jtrent238 test blog: Evening Briefing: Putin presses 300,000 reservists into military service

September 21, 2022

By Matthew Cullen

Good evening. Here's the latest at the end of Wednesday.

Putin's speech was an apparent attempt to reassert his authority over an increasingly chaotic war.Russian Presidential Press Service, via Associated Press

1. President Vladimir Putin of Russia accelerated his war effort in Ukraine, announcing the call-up of 300,000 reservists.

In a national address, Putin also challenged the West over its support for Ukraine with a veiled threat of using nuclear weapons.

Though Russia has recently suffered humiliating losses in northeast Ukraine, Putin said that his goals had not changed. He said that the troop escalation was "necessary and urgent" because the West had "crossed all lines" by providing sophisticated weapons to Ukraine.

At least 1,252 people from 38 cities in Russia were detained after protesters took to the streets to denounce Putin's decree.

In his speech, Putin effectively conceded that the war had not gone as he had wished, Roger Cohen writes in an analysis. But Putin is at his most dangerous when he is cornered.

On the battlefield, the influx of fresh Russian troops could take months to materialize. These maps look at whether Ukraine can keep gaining ground.

"Let us speak plainly," President Biden said, "a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council invaded its neighbor."Doug Mills/The New York Times

2. President Biden accused Putin of seeking to erase Ukraine from the map and of pushing the world toward nuclear cataclysm.

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Addressing the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Biden said that the world's "blood should run cold" over Russia's invasion. "This war is about extinguishing Ukraine's right to exist as a state," Biden said. He described Putin's warnings as "irresponsible nuclear threats."

"A nuclear war cannot be won," he said, "and must never be fought."

Biden also pledged $2.9 billion to address global hunger and blamed Russia's invasion for worsening the food crisis.

Also at the U.N., President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran insisted that his country was a model of justice and human rights, even as his country waged a violent crackdown on protests at home.

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Hannah Beier for The New York Times

3. Donald Trump was accused in a lawsuit of "staggering" fraud.

Trump, his family business and three of his adult children lied to lenders and insurers for more than a decade, according to the lawsuit filed by New York's attorney general, Letitia James, after a yearslong investigation. She also accused him of fraudulently overvaluing his assets by billions of dollars.

James is seeking to bar the Trumps from ever running a business in the state again. In the 220-page lawsuit, she laid out how Trump's financial statements were a compendium of lies. On one occasion, a bank had appraised a Trump-owned building at $200 million, and the Trumps promptly valued it at well over twice that number.

The state attorney general's office lacks authority to file criminal charges in this case but has referred the findings to federal prosecutors in Manhattan.

Karl Russell

4. The Fed made another supersize rate increase.

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point — its third straight increase — and projected a more aggressive path ahead, ramping up its battle against the fastest inflation in 40 years.

The policymakers predicted that they would raise borrowing costs to 4.4 percent by the end of the year — implying another supersize rate move, followed by a half-point adjustment.

The higher interest rates can slow down the economy enough that businesses and households feel the pinch. My colleague Jeanna Smialek explains why the central bankers think the raises are needed. Here's how they affect mortgages, credit cards and other loans.

Toa Baja, P.R. flooded under more than 5 feet of water.Erika P. Rodriguez for The New York Times

5. Hurricane Fiona is moving toward Bermuda as Puerto Rico begins its recovery.

As the storm strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane, residents of Bermuda were told to prepare for powerful wind, rain and flooding. Fiona's center will approach Bermuda late tomorrow and Atlantic Canada late on Friday, forecasters said.

Fiona, the strongest storm so far of the Atlantic hurricane season, left a massive cleanup job in its wake. Severe flooding in both Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic inflicted major damage. More than 70 percent of Puerto Rico's residents remain without power.

Five years after Hurricane Maria, Puerto Ricans have learned not to wait for government assistance. In recent days, neighbors have banded together with brooms and shovels for the cleanup.

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Giorgia Meloni revered "The Lord of the Rings" and other works by the British writer J.R.R. Tolkien.Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times

6. Italy's hard right sees "The Lord of the Rings" as a sacred text.

For the last half-century, the country's descendants of post-Fascism have looked to J.R.R. Tolkien's works to reconstruct a hard-right identity — with symbols, heroes and creation myths free of Fascist taboos.

The fantasy has inspired Giorgia Meloni, who used to dress up as a hobbit and is likely to be the next prime minister of Italy. "I think that Tolkien could say better than us what conservatives believe in," she said. "I don't consider 'The Lord of the Rings' fantasy."

In other international news, a bus crash in China that killed 27 people headed to a Covid quarantine facility touched off widespread online protests against the government's pandemic policies.

Christina Hansen drives her horse, Oreo, across Manhattan.Lucia Vazquez for The New York Times

7. The collapse of a horse on a street in Manhattan has reignited calls to ban horse-drawn carriages.

Video of the horse lying on the pavement last month circulated online and may have set in motion the end of an industry that detractors say is inherently exploitative and abusive. A bill before New York's City Council would ban horse-drawn carriages — as Chicago, Montreal and several other cities have — and replace them with electric versions.

The carriage drivers, who insist that they care for their animals, have fought similar existential battles for many years, but the latest threat seems potent.

In other animal news, an A.I.-powered detection system began operating today in the ocean near San Francisco to warn ships when whales are nearby. At least four whales have been killed by ships in the area this year.

Google's Lookout app offers assistance by using the camera and audibly identifying items.Google

8. Smartphones are now easier to use for everyone.

New features available on Apple and Google operating systems allow people with a variety of physical abilities to better harness their phone's technological capabilities.

Assisted-vision apps on iPhone and Android can help people who are blind or have limited sight use their phone to detect doors and people nearby, as well as identify objects like currency. Both platforms also offer captioning software that converts audible dialogue into text onscreen.

Here's a guide for the new tools and how to enable them on your phone.

Mustafa Hussain for The New York Times

9. Major League Baseball is keeping it real.

When the Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge gets up to bat tonight — and for the remainder of the season — he will be thrown a special baseball marked with something secret.

As Judge chases Roger Maris's American League single-season record of 61 home runs (he is currently at 60), the special balls are part of the M.L.B.'s authentication program — an elaborate system designed to ensure that game memorabilia are verified as genuine. Officials have also put coded markings on balls thrown to Albert Pujols, the St. Louis Cardinals slugger who is approaching 700 career home runs.

In other sports news, Robert Sarver, the owner of the N.B.A. and W.N.B.A. teams in Phoenix, said he plans to sell both teams after an investigation found that he had mistreated employees for years.

Ernest Hemingway served as a war correspondent during the Spanish Civil War.The Toby and Betty Bruce collection of Ernest Hemingway in the Penn State Special Collections Library

10. And finally, a window into the life of Ernest Hemingway.

More than 80 years ago, after the collapse of his second marriage, Hemingway left a trove of his belongings in the storeroom of Sloppy Joe's bar, his favorite watering hole in Key West, Fla. He never returned to collect them.

Now those materials are available for the public to see in a new archive at Penn State University. They include his first known short story about a fictional trip to Ireland, a three-page tale about F. Scott Fitzgerald as a scrappy boxer, and a short meditation on death and suicide, 35 years before he took his life.

Have an American classic evening.

Brent Lewis and David Poller compiled photos for this briefing.

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