexander Velhus, a 27-year-old technology worker.

Like most Ukrainians, he said he took the sirens very seriously when the Russian airstrikes began nationwide with the full-scale invasion in February 2022. That often meant getting out of bed on a freezing night and walking with his girlfriend 100 yards to an office building with a secure basement.

How do they respond now?

“We just accept our fate,” he said with a chuckle.

A billboard in Kyiv directs people to the nearest air raid shelter.

A billboard in Kyiv directs people to the nearest air raid shelter.

Greg Myre/NPR

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Russian airstrikes can last for hours, and come most frequently during the night. The initial siren often means Ukraine has detected Russian warplanes, likely armed with long-range missiles, taking off hundreds of miles away, deep inside Russia.

After 15 minutes or so, the phone app usually provides an update. It can be an “all clear” for your area — or an ominous notice saying your region is a target.

Then, another half-hour can pass before you hear window-shaking booms as Ukrainian air defenses launch missiles at the incoming Russian weapons.

“Basically, we wake up when we hear explosions,” said Velhus. “Then we decide whether we want to go to the shelter or not.”

He’s in Kyiv, where air defenses are extremely good. The shootdown rate is over 90%. But other parts of Ukraine are much more vulnerable, particularly in the east and the south, near the front lines.

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The singer, Diana Oganesyan, now divides her time between Kyiv and London. She still performs in Ukraine’s capital under her stage name Melancholydi.

“We’re still making music, we’re still making art,” she said. “It doesn’t mean it’s easy. The conditions are worse, but they still do it because we are Ukrainians. That’s what we do.”

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Neil Gaiman has responded to sexual misconduct allegations

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Neil Gaiman has responded to sexual misconduct allegations

Neil Gaiman attends the 73rd National Book Awards in November 2022 in New York City.

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Neil Gaiman, one of today’s most influential and commercially successful novelists, has been accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct. The author has denied the allegations. This is what you should know.

  • Gaiman’s books include the graphic novel The Sandman, the children’s novella Coraline and a novel he co-wrote with Terry Pratchett, Good Omens. The British author has won prestigious literary honors, including multiple Hugo, Locus and Nebula awards and the John Newbery Medal. His works have inspired movie and TV adaptations. Time magazine included him in its list of the 100 Most Influential People of 2023.
  • The sexual misconduct accusations, stretching back decades, first became public in the summer of 2024 in a six-episode series from Tortoise Media called The Master: The Allegations Against Neil Gaiman. In the podcast, five women accused the writer of unwanted sexual behavior, some of it alleged to be violent in nature. Gaiman denied the accusations. No charges have been filed. The podcast included interviews with the women, plus what it said were WhatsApp messages and phone call recordings between Gaiman and two of his accusers. In one conversation, Gaiman allegedly says he “obviously f*** up” and offers to pay an accuser, who goes by the name “Claire,” $60,000 to cover the cost of her therapy. NPR has not been able to independently verify the recordings because “Claire’s” identity is not public.
  • More women have now accused Gaiman of sexual misconduct in a New York Magazine cover story published Monday. Some of the alleged behaviors include violent sexual assault and sexual misconduct that occurred while his young son was in the room. Gaiman has denied this. Gaiman’s accusers are adults, but much younger than the author, 64, including one who is nearly 40 years his junior.
  • Gaiman responded to the allegations on Tuesday in a lengthy post on his website. Gaiman wrote that he watched the news of the allegations “with horror and dismay”: “As I read through this latest collection of accounts, there are moments I half-recognise and moments I don’t, descriptions of things that happened sitting beside things that emphatically did not happen. I’m far from a perfect person, but I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever.” He also denied “there was any abuse.”
  • Recent fallout has included the suspension of screen adaptations of Gaiman’s works. Deadline reported that Amazon will end production of Good Omens with a 90-minute final episode to be produced this year, instead of a full third season. “Gaiman contributed to the writing of the series finale but will not be working on the production and his production company the Blank Corporation is no longer involved,” Deadline said. Disney paused an adaptation of The Graveyard Book.
  • Trade magazine The Bookseller reported that Gaiman hired the crisis management firm Edendale Strategies and lawyer Andrew Brettler, who has represented Danny Masterson and Prince Andrew. Neither party has responded to NPR’s request for comment.

Jennifer Vanasco edited this story. Beth Novey produced the web build.

