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🌎  7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• Mariupol new deadline to surrender: The situation in Mariupol remains critical as Ukrainian troops defend the last holdout of soldiers and civilians trapped in the Azovstal steel plant, which has been targeted by Russian missiles. Russia has issued another ultimatum for Ukraine forces in Mariupol to surrender, by later Wednesday. While Moscow has reportedly agreed to a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians from the Donbas port city, it remains to be seen if that will be respected. (Read more: War in Ukraine, Day 56)

• Ukraine allies pledge to send more weapons: The United States, the United Kingdom and Canada have pledged to send a major new shipment of weapons to Ukraine, as Russian launches its offensive in Donbas. This comes as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his country’s military has exhausted the weaponry that it can send to Ukraine, and is trying to work with manufactures to increase production. (Read more: War in Ukraine, Day 56)

• Israel-Palestine tensions: U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken urged Israel and Palestine to “end the cycle of violence” in calls to Mahmoud Abbas and Yair Lapid as tensions and violence are intensifying for a few weeks now.

• BoJo “Partygate” apologies: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson offered a “wholehearted apology” to MPs in Commons for the “Partygate” scandal. Last week, he received a £50 fine for breaking COVID-19 restrictions in June 2020 and organizing his birthday party in the Cabinet Room.

• Sri Lanka protests: One man was killed and 10 others injured by Sri Lanka police in protest against oil shortages and price inflation.

• Netflix first subscriber loss in years: For the first time in over a decade, streaming platform Netflix lost subscribers, around 200,000. This is partly due to the war in Ukraine, inflation and the suspension of Netflix in Russia. The company says it now intends to charge users sharing their logins and is planning on launching an ad-supported version.

• Thanks, MIT: MIT researchers developed an “Oreometer”, a device for optimally splitting the two halves of an Oreo biscuit, so that the cream amount is similar on both sides when twisting the biscuit.

🗞️  FRONT PAGE

“Russia storms Ukraine's Donbas,” titles Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, reporting on Russian troops intensifying their attack in eastern Ukraine as it seeks a decisive victory in the port city of Mariupol.

💬  LEXICON

Nannaria swiftae

Dr. Derek Hennen, a Virginia Tech scientist (and Swiftie) named a new millipede species he and his team discovered in Tennessee, U.S., after American singer Taylor Swift. The Nannariaswiftae, or Swift Twisted-Claw Millipede, is a nod to how Swift’s “music helped me get through the highs and lows of graduate school,” Hennen told Rolling Stone. Hennen also named another new species after his wife.

📰  STORY OF THE DAY

Why German President Steinmeier will never be welcome in Kyiv

Why was German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier disinvited to the Ukrainian capital? The case is being used by the German elite for their own benefit, or rather, for Russia, whose economic and political treasures in Europe are guarded by the same Steinmeier, writes Olexander Demchenko in Ukrainian news website Livy Bereg.

🛑 The German ruling elite was indignant that Ukraine did not give permission to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to visit Kyiv. Der Spiegel magazine reported that the Office of the President of Germany negotiated with the Ukrainian side for a long time, reaching an agreement, but then the Office of the President of Ukraine suspended any talks on Steinmeier's visit as part of the trip of Eastern European leaders to Ukraine.

🔍 In fact, according to high-ranking Livy Bereg sources, the situation was completely different. There were no official requests to the Ukrainian authorities. Steinmeier himself took such a step because his presidency became unstable due to a series of journalistic investigations into his close relationship with the Kremlin. This situation is understandable given who Frank-Walter Steinmeier is, what role he played in promoting the Kremlin's economic interests in Germany and in Europe in general.

🇩🇪🇷🇺 Over the years, Steinmeier has placed his followers, and therefore the followers and ideas of rapprochement with Russia, in key positions in Germany. Steinmeier himself is a continuation of the policies of ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, Putin's main lobbyist. Proof of this are the refusal of the socialist Scholz to provide Ukraine with necessary weapons, as well as the words of the head of the German Ministry of Defense Christine Lambrecht that her nation has run out of weapons for our nation, and much more.

➡️ Read more on Worldcrunch.com

📣 VERBATIM

One day you're Cinderella, so to speak, and then in 0.6 seconds, you're Quasimodo.

— U.S. actor Johnny Depp testifying during the high-profile defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard. Depp refuted what he called “heinous and disturbing" domestic abuse allegations.