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Published by New York Daily News Republican lawmakers in Utah on Friday voted to override Gov. Spencer Cox’s veto on a bill banning transgender student-athletes from competing in sports aligned with their gender identity. House Bill 11 passed both chambers of the Utah legislature in the last hours of the 2022 legislative session, on March 4, after a last-minute amendment that left LGBTQ rights activists “blindsided” and “devastated.” But Cox, a Republican, later vetoed the legislation, citing high suicide rates among transgender youth. During a special session Friday afternoon, however, Republican lawmakers met the two-thirds… Read More View the full article

Published by New York Daily News Cheers, queers! Netflix’s new reality dating show “The Ultimatum” has been renewed for a second season, nearly two weeks before its premiere. And this time, it will feature an all-queer cast, the streaming service confirmed Thursday. The show, produced by the same people behind the massively popular “Love is Blind,” Kinetic Content and creator Chris Coelen, is taking true love to the test — in a twisted, risky, “Temptation Island” kind of way. “The Ultimatum” will follow six couples who are on the verge of marriage. However, while one partner is ready to commit, the other is not so sure. That’… Read More View the full article

Published by OK Magazine MEGA J.K. Rowlingis taking a stand against Vladimir Putin. During a call with officials on Friday, March 25, Putin tried arguing that he has a lot in common with the Harry Potter author — a claim that didn’t seem to sit well with her. He attempted to use Rowling’s previous scandals as an example of Western “cancel culture,” which he likened to the Western nations that he believes are just “trying to cancel” Russia amid the invasion of Ukraine. But the novelist wasn’t too pleased about Putin’s comparison, prompting her to take to Twitter to call out his far-out claims. MEGA “Critiques of Western cancel culture are possibly not best made by those currently slaughtering civilians for the crime of resistance, or who jail and poison their critics,” she wrote in a Tweet on Friday, adding the hashtag “#IStandWithUkraine.” CYNTHIA NIXON SLAMS J.K. ROWLING’S ANTI-TRANS REMARKS: ‘IT’S REALLY BAFFLING’ She also included a reposted article from BBC News to reference Alexei Navalny, the imprisoned Putin critic. In his initial statement on Friday, Putin claimed that Western nations — which have lodged numerous sanctions against the invading nation — “are now trying to cancel our country. I’m talking about the progressive discrimination of everything to do with Russia.” as Radar reported. He also went on to liken cancel culture to Nazis burning books in the 1930s. MEGA When he mentioned Rowling, Putin explained that the West “canceled Joanne Rowling recently — the children’s author, her books are published all over the world — just because she didn’t satisfy the demands of gender rights.” As we know, the Fantastic Beasts writer faced major backlash after making offensive transphobic comments in the past. In response to an article that used the phrase “People who menstruate,” Rowling tweeted: “People who menstruate. I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpound? Woomd?,” causing an uproar among the LGBTQ+ community. MEGA VLADIMIR PUTIN’S ELDEST DAUGHTER’S MARRIAGE IS CRUMBLING AMID RUSSIAN INVASION OVER UKRAINE But despite her controversial history, Rowling doesn’t think her comments in the past should be considered on the same scale as Russia’s deadly invasion of Ukraine. She followed up her Tweet on Friday with a series of messages about the emergency Ukrainian appeal set up by her charity Lumos, vowing to personally match all donations up to 1 million euros. View the full article

Published by Chicago Tribune CHICAGO — Sean Hayes, the star of “Will & Grace” and a co-host with Jason Bateman and Will Arnett of the podcast “SmartLess,” is now appearing in the hit play “Good Night, Oscar” at the Goodman Theatre. Hayes, who grew up in Glen Ellyn and started his career at the Pheasant Run resort in St. Charles, plays the actor, musician and raconteur Oscar Levant, here seen as a controversial guest on “The Tonight Show” with Jack Paar. Hayes spoke in a rehearsal room at the Goodman Theatre. The following interview has been condensed and edited for clarity. Q: You started your career playing piano in Chic… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Parker Posey has joined the cast of ‘The Parenting’. The 53-year-old actress will star alongside Brian Cox, Edie Falco, Lisa Kudrow, and Dean Norris in the new comedy movie, which centres on a young gay couple who host a meeting of their parents during a weekend in the country. Parker will play the manager of the country house, while Brian, Edie, Lisa and Dean will star as the parents. The Craig Johnson-directed project will also feature up-and-coming stars Nik Dodani and Brandon Flynn, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The movie has been written by Kent Sublette and will begin shooting in Massachusetts in March. Chris Bender and Jake Weiner of Good Fear Content are producing the comedy, which is intended for HBO Max. Meanwhile, Parker previously claimed that changes within the film industry have stunted her career. The ‘Cafe Society’ star is known for her work in independent movies, rather than big-budget Hollywood films, and she confessed that acting work has become increasingly hard to come by in recent years. She reflected: “I’ve never really got any of the jobs that I had to really jump through hoops for. “That’s been disappointing. It’s just a numbers thing now, too. What’s that expression? ‘You’re only as great as the last film you did.’ It’s still kind of true. And none of my independent movies made money, so it became like, ‘Why hire her?’ “Except for Wes Craven, I guess, or something like ‘Josie and the Pussycats’. That was when they were like, ‘Ooh, let’s get a character actor in there who’s kind of dark.'” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Democratic Senator Joe Manchin on Friday said he would vote to confirm U.S. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, with the support from the influential moderate signaling that she will have the votes to overcome widespread Republican opposition. Manchin’s announcement is further evidence that Democrats are united on supporting President Joe Biden’s nominee to be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. With a simple majority needed for confirmation and the Senate divided 50-50 between the parties, Jackson would get the job even if no Republicans vote for her. “After meeting with her, considering her record, and closely monitoring her testimony and questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, I have determined I intend to vote for her nomination to serve on the Supreme Court,” Manchin said in a statement. “Her wide array of experiences in varying sectors of our judicial system have provided Judge Jackson a unique perspective that will serve her well on our nation’s highest court,” he added. Biden in February nominated Jackson to replace liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, who intends to retire at the end of June. The committee is likely to vote on April 4 on sending her nomination to the full Senate for a final confirmation vote. Jackson faced two days of hostile questioning from Republicans during her confirmation hearing earlier this week, with several accusing her of being lenient in her previous role as a federal trial court judge in sentencing child pornography offenders. Sentencing experts said her approach was similar to most federal judges. (Reporting by Lawrence HurleyEditing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jonathan Oatis) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Gleb Garanich and Natalia Zinets BUCHA/LVIV, Ukraine (Reuters) – Moscow signaled on Friday it was scaling back its ambitions in Ukraine to focus on territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists as Ukrainian forces went on the offensive, recapturing territory on the outskirts of the capital Kyiv. In the first big sign that Western sanctions on Russia were impacting investment from China, sources told Reuters state-run Sinopec Group, Asia’s biggest oil refiner, had suspended talks on a petrochemical investment and a venture to market Russian gas. In the month since they launched their invasion of Ukraine, Russian troops have failed to capture any major city. An assault that Western countries believe was aimed at swiftly toppling President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government was halted at the gates of Kyiv. The Russians instead have been bombarding and encircling cities, laying waste to residential areas and driving around a quarter of Ukraine’s 44 million people from their homes. U.S. President Joe Biden was visiting Poland for a first-hand look at the refugee crisis. Poland has taken in more than half of the 3.7 million Ukrainians who have fled abroad. Battlelines near Kyiv have been frozen for weeks with two main Russian armoured columns stuck northwest and east of the capital. A British intelligence report on Friday described a Ukrainian counter-offensive that had pushed Russians back in the east. “Ukrainian counter-attacks, and Russian forces falling back on overextended supply lines, has allowed Ukraine to reoccupy towns and defensive positions up to 35 km east of Kyiv,” the report said. Britain has provided Ukraine with weapons and military training. In an announcement that appeared to indicate that Moscow may be switching to more limited goals, the Russian Defence Ministry said the first phase of its operation was mostly complete, and it would now focus on “liberating” two eastern regions claimed by Russian-backed separatists. Volodymyr Borysenko, mayor of Boryspol, an eastern suburb where Kyiv’s main airport is located, said 20,000 civilians had evacuated the area, answering a call to clear out so Ukrainian troops could counter-attack. Ukrainian forces recaptured a nearby village the previous day and would have pushed on but halted to avoid putting civilians in danger, he said. On the other main front outside Kyiv, to the capital’s northwest, Ukrainian forces have been trying to encircle Russian troops in the suburbs of Irpin, Bucha and Hostomel, reduced to ruins by heavy fighting over the past few weeks. In Bucha, 25 km (15 miles) northwest of Kyiv, a small group of Ukrainian troops armed with anti-tank missiles was digging foxholes. Andriy told Reuters he had enlisted to defend the town as soon as the invasion began. “I told my wife to grab the children and to hide in the basement, and I went to the drafting station and joined my unit straight away,” he said. “My wife and children were under occupation for two weeks, but then they managed to escape through a humanitarian corridor.” BURIED IN FLOWERBED Moscow calls its actions in Ukraine a “special military operation” to disarm its neighbour. Kyiv and its Western allies call it an unprovoked war of aggression and say Russia’s true aim was to overthrow the government of what President Vladimir Putin regards as an illegitimate state. Unable to capture cities, Russia has resorted to pounding them with artillery and air strikes. Worst hit has been the eastern port of Mariupol, a city of 400,000 under siege since the war’s early days. It is the biggest Ukrainian-held city in the territory Russia demands be ceded to the separatists. Tens of thousands of people are still believed to be trapped inside with no access to food, power or heat, while the city around them has been reduced to ruins. In a district captured by the Russians, one woman waiting in line to receive food supplies told Reuters her diabetic husband had slipped into a coma and died. He was buried in a flowerbed. “We are planning on leaving but it’s very difficult at the moment,” the woman, who gave her name as Alexandra, said. “I can’t leave my husband in a flowerbed.” Mariupol’s city council for the first time gave an estimated death toll for the bombing of the main theatre on March 16, saying witnesses now said 300 people had been killed among many hundreds sheltering in the basement. Russia denies blame. The United Nations said it was looking into reports of mass graves inside Mariupol, including one with at least 200 corpses. The cities of Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy in the east have also endured devastating bombardments. Chernihiv was effectively surrounded by Russian forces, its governor said. In Kharkiv, officials said six people had been killed by the shelling of an aid distribution site at a supermarket. Video posted on the internet showed a blast striking a car park where scores of people were queuing. People fled in terror after the explosion. Reuters was able to confirm it was filmed outside a supermarket in Kharkiv. CHINESE INVESTMENT SUSPENDED Western economic sanctions on Russia have isolated it from global trade to a degree never before visited on such a large economy. China is the biggest power not to have condemned the Russian invasion and Washington has been putting pressure on Beijing to rebuff Moscow. The Reuters report that Sinopec had suspended discussions about investments potentially worth $500 million was the first concrete sign that sanctions are interfering with trade between Moscow and Beijing. Beijing has repeatedly voiced opposition to the sanctions, insisting it will maintain normal trade links. But behind the scenes, the government is wary of Chinese companies running afoul of sanctions, and pressing them to tread carefully. “Companies will rigidly follow Beijing’s foreign policy in this crisis,” said an executive at a Chinese state oil company. The West has ruled out intervening on the ground or answering Ukraine’s plea for a no-fly zone but has supported Kyiv with hundreds of anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons. (Reporting by a Reuters journalist in Mariupol, Natalia Zinets in Lviv and Reuters bureaus worldwide; Writing by Peter Graff, Editing by Angus MacSwan) View the full article

Published by Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who was hospitalized with flu-like symptoms last week, was discharged from the hospital on Friday morning, the Supreme Court said. The 73-year-old conservative justice was admitted to a Washington hospital with an infection last Friday and treated with intravenous antibiotics, the court said. (Reporting by Katharine Jackson; Editing by Chris Gallagher) View the full article

Published by Radar Online MEGA Celebrities planning to attend Jay-Z‘s eagerly anticipated Oscars afterparty will have to pass boycotters as they head into the controversial Chateau Marmont on Sunday. The LA hotspot has been facing backlash since 2020, when more than 200 workers were fired allegedly without insurance or severance during the pandemic. Since then, there have also been allegations of racial discrimination and harassment from former staff members, which the hotel has denied, amid lawsuits against the famed location. 007 / MEGA “Compensation is not determined or defined by ethnicity or any other such factor. Wages are set based on the work assigned,” a representative for the hotel previously said in response to discrimination claims. “We take very seriously our equal-opportunity employment obligations.” A-list guests will have to bypass a picket line organized for around 8 p.m. if they plan on joining Jay-Z’s star-studded shindig. The event is known for drawing out some of the biggest stars in the world as the rapper, 52, previously held his “Gold Party” two years ago with attendees including Rihanna, Adele and Kim Kardashian. It’s said Jay-Z will later be joined by his wife, Beyoncé, who is set to take the stage for the 2022 Oscars telecast from the Compton tennis court. MEGA “For Jay-Z to choose the Chateau Marmont for their Gold Party is shockingly insensitive,” Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, said in a statement on Thursday. “They must move their event and choose an afterparty hot spot that treats its workers, especially Black women, with dignity and respect. Jay-Z has a responsibility to do better.” mely / MEGA “We hope Jay-Z joins Gabrielle Union, Spike Lee, Issa Rae, Robin Thede, Quinta Brunson, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Roxane Gay, Ashley Nicole Black and Samira Wiley in boycotting Chateau Marmont,” Peterson continued, mentioning celebs who are in support of their mission. Peterson noted that individuals like Jay-Z can make a difference as they have power and influence in a separate statement to Page Six, adding, “Jay-Z has the opportunity right now to do just that by listening to the stories of Chateau Marmont workers and move his event.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Maria Caspani (Reuters) – Arizona, Oklahoma and Kentucky passed bills on Thursday that would ban transgender youth from participating in girls’ sports, the latest in a flurry of state legislation by Republicans on a heated election year issue. In addition to the Republican-sponsored “Save Women’s Sports Act”, Arizona lawmakers passed legislation that would prohibit physicians from providing gender-affirming surgery to minors. Both bills are now headed to the desk of Governor Doug Ducey, also a Republican. Arizona passed a third bill, which would ban abortions after 15 weeks of gestation. The votes largely fell along party lines. “Why would we be legislating bullying against children who want to … participate in sports?,” Democratic Representative Kelli Butler said in an emotional speech on Thursday. “That’s not the country that I know and that I am proud to be a part of.” A bill with the same “Save Women’s Sports Act” title passed in the Oklahoma Legislature on Thursday. In Kentucky, lawmakers passed SB 83, which would ban transgender girls from participating in girls sports from sixth grade through college. The bill now goes to Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat. Beshear’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Democrats have generally supported rights for LGBTQ+ people and opposed restrictions on participation in sports teams for transgender students. Supporters of these bans argue they are needed to ensure transgender athletes do not have an unfair advantage. Opponents of the bans, including advocates for transgender people and organizations like the Women’s Sports Foundation, say that such measures are discriminatory, and they advocate for the inclusion of transgender students in school sports. Governors in states including Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Iowa have already signed into law bills that ban transgender girls from competing in girls’ sports. Similar bills were vetoed by the governors of Utah and Indiana this week, signaling the reluctance of some Republican leaders to align with the broader party that sees the issue as a winning strategy to attract voters ahead of U.S. congressional elections in November. Republican lawmakers in both states said earlier this week they planned to override the governors’ vetoes. (Reporting by Maria Caspani; Additional reporting by Sharon Bernstein; editing by Grant McCool) View the full article

Published by Reuters By James Oliphant and Maria Caspani (Reuters) – Republican governors in Utah and Indiana this week rejected legislation banning transgender athletes from competing in girls’ sports, pushing back against a rising tide of similar Republican-sponsored legislation nationwide. But the vetoes of those governors appear to be among the solitary voices in a party that has become increasingly fixated on polarizing cultural issues involving race, sex and gender as a cudgel to win over suburban and rural voters and regain power in November’s congressional elections. Eleven states have enacted laws banning transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports since 2020, according to the Equality Federation, which tracks legislation that targets lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. The vetoes in Utah and Indiana are expected to be overridden by Republicans in the state legislatures, making the actions by Utah Governor Spencer Cox and Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb largely symbolic. “Saving women’s sports is now a litmus test for Republicans,” said Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, a conservative group that has made state high school transgender bans central to its advocacy. “These governors just shot themselves in the foot for no good reason.” The issue gained new resonance this month when collegiate swimmer Lia Thomas became the first openly trans athlete to win a Division I championship in any sport. Conservatives have used her victory as a rallying cry for more restrictive legislation. Republican Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, who is up for re-election and has become perhaps his party’s most high-profile cultural warrior, this week declared the second-place finisher in Thomas’ race the actual winner, saying the NCAA was “perpetuating a fraud” and undermining the integrity of women’s sports. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6803a3.htm in 2019 that just 1.8% of high school students in the country are transgender, and the Human Rights Campaign has said that, according to surveys https://assets2.hrc.org/files/assets/resources/PlayToWin-FINAL.pdf, only about 12% play on girls’ sports teams. In Utah, Cox called the issue of transgender students participating in sports “one of the most divisive of our time” and said he wanted to approach the issue with compassion. He expressed concern for the mental health of trans youths, who, he said, simply want to participate in sports as a means of belonging. Cox said he found only one instance of a transgender student playing on a girls’ high school team in Utah. “Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few,” Cox wrote in a letter explaining his veto. “I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live.” POLITICAL RISK In vetoing the bills, both Cox and Holcomb suggested the restrictions were unnecessary and would invite costly lawsuits. Beyond Utah and Indiana, governors in three other states have vetoed similar bans, although South Dakota then enacted a revised law, according to the Equality Federation. Fran Hutchins, the organization’s executive director, called the legislative pushes a ploy to drum up support ahead of the midterm elections, when Republicans could win back a majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives. “I really hope that the Republican vetoes are the beginning of a sea change in the way that conservatives are thinking about this,” Hutchins said. “But I fear that we’re going to see this rhetoric continue beyond legislative sessions and into the elections.” Chris Wilson, a Republican pollster who consults on Senate and gubernatorial campaigns, said that Democrats oppose such bans at their peril, saying they are favored by some independents and Democrats who believe it is unfair to allow transgender students to compete in girls’ athletics. A May 2021 poll by Gallup https://news.gallup.com/poll/350174/mixed-views-among-americans-transgender-issues.aspx found that 62% of Americans said trans athletes should only be allowed to play on sports teams that correspond with their birth gender, while 34% say they should be able to play on teams that match their gender identity. Wilson said Democrats who vote against such bans could see political blowback similar to the controversy over calls by progressives to de-fund police departments, a position that has largely been rejected by a majority of voters nationwide. Republicans could face political risks as well. In vetoing the Indiana bill, Holcomb may have wanted to avoid the firestorm that arose in 2015 when then-governor Mike Pence signed a controversial religious freedom bill. And in 2016, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, a Republican, lost his re-election bid after the state’s so-called “bathroom bill” requiring transgender people to use the bathroom of their original sex triggered a backlash that damaged the state’s economy. (Reporting by Maria Caspani and James Oliphant; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Aurora Ellis) View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega Former Olympic gold medal winner Caitlyn Jenner is speaking out against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas winning the women’s NCAA Swimming Championship. The former California gubernatorial nominee said the 22-year-old swimmer was “not the rightful winner,” naming second place winner Emma Weyant as the true victor of the final race. Mega Thomas made headlines being the first transgender woman to win the NCAA’s championship. She was viewed as an inspiration to many but also garnered a lot of vitriol from others claiming she shouldn’t have been allowed in the women’s swimming competition, to begin with. Jenner —who’s a fellow trans community member and a former athlete — is one of these people. The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star retweeted a story about Florida Governor Ron DeSantis denouncing Thomas. “Agreed! [Weyant] is the rightful winner!” Jenner responded, adding, “It’s not transphobic or anti-trans, it’s COMMON SENSE!” Jenner’s show of support for the governor, who had actively fought against gay and trans rights, has drawn the attention of many that disagree with the former Olympic gold medalist, claiming what she said is, in fact, transphobic. The comments on Jenner’s tweet range from support to criticism with one follower asking, “Why do you always ignore all the times a trans athlete doesn’t win? It creates a baffling paradox when you say thy give cis women no chance despite them not winning more often than them doing so.” Another comment read, “Common sense is not something you or Governor Ron DeSantis has a lot of.” Mega In an official proclamation, DeSantis announced Weyant as the NCAA championship winner, saying, “A male identifying as a woman was allowed to compete in and was declared the winner of the race by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and Emma was determined to have come in second place.” He continued to claim, “actions served to erode opportunities for women athletes and perpetuate a fraud against women athletes as well as the public at large.” Last year, Florida signed a bill into law called The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act. The anti-trans legislation became effective on the first day of Pride month, banning trans female athletes from competing in public high school and college sports. The former athlete has faced criticism several times in the past for being against several trans issues despite coming out as a trans woman herself in 2015. Caitlyn Jenner Says Transgender Girls In School Should Not Compete On Girls’ Sports Teams Her rocky history concerning the trans community had a spotlight shined on it when Jenner decided to run for Governor of California against Governor Gavin Newsom during the 2021 recall election. The reality TV star was only able to accumulate 1% of the vote commenting, “I can’t believe that this many people actually voted to keep him in office” during her concession speech. Mega Trans athletes have been a topic of contention between party lines. With the few athletes choosing to compete in their preferred gender-separated sports, the likes of Jenner, as well as popular podcaster Joe Rogan and many others have been against the idea of non-cis female athletes competing with biological females. There have been a number of trans athletes who have failed to secure the gold, but it’s been the few cases where they have that it has become an issue with those involved in the industry. View the full article

Published by Kaiser Health News From a well-lighted room, the plants blurred in the background, their face framed by closed captioning, Shahem Mclaurin speaks directly into the camera. The lesson: “Ten ways to start healing.” But this is not a classroom, nor is it a therapist’s office. This is TikTok. “We all have our own things to carry, and those burdens shouldn’t be carried with us for the rest of our lives,” says Mclaurin, a licensed social worker. Through videos — some on topics like grief, “race/race-ism,” trauma, and healing, others raw reactions or trending sounds, like this call to action to amplify people of color … Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Natalia Zinets, Natalie Thomas and Vitalii Hnidiy LVIV/MYKOLAIV/KHARKIV, Ukraine (Reuters) – A veteran aide of President Vladimir Putin has resigned over the Ukraine war and left Russia with no intention to return, two sources said on Wednesday, the first senior official to break with the Kremlin since Putin launched his invasion a month ago. The Kremlin confirmed that the aide, Anatoly Chubais, had resigned of his own accord. Chubais hung up the phone when contacted by Reuters. The sources did not say where he was. Chubais was one of the principal architects of Boris Yeltsin’s economic reforms of the 1990s and was Putin’s boss in the future president’s first Kremlin job. He later ran big state businesses under Putin and held political