Axios

Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Wednesday to affirm the United States’ "unwavering support" for Kyiv amid a rise of Russian-backed separatist aggression in eastern Ukraine.

Driving the news: The war in eastern Ukraine, ongoing since 2014, escalated after the Ukrainian military said four of its soldiers were killed during a battle against Russian-backed separatists on March 26, the New York Times reports.

France is requiring schools nationwide to close for three weeks and is imposing a domestic travel ban to help control the "accelerating" coronavirus pandemic, President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday.

Driving the news: It's the third lockdown for the country since the pandemic began, and a departure from the recent regional approach. The move comes as Europe battles a third wave of the coronavirus, driven in part by more transmissible variants.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has gone on a hunger strike in prison in protest of authorities allegedly denying him medical treatment for pain and numbness in his back and leg, his Instagram account announced Wednesday.

Why it matters: Navalny's lawyers fear that his health is deteriorating in the remote Russian penal colony where he is serving a 2.5-year sentence. He wrote on Instagram that he is being "tortured by sleep deprivation" and has "no other methods of fighting," according to a Meduza translation.

The BBC's Beijing correspondent John Sudworth has left the city and relocated to Taiwan after nine years, citing threats, surveillance and intimidation of his team in the wake of their reporting on Uyghur forced labor in Xinjiang.

The big picture: The number of foreign correspondents reporting from China has dwindled over the past several years as tensions have ratcheted up between Beijing and the West.

The United Nations' sexual and reproductive health agency pushed international allies Wednesday to provide $26.7 million in funding that would go toward "life-saving sexual and reproductive services and a multi-sectoral response to gender-based violence" in Venezuela.

Why it matters: The 2020 Venezuela humanitarian response plan was one of the world’s lowest-funded, UNFPA says. The country's severe political and economic crises have forced millions to flee their homes.

Some experts say the world may only have a year or less to stave off a new round of COVID-19 variants that could evade the existing vaccines, according to survey conducted by advocates trying to speed up vaccinations in developing nations.

Why it matters: Variants emerge when viruses spread widely, so quickly vaccinating the entire world is the best way to curb new variants. But some experts are afraid we won't get there fast enough.

19 of the 22 people killed by a French airstrike at a Mali wedding earlier this year were unarmed civilians who were "protected against attacks under international humanitarian law," a new United Nations report has found.

Why it matters: The findings that only three of those killed were suspected militants contradict France's claims that the targets in the Jan. 3 strike near the village of Bounti, central Mali, were militants — an assertion French officials stood by after the UN report's release Tuesday.

The commanders of the three branches of Brazil's armed forces resigned Tuesday, a day after President Jair Bolsonaro forced out his defense minister.

Why it matters: The resignations — unprecedented in Brazil since military rule ended 36 years ago — may signal a breakdown between Bolsonaro and the country’s military, according to AP. They have also sparked fears that the president may use the opportunity to assert greater control over the military by appointing loyalists.

The Department of State ordered non-essential diplomats and their families to depart Myanmar in a Tuesday statement, according to AP.

Why it matters: The military junta that overthrew the country's democratically elected government in February has killed hundreds of non-violent protesters during anti-coup demonstrations, and the State Department expects the civil unrest and violence to continue.

Despite some progress, it will take women in North America approximately 61.5 years to have economic parity with men according to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report for 2021.

Why it matters: Women in the U.S. have made strides in political representation, but they still lag behind men in job market participation and income, according to the report.

The U.S. accused China of carrying out an ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in an annual human rights report released on Tuesday.

Why it matters: Introducing the report, Secretary of State Tony Blinken said President Biden would put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy in dealing with friends and foes alike. He also announced that an effort to redefine human rights by his predecessor, Mike Pompeo, would be disbanded.

World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed the joint WHO-China report on the origins of the coronavirus on Tuesday, but he noted that scientists had difficulty "accessing raw data" from China and called for further investigation of the lab leak theory.

Why it matters: The comments come in the wake of an inconclusive report that has prompted concerns about transparency and the influence of the Chinese government over the investigation.

