Your Friday Briefing

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/07/briefing/putin-russia-dissent-thailand-shooting.html

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Russia’s floundering invasion of Ukraine has provoked an outpouring of discontent from supporters of the war, creating a new challenge for Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. Since launching his invasion in February, Putin has gone to great lengths to silence domestic dissent, including from the independent media.

Recent critiques have come from prominent officials, who have publicly rebuked associates of Putin for their failures with the war effort, and from pro-Russian bloggers who have voiced anger over the missteps that led to the rout of the Russian army in northeastern Ukraine.

One common thread has been that Russia’s military, despite the country’s enormous defense budget, turned out to be unprepared for a real war. Many Russian hawks have been calling on the military for months to escalate its offensive but are frustrated by its poor execution.

Analysis: While none of the prominent pro-war critics of the military have attacked Putin personally, the Kremlin could still lose control of the situation, if Russian battlefield losses continue, Tatiana Stanovaya, a Russian political analyst, said.

More news from the war:

Facing battlefield setbacks, the Kremlin has escalated its war, claiming ownership of a nuclear plant and launching more attacks on Ukrainian cities.

The Biden administration has quietly fast-tracked private weapons sales to Ukraine, slashing a weekslong approval process to a matter of hours.

The U.N.’s nuclear agency said it did not recognize Russia’s claim to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

The evidence in the Nord Stream pipeline leaks points to sabotage, according to Swedish investigators.

A man armed with a handgun and a knife killed 36 people, 24 of them children, at a child-care facility yesterday, in Nong Bua Lamphu Province, before shooting himself fatally. His wife and son were also found dead. The police identified the gunman as Panya Kamrab, 34, a former police officer who was fired in June for possession of methamphetamine.

The massacre ranks as the worst mass shooting by a sole perpetrator in Thailand’s history and exceeds the death tolls of the deadliest school shootings in the U.S. It came two years after a soldier killed 29 people in a mass shooting at a Thai shopping mall and army base.

The attack has catalyzed national soul-searching. Thailand’s gun homicide rate, while far lower than that in the U.S., is among the highest in Asia. Yet drills to respond to shootings are not part of the culture. And in a country where military-style hierarchies pervade everything from schooling to offices, mental health care is limited.

Details: Methamphetamine has flooded the region in recent years and has filled Thai jails with drug offenders. Panya was set to go on trial for possession of the drug today, and the 9-millimeter pistol used in the attack was legally owned, the police said.

Uganda has recorded 44 cases in an Ebola outbreak driven by a Sudanese strain of the virus that is resistant to existing immunization shots. Ten people have died, four of them health workers, but the death toll may be as high as 30, with 20 probable cases being those who succumbed to the virus before it could be identified.

Two vaccine candidates could offer protection against the strain. They have yet to reach the clinical trial phase in Uganda, Dr. Patrick Otim, a top W.H.O. official for Africa, said yesterday. If a successful vaccine is identified and approved, manufacturing may bring another delay: Roughly 100 doses of one of the candidates are ready to be administered.

For now, the authorities are reliant on proven methods, like contact tracing and isolation. A mobile lab, erected in the outbreak’s epicenter in the last few days, has cut down the turnaround time for testing to six hours from 24. Still, the virus has spread to five districts.

Related: Air travelers to the U.S. from Uganda will be redirected to airports where they can be screened for the virus.

Universities across Iran have erupted in protests after being politically dormant for more than a decade, with students joining the unrest that has convulsed the country for weeks.

More than 20 people are believed to have died after two boats carrying migrants sank near Greece.

U.S. forces carried out a rare operation inside Syrian government territory, killing Rakkan Wahid al-Shammari, a senior Islamic State official.

A climate disaster wiped out a decades-long project to bring pipe-borne water to Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital.

France unveiled its biggest energy conservation measures in decades, part of an effort in Europe to save power, as Russia cuts gas supplies.

Justice Department officials remain skeptical that Donald Trump has returned all the documents he took when he left the White House.

The appearance of Liz Truss, the British prime minister, at the maiden meeting of the European Political Community was the latest in a perceptible warming trend toward Europe.

President Biden has pardoned thousands of people convicted of marijuana possession.

The French writer Annie Ernaux was awarded one of literature’s highest honors, the Nobel Prize, for her body of work.

A new “Scooby-Doo” movie has put to rest decades of fan speculation by confirming that Velma Dinkley is canonically a lesbian.

Kanye West’s “White Lives Matter” shirt overshadowed the runway at his YZY show in Paris. See highlights from the fashion week season.

Twenty-five books were named finalists for the National Book Awards. The winners will be announced next month.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has removed signage that referred to the Sackler family, which founded Purdue Pharma, the creator of an addictive opioid painkiller.

At a qualifying event in Texas for the finals of the USA Mullet Championships, 14 hopefuls competed to be the face of what many say is not just a hairstyle but a lifestyle.

The reigning champion put it like this: “Once you get that mullet, it’s just a symbol you’re carefree. You don’t care what people think.” He added: “You never see somebody with a mullet that’s grumpy.”

Brazil retains the top spot in FIFA world rankings as Russia rises without playing: Brazil has retained its spot as the top-seeded team in the world after the latest FIFA world rankings were released on Thursday. The 2022 World Cup will be the next opportunity for the rankings to change.

The stakes, the favorites and that cup of tea as England takes on U.S.A.: England will host the United States on Friday at a sold-out Wembley — a meeting of the European champions and the World Cup holders. So, what is the significance of this game?

Exploring what owning a Premier League club means in Saudi Arabia: Let’s take a look inside Newcastle United’s popularity, soccer’s role in Saudi society and allegations of sportswashing.

Italy elected a far-right government last week, with Giorgia Meloni as the likely next prime minister. David Leonhardt, who writes The Morning newsletter, spoke with Jason Horowitz, our Rome bureau chief, about the results. This is a lightly edited excerpt. Read the rest of the interview.

What was the main reason for Meloni’s victory?

The real secret to Meloni’s appeal was not any particular policy or vision. In Italy, every election is a change election, and being the candidate of the protest vote is a powerful thing. Meloni was that. The other major candidates had all been part of Mario Draghi’s national unity government. She stayed in the opposition and vacuumed up the protest vote.

Meloni’s appeal is also based heavily on grievance — the grievance of workers left behind by the globalization of which she is ideologically suspicious.

The foreign-born share of Italy’s population has surged over the past couple of decades. Was that subject part of Meloni’s message?

Even though there has not been an uptick in migrant arrivals of late, immigration is now a talking point of the Italian right. Meloni has talked about replacement of native Italians by illegal migrants. Immigration has been in the populist ether here since 2014 or so, when Italy had a wave of illegal migration land on its shores. Left-wing parties are in a tough position, in which they can’t give up on integration because it is central to their values. But emphasizing it may hurt their electoral chances.

This peanut-butter fudge is a fabulous weekend treat.

A subterranean piano bar, 400 years of history and the real breakfast of champions: Spend 36 hours in New York City.

Temple Grandin, the animal behaviorist and advocate for autistic people, describes her life in books.

Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: River that’s the setting for Van Gogh’s “Fishing in Spring” (five letters).

And here are today’s Wordle and the Spelling Bee.

You can find all our puzzles here.

That’s it for today’s briefing. See you next week. — Natasha and Lynsey

P.S. In a weeklong contest called Fat Bear Week, 12 Alaskan bears are vying for portly dominance. Meet the contenders.

The latest episode of “The Daily” is on the struggle to control inflation.

You can reach Natasha and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.