Good morning. We're covering the flight of Sri Lanka's leader, President Biden's visit to Israel and negotiations to free up Ukraine's blockaded grain. |
 | | Protestors took control of the prime minister's office yesterday, as well as the state broadcaster.Atul Loke for The New York Times |
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New leadership in Sri Lanka |
For hours yesterday, it was not clear who was in charge of Sri Lanka. |
The president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, fled to the Maldives overnight — but did not resign. His appointed replacement, Ranil Wickremesinghe, moved from his role as prime minister to become acting president yesterday. Wickremesinghe had previously said he would resign. |
After the transfer of power, crowds took over Wickremesinghe's office and the state broadcaster. In his first address as acting president, Wickremesinghe declared a curfew and referred to some protesters as a "fascist threat." |
Analysis: Protesters are calling for a wholesale change in leadership, whom they blame for nearly running the country into bankruptcy. Wickremesinghe is unlikely to satisfy their demands: He has been prime minister six times and is viewed as a protector of the Rajapaksa family. |
Background: Food, fuel and medicine are in critically short supply. Prices have soared, power cuts have become the norm and public transportation has often been suspended to shore up fuel supplies. |
 | | President Biden with the Israeli defense minister, Benny Gantz, left, and Prime Minister Yair Lapid.Doug Mills/The New York Times |
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Biden begins Middle East trip |
Biden promised not to cave to one of Tehran's key demands — that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps be taken off Washington's foreign terrorist list as part of any agreement — and assured Israelis that the U.S. would use force if needed to stop Iran from developing a bomb. |
The negotiations have yet to yield a new accord. One of Biden's missions is to make sure the U.S. is on the same page with Israel, Saudi Arabia and other enemies of Iran should the talks fail. Here are live updates. |
Background: Donald Trump withdrew from the accord in 2018. Iran has since produced a considerable amount of uranium at near-bomb-grade purity — something it never did before the 2015 agreement. |
 | | Failing to move grain at ports and in silos could hamper the summer harvest — farmers will have no place for their fresh crop.Nicole Tung for The New York Times |
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Talks to move Ukraine's grain |
Wednesday's meeting had raised hopes for a breakthrough, but ended without a comprehensive deal. "The progress was extremely encouraging," the U.N. secretary general said. |
The urgency is real. More than 22 million tons of grain are stuck in Black Sea ports that are blockaded by Russia. And famine looms in the Horn of Africa, for which Ukraine is a crucial source of grain after years of drought. |
China: The war has only widened the divide between Beijing and Washington. The U.S. has used the threat of sanctions to dissuade China from aiding Russia. But China is unlikely to help the U.S. end the conflict, fearing geopolitical isolation without a viable Moscow at its side. |
 | | People walked past QR codes for a contract-tracing app in Hong Kong yesterday.Lam Yik/Reuters |
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- Shanghai is facing another Covid surge, and residents fear another lockdown.
- Hong Kong will require that people in home isolation wear quarantine bracelets, and will introduce a mainland-style electronic health code, The Guardian reports.
- South Korea is warning of a coming Covid surge, Reuters reports, and will expand access to booster shots.
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 | | By The New York Times |
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- Donald Trump mobilized supporters, some prepared for violence, to travel to Washington to disrupt the election certification by Congress, new evidence at a Jan. 6 committee hearing showed.
- The police in South Africa arrested the owner and two employees of a tavern where 21 teenagers were mysteriously found dead last month.
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- A French inquiry found that bad planning and multiple errors, not rowdy English fans, led to chaos and violence at the Champions League soccer final in May.
- Twitter sued Elon Musk to force him to go through with buying the company.
- In a first, Pope Francis appointed three women to serve on a committee that advises him on global bishop selection.
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 | | Adolfo Melis, 99. In 2014, his family won the Guinness record for the highest combined age of more than 800 years for nine living siblings.Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times |
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Two towns in Sardinia are fighting for the distinction of having the longest-living residents, a prize that could bring much-needed economic revenue from longevity tourism. |
One town, which has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the municipality with "the largest concentration of centenarians," has seven in a population of about 1,780. |
The other has only four centenarians. But its residents note that their town has a smaller population: 790 people. That's not the 1,000 required for Guinness, but density doesn't lie. "They got their calculations wrong," an 89-year-old scoffed. |
Sierra Leone weighs legal abortion |
Sierra Leone has the third-highest maternal mortality rate in the world. As part of an expansive set of laws aimed at making motherhood safer, President Julius Maada Bio announced last week that he and his cabinet unanimously backed legalizing abortion. |
Activists celebrated the move to repeal a colonial-era law and contrasted Bio's support with the narrowing of reproductive rights in the U.S. Others saw it as out of step with society and as a bid to appease international donors — a similar bill passed Parliament in 2015 but was rejected by the president at the time, Ernest Bai Koroma, after public pressure, particularly from religious groups. |
Bio's supporters point to his success in abolishing the death penalty, but the bill must still pass in Parliament, where it may face fierce opposition from politicians keen to please a religious bloc. |
If abortion is legalized, access may be hampered by poor infrastructure and stigma. But for some, the reopening of a public debate on the issue is a hopeful sign. |
"As a teenager I nearly bled to death after a backstreet abortion," Josephine Kamara, an activist, said in a statement. "Let this generation be the last to experience the horrors of what happens when women's most basic reproductive health needs are pushed underground." — Lynsey Chutel, a Briefings writer |
 | | Chris Simpson for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Sophia Pappas. |
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That's it for today's briefing. See you next time. — Amelia |
P.S. Kate Lowenstein, a veteran health journalist, is joining Well as deputy editor. |
The latest episode of "The Daily" is on The Times's new political poll. |
Lynsey Chutel wrote today's Arts & Ideas. You can reach Amelia and the team at briefing@nytimes.com. |
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