Good morning. We’re covering Russia’s struggling military campaign, Australia’s halting recovery from bush fires and a Covid-19 protest at Peking University. |
| A damaged apartment complex in Kharkiv.Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York Times |
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Russia scales back its charge east |
After a series of military setbacks, Moscow now appears to be focusing on a narrow objective: widening its holdings in Ukraine’s eastern region of Donbas. But even there Russia may be forced to scale back its ambition to take most of eastern Ukraine, according to the Institute for the Study of War. |
Russia still controls the wide swath of southern Ukraine it seized early in the war, including Kherson, and continues to impose a naval blockade that is strangling the Ukrainian economy. But Russia has not secured a major strategic gain in the east. |
On Sunday, the Ukrainian military released a video purporting to show a small group of soldiers reaching the Russian border near Kharkiv — a powerful symbolic moment. Russian forces had to retreat from the city, Ukraine’s second-largest, earlier this month. |
| Jamie Robinson, who lost everything during the 2019 fires, has been struggling to rebuild his house.Matthew Abbott for The New York Times |
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Australia’s bush fire reckoning |
In late 2019 and early 2020, fires tore through southeastern Australia. Barely one in 10 families in the affected region of southeastern Australia have finished rebuilding, local government data shows. Most have not even started. |
The halting recovery efforts could have profound political import. The ruling conservative coalition holds a one-seat majority in Parliament and is already expected to lose some urban seats. |
The once-conservative rural towns south of Sydney could also defect. Angered by a lack of government support after the bush fires, they may vote for the opposition Labor party in the Australian election on Sunday. |
Background: The record-setting “black summer” bush fires killed 34 people, destroyed 3,500 homes and burned more than 60 million acres over two months. |
The U.S.: Half of all addresses in the lower 48 states are at risk of wildfire damage. Climate change will make the U.S. even more combustible. |
| Peking University has a history of occasional organized unrest.Thomas Peter/Reuters |
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Peking University’s Covid protest |
Students are upset that they cannot order food and are required to isolate, while teachers and their families can leave the campus freely. On an online forum, one student called the policy contradictory. Another said it was “a joke indeed.” |
In response to student frustrations, the authorities tried to put up a wall separating students from faculty and staff. More than 200 people left their dorms to protest. |
Reaction: The government quickly moved to censor videos and photos from the brief protest, which quickly spread on China’s internet. |
Analysis: Peking University, which has a history of occasional organized unrest, holds a special place in Beijing’s cultural and political life. The demonstration underscores a growing challenge for officials, who must assuage anger while fighting the highly infectious Omicron variant. |
- Evidence is growing that Covid-19 has mutated to infect people repeatedly, sometimes within months, a potentially long-term pattern.
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| Tensions were high in the Somali capital ahead of Sunday’s presidential election. Malin Fezehai for The New York Times |
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| Investigators searched for evidence at the supermarket.Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters |
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Here are live updates from the Saturday mass shooting in upstate New York. |
| “I keep telling the other sisters, ‘Get on TikTok!’” Sister Monica Clare said. “‘If we’re hidden, we’re going to die out.’”Daniel Dorsa for The New York Times |
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Nuns are joining TikTok, offering a window into their cloistered experiences. “We’re not all grim old ladies reading the Bible,” one said. |
Lives lived: Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma single-handedly elevated the santoor, a 100-string instrument little known outside Kashmir, into a prominent component of Hindustani classical music. He died last week at 84. |
Long before the pandemic, many rolled their eyes at companies that purported to be focused on keeping workers feeling happy: tech companies with ball pits and slides, banking firms with lunch buffets and frozen rosé. |
There’s a lot of social science research to suggest that happiness does lead to productivity and profit. But it’s not cheap: A “happiness M.B.A.” program for senior leaders is $18,000, not to mention the costs of so-called perks. |
However, many workers prefer flexibility over a one-off rave. Instead of fomenting genuine happiness, the corporate carrots carry a whiff of pandering, a transparent attempt to turn feelings into productivity. |
“People are trying to get everything back to ‘normal,’ but the truth is, normal was terrible for some people,” a program officer at a global foundation said. “Why not just give people what they actually want?” |
| Beatriz Da Costa for The New York Times |
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Kendrick Lamar released a new album: “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.” In it, our critic writes, Lamar is “anguished, ravaged by his past and grappling with how to make tomorrow better, besieged by a collision of self-doubt and obstinacy.” |
That’s it for today’s briefing. See you next time. — Amelia |
The latest episode of “The Daily” is on the racist theory fueling mass shootings in the U.S. |
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