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Your Monday Briefing: Russia’s Assault on Mariupol

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Your Monday Briefing: Russia’s Assault on Mariupol

We’re masking Russia’s bombardment of Mariupol and China’s new technique to fight its current surge in coronavirus circumstances.

With Russia failing to grab main Ukrainian cities, showing to lose floor round Kyiv and beset by important losses, there’s an rising consensus within the West that the battle has reached a stalemate. Nonetheless, the fierce combating in Mariupol continued on Sunday from the land, air and sea.

Russian forces bombarded the coastal metropolis, together with a drama college the place 400 individuals have been hiding, and forcibly deported 1000’s of residents to Russia in opposition to their will, in response to metropolis officers and witnesses.

Satellite tv for pc photographs of Mariupol discovered proof of widespread harm throughout residential neighborhoods. Not less than 391 buildings have been noticed to have been broken or destroyed in part of town that’s dotted with faculties and well being amenities.

Diplomacy: Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, has repeatedly known as for direct negotiations with Vladimir Putin, the Russian chief. However Putin doesn’t suppose the time is correct, in response to a senior Turkish official who was on a current name between Putin and Turkey’s president.

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Since early 2020, China has taken a zero-tolerance method to coronavirus prevention. However now, hoping to keep away from additional financial hurt, the nation’s chief, Xi Jinping, is altering his tone.

In an effort to gradual the nation’s largest Covid surge since its preliminary spike in circumstances greater than two years in the past, Xi continues to be ordering main lockdowns. However he’s additionally urging officers to hunt extra lenient interventions, like permitting using at-home check kits and sending individuals to centralized remoted amenities as a substitute of hospitals, even when they continue to be strict compared to most international locations.

In some methods, it’s a necessity. Whereas solely two deaths have been reported within the newest wave, lots of the greater than 32,000 circumstances in current weeks have been of the extremely transmissible BA.2 subvariant of Omicron. If the pattern have been to proceed, sending each particular person to the hospital would rapidly overwhelm the system, and lockdowns might wipe out the razor-thin income of many factories or result in layoffs of service employees.

In different pandemic developments:


Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has trapped a crucial share of the world’s meals and fertilizer, sending costs hovering and foreshadowing an increase in world starvation.

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Since final month, wheat costs have elevated by 21 p.c, barley by 33 p.c and a few fertilizers by 40 p.c. Compounded with the pandemic and China’s worst wheat crop in a long time, officers are warning that situations might deteriorate. Earlier this month, the U.N. stated that the battle’s influence on the worldwide meals market might trigger a further 7.6 million to 13.1 million individuals to go hungry.

Over the previous 5 years, Russia and Ukraine have accounted for practically a 3rd of the exports of the world’s wheat and barley, 17 p.c of its corn and 75 p.c of its sunflower seed oil, an essential cooking oil in some components of the world. Of specific concern is the opportunity of failing to plant subsequent yr’s harvest in Ukraine.

International influence: In February, U.S. grocery costs have been already up 8.6 p.c over a yr prior, the biggest improve in 40 years. Farmers from Brazil to Texas are reducing again on fertilizer, threatening the dimensions of harvests, as a result of excessive power costs have prompted crops to chop manufacturing.

Few issues are as wonderful as gliding on ice via miles of pristine forest, with birds within the bushes, paw prints of wildlife imprinted within the snow and a brand new discovery round each bend. That’s now a actuality in Ottawa, the place skating trails are multiplying in and across the metropolis. However some fear that local weather change threatens the nice occasions.

Right here’s a collection of literature and nonfiction that may enable you higher perceive Ukraine, compiled by writers and editors at The Occasions’s E-book Overview.

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“Your Advert May Go Right here,” by Oksana Zabuzhko. Brief tales about Ukrainians going through private and political inflection factors, written by a famed public mental, “veer into the surreal and supernatural,” Alexandra Alter writes.

“Phrases for Struggle: New Poems from Ukraine,” edited by Oksana Maksymchuk and Max Rosochinsky. The anthology, which facilities on combating in Crimea and the Donbas area, contains work from a number of Ukrainian poets. “Some have fought on the entrance traces, whereas others helped members of the family evacuate,” Alexandra writes.

