Your Wednesday Briefing: A Convoy Nears Kyiv
World

Your Wednesday Briefing: A Convoy Nears Kyiv

Posted on by Marc Barman

Good morning. We’re masking a Russian convoy close to Kyiv, President Biden’s first State of the Union deal with and fights over multiculturalism in South Korea.

On Day 6 of the invasion, Russian rockets struck main cities in Ukraine as a 40-mile-long convoy of Russian armed forces sat close to Kyiv, the capital. Consultants worry the convoy signals a shift to a brand new, extra brutal technique. Listed below are live updates and maps of the invasion.

Strikes are rising bolder as Russia seems to be concentrating on civilian areas with heavier weapons. An obvious rocket strike hit an administrative building in Kharkiv, the nation’s second-largest metropolis, killing a minimum of seven individuals. A projectile additionally hit the main radio and television tower in Kyiv, and Russia threatened military facilities there.

The warfare is dividing families, and a refugee disaster looms: Greater than 660,000 individuals have already fled Ukraine. Africans within the nation mentioned the authorities hindered their flight whereas permitting Ukrainians by means of rapidly. Ukraine is not allowing most men to leave, in case they’re known as to combat.

Ukraine: President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine accused Russia of war crimes for concentrating on civilians. The U.N. mentioned that a minimum of 136 civilians, together with 13 youngsters, have been killed within the first five days of the invasion and requested for $1.7 billion for the nation’s emergency wants.

President Biden will ship his first State of the Union deal with tonight simply after 9 p.m. Japanese; 10 a.m. in Hong Kong. Here’s how to watch, and you’ll observe our live updates here.

The financial system will probably be a main focus. Biden is expected to highlight rising wages and plentiful jobs after pandemic slumps. However his presidency dangers falling sufferer to inflation, which has restricted his capability to maneuver forward with a lot of his social spending agenda.

And the warfare in Europe will undoubtedly overshadow his speech. Biden has had bipartisan assist as he imposes economic sanctions on Russia and sends American troops to NATO allies close to Ukraine, and his speech might finish Congress’s paralysis on the issue. However he nonetheless should clarify to People why the warfare issues to them, whereas getting ready them for ensuing hardships like even higher gasoline prices.

Pandemic: The White Home has been engaged on an in depth technique to transition the nation to a “new regular,” however Biden is unlikely to lay out the plan in his speech.

Evaluation: The state of the union is bitter. In a recent poll, totally 70 % of People surveyed mentioned the nation was heading within the unsuitable route.

When about 150 Muslims began constructing a mosque final 12 months in Daegu, a conservative metropolis in southeastern South Korea, residents gathered to protest the “den of terrorists,” which they mentioned would flip their neighborhood into “​a crime-infested ​slum.”

The dispute has become a flash point, half of a bigger reckoning in South Korea over immigration and multiculturalism. Though the nation has efficiently exported its tradition overseas, South Koreans have directed a lot of their racial ire at Muslims — and immigrants extra broadly — at residence. Runaway housing prices, an absence of social mobility and a widening income hole have contributed to the tensions.

Background: Many Koreans clarify their angle by citing history: Their nation has maintained its territory and identification by means of centuries of invasions and occupations. Those that oppose immigration worry threats to South Korea’s “pure blood” and “ethnic homogeneity.”

Evaluation: South Korea turned to immigration to alleviate a worsening demographic crisis. Some rural males began to marry international girls, however there was backlash when the federal government launched insurance policies to assist “multicultural households.”

U.S. Information

Coronavirus

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

  • Queen Elizabeth II, 95, resumed her duties 9 days after testing constructive.

  • A brand new examine discovered that a number of common rapid antigen tests work effectively for Omicron.

  • Scientists discovered a brand new variant in deer, and in addition indicators of doable deer-to-person transmission, however there isn’t a proof that the variant poses an elevated threat to individuals.

  • New knowledge exhibits that the Pfizer shot is far less effective in youngsters 5 to 11, providing safety towards hospitalization however nearly none towards an infection.

What Else Is Taking place

A Morning Learn

A brief video of a chained girl has gone viral in China. She has turn out to be a logo of injustice and the authorities’ incompetence in preventing human trafficking, my colleague Li Yuan writes in The New New World column, and one of many authorities’s greatest credibility challenges in years.

There have been an uncommon variety of big-budget video video games launched over the previous two months, together with a Pokémon sport, the robo-dinosaur journey Horizon Forbidden West and Elden Ring, a fantasy epic co-written by the “Sport of Thrones” creator George R.R. Martin.

Usually, the busiest time for sport releases is the vacation season. However a number of elements got here collectively to make this a packed begin to the 12 months.

Considered one of them is Covid. When sport studios world wide have been compelled to do business from home, it took months to regulate. Many builders subsequently delayed their video games, leading to an early 2022 pileup.

One other issue, as Nicole Carpenter explains at Polygon, is that publishers are discovering that individuals will purchase blockbuster video games outdoors the vacation season. Horizon Zero Daybreak, as an example, got here out in February 2017 and bought effectively, which gave Sony confidence that its sequel, Forbidden West, might achieve February 5 years later. — German Lopez, a Morning author

For extra: A assessment in The Guardian calls Elden Ring “the finest video game yet made.”

What to Cook dinner

These soy-glazed salmon hand rolls are wealthy and crunchy.

What to learn

“Run and Hide,” the most recent e book by Pankaj Mishra, is a story of the societal change of “New India.”

Style

Glenn Martens, the inventive director of Diesel and the cult French model Y/Venture, is making an attempt to steadiness his reputation as a niche conceptualist and his rising function as trade Olympian.

Now Time to Play

Play today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: Scholar (5 letters).

Right here’s today’s Wordle. (In the event you’re nervous about your stats streak, play within the browser you’ve been utilizing.)

And right here is the Spelling Bee.

You can find all our puzzles here.

That’s it for as we speak’s briefing. See you subsequent time. — Amelia

P.S. We’re unhappy to announce that Michele McNally, a former director of pictures at The Occasions, died last month at 66. Dean Baquet, our government editor, known as her “a transformational determine in photojournalism.”

The newest episode of “The Daily” is about residents in Ukraine.

German Lopez wrote the Arts and Concepts. You may attain Amelia and the crew at briefing@nytimes.com.

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