Your Wednesday briefing

Good morning. We discuss Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan and new US sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s allies.

Pelosi Meets President of Taiwan

Nancy Pelosi met with Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen after a visit to the Taiwan legislature earlier in the day.

In what is likely to be seen as an insult in China, the US House speaker this afternoon is also likely to hold talks with some human rights leaders before she leaves. She said her visit to the self-governed island was a sign of the United States’ “steadfast commitment” to support its democracy.

The high-profile meetings set the stage for further tensions with China, which claims Taiwan as its territory. Shortly after Pelosi landed, Chinese diplomats said her trip “seriously undermines Beijing’s sovereignty”, and fueled a growing anger in China towards the US.

And the Chinese military announced live fire drills that appear to encroach on Taiwan’s territorial waters. A state news agency warned ships and planes for “security reasons.” Here are live updates.

New sanctions against Putin’s allies

The Biden administration yesterday announced a major new set of sanctions against Russian entities, including dozens of companies, oligarchs close to the Kremlin and technology institutions linked to the military.

They also focus on a woman believed to be Vladimir Putin’s romantic partner: Alina Kabaeva, a former Olympic gymnast and a member of the Russian State Duma.

The move blocks Kabaeva from accessing US assets or transacting with Americans, and denies her a visa to enter the country. She is already under sanctions imposed by the EU and Britain.

And the move follows news of the expansion of US aid to Ukraine. On Monday, the US announced it would send an additional $550 million in weapons to Ukraine, bringing US investment in the war effort to more than $8 billion.

Toll: At least 140,000 residential buildings in Ukraine have been destroyed or damaged, leaving more than 3.5 million homeless. Citizens store firewood and coal in preparation for winter.

Rights: Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, yesterday raised the prospect of “civil partnerships.” The war is a catalyst: LGBTQ soldiers fight for their country, but their partners have no legal rights.

At sea: Sailors don’t usually talk about politics. The war is testing that standard for Ukrainian and Russian crew members on commercial ships.

What’s next for Boris Johnson?

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will resign from office in September. But few expect him to step out of the limelight — or give up the prospect of ever regaining his position.

Less than three weeks after he announced his resignation amid a succession of scandals, rumors of a possible comeback have already begun. Recently he has posed in a fighter jetthan on a military base where he threw a hand grenade, used a machine gun and held a rocket launcher during an exercise with Ukrainian troops.

And on his last appearance in parliament as prime minister, Johnson’s verdict of his three tumultuous years in Downing Street was “mostly his mission accomplished for now,” before signing off with words from a “Terminator” movie: “Hasta la vista, baby. ”

What’s next: Either Liz Truss, the foreign minister, or Rishi Sunak, the former finance minister, will take over. Johnson’s allies expect him to try to stay in parliament to defend his legacy and important policy initiatives.

With Libya tipping back into chaos, there is little room for reconciliation. One town, Tarhuna, struggles to find justice after the reign of a murderous gang of brothers. But residents can’t even find the bodies of their relatives.

“If you say to me, ‘make peace’, how can I make peace with someone with blood on their hands?” a woman asked. “How can I shake his hand?”

ART AND IDEAS

Hebrew gender determination

Almost every object in Hebrew has a gender: a table is masculine; a door is feminine. In recent years, some Israelis have pushed for changes to the language, and even the alphabet, to deal with what they see as its inherent prejudices.

One snap: Hebrew lacks gender-neutral pronouns. People once returned to the masculine plural to refer to a mixed-sex crowd. Some have started using both the masculine and feminine forms of each verb and pronoun, along with their associated adjectives – or using only the feminine form.

Critics call this laborious, needless tinkering: ‘I’m against clumsiness,’ said one journalist. Some ultra-conservative Jews are against the new focus on equality on principle.

And Hebrew is more than just the official language of the Jewish state: it is a binding mark of identity. The modern form has roots in biblical times. But it has preserved the grammatical norms of ancient patriarchates.