🥁 Axios PM: War sirens

Plus: NFL chess ace | Friday, February 11, 2022

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Morgan Stanley   Axios PM By Mike Allen ·Feb 11, 2022 Today's PM — edited by Justin Green — is 497 words, a 2-minute read.     1 big thing: 🚨 War sirens A troop-housing area and military vehicles parked near Rechitsa, Belarus, yesterday. Satellite image: Maxar Technologies The U.S. is urging its citizens to flee Ukraine within 48 hours, Axios national security reporter Zachary Basu writes. 🚨 There's a "credible prospect that a Russian military action would take place even before the end of the Olympics," White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said at an afternoon briefing. New satellite images show Russian troops and military equipment near Ukraine's borders in Crimea, Belarus and western Russia. Maxar Technologies observed a large new deployment of troops and equipment at an abandoned airfield in Crimea. In Belarus, Maxar spotted a large new buildup of troops and military vehicles less than 15 miles from the Ukraine border. New armored vehicle deployments near Slavne, Crimea, yesterday. Satellite image: Maxar Technologies Sullivan's warning to people who wait too long to get out: "[I]t is likely to begin with aerial bombing and missile attacks that could obviously kill civilians without regard to their nationality." "A subsequent ground invasion would involve the onslaught of a massive force." "With virtually no notice, communications to arrange a departure could be severed and commercial transit halted." Go deeper: More satellite pics ... Video of Sullivan's warning.     2. 🤖 Robot photo du jour: Melted reactor fuel Photo: IRID/Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy via AP Titanic, that you? Nah ... A remote-controlled robot captured images of what appear to be mounds of nuclear fuel at the bottom of the most damaged reactor at Japan's wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, AP reports. The 2011 tsunami and earthquake caused the meltdown of three reactor cores. 📷 The images show broken structures and pipes (above) and mounds (below) of what appears to be melted fuel and other debris submerged in cooling water. Photo: IRID/Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy via AP The bottom line: About 900 tons of melted nuclear fuel remain inside the plant's three damaged reactors. Removing it could take decades.     A message from Morgan Stanley Your pet's supply chain woes: Now, What's Next? podcast     On this episode, host Sonari Glinton finds out why some pet owners have struggled to find canned food, what's in pet food to begin with and why competition for key ingredients — even competition from us humans — may be forcing that to change. Listen now.     3. Catch up quick A technician inspects filled vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine at the company's plant in Puurs, Belgium. Photo: Pfizer via AP   Parents of kids under 5 have to keep waiting: Pfizer and BioNTech postponed their application for COVID vaccines for kids under 5. They "will wait for the three-dose data" because they "believe it may provide a higher level of protection in this age group." Go deeper. Ontario, Canada, declared a state of emergency in response to trucker protests, threatening fines and jail sentences for people who block border crossings and major transportation infrastructure. Go deeper. President Biden signed an executive order to help divide $7 billion in frozen Afghan assets between humanitarian relief for the people of Afghanistan and the families of 9/11 victims. Go deeper.     4. Parting shot: Speed chess Joe Photo: Cincinnati Bengals/Twitter Joe Burrow's on-field trash talk extends to online speed chess, The Wall Street Journal reports. Burrow, 25, quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals in Sunday's Super Bowl, "plays under a pseudonym on his phone and keeps a signed copy of the chess novel, 'The Queen's Gambit.'" "Chess is fun," Burrow said at news conference last year. "It's very strategic, and you have to plan all your moves. That kind of calls to me." The big picture: Chess is big among NFL players. "Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray is a chess nut, as is legendary receiver Larry Fitzgerald. So is Bengals cornerback Chidobe Awuzie," The Journal reports.     A message from Morgan Stanley Your pet's supply chain woes: Now, What's Next? podcast     On this episode, host Sonari Glinton finds out why some pet owners have struggled to find canned food, what's in pet food to begin with and why competition for key ingredients — even competition from us humans — may be forcing that to change. Listen now.   Like this email style and format? 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