Russia uses hypersonic missiles in Ukraine
At least 10 people were killed yesterday after Russia launched its biggest aerial attack in weeks, hitting targets across the country with weapons including its newest hypersonic missiles, which can travel five times the speed of sound. The strikes knocked out power in several areas and damaged three electrical plants, Ukrainian officials said.
The strikes included six of the new hypersonic missiles known as Kinzhals, or Daggers. That is the most Russia has used in a single wave since the war began a year ago, according to Ukraine’s Air Force. Overall, Russia fired nine types of cruise and ballistic missiles alongside a volley of eight Iranian-made exploding drones.
Of the 81 missiles fired overnight and through the morning, 47 hit targets, Ukraine said. That is a far higher ratio of strikes to missiles fired than Russia has achieved in barrages over recent months.
Kyiv: In the capital, two large explosions an hour apart injured at least two residents and sent black smoke billowing from the city’s center, rattled windows and engulfed cars in flames. At least one hypersonic missile appeared to have struck the capital, an official said.
Several killed in shooting in Germany
Several people were killed and several more were injured last night in a Jehovah’s Witness hall in the German city of Hamburg, in a rare mass shooting in the country. Little was immediately known about the assailant or assailants. A police spokesman indicated that an attacker had not been found and might be among the dead.
The police, including tactical and bomb disposal units, were on the scene in the neighborhood of Gross Borstel late Thursday, and the injured were rushed to local hospitals. There had been an event at the hall at the time of the shooting, and in local news footage, many abandoned winter jackets could be seen hanging in the foyer of the three-story building.
The police are still investigating a motive and whether the attacker was specifically targeting Jehovah’s Witnesses, a small religious community in Germany, where there are about 175,000 adherents across the country.
Threats to African gains on life expectancy
Success in fighting H.I.V., tuberculosis and other deadly infectious diseases, plus an expansion of essential services, have helped countries in sub-Saharan Africa achieve an extraordinary gain of 10 years in healthy life expectancy over the past two decades, the largest improvement in the world, according to the W.H.O.
But dramatic increases in “hypertension, diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases and the lack of health services targeting these diseases” has offset those gains, according to the agency. It warned that the rise in life expectancy could be erased before the next decade is out.
Routine screening for conditions such as high blood pressure is rare, diagnosis rates are low, and care is often not widely available. The public is not aware of the ailments — everyone can recognize malaria, but few connect blurry vision or exhaustion with hypertension — and primary care health workers often don’t know what to check for, either.
Details: In Kenya, noncommunicable diseases account for half of hospital bed occupancy and more than a third of deaths. The rates are similar across the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, and people in this region are being affected at younger ages than those in other parts of the world.
THE LATEST NEWS
Around the World
When handling rare books, experts say that bare, just-cleaned hands are best — instead of white cotton gloves, which attract dirt and reduce the wearer’s sense of touch, increasing the likelihood of misadventure or clumsiness. The public doesn’t believe them.
Lives Lived
Chaim Topol, an Israeli actor known mostly by his last name, took on the role of Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof” in his late 20s and reprised the role for decades. He died at 87.
SPORTS NEWS FROM THE ATHLETIC
The cost of P.S.G.’s Champions League failure: Paris Saint-Germain could miss out on up to $55 million after losing to Bayern Munich, but questions about key personnel may be the more urgent problem.
How Manchester United is trying to bounce back: Erik ten Hag hopes that listening to Liverpool celebrate, and a harsh video session, will help rid United of its demons after a crushing defeat.
From The Times: Corinne Diacre, a veteran coach facing a revolt by several of her best players, was fired yesterday as coach of France’s women’s soccer team.
ARTS AND IDEAS
‘We could have been friends’
Our “Tiny Love Stories” series is Modern Love in miniature, featuring reader-submitted stories of no more than 100 words. Here is a selection from this week’s column, lightly edited for length.
My Husband’s Late Wife. I like to think we could have been friends. She gave birth to two boys. Years later, I handed them lunches in paper bags when they walked out the door. I wish I could have known these boys I call mine as babies and toddlers; I wish she could have known them as teenagers and young men. — Charlotte Maya
I Kept Saying Yes. He asked me to marry him twice. The first time I said “Yes” was on a summer day in Central Park with friends hiding nearby. The following Valentine’s Day, he asked me again, after an emergency procedure revealed cancer in his abdomen. We chose each other in the darkest times and, together, we survived. — Lucy Yang
‘Is Love Weird?’ When I was 12, I realized that Grandma Sparkly was technically my father’s ex-mother-in-law. “Is it weird that we consider you our grandma?” I asked her. “Is love weird? I guess so,” she said. “But that’s what is so great about it. We can give all that love to anyone we want.” — Annika Olson
