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IMPORTANT
|  | Eastern Advance | Zelenskyy Says the Battle for Donbas Has Begun In their quest to “liberate” the contested Donbas region of Ukraine, Russian forces launched a fresh offensive along the country’s long eastern flank on Monday. “We can now say that Russian forces have started the battle of the Donbas, for which they have long prepared,” said President Volodymr Zelenskyy. Since 2014, Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces in the mainly Russian-speaking Donbas, where they have declared two independent republics. “No matter how many Russian troops are driven there, we will fight,” said Zelenskyy. “We will defend ourselves.” The battle is expected to be long and bloody — on both sides. (Sources: Reuters, AP) |
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| |  | Masks Off! | Mask Requirement on US Public Transport LiftedHours after a Trump-appointed Florida federal judge struck down the mask mandate on public transport, most major U.S. airlines dropped mask requirements for domestic flights, and Amtrak announced that passengers and employees wouldn’t have to mask up. The decision came five days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention extended the mask mandate through May 3. Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle argued that the agency exceeded its legal authority in terms of the Public Health Services Act of 1944. The Biden administration, which was reviewing the decision ahead of a possible appeal, advised people to wear masks in enclosed spaces. (Source: NYT) |
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|  | Bitter Battle | East Timor Votes for President Amid Political ImpasseMore than 20 years since East Timor achieved independence from Indonesia, two former independence fighters still dominate the political landscape. Voters in today’s runoff are choosing between bitter rivals Jose Ramos-Horta, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 and served as president from 2007-12, and incumbent President Francisco “Lu Olo” Guterres. Ramos-Horta — who claimed 46.6% of votes to Guterres’ 22.1% in the first round — looks likely to win, but the path ahead for the poverty-stricken nation is murky. East Timor is operating without a budget, and Ramos-Horta has said he’ll call an early parliamentary election if he wins. (Sources: AP, Al Jazeera) |
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|  | India to the Rescue? | PM Modi Offers to Feed the World — But Can he Really?Amid rising food prices caused by the war in Ukraine, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India was “ready to supply food stocks to the world from tomorrow,” pending approval by the World Trade Organization. Between them, Russia and Ukraine account for a third of global wheat exports and 17% of corn and barley exports. India could export 22 million tons of rice and 16 million tons of wheat this year, said professor of agriculture Ashok Gulati, which would “help cool the global prices.” But others have warned that Modi may be basing his calculations on inflated harvest predictions. (Source: BBC) |
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|  | Briefly | Here are some things you should know about today: Hospitalized — again. Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, 83, who’s serving a jail term for crimes against humanity committed during his presidency, was hospitalized for the second time in a month. (Source: Al Jazeera) State of disaster. Following floods that claimed more than 400 lives, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national state of disaster — less than two weeks after lifting the two-year-long COVID-19 state of disaster. (Source: EWN) Fed up. As Shanghai enters its fourth week of lockdown, residents are complaining of a lack of food and freedom. Rising resentment may make the country’s zero-COVID strategy harder to implement, experts warn. (Source: DW) |
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INTRIGUING
| | No-Squito | Hopes High After First Phase of ‘Killer’ Mosquito TrialResearchers in the Florida Keys have completed America’s first open-air study of genetically modified mosquitoes. Biotech firm Oxitec released almost five million male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes — transmitters of diseases like chikungunya, dengue, Zika and yellow fever — that they’d modified to carry a gene that’s fatal to female offspring. Early results are promising, but Oxitec still has “a lot of work ahead of them,” says entomologist Thomas Scott. First step, trying the trick somewhere else. A. aegypti only makes up 4% of the Keys’ mosquito population and doesn’t pose a significant health risk in the continental United States. (Source: Nature) |
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| | | Norwegian Wine? | Climate Change Sees Winemakers Venture Ever Farther NorthMove over Burgundy and Rioja. Bjørn Bergum and his partner Halldis make wines on the shores of Norway’s longest fjord. At 61 degrees north, they’re well outside the traditional grape-growing band of 30-50 degrees of latitude — but Bjorn remembers the fjord freezing over when he was kid, and that never happens now. Climate change has pushed winemakers farther north in the northern hemisphere and farther south in the southern hemisphere. Bergum wants to enter his wines in international competitions, provided the tastings are blind: “If they knew the wine came from Norway, they would probably not taste it at all.” (Source: BBC) |
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| | Hop to It | Critically Endangered Tree Frogs Released Into Australian WildernessEighty spotted tree frogs are being released in Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales. After a 2001 disease outbreak nearly wiped the species out, the 2019-20 bushfires took it to the brink, reducing total numbers to around 10. It’s hoped that the new releases — the product of a breeding program — will give the frogs a third chance. The endemic amphibian “is fundamental to the maintenance of ecosystem health,” said senior threatened species officer David Hunter, as it’s the only frog species in many of the streams where it lives, and its tadpoles “consume nutrients and algae in large numbers.” (Source: Guardian) |
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| | A Pinch of Salt | Electric Chopsticks Almost Double Salty TasteComputerized chopsticks that enhance salty tastes 1.5 times might throw a lifeline to folks who need to reduce sodium in their diets. The brainchild of Meiji University professor Homei Miyashita and beverage maker Kirin, the chopsticks use electrical stimulation and a wristband computer to transmit sodium ions already present in food to the tastebuds. Japan is fertile ground for the chopsticks — which could be commercially available as early as next year — as salty flavors are an integral component of cuisine in the country, and the average Japanese adult consumes twice the daily recommended allowance of salt. (Source: Reuters) |
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| | ‘Greatest Pain’ | Cristiano Ronaldo’s Son Dies in Childbirth, Twin Sister SurvivesThe Manchester United and Portugal soccer star and his partner Georgina Rodriguez took to social media yesterday to announce that “our baby boy has passed away.” They added: “It is the greatest pain that any parents can feel. Only the birth of our baby girl gives us the strength to live in this moment with some hope and happiness.” Ronaldo, who has four other children, has been named FIFA World Player of the Year five times and has scored 807 top-flight goals. “Your pain is our pain,” tweeted Manchester United. “Sending love and strength to you and the family at this time.” (Source: Sky Sports, The Guardian) |
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