Good morning.

We’re covering Volodymyr Zelensky’s

address to the U.N. and results from a study on second
booster shots.

President Volodymyr Zelensky addressing the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday.Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Zelensky’s speech at the U.N.

Addressing the U.N. Security Council yesterday via a video link, Volodymyr
Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, accused Russia of a litany of horrors and
questioned whether a world body that takes no action to stop a war serves any
purpose. Follow the latest updates.

A video provided by Zelensky’s government showed some of the hundreds of

corpses found strewn around the city of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, after
Russian forces had retreated last week — bloated, charred bodies of civilians,
including children. Some victims, their hands bound, had been shot in the
head.

China refrained from criticizing Russia, saying that the Security Council should
wait until investigations establish the facts in Ukraine. The divisions on the
war appeared essentially unchanged since Feb. 26, when 11 of 15 Security
Council members voted for a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion; Russia
vetoed the measure, and three others abstained.

Quotable: “Where is the security that the Security Council needs to

guarantee?” Zelensky said, raising the question of whether Russia deserved to
keep its seat on the council. “Do you think that the time of international law is
gone? If your answer is no, then you need to act immediately.”

Response: Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya, reiterated his

government’s claims — rebutted by ample evidence — that atrocities in Bucha
had been faked or had not occurred while Russians held the city.

In other news from the war:

 • As many as 200 people are missing and presumed dead in Borodianka, a
town northwest of Kyiv, after intense aerial bombing.

• The E.U. is putting forward a fifth package of sanctions against Moscow,

which would cut off Russian vessels from E.U. ports and target two of
President Vladimir Putin’s daughters.

• The U.S. blocked Russia’s access to dollars for bond payments,

heightening its risk of default and endangering its international currency
reserves.

Administering a second booster shot in Los Angeles.Alisha Jucevic for The New York Times

Second booster protects against Omicron but

wanes fast
A second booster shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine provides additional
short-term protection against Omicron infections and severe illness, according
to a large new study from Israel focusing on adults ages 60 and over. But that
protection against infection wanes after just four weeks and almost disappears
after eight weeks.

Protection against severe illness did not ebb in the six weeks after the extra
dose, but the follow-up period was too short to determine whether a second
booster provided better long-term protection against severe disease than a
single booster. The study did not provide data on the effectiveness of a second
booster in younger populations.

The rapid spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant has intensified
the discussion of whether second boosters are broadly necessary. A previous
study from Israel found that older adults who received a second booster were
78 percent less likely to die of Covid-19 than those who had received just one —
though scientists criticized its methodology.

Related: A top U.S. health official said she “really would encourage” second
boosters for older people and many with chronic conditions.

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other news:

• South Africa ended its two-year “state of disaster” over the virus.

• After days of widespread outcry, Shanghai officials will allow parents

who test positive for the coronavirus to stay with their children if the
children are also infected.

• Britain’s health service has expanded its list of possible symptoms of

coronavirus infection.

Waiting in line to enter a Converse store in New York last week.Gabby Jones for The New York Times

Why U.S. economists fear another recession

With hundreds of thousands of jobs being added each month and robust
consumer spending, there is little sign that a recession is imminent in the U.S.
But supply shortages and sky-high demand are testing the economy’s limits,
leading forecasters to sharply lower their estimates of growth this year and to
raise their estimates of the probability of a slowdown.

Amid the fastest-growing inflation in 40 years, policymakers at the Federal

Reserve argue that they can cool off the economy and bring down inflation
without driving up unemployment and causing a recession. But many
economists are skeptical that the Fed can engineer such a “soft landing,”
especially in a moment of such extreme global uncertainty.

Still, a majority of forecasters say a recession remains unlikely in the next year.
Though last year's explosive growth will probably not be repeated this year,
corporate profits are strong, households have trillions in savings, and debt
loads are low — all of which should provide a cushion against any slowdown,
said Aneta Markowska, chief economist for Jefferies, an investment bank.