“Absolute Zero,” by Artem Chekh. A memoir from a Ukrainian novelist who fought within the Donbas beginning in 2015, the e book “incorporates views of civilians and his fellow troopers,” Joumana Khatib writes.

“The Gates of Europe,” by Serhii Plokhy. This complete overview of Ukraine, written by the director of Harvard’s Ukrainian Analysis Institute, goes again centuries to discover the nation’s historical past below totally different empires and its battle for independence.

For extra, our colleagues put collectively two lists: one among largely nonfiction on Ukraine’s historical past and one among up to date fiction and memoir.

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Manhattan's Top Federal Prosecutor Williams Joins Law Firm Paul Weiss

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Manhattan's Top Federal Prosecutor Williams Joins Law Firm Paul Weiss
By Sara Merken (Reuters) – Damian Williams, the former top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, will return to law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison as a partner in New York, the firm said on Friday. Williams was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in 2021 by …
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Trump issues warning to Maduro as Venezuelan leader enters third term, US expands sanctions

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Trump issues warning to Maduro as Venezuelan leader enters third term, US expands sanctions

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President-elect Donald Trump issued a warning ahead of the inauguration of contested Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who took up the top job for a third term on Friday. 

Despite significant opposition both at home and abroad to the July election in which Maduro claimed victory without providing ballot-box proof, the Venezuelan leader, deemed a “dictator” by American lawmakers, is now set to hold office until 2031.

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On Thursday, opposition leader María Corina Machado emerged from months of hiding to join hundreds of anti-Maduro protesters in the capital city of Caracas and demand that opposition candidate Edmundo González be sworn in instead.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro holds a news conference at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, July 31, 2024, three days after his disputed reelection. Maduro banned the social network X from Venezuela for 10 days after accusing it of being used by his opponents to create unrest after the election. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)

TWO AMERICANS ARRESTED IN VENEZUELA ON EVE OF MADURO INAUGURATION OVER ‘TERRORISM’ CLAIMS

Machado was briefly detained by government security forces after they “violently intercepted” her convoy as she attempted to leave the protests, the Associated Press reported.

Trump took to social media to demand she remain “safe and alive.”

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“Venezuelan democracy activist Maria Corina Machado and President-elect Gonzalez are peacefully expressing the voices and the will of the Venezuelan people with hundreds of thousands of people demonstrating against the regime,” he wrote. “These freedom fighters should not be harmed, and must stay safe and alive.”

The opposition figure was apparently forced to record several videos before she was released, though the details of those recordings remain unclear. 

Maria Corina Machado

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado addresses supporters at a protest against President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, the day before his inauguration for a third term. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

THOUSANDS OF VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS TAKE TO THE STREETS AHEAD OF MADURO’S THIRD INAUGURATION

Maduro’s supporters have reportedly denied that Machado was arrested.

On Friday, the Biden administration backed the efforts by the opposition leaders and, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, “President-elect Edmundo González Urrutia should be sworn in, and the democratic transition should begin.

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“Today, Nicolás Maduro held an illegitimate presidential inauguration in Venezuela in a desperate attempt to seize power. The Venezuelan people and world know the truth – Maduro clearly lost the 2024 presidential election and has no right to claim the presidency,” the secretary said in a statement. “The United States rejects the National Electoral Council’s fraudulent announcement that Maduro won the presidential election and does not recognize Nicolás Maduro as the president of Venezuela. 

“We stand ready to support a return to democracy in Venezuela,” Blinken added. 

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Friday slapped a new round of sanctions on the Maduro regime, this time targeting “officials who lead key economic and security agencies enabling Nicolás Maduro’s repression and subversion of democracy in Venezuela.”

Eight officials were named in the sanctions, including the recently appointed head of Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA, Hector Obregon, as well as the nation’s transportation minister, Ramon Velasquez, according to a statement by the department.

“In addition, OFAC is sanctioning high-level Venezuelan officials in the military and police who lead entities with roles in carrying out Maduro’s repression and human rights abuses against democratic actors,” the statement said. 

