Most Viewed Videos
The city of Lysychansk has been heavily damaged by fighting. Ukrainian forces said Sunday they had withdrawn from the city, leaving the region of Luhansk in Russian hands.
Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images
The city of Lysychansk has been heavily damaged by fighting. Ukrainian forces said Sunday they had withdrawn from the city, leaving the region of Luhansk in Russian hands.
Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images
Russia says it now controls Ukraine’s Luhansk region, one of the two eastern regions that have been the focus of its invasion of Ukraine.
The announcement comes after Ukrainian troops withdrew from Lysychansk, an industrial city that had become the last major Ukrainian-controlled holdout in the region.
Together, Russian troops and a Russian-backed separatist militia “have established full control” over the city, a statement from Russia’s defense ministry said. It represents “the liberation of the Luhansk People’s Republic,” the statement said, using the separatists’ name for the self-proclaimed breakaway state.
Ukrainian troops had held out in this pocket of Luhansk for months, first in Sievierodonetsk, then Lysychansk. But with Russian troops pressing in on three sides, they faced the risk of encirclement and withdrew to the east, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“Continuing the defense of the city would have led to fatal consequences. In order to preserve the lives of Ukrainian defenders, a decision was made to withdraw,” the armed forces said in a statement on Facebook.
The Russians had superiority in multiple facets of the fight, Ukrainian officials said, from artillery and air force to ammunition and personnel.
After the fall of nearby Sievierodonetsk late last month, Lysychansk had become the last major city under Ukrainian control in Luhansk, the easternmost region of Ukraine. Just a week ago, Serhiy Haidai, the exiled Luhansk regional governor, urged the city’s residents to evacuate.
“They attacked the city with unexplainably brutal tactics,” Haidai said over the weekend in a post on Telegram. “If in Sievierodonetsk, some houses and administrative buildings survived through a month of street fighting, then in Lysychansk the same administrative buildings were completely destroyed in a shorter period of time.”
What the retreat from Lysychansk represents for Ukraine
Luhansk and Donetsk make up eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, where violence has been ongoing since long before Russia’s invasion in February. Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces have fought since 2014, after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea.
On Feb. 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin set the stage for the full-scale invasion by recognizing separatist-controlled areas in Luhansk and Donetsk as independent and ordering Russian military forces there under what he called a “peacekeeping” mission.
In the months since, Russia scaled back the ambitions of its invasion and refocused its military efforts on eastern Ukraine, with parts of Donbas seeing the most intense fighting of the year so far.
Now, with Luhansk largely in Russian hands, the neighboring region of Donetsk could soon follow.
The last two Ukrainian-held major cities in Donetsk — Kramatorsk and Slovyansk — are just about 50 miles from Lysychansk. The other major cities in Donetsk, including Donetsk itself, along with Mariupol, have been controlled by Russians or Russian-backed forces for some time.
Kramatorsk and Slovyansk have endured Russian shelling and rocket fire for months, including the deadly attack on Kramatorsk’s main train station in April that killed dozens of civilians.
If they fall, then the entire Donbas region would be effectively controlled by Russia — amounting to a demonstrable victory for Putin in a war that by all indications has dragged out longer than the Kremlin initially expected.
Putin has long prized the coal and steel-producing Donbas, which has a predominantly Russian-speaking population. The full capture would give Russia a strategic victory as well, expanding its control over Ukraine’s southeast and further cementing the “land bridge” between Russian territory and Crimea.
Loading…
Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2022/07/03/1109625359/ukraine-luhansk-donbas-russia
Today, the more-infectious Omicron BA.5 subvariant is officially the dominant Covid strain in the U.S. Up until how, BA.5 has been tied to its sister Omicron subvariant, BA.4, as both had steadily outcompeted BA.2.12.1 — which itself had been driving cases for the past month or so.
After the original Omicron variant appeared on U.S. shores late last year and caused the deadliest wave of the pandemic, a succession of Omicron subvariants have come and gone: BA.1.1, BA.2, BA.2.12.1 and now BA.4 and BA.5.
BA.5 was first identified in South Africa on February 26. Less than a month ago, on June 4, it only accounted for 9.6% of cases in the U.S., while predecessor BA.2.12.1 sat atop the heap at 62%. Today, the CDC estimates the subvarient is responsible for about 54% of new cases here. That’s double BA.2.12.1, which now accounts for 27% of infections. BA.5’s rise also leaves sister subvariant BA.4 in the dust at 16%. It’s a faster ascention than that of any other variant over the course of the pandemic. And there’ve been a lot of them.
One reason BA.5 is so dominant is that it seems to be more transmissible than even BA.2.12.1 — (BA.4 has some of the same key spike protein mutations as BA.5, but hasn’t had the same impact.
“The Omicron sub-variant BA.5 is the worst version of the virus that we’ve seen,” said Eric Topal, who is Founder and Director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, Professor of Molecular Medicine and Executive Vice-President of Scripps Research, in a substack post last week. “It takes immune escape, already extensive, to the next level, and, as a function of that, enhanced transmissibility, well beyond Omicron (BA.1) and other Omicron family variants that we’ve seen.”
