Global

Russia and Ukraine Seek Gains on Front Lines

With winter about to set in, Russia and Ukraine are locked in heavy exchanges of fire across the front line in increasingly urgent attempts to make gains big or small while they still can.

Attacks flared in the Sumy region in the north, where rockets and mortars hit at least six settlements Saturday, half a year after Russian forces withdrew from the area. And in Russian-occupied areas of the south, Ukrainian forces struck targets, among them a hotel used by Russian officials and local collaborators.

Both sides in the south have been striking deep behind each other’s lines, but in recent days, the battlefield positions have not appeared to move much. In other parts of the country, Russian cruise missiles and drones struck across Ukrainian territory, as Moscow’s campaign to cripple Ukraine’s energy supplies continued.

After months of no contact, the two top American and Russian military officials held their second discussion in three days. The phone call Sunday between Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Defense Minister Sergei K. Shoigu was intended to make clear the red lines that might provoke Russia to launch a nuclear attack in Ukraine.

Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed that the two men spoke but said only that they had discussed the situation in Ukraine. Austin and Shoigu previously spoke Friday at the initiation of the Pentagon and in May.

The conversation with Austin on Sunday was among a flurry of calls that Shoigu held with his British, French and Turkish counterparts. The calls occurred as a Russian retreat from the Kherson region looked imminent and as Ukrainian forces fought off Russian attacks in several places over the weekend.

Rocket and artillery fire killed eight people and wounded 19 on Saturday, Ukrainian officials reported. Two died in strikes in the Zaporizhzhia region and six in strikes in Donetsk. Russia also unleashed widespread attacks on power plants and heating stations in what Ukraine said were some of the heaviest strikes in weeks.

Small steps that had been made toward easing the conflict seemed in question this weekend, including the internationally brokered agreement to free up tons of desperately needed Ukrainian grain for transport around the world.

On Sunday, Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry again accused Russia of deliberately slowing grain exports to stymie the agreement, signed in July, that allowed Ukrainian agricultural exports by sea to resume over the summer. (© The New York Times)

Smile – Even If You Don’t Mean It

Want to feel happier? Smile.

Yup, curving your lips upwards can make you feel better – even if you’re not really so happy to begin with.

Designed in part by Israeli scientists, a 19-country peer-reviewed research found that people were significantly happier when told to smile than if they determined their own facial expressions.

The key finding inthe study,published in the journal Nature Human Behavior on Thursday, came from telling study participants to either mimic happy expressions on photos of actors’ faces or pull their mouth towards their ears using their hands to simulate a smile.

Both groups reported a noticeable increase in happiness which participants in control groups didn’t have.

The control groups were told to give whatever facial reactions they felt like. Importantly, the control group for those mimicking actors were also shown the faces of the smiling actors, so it received

16 the same mood stimulation as the mimickers. Dr. Niv Reggev, Ben Gurion UniverThe Jewish Home | OCTOBER 27, 2022 sity psychologist and head of the Israeli team, told The Times of Israel, “I had been on the fence, like some others, but now believe if you make people activate the right muscles by smiling, you can actually make them happier. It’s true — when you smile it makes you happier.” Harvard Tops All Universities

In many countries, there has been a marked increase in those obtaining a college degree.

Among the 38 nations that are members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the percentage of individuals in the 25-to-34 age bracket who had a credential beyond a high school diploma rose from 27% in 2000 to 48% in 2021.

According to U.S. News Best Global Universities rankings, Harvard University tops schools worldwide.

This year’s general ranking, which reflects the overall scholarly impact of global universities across multiple academic disciplines, includes 2,000 schools – 250 more than last year – in 95 countries across the globe.

Following closely behind Harvard on the index are, in the same order as last year, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University in California, University of California-Berkeley, and University of Oxford.

However, notable changes occurred slightly down the list. The University of Washington in Seattle rose a notch this year, from No. 7 to No. 6, switching places withColumbia Universityin New York.

The University of California-San Francisco dropped from its perch at No. 11 in the general ranking last year to a tie at No. 16 this year, and the University of Pennsylvania fell two spots from No. 13 to No. 15. The University of Chicago, No. 15 in the general ranking last year, is no longer in the top 20, having fallen to the 22nd spot. The University of Toronto, which tied for 16th place last year, is now No. 18.

