On today’s episode of the 5 Things podcast: Russia warns of ‘direct military confrontation’ with US
The war in Ukraine continues. Plus, a Texas DA will file a motion dismissing a murder charge in a ‘self-induced’ abortion case, Golfweek’s Adam Woodard looks at Tiger Woods’ future, wellness reporter Jenna Ryu talks about vanilla sex shaming and you can now put an ‘X ‘for gender on your passport.
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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
Taylor Wilson:
Buenos dias. I’m Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Monday, the 11th of April 2022. Today, Russia’s offensive in Ukraine’s east, plus the changing conversation around sex, and more.
Here are some of the top headlines:
- Imran Khan has been pushed out of office as Prime Minister of Pakistan. His political opponents of him ousted him with a no confidence vote yesterday. The new Prime Minister is expected to be Shehbaz Sharif, brother of disgraced former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after a parliament vote later today.
- Incumbent Emmanuel Macron will face far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen in a winner takes all runoff for the French presidency. They both advanced yesterday in the first round of voting.
- And Scottie Scheffler is the 2022 Masters champion. It was the 25 year old golfer’s first major win.
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Russia is warning of a direct military confrontation with the United States. Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov told Newsweek that the West is provoking Russia. And he added, “We warn that such actions are dangerous. They can lead the US and the Russian Federation onto the path of direct military confrontation.” His comments from him come as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine stretches into a seventh week. The Russian diplomat also told Newsweek that the invasion came because Ukraine would not stop what he called the genocide of Russians, and that the invasion has its roots eight years earlier when an uprising toppled a Ukrainian government with close ties to Moscow and put a pro- West administration in charge. He said that it was particularly problematic because the government has sought closer ties with NATO and the European Union.
Meanwhile, Russia’s new offensive in Eastern Ukraine could be a decisive chapter in the conflict. Russia has given up most of its military positioning in Northern and Western parts of the country, but looks determined to take control of the mostly Russian speaking Donbas region in the east. Western military analysts though say Russia is focusing on a larger region stretching from Kharkiv in the north, Ukraine’s second largest city, to Kherson in the south. Russian forces shelled Kharkiv yesterday and also continued their assault on Mariupol, the Southern coastal city that’s seen some of the war’s worst and most consistent violence. In Kharkiv, resident Natalia described how she narrowly survived an attack on her residential building de ella.
Taylor Wilson translating for Natalia:
“I got hit on the head and the shockwave threw me back. The stairs collapsed, the windows and doors were knocked out. Miraculously, I survived.”
Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said yesterday in his nightly address that the coming week would be crucial in the war. He also accused Russia of trying to avoid responsibility for war crimes in Ukraine. Officials in Ukraine and around the west have accused Russia of war crimes for attacks on civilians. Zelenskyy said, “When people lack the courage to admit their mistakes, apologize, adapt to reality and learn, they turn into monsters. And when the world ignores it, the monsters decide that it is the world that has to adapt to them. day will come when they will have to admit everything except the truth.”
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A Texas district attorney will file a motion today to dismiss a murder charge against a woman who was arrested in the death of an individual by self-induced abortion. 26-year-old Lizelle Herrera was arrested last week, but it’s not clear whether she was accused of having a self-induced abortion or whether she helped someone else get an abortion. The Sheriff’s Office didn’t say which law Herrera was charged under. In Starr County, District Attorney Gocha Allen Ramirez ruled that under Texas law, Herrera should not be prosecuted. The case comes in the same state where a bill last year banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
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Tiger Woods returned to the Masters this week. The golf legend’s status at the tournament was up in the air until the week of, but he played and made the cut to compete into the weekend. After his comeback from him, Tiger also announced when we’ll be seeing him again, at least once later this summer. Producer PJ Elliott spoke with Golfweek’s Adam Woodard about Tiger’s future and how he performed this week at Augusta National.