In other words, BA.5 is much better at evading the immunity provided by vaccines and especially good at dodging the immunity conferred by previous infection.
For example, BA.4 and BA.5 drove a substantial surge in South Africa recently that was not impacted by the county’s high level of immunity.
Per the journal Nature, those who have “hybrid immunity” from vaccination and a past infection are less able to ward off the BA.4 or BA.5 than they were previous strains. That’s because the vaccines we have now are targeting the spike proteins of previous strains. And the new variants have some very different mutations.
While vaccines are less effective, they’re and still more effective than immunization through infection. The jabs also help those infected with BA.4 and BA.5 better ward off the virus’s nastiest effects.
While cases have remained fairly static across the U.S., the New York Times notes that that may be more a result of the measuring stick than the actual measurement. The paper reports that with local and federal cuts to testing services, “lab-based P.C.R. testing capacity in July will be only half of what it was in March.” Add to that the increased use of at-home tests, the results of which are generally not reported, and virus surveillance across the nation is greatly reduced from what it was even six months ago.
Hospitalizations and deaths have not risen meaningfully, either, but then in Portugal it took three weeks after the BA.5 peak in cases for deaths to peak.
A more potent ability to reinfect also means that BA.5 has a larger pool of potential carriers. While other variants are limited by the protection afforded by inoculation, BA.5 can make its way back through populations who assume they’re more protected than they actually are.
“BA.4/5 drove a substantial case wave in South Africa regardless of their high level of immunity,” observed Kaitlyn Jetelina about two weeks ago. Jetelina tweets and blogs under the moniker Your Local Epidemiologist.
She goes on to note that “in South Africa, the BA.4/5 wave contributed to excess deaths, but fewer than past waves.”
In Europe, Portugal is the country hardest hit by the new Omicron subvariants. It experienced a peak in cases on May 16, according to the World Health Organization. Deaths in that country peaked almost exactly three weeks later, on June 6.
What does that mean for the U.S.?
Our future is harder to predict based on other countries’ experiences than it was previously. Portugal got hit much harder than the States in the winter 2000-2001 Delta wave and less hard by last winter’s Omicron surge, which ravaged the U.S. That might be good for us, since the original Omicron is likely more closely related than Delta to BA.5. Previous Omicron infections may provide more protection. Our winter Omicron wave was more recent, as well, which helps. But Portugal has a higher booster rate than the U.S.
One thing is for certain: This won’t be the last variant we see.
Topol warns that “new versions of the virus…are accelerating and we’re not done yet, by any stretch.”
Indeed, like tropical storms in the Caribbean this summer, there is a line of new variants already on their way. And experts say significant mutations — especially in the Omicron subvariants — are coming with increasing speed.
A new strain known as BA.5.1 caused the largest outbreak of cases ever in Macau last week, which prompted local officials to put a large swath of the region under lockdown.
BA.5.1 has turned up in the U.S. in small numbers, as well as the U.K. and Portugal. The strain has been described as “the daughter of BA.5,” and Christine Pagel, Professor and Director of University College London’s Clinical Operational Research Unit, wrote in a piece last month that “it looks like BA.5 and 5.1 will likely win out to become the overall dominant variants.”
Since then, however, BA.2.75 has reared its head. While it’s not in the U.S. yet, the subvariant of BA.2 has been detected in England, Germany and India, where it reportedly has been found in 18% of samples. And it’s spreading fast. See chart below for graph of its growth in India.
More, unfortunately, to come.
Here’s the latest picture for the new BA.2.75 sub-lineage (nickname: “Centaurus”) – an evolutionary jump from BA.2.
It has most commonly been detected in India, showing extremely rapid growth to 18% of recent samples.
It is also spreading rapidly to other countries.
🧵 pic.twitter.com/JnkLsU9Lnw— Mike Honey (@Mike_Honey_) July 2, 2022
Source Article from https://deadline.com/2022/07/omicron-ba-5-covid-variant-dominant-ba-five-one-1235058423/
I visited the arena in April for a Mercury preseason game and was surprised by the muted acknowledgment of Griner in a city where she has given so much. Known as B.G., she helped lead the Mercury to a W.N.B.A. title in 2014 but is as admired there for helping the homeless and championing L.G.B.T.Q. rights. Local sports-radio announcers hardly mentioned her, instead going on and on about the Phoenix Suns’ competing in the N.B.A. playoffs.
At the time, Griner’s Mercury teammates were following the lead of her advisers, who had decided to stay low-key and not raise a ruckus that might draw Putin’s ire. It was clear the players wanted to be more forthright. As they spoke of how much they loved their teammate and followed the advised path, the fierceness and pain in their eyes showed me that they wanted to say more.
The approach flipped a few weeks later when the U.S. State Department declared that Griner had been “wrongfully detained.” The league and its players began to roar — the same as they often do on pressing social issues. Teams paid tribute to Griner by pasting her initials on home courts leaguewide. Over social media, in news conferences and interviews, players demanded that Biden and the White House do whatever was needed to bring her home.
“Free B.G.,” said DeWanna Bonner, of the W.N.B.A.’s Connecticut Sun, speaking to the press. “We are B.G. We love B.G. Free her.”
The N.B.A. joined the chorus. Players wore “We are B.G.” T-shirts to practices held during the N.B.A. finals. James, Curry and many other stars spoke out, demanding her release. Athletes from other sports joined in. After Griner’s guilty plea on Thursday, Megan Rapinoe, the outspoken star of the U.S. women’s soccer team, wore a white jacket with Griner’s initials stitched into her lapel as she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/08/sports/basketball/brittney-griner-russia-release.html
LOS ANGELES (AP) — In a blitz of TV ads and a last-minute rally, California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom urged voters Sunday to turn back a looming recall vote that could remove him from office, while leading Republican Larry Elder broadly criticized the media for what he described as double standards that insulated Newsom from criticism and scrutiny throughout the contest.
The sunny, late-summer weekend was a swirl of political activity, as candidates held rallies, continued bus tours and cluttered the TV airwaves with advertising offering their closing arguments in advance of the election that concludes Tuesday.
Newsom — who is expecting President Joe Biden on Monday for a capstone get-out-the-vote rally in Long Beach — was in a largely Hispanic area on the northern edge of Los Angeles, where he sought to drive up turnout with the key voting bloc.
Elder also was in Los Angeles, where he was joined by activist and former actress Rose McGowan, who repeated her claims from recent days that Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, attempted to persuade her in 2017 not to go public with her allegations of sexual misconduct against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
Siebel Newsom’s office described the allegations as a “complete fabrication.” In a brief interview with The Associated Press, Newsom characterized McGowan’s claims as a “last-minute classic hit piece” from one of Elder’s supporters.
The governor called Elder desperate and grasping, saying McGowan’s claims about his wife “just shows you how low things go in campaigns these days.”
He echoed his earlier criticism of Elder, saying the conservative talk show host and lawyer “doesn’t believe that women have the right to their own reproductive freedoms, he’s devoutly opposed to Roe v. Wade, doesn’t believe there’s a glass ceiling, doesn’t believe in pay equity laws.”
During her appearance, McGowan spoke warmly of Elder and lambasted Hollywood Democrats who she said traumatized her life. She now lives in Mexico.
“Do I agree with him on all points? No,” McGowan said. “So what. He is the better candidate. He is the better man.”
The last-minute exchange highlighted growing tensions in the election, which largely grew out frustration with Newsom’s pandemic orders that shuttered schools and businesses during the pandemic. Voting concludes Tuesday. Recent polling shows Newsom is likely to hold his job.
As Newsom’s “first partner,” Siebel Newsom, an actress turned documentary filmmaker, has championed gender equality and society’s treatment of women and families.
McGowan, 48, who is known for her role in the “Scream” movie franchise, was one of the earliest of dozens of women to accuse Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct, making her a major figure in the #MeToo movement.
Elder, who could become the state’s first Black governor, targeted some of his sharpest remarks at what he described as skewed media coverage.
Earlier this week, his walking tour of homeless encampments in LA’s Venice Beach neighborhood was cut short after a woman bicyclist wearing a gorilla mask threw an egg toward Elder and then took a swing at a member of his entourage. The confrontation set off strong reactions on Twitter, with conservatives charging the incident wasn’t immediately branded a racist attack because Elder is a conservative.
If he was a Democrat “it would have been a major story,” Elder said. He also said McGowan’s accusations largely have been ignored by the media, but argued that if similar charges had been made about him “that’s all you guys would be talking about.”
“This is a double standard,” he said. “I’m sick of it.”
Emails posted on Twitter by McGowan showed she had contact with Newsom’s wife, which her office confirmed but said their communication was “as fellow survivors of sexual assault and in Jennifer’s former capacity leading the Representation Project, an organization that fights limiting gender stereotypes and norms.”
One of McGowan’s key claims is that during a 2017 phone conversation, Newsom’s wife referenced a law firm that was working with Weinstein and asked her what the firm could do “to make you happy.”
McGowan said Sunday she didn’t recognize the firm’s name at the time. “I had no idea who that was. So, I just said nothing and hung up on her. That was my last contact with her,” she said.
The election will determine whether Newsom can complete his first term or will be tossed out of office more than a year early. Voters are being asked two questions: Should Newsom be recalled and, if so, who should replace him? If he gets a majority vote on the first question, the second question with the names of 46 replacement candidate is irrelevant. Otherwise, the highest vote-getter among the replacement candidates would become governor.
Source Article from https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-california-los-angeles-elections-gavin-newsom-7c0bc016860df634d5c5da61eef4d415