Coming for Kyiv

www.ozy.com [OZY]() Your World. Bold & Bright Start your day smarter with a dossier on the most important world news, rounded off with a shot of intriguing and offbeat stories. Like the president, you deserve no less. Mar 11, 2022 Today Russia continued its slow and pulverizing assault on Ukraine overnight and satellite images suggested a ground attack on Kyiv might be imminent. Chile’s first same-sex couples got married after a new law came into effect. New research shows over 18 million people are likely to have died due to COVID-19 — three times more than official figures. And Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich is one of seven Russian billionaires blacklisted by the U.K. government. All this and more in today’s PDB. IMPORTANT Imminent Disaster Catastrophe in Mariupol; Kyiv Convoy On the Move Again Good news was in short supply in Ukraine early Friday. Overnight Russian missile strikes on the emergency services center in Mariupol meant that news from the besieged city, where civilians’ bodies are being buried in trenches, was limited. Missile attacks on places far from the Russians’ main advance suggest President Vladimir Putin might be trying to stem the flow of weapons into Ukraine. And satellite images showed the 40-mile Russian convoy that had stalled on the outskirts of Kyiv is now splitting up for a possible ground attack on Ukraine’s capital. Mayor Vitali Klitschko says the city has been “transformed into a fortress.” (Sources:[Al Jazeera](,[NYT]() We Do! Joy as Chile’s First Same-Sex Marriages Take Place Yesterday, Javier Silva and Jaime Nazar became the first two men to wed in Chilean history after a law passed in December came into effect. Being married means both men will now be recognized as parents of their two children. While civil unions had been allowed since 2015, under those rules only biological parents had legal rights. Silva is the biological father of 20-month-old Clemente, while Nazar fathered little sister Lola María. Both were born to a surrogate mother in Colombia. “This law allows us to show a new kind of family unit,” said Isabel Amor of LGBT rights group Fundación Iguales. (Sources:[BBC](,[NBC News]() Excess Deaths COVID-19 Deaths Likely Three Times Higher Than Official Records Exactly two years after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic, a report in The Lancet showed that 18.2 million people have probably died because of it. Researchers at Washington University studied excess death data in 191 countries to arrive at what they term the “true global death figure.” Excess deaths varied drastically by country, with the study putting the global average at 120 deaths per 100,000. Figures were worse in developing countries, with Bolivia, Bulgaria and Eswatini topping the list. At the other end of the spectrum, Iceland, Australia and Singapore escaped the pandemic most lightly. (Source:[BBC]() ‘Blood on Their Hands’ UK Freezes Assets of 7 Russian Billionaires, Including Abramovich Drumroll, please. Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea Football Club, is on the list of wealthy Russians to have their British assets frozen. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the seven — who are also subject to travel bans — were targeted for “clear evidence that they are connected to the Putin regime.” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss went further, saying the oligarchs would “have no place in our economy or society” because “the blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands.” Despite those strong words, a special license for “football-related activities” means that Abramovich will continue to have some place in the U.K. economy. (Sources:[The Guardian](,[Al Jazeera]() Briefly Here are some things you should know about today: Smollet sentenced. Former Empire actor Jussie Smollet was sentenced to 150 days in jail for making false reports to police that he was a victim of a hate crime. (Source: [CNN]() Sesame Street sadness. Emilio Delgado, who played fix-it shop owner Luis on Sesame Street for 45 years, died of cancer on Thursday. He was 81. (Source: [AP]() Say it to my face. Victims of the opioid crisis finally got to confront members of the billionaire Sackler family who own OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma in a virtual session of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. (Source: [Al Jazeera]() Catch the Newest Episodes of The Carlos Watson Show, Season 4! INTRIGUING Bat From the Brink Horseshoe Bat Presumed Extinct Spotted in Rwanda “When we caught it, we all just … said, ‘You look ridiculous. Look how big your nose leaf is,’” said Jon Flanders of Bat Conservation International. Then they raced to confirm the specimen caught in Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park was a Hill’s horseshoe bat — a species unseen since 1981. While the bat’s appearance tallied with descriptions, scientists were initially confounded by its echolocation calls, which registered at unusually low frequencies. Turns out it echolocates through its nose and uses those “ridiculous” nose leaves to control its baritone calls. Now that we know how it sounds, monitoring it will be much easier. (Source:[Mongabay]() Hot Flash Climate Change Is Fundamentally Changing European Birds After studying 60 years’ data on 60 different bird species in Britain and the Netherlands, researchers found that 86% of species are changing their egg-laying schedules and around 30% are getting smaller and laying fewer eggs. They’ve also calculated that 57% of those changes are due to temperature warming: Other factors like urbanization, pollution and habitat loss make up the difference. Chiffchaffs are laying their eggs 12 days earlier than before, resulting in a mismatch between when chicks are born and when food is available. Meanwhile, the redstart is getting bigger and laying more eggs, but it’s clearly an outlier. (Source:[The Guardian]() Slippery Character Smuggler Tries to Slither Into the US With 52 Reptiles in His Clothing They’ll never look … there! A 30-year-old American citizen was arrested at the San Diego-San Ysidro border with Mexico after officials found 43 horned lizards and nine snakes on his person. The critters were tied up in small bags “which were concealed in the man’s jacket, pants pockets, and groin area,” according to a statement from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The man was remanded at Metropolitan Correctional Center and the reptiles were moved to a “secure and safe area.” The animals will remain in quarantine since some of them are endangered. (Sources:[AP](,[NPR]() It’s About Time Philippines Raises Age of Consent to 16 In what one lawmaker termed “a major step forward” for minor victims of rape and sexual abuse, President Rodrigo Duterte has approved a bill raising the minimum age of sexual consent from 12 to 16. The Philippines had one of the world’s lowest ages of consent, behind Nigeria’s age of 11. A 2015 study found that 70% of the country’s rape victims were children. Under the new bill any adult engaging in sexual contact with an under-16 is guilty of statutory rape, unless the age difference between them is less than three years and the sex is proven to be consensual. (Source:[Reuters]() Play Ball! MLB and Players’ Union Strike Deal, Settle on 162-Game Season After 99 days, baseball is back. Or at least it will be on April 7. Team owners and the MLB Players Association finally agreed on a five-year collective bargaining agreement that’ll boost young players’ salaries, expand the postseason, and further incentivize teams to compete. The deal was almost scuppered by a last-minute disagreement over an international draft system, but both sides agreed to push that decision back until July 25. Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole said he hopes getting back on the field will “be the first step to maybe trying to mend some of the fences with some of the fans.” (Sources:[NYT](, [ESPN]() COMMUNITY What else are you curious about? Share your questions or thoughts with us at OzyCommunity@Ozy.com ABOUT OZY OZY is a diverse, global and forward-looking media and entertainment company focused on “the New and the Next.” OZY creates space for fresh perspectives, and offers new takes on everything from news and culture to technology, business, learning and entertainment. [www.ozy.com]( / #OZY Curiosity. Enthusiasm. Action. 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