Several other schools rose in the general ranking, including Yale University in Connecticut, which moved from No. 12 to No. 11, and University College London, which went from a tie at No. 16 to No. 12. The University of California-San Diego rose one spot above its rank last year to join the top 20.

Like last year, the top 20 this year had 15 U.S. schools, four from the U.K., and one from Canada.

Among the countries with ranked global universities in the overall ranking, China had the most schools – 338 – for the first time surpassing the U.S. The difference between the number of ranked universities in China vs. the U.S. is 58.

The top schools in the regional rankings for areas outside the U.S. – such as Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, Latin America, or Africa – are all the same this year as last year. In the Asia ranking, Tsinghua University of Beijing is No. 1, while the University of Cape Town claimed that honor for the Africa ranking. The University of Melbourne is the front-runner in the Australia and New Zealand ranking, and the Universidade de São Paulo leads the Latin America ranking.

Xi Tightens His Grip on China

As China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, moved to extend his rule, he pushed out rivals who had been perceived as pro-business. He praised Marxism over markets. He placed security ahead of the economy.

Now, with his grip on China tighter than it has ever been, Xi begins a groundbreaking third term this week poised to expand the influence of the Communist Party over the economy.

Xi’s belief in the primacy of the party could shift the world’s second-largest economy back toward a more state-led model. Xi’s consolidation of power points

18 to a new era in China in which national security and ideology would be a higher priority than maintaining robust growth. The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 27, 2022 That could be bad news for an economy that has already been dragged down by official policies such as the stringent “zero COVID” strategy of lockdowns and mass testing. Financial markets are already signaling their unease over what Xi’s extended rule — and his agenda — portend for China. In Hong Kong, share prices plummeted more than 6% on Monday, reaching 13-year lows as traders dumped huge numbers of shares to limit their exposure to whatever Xi might do next. In mainland China, stock markets fell nearly 3% even though the Chinese government puts heavy pressure on institutional investors not to sell during politically sensitive moments. And China’s currency, the renminbi, dropped to a 14-year low against the dollar as companies and affluent families continued to send money out of the country in search of safety and higher interest rates. The heavy selling in China was particularly striking given that the Chinese government announced stronger-than-expected data Monday. It showed that the country’s economy grew 3.9% in the three months that ended in September, from the same period a year earlier.

Under Xi, regulators have clamped down on the tech sector, contributing to widespread layoffs among young employees. Dozens of the country’s private property developers have defaulted on debts after Beijing discouraged real estate speculation. Tycoons have been fleeing the country. Lockdowns in cities and regions across the country to stop outbreaks of COVID-19 have taken a heavy toll on economic growth.

Some observers and investors had hoped that Beijing would use the party congress to emphatically reassure private businesses and entrepreneurs that they were still welcome. Instead, the dominant rhetoric emerging from the conclave pointed to more state regulation. (© The New York Times)

Griner’s Sentence Upheld

This week, a Russian court upheld the nine-year prison sentence against U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner, prompting renewed calls from the United States for Griner’s release.

Griner, a Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) star and twotime Olympic gold medalist, was arrested at a Moscow airport in February with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil, which is illegal in Russia.

“We are aware of the news out of Russia that Brittney Griner will continue to be wrongfully detained under intolerable circumstances after having to undergo another sham judicial proceeding today,” U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement.

“President Biden has been very clear that Brittney should be released immediately.”

Griner is one of two U.S. citizens that Washington has said are unjustifiably detained in Russia; Paul Whelan, a U.S. Marine veteran, was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020 on espionage charges.

On Tuesday, Griner’s lawyers argued in court that the nine-year-sentence she received was excessive.

“The punishment imposed … does not correspond to the gravity of the crime,” Maria Blagovolina said during Griner’s appeal hearing. “Nine years in prison is a sentence that contradicts judicial practice.”

In previous proceedings, Griner said she did not intend to bring the vape cartridges into Russia, saying that it was an “honest mistake” that they ended up in her bags.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in July that Washington made a “substantial proposal” to Moscow to free Griner and Whelan.

