Your Wednesday Briefing – The New York Times
Good morning. We are talking about Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan and the new US sanctions against allies of Vladimir Putin.
Pelosi meets the president of Taiwan
Nancy Pelosi Meet Tsai Ing-wen, President of Taiwanafter visiting Taiwan’s Legislature earlier today.
In what could be seen as a confrontation in China, the US House of Representatives speaker is also likely to hold discussions with a number of human rights leaders this afternoon, before she departs. She said her visit to the self-governing island was a sign of the United States’ “unwavering commitment” to supporting its democracy.
The high-level meetings set the stage for further tensions with China, which claims Taiwan as its territory. Shortly after Pelosi landed, Chinese diplomats said her trip “severely undermined” Beijing’s sovereignty, aimed at maintaining a angry drums getting louder in China towards the US
And the Chinese military claims fire drills appears to be encroaching on Taiwan’s territorial waters. A state news agency warned ships and planes to stay away for “safety reasons”. This is live updates.
New sanctions against Putin’s allies
The Biden Administration announced a new major round of sanctions on Russian entities yesterday, including dozens of companies, oligarchs close to the Kremlin and technology organizations with ties to the military.
They also targeted a woman believed to be Vladimir Putin’s sexual partner: Alina Kabaeva, a former Olympic gymnast and member of the Russian Duma.
The move prevented Kabaeva from accessing any property in the US or conducting transactions with Americans, and denied her entry visa. She has been subject to EU and UK sanctions.
And this move follows news of the US expanding aid to Ukraine. On Monday, the United States announced that it would send $550 million other weapons to Ukraine, bringing US investment in the war effort to more than $8 billion.
Our Report on the Russo-Ukrainian War
Fee: At least 140,000 residential buildings in Ukraine have been destroyed or damaged, leaving more than 3.5 million people homeless. Commoners are store firewood and coal to prepare for winter.
Permission: Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, raised the prospect of “civil partnership” yesterday. War is a catalyst: LGBTQ soldiers are fighting for their country, but their mate lacks legal rights.
Marine: Sailors usually don’t discuss politics. The war is testing that norm for Ukrainian and Russian crew members on commercial vessels.
What’s next for Boris Johnson?
Boris Johnson, British Prime Minister, will leave office in September. But Few would have thought that he would step out of the limelight – or give up the prospect of one day regaining your place.
Less than three weeks after he resignation announcement between a series of scandals, rumors have begun swirling about the possibility of a return. Recently, you posing in a fighter planethen at a military base where he threw a grenade, used machine guns and organized rocket launchers during exercises with the Ukrainian army.
And at his last appearance in Parliament as prime minister, Johnson’s verdict on his tumultuous three years in Downing Street was a “largely task done – for now,” before he signed it. name from the movie “Terminator”: “Hasta la vista, honey.”
What’s next: Liz Truss, foreign minister, or Rishi Sunak, former prime minister of the Exchequer, will accept. Johnson’s allies expect him to try to stay in Congress to protect his legacy and key policy initiatives.
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“When 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?”
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Calculating the Jewish gender
Almost every object in Hebrew has a gender: A table is masculine; a door is feminine. In recent years, some Israelis have promote language modificationand even the alphabet, to deal with what they see as its inherent biases.
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Critics call it cumbersome, unnecessary tinkering: “I’m against clumsiness,” said one journalist. Some radical Jews oppose the new focus on equality in principle.
And Hebrew is not just the official language of the Jewish state: It is a binding identifier. The modern form has its roots in biblical times. But it still preserves the grammatical norms of the ancient clans.