Asylum sneakers

Russia launches a large aerial assault on several Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv. / The South China Morning Post

In 2022 South Korea sold $17 billion in weapons, more than twice the amount of the previous year. / The Economist

Syrian President al-Assad goes to China for a bilateral summit with President Xi. / Reuters

The federal government is again offering free Covid-19 tests to Americans. / CNN

Related: Does the risk of getting long Covid increase each time you get reinfected? Maybe, maybe not. / STAT

A drug called Captagon, the trade name for fenethylline, shows signs of following in fentanyl's footsteps in the United States. / Undark

See also: How to start a fake cricket league to rip off Russian gamblers. / Sports Illustrated

"It's about cultivating a really good kind of tension." An interview with a former mechanical "imagineer" at Disney. / Scope of Work

Excerpts from conversations with 65 teenagers on the topic of social media. / The Cut

A summary of the writings of Elon Musk's pro-apartheid, antisemitic grandfather. / The New Yorker

John Grisham, Jodi Picoult, George R.R. Martin, and 14 other authors sue OpenAI for "systematic theft on a mass scale." / The Associated Press

See also: AI-powered lingerie that produces erotica. / Dezeen

New software enables stalkers to "unmask" pornography actors. / WIRED

A fashion retailer summarizes how your shoes influence other people's perceptions of you, according to a psychologist's study from 2012. (Here's the original study.) / Mr Porter, Science Direct

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Your headlines are sourced and composed by Rosecrans Baldwin and Andrew Womack, Monday through Saturday.