Despite the deteriorating ties between Washington and Moscow, Russia in April freed Trevor Reed, a former U.S. marine. In exchange, the U.S. released Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was serving a 20-year sentence in the U.S. over drug charges.

Rishi Sunak prevailed in a chaotic three-day race for leader of Britain’s Conservative Party on Monday, a remarkable political comeback that doubled as a historical milestone, making him the first person of color to become prime minister in British history.

The 42-year-old son of Indian immigrants, whose political career has already had its ups and downs, Sunak won the contest to replace the shortlived prime minister, Liz Truss, when his only remaining opponent, Penny Mordaunt, withdrew after failing to reach the threshold of 100 nominating votes from Conservative lawmakers.

Sunak, a former chancellor of the Exchequer, is expected to pull Britain back to more mainstream policies after Truss’ failed experiment in trickle-down economics, which rattled financial markets and badly damaged Britain’s fiscal reputation. He is also likely to offer a stark contrast to the flamboyant style and erratic behavior of Boris Johnson, his former boss and Truss’ discredited predecessor.

But Sunak will confront the gravest economic crisis in Britain in a generation, and he will do so at the helm of a badly fractured Conservative Party.

Johnson’s decision to pull out of the race Sunday night cleared a path for Sunak, who had challenged Truss last summer but lost to her in a vote of the party’s rank-and-file members.

It was a head-spinning reversal of fortune for Sunak, whose abrupt resignation from Johnson’s Cabinet last July set in motion Johnson’s downfall and pitched Britain into upheaval, culminating in Truss’ brief, calamitous stint.

Now, he will become Britain’s third prime minister in seven weeks, the youngest in two centuries and the first person of the Hindu faith to achieve its highest elected office.

A former investment banker whose wife is the daughter of an Indian technology billionaire, Sunak will also be one of the wealthiest people ever to occupy No. 10 Downing St.

But if his victory swept away another barrier in British politics — putting Sunak in the same pathbreaking category as Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female prime minister, and Benjamin Disraeli, its only prime minister of Jewish heritage — it also thrust him into power at a singularly difficult moment.

“There is no doubt we face profound economic challenges,” Sunak said in brief, somewhat stiff, remarks after his victory. “We now need stability and unity, and I will make it my utmost priority to bring my party and country together.” (© The New York Times)

Iran Arrests 10 “Mossad Agents”

Iranian authorities have arrested 10 agents working for Israel in the province of West Azerbaijan, Iranian media reported on Monday.

The semi-official Fars news agency reported that the individuals carried out operations against Iranian security officials and were in contact with the Mossad intelligence agency.

“They set fire to cars and homes of

Iran occasionally announces the detention of people it says are spying for foreign countries, including the United States and Israel, without providing evidence to back up such claims.

Iranian leaders have also recently claimed that popular unrest across the country against the regime’s oppression of women is being orchestrated by Israel and the U.S.

Two weeks ago, Iran claimed to have apprehended a “Zionist spy” disguised as a businessman in the southern Kerman Province. Prosecutors alleged that the spy had planned to “undermine security” in Kerman before being caught by members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. The suspect had also planned to

22 meet an Israeli agent in a nearby country to be given a new mission, he claimed. In July, Iranian media reported that The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 27, 2022 an alleged Israeli spy network made up of five individuals had been arrested in Iran, the second such group detention announced within a week. 80 Killed in Myanmar Airstrikes

Dozens of people have reportedly been killed in military airstrikes at a celebratory event in Myanmar’s mountainous Kachin state on Sunday, drawing international condemnation of the junta that seized power in the country more than a year and a half ago.

Victims had been attending an event organized by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) to mark the 62nd anniversary of the armed ethnic rebel group’s political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).

KIO General Secretary La Nan said both men and women were among about 80 people killed. Another 54 are injured, many with burns and shrapnel wounds.

The event, which included musical performances, was one of the group’s most significant annual festivities, with “hundreds, if not thousands” in attendance including artists, businessowners and elders. Many had traveled from across the state to attend.

