Your Monday Briefing - The New York Times

Good morning. We’re protecting a name to evacuate japanese Ukraine and hypothesis that Nancy Pelosi may go to Taiwan.

Zelensky urges a mass evacuation

Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, urged civilians within the japanese Donbas area to evacuate. The more folks go away the Donetsk area now, he mentioned, “the fewer people the Russian Army will have time to kill.”

His assertion is the primary time the Ukrainian authorities has issued such a broad evacuation order. By doing so earlier than winter, Kyiv sought to provide folks time to maneuver — and to forestall an unmanageable disaster later. Russian bombardment has destroyed key infrastructure wanted to ship warmth and electrical energy.

Zelensky’s feedback adopted the killing of Ukrainian prisoners of conflict in an explosion on Thursday at a detention facility within the Russian-occupied a part of Donetsk. At the very least 50 prisoners had been killed. Lots of them had surrendered after the Russian siege of the Mariupol steelworks and had been thought of nationwide heroes in Ukraine.

Ukraine and Russia have blamed one another for the explosion, with the Ukrainian authorities calling for a world investigation. Russia mentioned yesterday that it could enable the Worldwide Committee of the Purple Cross to go to the location, however the group mentioned it had nonetheless not been granted entry, including that this was an obligation underneath worldwide legislation.

Context: The Russians management round 60 p.c of Donetsk, and Ukrainian officers have warned that Moscow will step up efforts to take the remainder of the area, because it strikes forward with plans to annex a lot of Ukraine.

Evaluation: Ukrainians have stabilized japanese defensive strains, and Moscow has didn't make vital advances in weeks. However Russian strikes proceed to kill civilians day by day, and lots of of hundreds nonetheless dwell in Donetsk.

Biden administration officers mentioned they anticipated her journey to incorporate a cease in Taiwan, which might be the highest-level go to by an American official in 25 years. However Pelosi has not mentioned whether or not she's going to go to the self-governing island.

Hypothesis about that chance has jangled nerves in each Beijing and Washington. China, which considers Taiwan its territory, has issued more and more sharp warnings in current days {that a} Pelosi go to would provoke a response, maybe a navy one.

Administration officers have conceded that they have no idea the extent to which China is prepared to danger a confrontation.

Details: Pelosi had proposed a visit to Taiwan earlier this 12 months. (It was postponed as a result of she contracted the coronavirus.) She was anticipated to reach in Singapore at present, and she or he has mentioned that she can even go to Malaysia, South Korea and Japan.

Background: The Biden administration has grown more and more apprehensive that China’s chief, Xi Jinping, would possibly attempt to transfer in opposition to Taiwan throughout the subsequent 12 months and a half. Throughout a two-hour cellphone name on Thursday, Xi warned Biden in opposition to “playing with fire” on Taiwan, in line with a Chinese language authorities assertion that didn't explicitly point out Pelosi.

Navy: Previously 12 months, China’s navy planes have more and more probed Taiwan’s airspace. In June, Beijing raised the stakes by declaring jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait. And on Saturday, China’s navy mentioned it could conduct drills with dwell ammunition off Fujian Province, about 80 miles from Taiwan.

A brutal killing shocks Italy

A disabled Nigerian avenue vendor in Italy was crushed to demise on Friday. Witnesses filmed the afternoon assault, which occurred on a serious purchasing avenue and lasted lower than 4 minutes. However nobody intervened.

The homicide of Alika Ogorchukwu has shocked Italians. Movies have been shared hundreds of instances on social media, and editorials in main newspapers lamented the “dusk of civilization.” The assault spawned contemporary debate over racism, however investigators mentioned they don't imagine the crime was racially motivated.

Politicians have additionally denounced the crime. However issues have emerged that the homicide might be used as a sparring level forward of nationwide elections in September; the right-wing coalition has already singled out immigration as a problem.

Assault: Ogorchukwu unsuccessfully pitched his wares to an Italian, Filippo Ferlazzo, and his girlfriend. Then, Ogorchukwu walked away. Ferlazzo adopted him and used Ogorchukwu’s crutch to beat him to demise.

Area: The assault occurred in Civitanova Marche, a seaside city on the Adriatic Coast. In February 2018, a right-wing sympathizer shot and wounded six African immigrants in close by Macerata. Two years earlier, a Nigerian man was killed in Fermo, which lies simply to the south, after he tried to defend his spouse from racist slurs.

Jeff Bezos has been constructing a $500 million yacht within the Netherlands. To get it to sea, the town of Rotterdam must briefly dismantle an unused bridge. Earlier this 12 months, the town briefly gave the shipbuilding firm its approval.

However after an uproar, and threats of egg-throwing, the corporate withdrew its request. The retreat was not solely “a victory of the masses over a billionaire,” David Segal writes in The Occasions. “It was an opportunity to see Dutch and American values in a fiery, head-on collision.”

The Saturday Profile: A South Korean baby psychiatrist, Dr. Oh Eun-young, is making an attempt to destigmatize remedy by broadcasting her appointments on tv. Her mantra: “There is no problem child, only problems in parenting.”

ARTS AND IDEAS

Beyoncé’s new album

“Renaissance,” Beyoncé’s seventh solo album, is right here.

It’s filled with “generally upbeat songs,” our pop music reporters write. It embodies a long time of dance music. And the album would possibly personal the remainder of the summer time.

“All 16 songs hail from someplace with a dance floor — night clubs, strip clubs, ballrooms, basements, Tatooine,” Wesley Morris writes in an album review. “Most of them are steeped in or conducted entirely with Black queer bravado.”

“And on nearly every one,” Wesley continues, “Beyoncé sounds like she’s experiencing something personally new and privately glorious: unmitigated ecstasy. It takes different forms: bliss, obviously; but a sexy sternness, too. The exercise of control is as entertaining on this album as the exorcism of stress.”

Ligaya Mishan wrote a good looking essay about her marriage. Learn it right here, then do that shiny and summery citrus-chile fish.

What to Learn

Our editors suggest a genre-bending Spanish homicide thriller, a spy thriller set after the autumn of the Berlin Wall and 7 different books.

Journey

Prague is rising from the pandemic with much less touristic gimcrackery and more native taste.

Now Time to Play

Listed below are at present’s Mini Crossword and a clue: “Misbehave” (5 letters).