Evening Briefing Tuesday 21st February

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The Times briefing for the morning of Wednesday 26th June. For more on these stories throughout the day tune into Times Radio - on DAB, online, through your smart speaker or on the Times Radio app.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The diplomatic talks in Geneva this week are of a kind not seen in a long time: an effort to defuse the possibility of a major war in Europe.

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has amassed military equipment and personnel on the border with Ukraine.

President Biden has warned that there will be consequences if Mr. Putin decides to invade, but what can Washington do to impel the Kremlin to back down?

Guest: David E. Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• Russia and the United States expressed some optimism after negotiations in Geneva, but they did not break an impasse over Moscow’s demand that Ukraine never become a member of NATO.
• Can the West stop Russia from invading Ukraine? Here’s a guide to what’s at stake.

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

nytimes.com/thedaily

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Energy storage is playing a critical role in managing and reducing corporations’ and communities’ carbon footprint. And no one knows this better than Fluence, the technology company whose team pioneered the use of grid-scale batteries as energy storage 15 years ago.

Kiran Kumaraswamy, VP of Growth & Head of Commercial at Fluence, joins our host Lincoln to share the history and importance of energy storage in transforming how countries and companies source, store and deliver electricity. They cover questions such as: How has public perception of energy storage evolved? And what roles are digitalization, companies’ pursuit of 24/7 carbon-free energy, and materials sourcing playing in progress towards net zero?

Russia nears war with Ukraine, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. compares vaccines to the holocaust, Biden insults a reporter, Justice Breyer announces his retirement, and schools face staff shortages.

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In this podcast from the OIES China programme, Michal Meidan talks to Philip Andrews-Speed and Anders Hove about their upcoming paper. They discuss the importance of rare earths, how China became dominant in their mining and processing and how Western governments are responding to this vulnerability. Rare earth elements are becoming increasingly important for the low-carbon energy transition given their application in batteries and permanent magnets for wind turbines and electric vehicles. Today, China accounts for about 70% of rare earth ore extraction and about 90% of processing and refining to produce rare earth metals. China’s dominance of the rare earth supply chain is increasingly seen as a risk for the West and its energy transition.