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A supporter of Venezuela's opposition holds his arms up and shouts with fellow supporters ahead of President Nicolas Maduro's inauguration.

A supporter of Venezuela’s opposition reacts while gathering with fellow supporters ahead of President Nicolas Maduro’s inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, on January 9, 2025. (Reuters/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria)

Maduro was also once again targeted by Washington’s sanctions, and the reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction was increased to $25 million.

The same amount was offered up for the Venezuelan Minister of Interior, Justice, and Peace, Diosdado Cabello, along with a $15 million reward for Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino. 

Members of the military and police were also named in the sanctions. 

Blinken confirmed on Friday that some 2,000 Maduro-aligned individuals have had visa-restrictions imposed on them.

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US Supreme Court critical of TikTok arguments against looming ban

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US Supreme Court critical of TikTok arguments against looming ban

Justices at the United States Supreme Court have signalled scepticism towards a challenge brought by the video-sharing platform TikTok, as it seeks to overturn a law that would force the app’s sale or ban it by January 19.

Friday’s hearing is the latest in a legal saga that has pitted the US government against ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, in a battle over free speech and national security concerns.

The law in question was signed in April, declaring that ByteDance would face a deadline to sell its US shares or face a ban.

The bill had strong bipartisan support, with lawmakers citing fears that the Chinese-based ByteDance could collect user data and deliver it to the Chinese government. Outgoing US President Joe Biden ultimately signed it into law.

But ByteDance and TikTok users have challenged the law’s constitutionality, arguing that banning the app would limit their free speech rights.

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During Friday’s oral arguments, the Supreme Court seemed swayed by the government’s position that the app enables China’s government to spy on Americans and carry out covert influence operations.

Conservative Justice Samuel Alito also floated the possibility of issuing what is called an administrative stay that would put the law on hold temporarily while the court decides how to proceed.

The Supreme Court’s consideration of the case comes at a time of continued trade tensions between the US and China, the world’s two biggest economies.

President-elect Donald Trump, who is due to begin his second term a day after the ban kicks in, had promised to “save” the platform during his presidential campaign.

That marks a reversal from his first term in office, when he unsuccessfully tried to ban TikTok.

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In December, Trump called on the Supreme Court to put the law’s implementation on hold to give his administration “the opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the questions at issue in the case”.

Noel Francisco, a lawyer for TikTok and ByteDance, emphasised to the court that the law risked shuttering one of the most popular platforms in the US.

“This act should not stand,” Francisco said. He dismissed the fear “that Americans, even if fully informed, could be persuaded by Chinese misinformation” as a “decision that the First Amendment leaves to the people”.

Francisco asked the justices to, at minimum, put a temporary hold on the law, “which will allow you to carefully consider this momentous issue and, for the reasons explained by the president-elect, potentially moot the case”.

‘Weaponise TikTok’ to harm US

TikTok has about 170 million American users, about half the US population.

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Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, arguing for the Biden administration, said that Chinese control of TikTok poses a grave threat to US national security.

The immense amount of data the app could collect on users and their contacts could give China a powerful tool for harassment, recruitment and espionage, she explained.

China could then “could weaponise TikTok at any time to harm the United States”.

Prelogar added that the First Amendment does not bar Congress from taking steps to protect Americans and their data.

Several justices seemed receptive to those arguments during Friday’s hearing. Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts pressed TikTok’s lawyers on the company’s Chinese ownership.

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“Are we supposed to ignore the fact that the ultimate parent is, in fact, subject to doing intelligence work for the Chinese government?” Roberts asked.

“It seems to me that you’re ignoring the major concern here of Congress — which was Chinese manipulation of the content and acquisition and harvesting of the content.”

“Congress doesn’t care about what’s on TikTok,” Roberts added, appearing to brush aside free speech arguments.

Left-leaning Justice Elena Kagan also suggested that April’s TikTok law “is only targeted at this foreign corporation, which doesn’t have First Amendment rights”.

TikTok, ByteDance and app users had appealed a lower court’s ruling that upheld the law and rejected their argument that it violates the US Constitution’s free speech protections under the First Amendment.

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