Fraud and embezzlement allegations at Austrian group stun investors FT
ProPublica: When Billionaires Don’t Pay Taxes, People 'Lose Faith In Democracy'
Politico Playbook: “Bruce Mehlman is out with a new deck on the Russian invasion’s impact on politics, policy, business and more…Bruce sees “minimal ‘rally around the commander-in-chief’” effect “given U.S. not attacked.” The potential upside for Biden, if he executes well, is that he’s seen as “strong Wartime Leader rallying West vs aggression,” like George H. W. Bush in the Gulf War. The potential downside, if things go awry: “echoes Afghan withdrawal, questions of competence,” like Jimmy Carter and the hostage crisis. “The biggest angle I am watching (beyond nuclear saber-rattling and the central bank squeeze) is the potential divest movement,” he tells Playbook. ABOUT PUTIN’S NUKE THREAT:U.S. officials tell Playbook that they are still analyzing and trying to understand the details of Putin’s statement and that no firm conclusions have been reached that it represents a specific threat.”
Master of illusion: Ball of the Century perfectly captured Shane Warne’s art and his legend The Indian Express
Shane Warne: the showman who could do hard graft espn cricinfo
A Prayer for Volodymyr Zelensky Franklin Foer, The Atlantic
Symbol Manipulation (1): How Volodymyr Zelensky found his roar The Economist. The deck: “A man who used to entertain the nation has become its voice.” Of course, he had help
Australia was quick to sanction Moscow. Why not Myanmar? The Lowy Interpreter
Perceptions of corruption are growing in Australia, and it’s costing the economy The Conversation
Largest shock wave in the universe is 60 times larger than the Milky Way, new study findsSpace.com
"If a wider war breaks out in Europe, should the U.S. military be involved?" All Voters - Yes - 49%
WELL: $1 million bounty on Putin offered by Russian businessman: The Russian entrepreneur said the Russian president came to power by “blowing up apartment buildings in Russia.” Well, that does seem to be the case.
UPDATE: A friend writes: “It starts. Oligarchs and Lukoil, but I repeat myself. Hate to be melodramatic, but it kind feels like, Putin dangling from a lamppost, or we all burn. Has there ever been a simpler answer to the wretched rubik’s cube of human events? Kill the fucker, and we all go back to … whatever normal was at last check.”
Well, I guess it would be fair: Volodymyr Zelensky survives three assassination attempts in days.
President Zelensky has survived at least three assassination attempts in the past week, The Times has learnt.
Two different outfits have been sent to kill the Ukrainian president — mercenaries of the Kremlin-backed Wagner group and Chechen special forces. Both have been thwarted by anti-war elements within Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
Wagner mercenaries in Kyiv have sustained losses during their attempts and are said to have been alarmed by how accurately the Ukrainians had anticipated their moves. A source close to the group said it was “eerie” how well briefed Zelensky’s security team appeared to be.
If the FSB is stabbing Putin in the back figuratively, there’s a good chance it may happen literally. Assuming, of course, that these reports are true. But even if they’re not, Putin will be forced to take them seriously. Even if they’re false, they may simply be a few days early.
Lindsey Graham is eager to egg on the Russians, for better or (more likely) worse: ‘Take this guy out:’ Sen. Lindsey Graham tweets about Putin, ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis.
MICHAEL BARONE: Volodymyr Zelensky Transforms Germany — and Europe.
Each day, [Zelensky] has sent out videos of him speaking from the heart of Kyiv, proclaiming his determination to stay. His example has undoubtedly helped added to the spirited resistance of ordinary Ukrainians.
Sally Flannery had a shower and a stiff drink, and logged on to Facebook.
It was early Monday morning, and the Lismore resident had just been rescued from northern NSW's flooding emergency.
With emergency crews difficult — if not impossible — to contact, Ms Flannery flagged down a boat from her friend's roof where she was staying.
"Then after that, I kind of just sat in my car, charged my laptop and got straight into rescue mode," she said.
Before she'd been evacuated, Ms Flannery made a post to a small business Facebook group she manages, encouraging others to share their addresses if they needed help.
It sparked a deluge of desperate pleas.
"Please help my best friend, her partner and 2 kids are stuck in the roof."
"Elderly man at 57 — Street needs rescuing urgently"
"Need ASAP evacuation. Waist deep in second storey."
Ms Flannery triaged the requests into a publicly available online spreadsheet.
Covid pandemic sparks steep rise in number of people in UK with long-term illness Guardian. KLG25 highlighted the following text:
More than a third of working-age people in the UK now suffer from a long-term illness, with new figures showing a dramatic rise since the pandemic began. Post-Covid conditions, including long Covid, breathing difficulties and mental-health problems, are among the causes, according to disability charities and health campaigners.An Observer analysis of the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) labour market status of disabled people figures shows that nearly 14.2 million people in the UK aged 16 to 64 said they had a health condition lasting for at least 12 months in 2021 – a rise of 1.2 million during the two years of the pandemic.
Levels of long-term ill-health had been rising more slowly before the emergence of Covid, at an annual average of about 275,000 cases a year between 2014 and 2018, but the rapid increase over the last two years highlights the health problems facing the UK, says the disability charity Scope.