Six In The Morning Monday 14 March 2022

 

'We will stay here. We will fight': The women in a sleepy border town refusing to leave Ukraine

By Denise Hruby, CNN

Updated 1358 GMT (2158 HKT) March 14, 2022

In the first moments of respite since fleeing her home, Lilya Solodovnik watches her pigtailed 6-year-old, Lena, rocking on a blue plastic pony. Their home city of Kharkiv has been pummeled by Russian forces, and her friends and family are now hiding in bomb shelters.

Solodovnik, and dozens of other women and children from Ukraine's besieged cities, have found a safe haven in a former orphanage-turned-shelter in Solotvyno, a village nestled in the Carpathian mountains near the Romanian border. Here, they are resisting the literal last mile out of the country.

"I don't want to leave my husband alone in Ukraine," says Solodovnik of her partner, who worked as a driver until three weeks ago. He dropped off his family here and turned back around to fight. "This, here, is still Ukraine. It's my home," she tells CNN.

China locks down province of 24m as new Covid infections rise

Jilin residents ordered to stay at home and reservists sent to disinfect streets as 1,437 new cases reported across China

Helen Davidson in Taipei and agencies

China’s government has ordered a province of 24 million people into lockdown as it tries to contain a Covid-19 outbreak that has spread to multiple locations.

Authorities reported 1,437 new cases across the country, including 895 in Jilin province, which was put under lockdown measures. People living in the province have been banned from moving around, and anyone wanting to leave the province must apply for permission from police. Restrictions were already in place in two cities, Jilin and Changchun.

The industrial province sent 7,000 reservists to help with the response, from keeping order and registering people at testing centres to using drones to carry out aerial spraying and disinfection, the state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Russian protester holds up sign saying ‘two words’ and is marched off by armed police seconds later

Armed police descended on young woman in Moscow’s Manezhnaya Square

Holly Bancroft

A protester holding a tiny sign with “two words” written on it was arrested by the Russian authorities within three seconds of her showing it in a shocking example of how the country is cracking down on free speech.

In the footage, a horde of heavily armoured policemen descended on a young woman in Manezhnaya Square in Moscow after she stood by herself and held up a small paper sign.

The woman was asked by a cameraman if she supports the activists who have been protesting Russia’s war on Ukraine. She replied that she did and said: “I’d like to ask your opinion, if

Ukraine war: Why the West cannot afford to ignore Afghanistan

The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is no longer a priority for Western powers, as they are busy dealing with the Ukraine war. The situation could allow transnational terrorist groups to regroup in Afghanistan.

The Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan was dubbed a monumental security challenge for the international community. A humanitarian crisis ensued, with millions of Afghans plunged into poverty, and the country's economy began to collapse.

Major world powers scrambled to tackle the situation, and efforts were made to ensure Afghanistan's stability and put pressure on the country's new Islamic fundamentalist rulers.

Seven months later, Afghanistan is no longer a main concern for Western powers, as they shift their focus to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Art sales hit all-time high in 2021

Art auctions saw a record year in 2021 with $17.1 billion (15.6 billion euros) in sales as the market continued its rapid growth in Asia and recovered from its coronavirus slump, experts Artprice said Monday.

The figure marked a 60-percent increase on 2020, when sales were hit by the initial disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic, and 28-percent compared with 2019, according to the firm's annual report.

"The global art market regained much of its customary dynamism, and a whole lot more as well," the report said.

It was boosted by a number of big-name auctions such as the $45-million Botticelli and $34.9-million Frida Kahlo sales in New York.

'Things Will Only Get Worse.' Putin's War Sends Russians Into Exile.

Anton Troianovski and Patrick Kingsley

Mon, March 14, 2022, 4:39 AM

They lined up at ATMs, desperate for cash after Visa and Mastercard suspended operations in Russia, swapping intelligence on where they could still get dollars. At Istanbul cafes, they sat quietly studying Telegram chats or Google Maps on their phones. They organized support groups to help other Russian exiles find housing.

Tens of thousands of Russians have fled to Istanbul since Russia invaded Ukraine last month, outraged about what they see as a criminal war, worried about conscription or the possibility of a closed Russian border, or concerned that their livelihoods are no longer viable back home.

And they are just the tip of the iceberg. Tens of thousands more traveled to countries like Armenia, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan that are better known as sources of migration to Russia. At the land border with Latvia — open only to those with European visas — travelers reported waits lasting hours.