“We understand the intention of (the airstrikes) was largely to inflict chaos and massive pain to the public, in a large volume and with as much damage as they could inflict,” La Nan said.

The military junta, which overthrew the government in a bloody coup last February, claimed on Monday that reports of civilian deaths from the airstrikes were “fake news.”

It claimed the airstrikes had targeted the KIA’s military base, in response to the group’s earlier raids and attacks on passenger vessels along the Irrawaddy River. It also claimed it had followed international conventions “so as to ensure peace and stability of the region.”

La Nan refuted the junta’s claim, saying the celebration had been held in the A Nang Pa region – a small area where travelers often stop by a market. It’s “nowhere close to military installations,” he said.

Though KIO personnel were in attendance, “they were not there as military personnel but as entertainers,” helping welcome guests and performing.

Since the coup, rights groups and observers say freedoms and rights in Myanmar have deteriorated; state executions have returned and the number of documented violent attacks by the army on schools has surged.

Tackling Corruption in S. Africa

South Africa’s president has introduced long-anticipated measures to tackle endemic corruption, subjecting even himself and his Cabinet to closer scrutiny of their personal spending and lifestyles. But some analysts question whether reforms that would help the government regain the trust of a fed-up public will ever be carried out.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, speaking on national television Sunday evening, said his government would, among other things, establish a permanent anti-corruption unit in the national prosecutor’s office, create transparency in the granting of public contracts and increase protections for whistleblowers.

“As a country,” he said, “we are emerging from a dark and difficult period.”

But Ramaphosa deferred much of the work to root out corruption to Parliament and other government entities. He also did not say how he would tackle some of the most controversial issues closest to home, including what to do about senior officials within his government who have been accused of corruption.

“It’s so unserious, it’s almost a joke,” William Gumede, a professor of public management at the University of the

Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, said of Ramaphosa’s proposals. If he wanted to show that he was serious about dealing with corruption in his orbit, Gumede added, Ramaphosa should have suspended the ministers accused of corruption.

Ramaphosa’s proposals came in response to hundreds of recommendations by a judicial commission that spent three years hearing evidence from more than 300 witnesses about how officials had gutted public enterprises to enrich themselves and their friends. The commission, led by South Africa’s chief justice, Raymond Zondo, focused mostly on the nine years that Ramaphosa’s predecessor, Jacob Zuma, led the country.

But the current president’s reform efforts also come at a particularly fraught time, with Ramaphosa facing his own corruption scandal.

As the country confronts a breakdown in public life, with frequent blackouts because of an overwhelmed electricity grid and increasing water outages, several investigations are underway into whether the president had sought to cover up the theft of potentially millions of dollars in cash from a game farm he owns.

During a news conference last week, Zuma said Ramaphosa, his staunch foe, was corrupt, while another former president, Thabo Mbeki, questioned Ramaphosa’s future as a leader amid the farm theft inquiry. (© The New York Times)

Italy’s New PM

Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party came out on top in Italy’s September elections, catapulting the 45-year-old woman into the premiership.

In her rapid rise through Italian politics, Meloni has repeatedly shattered the glass ceiling and has now become the first woman premier in the still staunchly patriarchal country.

Some people, though, don’t see Meloni as an advocate for women, pointing to her staunchly conservative views, including her stance on abortion.

In her first address to parliament on Tuesday, however, Meloni thanked those women who came before her, allowing her “to climb and break the heavy crystal roof placed over our heads.”

“Among the many burdens I feel weighing on my shoulders today, there is also that of being the first woman to head the government in this nation,” she said.

Meloni has broken several barriers in her political career.

In 2008, she became the country’s youngest minister – at age 31 – when she was given the youth portfolio by then-premier Silvio Berlusconi, now one of her coalition allies.

A decade ago, she co-founded Brothers of Italy, becoming the first woman to lead a major Italian political party.

As premier, she joins a very small group of women who have reached a position of political power.

In her 2021 autobiography, Meloni argued for more women in decision-making roles that would “lift the moral level and productive effectiveness of our leadership.”

But she said she won’t rely on gender quotas, mandatory today on corporate boards, saying she “detests” them.

Her new government includes six women among 24 cabinet posts, while