Schools in the U.S. and Europe should be approaching some version of “normal” by this fall, but the outlook is much different in poor countries, says Alice Albright, CEO of the Global Partnership for Education, which has been helping lower-income countries improve remote education or more safely reopen schools.

The big picture: Many poor countries face a much longer road to recovery, both in terms of public health and public finances. Education budgets will be stretched, and the line for vaccines could snake back to 2023.

Over the decades, several authoritarian regimes have hosted the World Cup, using the global spotlight to burnish their image. And FIFA, which is plagued by corruption, continues to give World Cup bids to countries with records of human rights abuses.

Why it matters: The Chinese government's ongoing genocide against Uyghurs may not stand in the way of Beijing's goal of hosting the World Cup by 2030.

The Biden administration's efforts to re-engage with Iran over its nuclear program are coming up against three major obstacles: a lack of direct channels of communication, divisions within the leadership in Tehran, and looming Iranian presidential elections, U.S. officials involved in the talks tell me.

Why it matters: Putting Iran’s nuclear program “back in the box” is one of the Biden administration’s top foreign policy priorities, but the sides have yet to hold direct talks.

Some European soccer stars have used their fame to raise awareness of China's campaign against Uyghur Muslims. At least one has paid a steep price for speaking out.

Why it matters: The Chinese government can deny access to its huge market of soccer fans to punish international players or teams whose speech crosses Beijing's red lines.

Chinese money, which five years ago poured into European soccer at a meteoric rate, is now returning home just as quickly as it went abroad.

The big picture: China's long-term goal of growing its global soccer profile hasn't changed, but the strategy to attain it has become more focused.

The Chinese Super League was on the rise and threatening to tilt the balance of global soccer during the last decade. Now, it's in complete disarray.

Why it matters: The CSL helped catalyze China's soccer boom, and its foreign stars brought a global audience to its shores. Now, the league's uncertain future could damage soccer's domestic popularity.

Chinese President Xi Jinping hoped to make China a global leader in soccer, his favorite sport. After years of massive government support, that dream has so far fallen short.

The big picture: China's soccer dream isn't ending, but the initial investment frenzy seems to have slowed.

Rescuers who dislodged the massive "Ever Given" ship from the Suez Canal on Monday got the aid of a supermoon, which raised water levels about 19 inches above normal tides and made it easier to pull the vessel, The Wall Street Journal reports.

How it works: Tides are usually higher during a full or new moon. But that effect was boosted by the year's first supermoon — which occurs when a full moon orbits closest to the Earth.

The NBA's Basketball Africa League will make its long-awaited debut with a 12-team tournament beginning May 16 in Kigali, Rwanda.

Why it matters: The NBA's attempt at operating a league outside of North America is part of a long-term plan to make the league synonymous with competitive basketball around the world.

China's government on Tuesday passed a new law overhauling Hong Kong's electoral system, which is designed to ensure only "patriotic" figures can run for positions of power.

Why it matters: Critics argue the law effectively marks the end of democracy in the Asian financial hub as it gives the ruling Chinese Communist Party control of elections, with all opposition removed from the legislature, per the BBC.

Cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C. and Japan have already reached peak flowering dates — and the Japanese city of Kyoto recorded its earliest bloom for over 1,200 years, the Washington Post reported on Monday.

Why it matters: It fits a longer-term trend spanning decades of Japanese mountain cherry trees flowering earlier, and scientists warn it's another strong sign of the impact of climate change.

Protesters in Myanmar launched a "garbage strike" by throwing discarded items at key road intersections in a new civil disobedience drive Tuesday, as the death toll from the military crackdown surpassed 500, per Reuters.

The big picture: The campaign comes after the junta ordered Yangon residents to "dispose of garbage properly," Reuters notes. Monitoring group AAPP said 510 people had been killed by the military since the Feb. 1 coup. The U.S. on Monday suspended trade engagement with Myanmar over the bloodshed.

Go deeper: A pariah to the West is a friend to Putin