Russia’s Bridge to Nowhere

Start your day smarter with the most important world news, plus intriguing and offbeat stories. www.ozy.com [OZY]() Your World. Bold & Bright [Presidential Daily Brief]( Sponsored by [Cariuma]( Start your day smarter with a dossier on the most important world news, rounded off with a shot of intriguing and offbeat stories. Like the president, you deserve no less. Jul 27, 2022 Today Ukrainian fighters have chalked up a strategic win against Russia. Europe is in the grip of the worst drought in decades. Recent conservative wins are energizing advocates for prayers in school. And a massive earthquake has left at least four dead and many more injured in the Philippines. All this and more in today’s PDB. [All We Think About Is…Going Green]( [Cariuma]( Being eco-friendly has never been easier. Say hi to your new [favorite sneaker]( – made from organic cotton and natural rubber. Stylish, comfortable, timeless, and consciously made. You can’t go wrong. Shop now with code OZY20 to snag [20% OFF]( your purchase!. This special offer is just for OZY readers. [LET’S GO GREEN]( IMPORTANT Troubled Waters Fighters Down Strategic Bridge While Zelenskyy Gets to Work Ukrainian forces struck the Antonivskyi Bridge over the Dnieper River, cutting off a major thoroughfare of the Russian war effort in the country’s south. Previous efforts over the last week damaged the bridge, but Moscow officials said Tuesday’s shelling all but demolished it. Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy nominated his replacement for chief prosecutor after he fired the previous one last month for failing to root out Russian spies in the ranks. Zelenskyy tipped Andriy Kostin, a lawmaker from his Servant of the People party, to take on the role, but it’s unclear when Parliament will next convene to confirm him. (Sources: [AP](, [Reuters]() Not a Drop European Farmers Prepare for Driest Conditions in Decades In parts of the U.K. water levels haven’t been this low since 1976, and officials expect to officially declare a drought next month. The country’s National Drought Group met yesterday, three months earlier than planned, and advised residents to reduce water usage — though many expect more serious restrictions on residential and agricultural irrigation soon. It’s a similar story in Spain, where global warming is hitting particularly hard. “We are used to a lack of water, but not to this point,” one farmer said. This year’s olive harvest from nonirrigated land is likely to be 20% of the usual haul. (Sources: [France24](, [The Guardian]() Cross Roads Recent Court Rulings Inspire Moves to Bring Prayer Back Into Schools Religious activists across the U.S. are mounting challenges to laws enforcing separation of church and state — and the tide may be with them. After the Supreme Court sided with a football coach who prayed on-field at games, schools in Illinois, Alabama and Oregon have agreed to review rules around employees praying at school. But Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-founder of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, says some districts have long ignored federal directives anyway. Meanwhile, parents of non-Christian students worry that in much of America “prayer” will by default be Christian, prompting concerns about what the new school year will bring. (Source: [WaPo]() Ring of Fire Early Morning Earthquake Jolts the Philippines, Killing Four A 7.1 magnitude quake hit the northern part of Luzon, the country’s most populous island, damaging buildings and forcing thousands to flee to safety. “Despite the sad reports about the damages caused by the earthquake, we are assuring quick response to those in need and affected by this calamity,” newly inaugurated President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in a statement. The landlocked Abra province saw severe damage and dozens of reported injuries near the epicenter, but officials warned that aftershocks may be felt across much of Luzon, including in Manila, where commuter trains were briefly halted. (Source: [Reuters]() Briefly Here are some things you should know about today: He’s heading home. Eventually. Sri Lanka’s ousted former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is returning to Colombo, a lawmaker says — though a date hasn’t been announced and he’s been granted a 14-day extension on his visa in Singapore. (Source: [BBC]() History repeating. Almost 1 million residents in suburbs of Wuhan will go back into lockdown after four cases of COVID-19 were detected in the city. (Source: [Bloomberg]() Authentic cosplay. The jacket Buzz Aldrin wore when he first stepped on the moon went for a record $2,772,500 at a Sotheby’s auction. It’s the only privately owned garment from the Apollo 11 mission: The other astronauts’ jackets are at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. (Source: [CNN]() [Nice (Kicks)]( [Cariuma]( Loved by surfers and skateboarders alike, [Cariuma]( is elevating the game by reimagining the classic sneaker. Just like these skills come (organically) for some, so do these shoes – made with organic cotton, natural rubber, vegan insoles, and recycled plastics. Practical and sustainably sourced? Now, that’s rad! Grab them while they’re hot with your exclusive [20% off]( discount code: OZY20.This special offer is just for OZY readers. [SHOP NOW]( INTRIGUING Not Monkeying Around Fauci Tackles Homophobic Stigma Surrounding Monkeypox Let’s not repeat the mistakes of the past, health experts warn as worries over monkeypox mount. The specter of the HIV/AIDS battle — and stigma — looms as researchers find around 99% of U.S. patients with the virus are men who have sex with other men. Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House medical advisor and veteran of the fight against AIDS, said community is strength. “You make it very easy for them to have access to testing, to treatment, and to vaccines, as opposed to making it a situation where people are afraid to come forward for those types of things.” (Source: [NPR]() Relevant Results The Next Battleground in Abortion Rights Is Your Search Bar Is it public safety or market manipulation? That’s the question Google’s facing after 17 Republican state attorneys general warned it against hiding search results for “crisis pregnancy centers,” organizations known for masquerading as clinics and steering pregnant people away from abortion services. The coalition wrote, “If you fail to resist this political pressure, we will act swiftly to protect American consumers from this dangerous axis of corporate and government power,” threatening to launch a probe into whether altering search results violates antitrust or religious discrimination laws. It follows earlier calls from Democrats to filter anti-abortion clinics from results. (Source: [Gizmodo]() Finders Keepers? France Rounds Up More Suspects in Art Trafficking Scandal Archaeologists Noëmi Daucé and Jean-François Charnier both formerly worked in acquisitions at Agence France-Muséums, an agency confirming the provenance of artifacts for the opening of the Louvre’s Abu Dhabi arm in 2017. They’ve now been detained by French police for allegedly ignoring concerns about where two stolen Egyptian artifacts came from and pushing the museum to acquire them. AFM was reprimanded for “professional negligence,” while another ex-employee, former Louvre director Jean-Luc Martinez, was charged with “complicity of gang fraud and laundering.” The artifacts in the sweeping trafficking case are believed to be worth around $50 million. (Sources: [ArtNews](, [Artnet]() Hot Walrus Summer Freya the Walrus Basks in Sun, Destroys Boats on European Tour The 1,300-pound marine mammal has made herself right at home sunbathing in an Oslo fjord, though Norwegian boat owners may not be thrilled to see her enjoying their watercraft. Freya’s left a trail of “not walrus-worthy” boats in her wake on her Northern European tour. She’s been spotted in the U.K., the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden before arriving in Oslo and becoming a tourist attraction in her own right. Norwegian officials says she’s healthy and doing well, adding, “It’s a pity about the material damage but that’s the way it is when you have wild animals.” (Sources: [The Guardian](, [HuffPost]() Love Thy Player Pride-Themed Rugby Jerseys Ignite Row in Australian Sport Seven players from the Manly Sea Eagles, a Sydney National Rugby League team, will sit out tomorrow night’s game after refusing to wear jerseys with rainbow trim to celebrate the LGBT community. The players cited religious and cultural objections to the uniform. Former Manly player Ian Roberts was the first — and so far only — player in the league’s history to come out. He warned that for players who may be hiding their sexuality while playing, the consequences could be deadly. “This is brutal language to hear, but there are kids in the suburbs killing themselves.” (Sources: [FOX Sports](, [WWOS]() Catch the Newest Episodes of The Carlos Watson Show, Season 4! COMMUNITY What else are you curious about? 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