jobs, lately serving as Kremlin special envoy to international organisations. U.S. President Joe Biden flies to Europe on Wednesday for an emergency NATO summit on Ukraine, where invading Russian troops are stalled, cities are under bombardment and the besieged port of Mariupol is in flames. Four weeks into a war that has driven a quarter of Ukraine’s 44 million people from their homes, Russia has failed to capture a single major Ukrainian city or depose the government, while Western sanctions have ostracised it from the world economy. Russian forces have taken heavy losses, been frozen in place for at least a week on most fronts and face supply problems and fierce resistance. They have turned to siege tactics and bombardment, causing massive destruction and many civilian deaths. Moscow says its aim is to disarm its neighbour, and its “special military operation” is going to plan. It denies targeting civilians. Worst hit has been Mariupol, a southern port completely surrounded by Russian forces, where hundreds of thousands of people have been sheltering since the war’s early days, under constant bombardment and with food, water and heat supplies cut. New satellite photographs from commercial firm Maxar released overnight showed massive destruction of what was once a city of 400,000 people, with columns of smoke rising from residential apartment buildings in flames. No journalists have been able to report from inside the Ukrainian-held parts of the city for more than a week, during which time Ukrainian officials say Russia has bombed a theatre and an art school used as bomb shelters, burying hundreds of people alive. Russia denies targeting those buildings. Biden, due to arrive in Brussels on Wednesday evening on his first foreign trip since the war began, will meet NATO and European leaders in an emergency summit at the Western military alliance’s headquarters. The leaders are expected to roll out additional sanctions against Russia on Thursday. Sources said the U.S. package would include measures targeting Russian members of parliament. Biden will also visit Poland, which has taken in most of the more than 3.6 million refugees who have fled Ukraine and has been the main route for Western supplies of weapons to Ukraine. In a sign of Moscow’s further isolation, Poland announced it was expelling 45 Russian diplomats accused of either being undercover spies or “associated” with them. Several other eastern European countries have announced similar moves in recent days, although not on such a large scale. Russia has rejected all the accusations. ‘NOWHERE TO GO’ “I have never seen such cruelty before,” said Kateryna Mytkevich, 38, who reached the Polish border transit hub of Przemysl with her child after fleeing the heavily bombarded eastern city of Chernihiv, which she said was “fully destroyed”. “There is no electricity, no gas, no mobile connection in Chernihiv. We came through Kyiv, and we didn’t know whether Kyiv was still standing,” she said, breaking into tears. In Kharkiv in the east, a maternity clinic had moved patients into the basement for safety. Tearful mother Yana cradled her baby in a room with beds lining the walls. Her house has been bombed. “I have nowhere to go,” she said. In another maternity ward far away in Mykolaiv, a southern port which Russian forces tried and failed to storm over the past 10 days, Tamara Kravchuk, 37, lay blissfully with her baby just minutes old on her chest. She had been scared, especially when explosions burst just 500 metres from the hospital, she said. But baby Katya melted her fears away. “I think the war will end and we will live as it was before, our life will be calm again,” she said. “I hope our children won’t see all these crazy things and everything will be good.” Despite its losses so far, Russia may still be hoping to make more gains on the battlefield, especially in the east, in territory including Mariupol which Moscow demands Ukraine cede to Russian-backed separatists. In a daily intelligence update, Britain’s defence ministry said the entire battlefield across northern Ukraine – which includes huge armoured columns that once bore down on Kyiv – was now “static”, with invaders apparently trying to reorganise. But in the east, the Russians were trying to link troops at Mariupol with those near Kharkiv in the hope of encircling Ukrainian forces, while in the southwest they were bypassing the city of Mykolayiv to try to advance on Odesa, Ukraine’s biggest port. Ukrainian officials described sporadic shelling in other cities overnight, with two civilians killed in the Mykolayiv region, a bridge destroyed in the Chernihiv region, and residential buildings and a shopping mall struck in two districts of Kyiv, wounding at least four people. Reuters could not immediately verify the reports. (Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Philippa Fletcher) View the full article