Analysis: “We have torn back toward normal at a really fast pace, and it
would be unrealistic to think that could continue,” said Josh Bivens, the
director of research at the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive research
institute. Even slower wage growth, he said, wouldn’t worry him, as long as pay
increases didn’t fall further behind inflation.
Covid-19: The pandemic remains a wild card. China has imposed strict
regional lockdowns in recent weeks, and a new subvariant has led to a rise in
case numbers in Europe. That could prolong supply-chain disruptions globally,
even if the U.S. itself avoids another coronavirus wave.
Continue reading the main story
ADVERTISEMENT

THE LATEST NEWS

Around the World

International Criminal Court/EPA, via Shutterstock

• Two decades after a brutal campaign against a rebellion in the Darfur

region of western Sudan displaced millions, the first and only war crimes
trial related to it is underway in The Hague.

• Peru’s increasingly isolated government is struggling to quell violent

protests over rising costs that have swept the country in recent days.

• Tornadoes battered the southern U.S., following a recent pattern of

unpredictable weather in the region.

Other Big Stories

Pool photo by Patrick Pleul

• Elon Musk will join Twitter’s board of directors after becoming the
company’s largest shareholder.

• Tiger Woods will return to golf’s greatest stage, the Masters Tournament,
roughly 14 months after a car crash so devastating that doctors weighed
amputating his right leg.
 • Canada introduced legislation that would require big tech companies like
Google and Meta to pay Canadian news outlets for links to articles shared
on the companies’ platforms.

What Else Is Happening

• A tiny, black-freckled toad with an affinity for hot pools could halt a plan
to build two power plants in the Nevada desert.

• Two of Charles Darwin’s notebooks were anonymously returned to the

Cambridge University Library, 22 years after they went missing. An
attached note read: “Happy Easter.”

A Morning Read

Todd Heisler/The New York Times

Vito Giallo is a 91-year-old artist and quintessential New Yorker. Once an

antiques dealer “to the who’s who,” including Elton John, Greta Garbo and
Mark Rothko, he was a mainstay of New York’s midcentury art world.

“When I see something that I’m interested in, it’s some sort of vibration that
you feel with the item,” he said. “I get a little thrill touching something that’s
two or three hundred years old.”

Subscribe Today

We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through

subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times with this special offer.

ARTS AND IDEAS

Tiny love stories

The Times’s Modern Love series is a weekly column, a book, a podcast — and
now, in its 17th year, a television show — about relationships, feelings,
betrayals and revelations. For Modern Love in miniature, readers write
stories of no more than 100 words. Here are excerpts from three to start your
day with. Submit your own here.

Would she recognize him? I worried that our daughter, Sadie, just 7
months old, would not recognize her father after his long deployment. So I
wove him into her day, draping photographs of him inside her crib, video
chatting with him as often as his work schedule and her nap routine allowed.

Months later, at the airport, our eyes met across the terminal. We raced to each
other, my heart beating hard. Moments after we reunited, Sadie lunged from
my hip into her father’s arms. — Peyton Roberts

Going off script. Being in an abusive relationship is like acting in a play with
an erratic director. If you break character (say, hang out with friends or move a
houseplant without asking), they will make you pay.

So, every day, you get up and improvise to the best of your ability, all in service
of upholding their narrative and avoiding their wrath. Until, perhaps, you
decide to find a partner who will write a story with you, not for you. — Drew
Lindgren

What lingers. Long before her diagnosis, my reliably cheerful friend turned
sour. Pessimism and frustration darkened her world. Eventually, as words
eluded her and her thinking grew disorganized, the diagnosis came: early
dementia. Terrifying, yes, but naming her condition set her free.

Now, when I visit her in her assisted-living apartment, a smile lights her face.
Complex sentences are out of her reach. Instead, she pours out pure love —
telling me I’m wonderful, beautiful and smart. Her son says her happiness lasts
for hours after our visits. — Elise Gibson

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

What to Cook

David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
Chicken yassa coaxes deep flavor from a handful of simple ingredients.

What to Watch
The skateboarder Tony Hawk has originated over 100 skateboard tricks,
according to a new documentary about his bumpy rise to fame.

What to Read
Rags-to-riches books by and about the ultrawealthy reveal some of the darkest
American fantasies.

Now Time to Play

Play today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: Forecast with a flake icon (four
letters).

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

You can find all our puzzles here.

That’s it for today’s briefing. Thanks for joining me. — Natasha

P.S. Farnaz Fassihi will be expanding her role as our next U.N. bureau
chief while also helping The Times cover Iran.

The latest episode of “The Daily” covers how the war in Ukraine is creating a
global food crisis.

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

Continue reading the main story
ADVERTISEMENT