 Russia has cut off natural gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria for failing to pay for the energy in rubles. The escalatory move following European sanctions against Russia caused gas prices to briefly jump 20% in Europe before later easing. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the announcement from Russian state-controlled gas company Gazprom "blackmail" and said that Poland and Bulgaria would receive gas from their European neighbors. More: - Von der Leyen suggested that Russia's move will hasten the EU's transition away from using Russian oil and gas as a primary energy source.
- Poland and Bulgaria are among several European countries that receive the majority of their gas imports from Russia, a list that also includes Germany, Finland, Austria, and the Czech Republic.
- A source close to Gazprom told Bloomberg that four European nations have already switched to rubles to pay for Russian gas, though the EU has come out firmly against the demand in principle.
- The next round of payments is due in late May, which may see nations such as Germany and Italy make the tough decision not to pay.
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 The "full-blown explosive pandemic phase" of COVID-19 has ended and is giving way to "a more controlled phase and endemicity," according to top public health official Dr. Anthony Fauci. The comments to The Washington Post served as further clarification to Fauci's Tuesday interview to PBS, when he said the "pandemic phase" was over since the U.S. isn't experiencing hundreds of thousands of new cases every day and tens of thousands of hospitalizations. However, Fauci said "the world is still in a pandemic," nearly a year after he predicted the U.S. would reach a "control" stage in fall 2021. Those comments were made before the more contagious delta and omicron variants had emerged. More: - The EU also said on Wednesday that the pandemic's emergency phase was winding down, and that member nations should focus on vaccination, testing, and tracing in preparation for a potential fall wave.
- Confirmed cases across the U.S. have risen by more than 60% over the last two weeks, though there has not been a sustained uptick in hospitalizations.
- In the PBS interview, Fauci said the coronavirus could not be eradicated given its ability to evade antibodies, which allows it to cause reinfections and breakthrough infections.
- However, sensible public policy and intermittent vaccinations could keep the spread of future variants limited, Fauci said.
- World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus cautioned this week that a decline in global testing could hide increases in case counts and the emergence of new variants.
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 Former President Donald Trump is appealing a civil contempt order requiring him to pay $10,000 for every day that he does not comply with a subpoena from New York Attorney General Letitia James. Trump attorney Alina Habba said there are no further Trump Organization documents to be turned over, but Judge Arthur Engoron said Trump's team had failed to do its due diligence in searching for other records that James could use to probe his business practices. James' office has been investigating whether the Trump Organization defrauded the IRS and lenders with inaccurate information about the business. More: - Habba said she had interviewed Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida and personally oversaw the search for documents.
- Engoron said the "800-pound gorilla in the room" is the lack of an affidavit under oath from Trump on the absence of further records.
- Trump will likely not have to pay any fines until the appeal is resolved.
- James has not filed any civil charges against Trump related to her investigation, nor have any criminal charges been filed in a related-but-separate investigation by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg.
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 NEW STUDY: Creative brainstorming is hindered during video meetings, as participants are typically focused on staring at the screen in front of them, according to researchers from Columbia and Stanford. The scientists gathered engineers from five different countries and asked them to brainstorm creative ideas for using bubble wrap and Frisbees. On average, participants in the same room generated more ideas than those videoconferencing, and outside experts also judged the in-person groups as being more creative. Individuals in person tended to gaze away from the other participants more frequently, indicating more creative thought. Those on remote video conferences rarely moved their eyes away from the screen, keeping them focused on the other participants instead of exploring creative ideas. More: - Experts say that, despite faces and facial expressions being very important to humans, it is considered rude for someone to stare directly at another's face for too long while in person. This is not the case during a videoconference, when looking at the screen is seen as a sign of one's engagement.
- However, remote videoconferencers appeared just as – if not more – capable of selecting the best possible option for a project when compared to in-person participants.
- The study's authors concluded that videoconferencing is not necessarily bad for worker meetings, but that it can hinder creativity in the short term.
- The study was published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
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 A court representing Myanmar's military junta has sentenced the nation's former leader Aung San Suu Kyi to five years in jail after finding her guilty of corruption. Suu Kyi has denied allegations that she accepted bribes and faces more than a dozen similar charges levied after Myanmar's military took control of the country in a coup last year. The court could ultimately sentence Suu Kyi to close to 190 years in jail for the various charges. The unidentified judge gave no explanation for the sentence. More: - The EU condemned Suu Kyi's trial, calling it politically motivated and a "further blatant violation of human rights in Myanmar."
- In 2017, while Suu Kyi was Myanmar's president, the nation's military cracked down on its Rohingya Muslim population, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee, and prompting international allegations of genocide.
- Suu Kyi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 amid her campaign to restore democracy to the country, denied that a genocide was taking place.
- After Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party won a landslide reelection in 2020, the military seized control of the country in February 2021 and dissolved the NLD.
- The persecution of Myanmar's Rohingya population has continued, and the Biden administration has labeled it a genocide.
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The Minneapolis Police Department has exhibited a pattern of racial discrimination for at least a decade, according to a new report from the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. The department conducted an extensive investigation following the murder of George Floyd by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, and found that the city's police stop, search, and use force against Black people at significantly higher rates than white people. The report also alleges that the Minneapolis police force conducts social media surveillance on Black people unrelated to any criminal activity, and that department leaders have not acted to end these practices. More: - The human rights department says it will collaborate with the city on an enforceable consent decree, establishing specific changes and timelines for their implementation.
- Black people accounted for about two-thirds of all disorderly conduct and obstruction citations during the 2010s in Minneapolis, despite making up less than 20% of the city's population.
- Citations were frequently issued by police officers who were "annoyed or displeased" with reaction to their presence in a community, the report said.
- The department also apparently maintained a culture of racist and misogynistic language, often used and recorded on body-worn cameras in interactions with the public.
- The investigation was launched by Minnesota Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero on June 1, 2020, days after Floyd's death.
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 |  | Jonathan Harris is a writer and editor who lives in Los Angeles. |  | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is writing an illustrated book about climate change that will be published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
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