Global Courant
Prigozhin arrives in Belarus
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group, arrived in Belarus yesterday, state media reported. Russian authorities dropped criminal charges against him and his fighters after he called off an uprising last weekend.
Russian state media reported that the Wagner group will hand over military equipment to the army, although details were few. It is not clear how many Wagner fighters – Prigozhin recently said there were 25,000 – would agree to be placed under the command of the Russian army.
In Russia, President Vladimir Putin attempted to show control in a series of public appearances. During a rare open-air speech on the Kremlin grounds, he thanked the Russian military for “essentially stopping a civil war”. He also vaguely warned of the consequences for officials who helped Prigozhin enrich himself at Russia’s expense.
The deal: Russia had said it would pardon Prigozhin and his fighters. According to a deal brokered by President Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus, Prigozhin will live in exile there. Lukashenko said he had offered members of the Wagner group an “abandoned” military base in the country.
Will Americans let Biden ease US-China tensions?
Polls show that Americans are beginning to feel about China as they once did about the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Between about 2000 and 2016, comparable stocks of Americans viewed China favorably and unfavorably. That changed from 2018, with Donald Trump’s anti-China language and trade war. Today, most Americans view China as unfriendly or hostile.
A soured opinion can make it more difficult to mend bonds and avoid conflict. The message Americans are getting from their leaders about China is very negative. Public hostility, in turn, can drive leaders to speak and act aggressively, an aggressive attitude that journalists then communicate to the public.
Quotably, “The macro-level view is that we’re really in some serious competition,” said a professor who studies international relations and public opinion. “Now the public has followed suit. And it’s not like you can turn this ship around overnight.”
A glimpse of life in the US without access to abortion
The U.S. territory of Guam in the Western Pacific is thousands of miles from the nearest state and has no resident doctors who perform abortions. Now a U.S. court ruling could make in-person doctor visits a requirement to obtain abortion pills, effectively cutting off the only legal way for most residents to terminate pregnancies.
The island could soon become an extreme example of what life would be like under a near-total ban on abortion. More than a dozen states have enacted such bans since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade a year ago.
But that ruling sparked a seismic shift in public opinion: For the first time, polls show that most Americans say abortion is “morally acceptable,” that they think the laws are too strict, and that, in the language of the polls, more likely to identify as “pro-choice.”
THE LAST NEWS
American news
Where generations in Ireland have seen a sublime landscape, ecologists see a man-made desert stripped of most native species by nearby grazing sheep, often pulling the grass by the roots. Now a rewilding movement is trying to restore that biodiversity.
ART AND IDEAS
Tours for plus size travelers
A small but growing number of companies in the US are dedicated to travel-inclusive travel, often focusing their services exclusively on women. The tours cost about the same as other group tours. Participants know that their companions understand their joys and challenges, and they also know that events and meals are planned with accessibility in mind.
“I arrived during the pandemic and I had been nervous about going abroad,” said one traveler. Instead of worrying that people would get annoyed by “that one fat lady on the road,” she knew she would be with people who accepted her.
PLAY, WATCH, EAT
What to cook
That’s it for today’s briefing. See you tomorrow. — Amelia
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