Your Wednesday Briefing

Sanctions imposed on Russia

The U.S. and its allies swiftly imposed economic sanctions on Russia for what President Biden denounced as the beginning of an “invasion of Ukraine.” Western officials have confirmed that Russian forces have crossed the Ukrainian border into two separatist enclaves in eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainians near the territories controlled by Kremlin-backed separatists have already endured days of shelling, and at least one death. Civilians have sheltered in basements while Ukrainian troops hunker down in trenches. For nearly a decade, violence has defined life for the residents of this pocket of eastern Ukraine.

The sanctions so far include halting the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and cutting off global financing to two Russian banks and a handful of the country’s elites. The moves fell short of the more sweeping economic warfare that some have demanded, though Biden warned that more sanctions would follow if Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, did not withdraw his forces from Ukraine.

Diplomacy: Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, canceled plans to meet with the Russian foreign minister on Thursday, saying that it did not “make sense” to hold talks while Russian forces are on the move.

Analysis: Putin has set down a marker in Ukraine, our Paris bureau chief writes. Does the West have the means to stop him?

The latest: Make sense of the conflict with our latest newsletter, the Russia-Ukraine Crisis Briefing. You can sign up here.

‘Someone who’s rather very human’

From his earliest days in office, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, was nicknamed “Jupiter” by the French media, for the king of the gods who ruled by hurling down lightning bolts. Now, with an election looming, he has sought to dispel an image of courtly aloofness in a political culture that swings between an attachment to monarchy and a penchant for regicide.

Yet his presidency has been a story of direct control over the government, facilitated by his choice of two weak prime ministers. Macron has taken full advantage of presidential prerogatives to push economic reforms through Parliament, sometimes with little consultation. He has also avoided declaring his candidacy for a second term — though it is considered a foregone conclusion.

In a recent two-hour television interview, in the gilded ballroom of the Élysée Palace, the president struck a more conciliatory tone. “I’m someone who’s rather emotional, but who hides it,” he said, lowering his eyes. He added: “I’m someone who’s rather very human, I believe.”

‘Death to the king’: Macron has at times been a special focus of anger among his political opponents — as well as members of the public, who have sometimes erected makeshift guillotines at street protests.

Mass coronavirus testing in Hong Kong

Hong Kong will require its more than seven million residents to undergo coronavirus testing in March, Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, said yesterday, as the territory struggles to contain its worst outbreak of the pandemic. Many students’ summer breaks will also start early, both to lessen crowding and to ensure their schools can be used as testing, isolation and vaccination facilities.

The announcement comes after Beijing has exerted pressure on Hong Kong to use stricter measures to stamp out the virus. The move is a challenge for the territory, which lacks the staffing and movement-tracking apps Beijing uses to enforce its own restrictions. Lam had previously ruled out extensive testing, saying Hong Kong didn’t have the capacity to process so many samples in a short period of time.

The latest wave of infections, which has led the total number of cases in the city to surpass that of the previous two years and left hospitals overflowing, has forced the authorities to expand their efforts, as well as construct new isolation facilities. A large-scale hospital is also being planned.

Details: Hong Kong has at least 37,000 active coronavirus cases. The territory has recorded 145 deaths so far this year, compared with 213 in 2020 and 2021.

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other developments:

• Queen Elizabeth II canceled all virtual engagements as her Covid symptoms persisted.

• From Google to Meta to DoorDash, Big Tech is still betting on workers using offices.

THE LATEST NEWS

News From the U.S.

• U.S. Soccer and members of the U.S. women’s national team agreed to settle a six-year equal pay lawsuit. Several dozen athletes will share $24 million in payments.

• Three men in the state of Georgia were convicted of hate crimes for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. They had already been convicted of murder and face life in prison.

• The Supreme Court will hear a case from a web designer who objected to providing services for same-sex marriages.

• Justice Clarence Thomas has long battled for a more conservative America. New reporting shows how far his wife, Ginni Thomas. was willing to go.

Around the World

• The swamps of the Congo Basin are home to one of the planet’s greatest natural resources — as long as it remains undisturbed. Now, the guardians of the world’s biggest network of tropical peatlands are asking why they aren’t being paid more to keep it intact.

• Amid a recent spike in terror attacks, Pakistan must decide how much to help the new Taliban government in Afghanistan while contending with the growing risks to its own citizens.

• The Israeli Justice Ministry said its investigation found no evidence that the police had bypassed judicial oversight to hack civilians’ phones.

What Else Is Happening

• The Beijing Olympics had the smallest prime-time audience of any Winter Games.

• A happiness professor says anxiety is destroying her students.

A Morning Read

Roughly 99 percent of the people living in the U.S. and Europe see only a dim approximation of the stars in the night sky, nothing close to the bright firmament our ancestors witnessed before humans harnessed electricity.

In search of the Milky Way, our writer Colleen Creamerheaded to Utah, which has the densest concentration of designated Dark Sky places in the world.

ARTS AND IDEAS

A dog’s dinner

Pet owners in the U.S. are devoting considerable thought and money to what their dogs, cats, hamsters, goldfish and other domesticated animals eat, Priya Krishna reports for The Times.

Some pets eat raw-food diets. Others have gluten-free, grain-free, vegan or vegetarian diets. There are pets that munch on treats flavored like a turmeric latte or made with CBD, pets that never skip a probiotic or vitamin C supplement. Some owners whip up special menus at home, while others shop for the growing number of products tailored to these diets.

Jennifer Donald and her dog, Moses, both follow a gluten-free diet, enjoying grain bowls of wild-caught salmon, sweet potatoes, boiled eggs, coconut oil and rice. “It helped me to be more in tune with him, and it is helping me stay on track with my own illness,” she said.

There are no clear or simple rules for how to feed a pet, and veterinarians have differing opinions. Scientific research on pet health lags behind studies on humans. Advice — and misinformation — proliferate online, making it hard for owners to decide whom to trust. But some experts fear that people are turning to fad diets that could pose the same hazards for pets as for humans.

Read more about the wild world of pet wellness.

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

What to Cook

Slow roasting transforms simple ingredients into much more in this garlicky chicken dish.

What to Read

Quan Barry’s dazzling new novel, “When I’m Gone, Look for Me in the East,” centers on themes of faith, history, language and yearning.

What to Watch

Separate fact from fiction in “The Gilded Age.”

Now Time to Play

Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: from Dublin or Doolin (five letters).

Here’s today’s Wordle and the Spelling Bee.

You can find all our puzzles here.

That’s it for today’s briefing. See you tomorrow. — Natasha

P.S. The reporter Emily Anthes, who joined the Health and Science desk a year ago on a temporary basis, is now a permanent member of the team.

The latest episode of “The Daily” is about what’s next for Ukraine and Russia.

You can reach Natasha and the team at [email protected].