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Upcoming Benefit Concert For L.A. Wildfires Gets Overwhelming Response From Artists, Bands

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Upcoming Benefit Concert For L.A. Wildfires Gets Overwhelming Response From Artists, Bands

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A Couple Kisses That Sealed the Deal

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A Couple Kisses That Sealed the Deal

When Olivia Christine Snyder-Spak matched with Elias Jeremy Stein on Hinge in September 2021, she was a decade into online dating but had never found an ideal partner. “I had probably gone on at least a few hundred first dates, sometimes even doing two in a day,” she said.

Mr. Stein was less versed in internet matchmaking and had been on only a handful of dates over the previous year. “I wanted a serious relationship and decided to try the online route since meeting people in person during Covid was harder,” he said.

At the time, Mr. Stein, 35, was renting an apartment in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn; Ms. Snyder-Spak, 36, lived on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

The two exchanged messages for a week about their shared love for cooking classes and art projects and exchanging funny stories. Then, Mr. Stein asked Ms. Snyder-Spak on a mini-golfing date.

When they met, in mid-September, at the Putting Green mini-golf course in Brooklyn, Mr. Stein was struck by Ms. Snyder-Spak’s energy. “She was super cute and seemed bubbly,” he said.

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They played golf for an hour, chatting about their backgrounds and professions as they navigated the course. “We laughed a lot because Olivia kept hitting the ball far away from the hole,” Mr. Stein said. “The conversation was so good that I asked her for drinks afterward.”

They walked to the nearby Other Half Brewing, sat outside and continued talking over beers for the next several hours. “We were easy with each other, and it was clear we had clicked,” Mr. Stein said.

Eventually, it started to rain heavily. As they waited for their Uber rides, Mr. Stein asked Ms. Snyder-Spak if he could kiss her. “I said yes, and when he smooched me, it felt like a movie kiss,” she said, describing it as “very romantic.”

They settled into a dating cadence almost immediately, seeing each other several times a week for activities like sushi-making, comedy shows and museums. On Halloween, they went to Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. “The spookiness of a cemetery seemed fitting, and the fact that Eli felt the same way was a big sign that he was going to be a great teammate, down for whatever,” Ms. Snyder-Spak said.

A vacation to Turks and Caicos Islands in January 2022 solidified their commitment. “Our flight back got canceled because of bad weather and a staffing shortage, and the two we booked after that also got canceled,” Mr. Stein said. “We eventually ended up in Miami and got bumped on our flight home.”

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Nevertheless, they had fun. “That’s when I knew that Olivia was the one.”

The experience made Ms. Snyder-Spak “realize that I wanted to do hard things together with Eli forever,” she said.

Mr. Stein grew up in Durham, N.C. He is a product manager on the software development team at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York and the founder of Admissions Intelligence, a college admissions platform that uses artificial intelligence. He has a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Vassar College.

Ms. Snyder-Spak is from Woodbridge, Conn., and works as the director of nonfiction at the entertainment production company Topic Studios, in New York. She has a bachelor’s degree in film from Dartmouth.

After their Turks and Caicos trip, the couple began spending several nights a week at one of their two apartments. In July 2022, they began renting a place, which they’ve since bought, in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

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Their bond grew as they decorated their home and traveled to places like Brazil, Portugal and Costa Rica. “My love for Olivia was getting stronger, and it was the right time to propose,” Mr. Stein said.

[Click here to binge read this week’s featured couples.]

On Dec. 13, 2023, during a nighttime picnic in Prospect Park, Mr. Stein asked Ms. Snyder-Spak to marry him as the Geminids meteor shower brightened the skies. As they kissed after she said yes, they caught a glimpse of a shooting star.

More than a year later, on Dec. 29, they wed on the front stoop of a Park Slope brownstone owned by Rabbi Yael Werber, a friend of the couple and the ceremony’s officiant. Rabbi Werber is affiliated with Congregation Beit Simchat Torah. Afterward, they walked to Mille-Feuille Bakery Cafe in Prospect Heights and indulged in three desserts.

In September, Mr. Stein and Ms. Snyder-Spak had hosted a six-day, pre-wedding celebration in Asheville, N.C., for 140 guests; it included activities such as solving a murder mystery, visiting local breweries and tubing down the French Broad River. The festivities culminated in a symbolic wedding ceremony on Sept. 1 at Yesterday Spaces, an event venue in Leicester, N.C.

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“All my online dating before Eli was worth it because I found the guy I was looking for all along,” Ms. Snyder-Spak said. “I remember the hard work, but now everything feels like magic.”

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