Your Friday Briefing: Russia May Invade in ‘Coming Days,’ U.S. Warns
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Your Friday Briefing: Russia Could Invade in ‘Coming Days,’ U.S. Warns

Posted on by Marc Barman

We’re overlaying a U.S. warning of an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine and a shift in South Korea’s Covid technique.

Regardless of Russia’s insistence that it’s withdrawing troops from the border with Ukraine, U.S. officers warned that an invasion was imminent.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken instructed the U.N. Safety Council that Russia’s “forces, together with floor troops, plane, ships, are making ready to launch an assault in opposition to Ukraine within the coming days.”

Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin, who met with the pinnacle of NATO in Brussels, mentioned Russia continued to maneuver troops nearer to Ukraine’s borders, was including fight plane and was stocking up on blood provides in anticipation of casualties on the battlefield.

President Biden warned that the specter of an assault remained “very excessive.” We have live updates.

On the bottom: Artillery shells struck a town in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, damaging a kindergarten and wounding three grownup civilians. Ukraine blamed Russia-backed separatists, whereas the Kremlin mentioned “the Ukrainian aspect” had launched the primary strike. The alternate of fireside raised fears of an escalation.

Diplomacy: The U.S. State Division revealed that Russia had expelled the No. 2 American diplomat in Moscow. Additionally, in an official response to U.S. proposals in regards to the disaster, the Kremlin mentioned it was not planning any invasion however that if the U.S. didn’t conform to its calls for, together with lessening NATO’s presence in Jap Europe, it might “be forced to respond” with army motion.

Evaluation: After 30 years of post-Chilly Warfare peace, the Ukraine disaster is shaking a sense of complacency among many Europeans, our chief diplomatic correspondent in Europe writes.

A confrontation between protesters and the police loomed in Ottawa on Thursday. Ontario’s police pressure gathered exterior Ottawa’s metropolis middle in an apparent preparation to end the trucker protests which have stalled site visitors there for the previous few weeks.

The police have distributed written notices to the protesters, warning them to go away the world or face penalties. Crews of staff put up wire fencing across the Parliament constructing downtown.

Contained in the constructing, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau known as on the protesters to go house. “It’s excessive time that these unlawful and harmful actions cease, together with right here in Ottawa,” he mentioned.

Many protesters vowed to stay put. One protester mentioned their directions have been to stay of their vans, lock the doorways and never open them for anybody, together with the police. Here’s the latest.

Background: The protests started weeks in the past with a bunch of truckers who objected to a requirement that they be vaccinated in opposition to the coronavirus to cross the U.S.-Canada border. With assist from right-wing activists, the protests ballooned right into a broader motion against pandemic measures and Trudeau normally.

After two years of successfully battling off main Covid-19 surges with its broad and heavy-handed three-T technique — testing, tracing and treating — South Korean authorities have introduced a brand new sport plan: “choose and focus.” The nation is asking sufferers who take a look at optimistic to take care of themselves at house, whereas​ it redirects sources to those that are at best threat of dying.

The change, the federal government says, was needed to deal with Omicron’s rise. Till final 12 months, South Korea by no means had greater than 7,849 confirmed circumstances a day. However as Omicron grew to become dominant, the every day caseload soared to 93,135 on Thursday. The federal government expects as much as 170,000 new sufferers a day later this month.

Critics have argued that the federal government’s new method disadvantages underprivileged courses, like poor individuals who lack entry to medical care or different social companies. The brand new technique will give attention to folks of their 60s and older and people with pre-existing medical situations — supplying them with at-home remedy kits and calling twice a day to test on their situation.

Listed below are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In different virus developments:

A Canadian journalist primarily based in Kabul adopted alongside together with his good friend and longtime translator as he fled financial uncertainty and political instability to discover a new life in Europe. The journalist, Matthieu Aikins, went undercover disguised as a fellow migrant with the identify “Habib,” permitting him to experience and document the life of a refugee.

A road little one in Lusaka, Zambia, finds one other boy useless in a mountain of trash. Who was he, and who killed him? That’s the mystery at the heart of “Walking the Bowl,” a brand new nonfiction e book by Chris Lockhart and Daniel Mulilo Chama.

Lockhart, an American anthropologist, and Chama, a Zambian outreach employee, partnered with a staff of former road youngsters who helped them collect info. The story follows a 17-year-old hustler; a spindly 8-year-old who’s alone within the metropolis; a 16-year-old prostitute planning her escape; and Lusabilo, an observant 11-year-old boy who scavenges via trash. Their lives twine round each other; every, it seems, has performed a key function within the boy’s demise.

“Each day life, meticulously recorded, hardly ever has the attributes of a novel,” Ellen Barry, a psychological well being reporter for The Occasions who was beforehand chief worldwide correspondent, writes in a evaluate, “a clear arc of ascending motion, a handful of vivid characters, an ending that snaps shut like a handbag. ‘Strolling the Bowl,’ remarkably, has all of these.”

Including fried eggs, a smoky yogurt sauce and crunchy almonds turns this sweet potato dish right into a satisfying, meatless meal.

Get a glimpse into the lives of wealthy daughters over the previous 5 centuries in “Heiresses,” by Laura Thompson.

“A Banquet” asks audiences to think about the overlaps between actuality and fantasy, psychosis and evangelism.

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