Your Thursday Briefing: Ukrainians Flee the East

Good morning. We’re talking violence and sanctions in the war in Ukraine, a possible pick for Hong Kong’s next leader and the fight for rare pharmaceutical treatments in India.

War moves east as sanctions mount

Ukrainians fled the disputed regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, while Russia refocused on the east and military analysts warned of escalating violence. And Russian shelling at the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv is increasingly targeting civilian infrastructure and homes, local officials say.

Western pressure on Russia continues to mount. The US imposed new sanctions on Russia’s largest banks, aiming for “maximum pain,” the US Treasury Secretary said. Today the UN General Assembly will vote on whether or not to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council. Follow live updates here.

EU leaders consider a ban on buying Russian coal and a ban on Russian ships in European ports. Those would be the bloc’s strictest measures yet, but talks between EU officials suggest a ban on Russian oil and gas will be difficult.

Asia: The war has revived nuclear issues in South Korea, which, like Ukraine, gave up such weapons decades ago. India condemned the killing of civilians but maintained its delicate middle ground.

citizens: A Russian strike killed two elderly people sharing bread on a bench. The arbitrariness of their deaths underlined the suffering of ordinary Ukrainians.

State of the war:

Other developments:

Hong Kong’s next leader?

John Lee, a hardliner who led the crackdown on the 2019 protests, is widely expected to be the pick as Hong Kong’s next leader, as Carrie Lam will not seek another term as chief executive.

Their differences reflect China’s shifting priorities. Lam rose through the Hong Kong Civil Service. Lee spent his career in the security services, overseeing the police, prisons, immigration and fire departments before becoming the area’s security secretary. He also has fewer business contacts than his predecessors.

Lee said on Wednesday that he had tendered his resignation as Hong Kong’s chief secretary and that he planned to run for president if Beijing accepted his resignation. His appointment would show that China still has grave concerns about Hong Kong’s political stability, despite years of severe repression.

citable: “Beijing’s priority is to put the security of the political regime in Hong Kong over financial security,” said one analyst.

Indian parents seek rare medicines

In India, which makes much of the world’s medicines, domestic medicines are often significantly cheaper than imported medicines, thanks in part to government price caps.

But therapies for many rare diseases are often imported and prohibitively expensive, forcing patients to face an excruciating truth: India’s status as an emerging pharmaceutical superpower is of no help to them.

In desperation, parents of sick children are raising money on social media, inspired by some success stories.

A couple seeking the Zolgensma gene therapy struggles to raise $2.1 million, which is believed to be the highest price ever set for a single treatment. Their toddler has spinal muscular atrophy, a rare condition that is often fatal by age 2, and time is running out. “I will fight until her last breath,” her father said.

Details: Spinal muscular atrophy is an inherited neuromuscular disease that kills more infants worldwide than any other genetic disorder. The cheapest treatment costs $53,000 to $80,000 per year in India and is not covered by insurance.

THE LAST NEWS

world news

The Israeli government is in crisis after Idit Silman, the de facto whip, left the coalition government on Wednesday.
Amid a spike in violence, El Salvador has passed an emergency decree to punish anyone who shares information about gangs. Observers say the vague measure could lead to censorship.
A military tribunal has convicted a former president of Burkina Faso for his role in the 1987 assassination of his predecessor, President Thomas Sankara.
France has moved decisively to the right, although President Emmanuel Macron, a centrist, is favored to win re-election.

Coronavirus

Here are the latest updates and Cards of the pandemic.

A fire and smoke in a Covid ward in Greece have killed one person and injured two others.
The CDC director said she would “really encourage” older Americans and those with chronic conditions to get a second booster shot.
A second booster shot helped protect older people from being infected with the Omicron variant, but the protection quickly waned, an Israeli study found.

American news

What else is happening?

Ke Huy Quan, a child star in the 1980s, went on to do stunt work due to the lack of roles for Asian-American actors. At age 51, he spoke to The Times about his return to starring roles in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which combines his action and drama chops.

ART AND IDEAS

Non-glamorous social media

Can a social media platform be “authentic”? Meticulously staged content is commonplace on Instagram and TikTok. BeReal, an app popular among American students, promises the opposite, Bloomberg reports.

The app, which originated in France, sends a notification at a different time every day. Users have two minutes to take pictures simultaneously using the front and back cameras of their phone. Due to the time limit, the images are often candid and mundane: lecture halls, unfiltered selfies, a takeaway lunch. Users must submit their photos before they can see friends’ posts.

“You don’t exhibit anything to people you know just a little bit,” a student told The Daily Northwestern. “You’re really just sharing a moment of your day with the people who matter most.”