Adam Woodard:
Look, a couple of years ago, when Tiger came back and won for the first time in the Masters in 2019, I kind of learned that you can’t doubt this guy. He’s always going to be able to have a trick up his sleeve from him. But then 14 months ago, he has that crash. We’re not sure is he ever going to be able to walk again. And then let alone, he comes out here, plays four consecutive rounds, beats about five or six people, makes the cut. I mean, it’s truly remarkable. Not enough can be said about what he’s able to accomplish this week. He’s not going to be happy about the result where he finished, but if anything, it’s going to motivate him even more. And then today, he said he’s going to play The Open Championship in July. He’s going to try and play The PGA Championship in May. I mean, he’s back and he’s coming back, and he’s only going to get better. And this week was a huge step forward for him.
PJ Elliott:
Did he talk about how he felt after four days of playing in the tournament without playing in one since the accident?
Adam Woodard:
Tired, exhausted. I mean, his body was broken down. I mean, you could tell he had a hitch in his giddy up the entire second nine when he was walking today. He was telling us the other day that it’s going to be a lot of ice baths, a lot of recovery. I mean, and that’s a guy who’s already had multiple back surgeries. He’s had a spinal fusion, let alone the fact that he’s got a bunch of rods, screws, and plates holding his ankle and right leg together. And the fact that he was able to walk Augusta National, which is a very hilly terrain, a very hilly course, for four days and then even shoot under par the first day was just truly incredible. But I think when you kind of saw him struggling the last few days, that he was all his body fatigue and not being able to clear a few shots. But I mean, if anything, this was a great test for what’s to come later this year.
Taylor Wilson:
For more, head to golfweek.com.
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The conversation around sex is changing, and there’s a new trend on social media around the topic of vanilla sex shaming. Wellness Reporter Jenna Ryu has more.
Jenna Ryū:
yeah. So vanilla sex shaming is a trend on TikTok, mostly among younger people, but it’s basically ridiculing or mocking people who enjoy conventional sex. So, kind of devoid of kinks and fetishes. Obviously, shaming people of any sort is not acceptable, but experts have said that it’s interesting that this trend of vanilla shaming is showing how people are kind of opening up about their views on what healthy sex looks like. So for example, talking about sex has usually been something that’s uncomfortable or considered taboo. And when we do talk about it, the only kind of permissible form of sex we talk about is vanilla sex. So kind of seeing people rejecting that with vanilla shaming and instead embracing more unconventional methods like consensual BDSM, swinging with other couples, threesomes, role play, sex toys, et cetera, kind of shows how people are expanding their views on an eleven taboo topic .
I think a lot of people try to avoid talking about sex, just one, because it can be an uncomfortable and private topic. But also because they assume that if you don’t talk about sex, people just won’t have sex which isn’t true. And experts say that it doesn’t stop people from having sex, it stops people from having safe sex. So for example, it doesn’t give them the opportunity to openly talk about STD transmission, or for example, how to have safe sex, pleasurable sex, knowing when you’re comfortable, when you’re not. So that’s why it’s important to kind of have these healthy conversations about sex that go beyond this one dimensional view we used to have of what is healthy and what isn’t, because the reality is that sex is not a monolith and there’s a lot of ways you can have healthy sex even if it’s not conventional.
Taylor Wilson:
You can find Jenna’s full story in today’s episode description.
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An update has arrived for some US passports. Beginning today, US citizens will be able to select the letter X as the gender marker on their passport application instead of M or F. The State Department announced the move last year and added that transgender travelers would no longer have to provide medical certification if their gender identity doesn’t line up with the marker on their birth certificate or other documents. A human rights campaign said more than 1.2 million non-binary adults in the US, 2 million transgender people, and 5.5 million people born intersex could be affected by the changes.
Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us on whatever your favorite podcast app is seven mornings a week. Thanks to PJ Elliott for his great work on the show, and I’m back tomorrow with more than 5 Things from USA TODAY.
www.usatoday.com
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism