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      Finland Lets Eagle S Tanker Depart to International Waters

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      The Finnish authorities suggested that the ship, which was seized on suspicion of involvement in the cutting of undersea cables, had ties to Russia.The Finnish authorities said on Sunday that they had released an oil tanker seized in December over suspicions that it had deliberately cut vital undersea cables but that a criminal investigation into the episode would continue.The authorities said last year that the ship, the Eagle S, appeared to belong to Russia’s shadow fleet — older tankers that covertly transport Russian crude oil around the world — escalating concerns about a covert campaign to sabotage European infrastructure.On Sunday, the Finnish police said that since the criminal inquiry “has progressed,” the aging tanker was free to leave and that border officials had escorted the ship out of the country’s territorial waters.Petteri Orpo, Finland’s prime minister, said in an interview with Yle, the country’s public broadcaster, that “the criminal process and investigation will continue.”Investigators were still examining materials gathered after an onboard “forensic investigation” and would continue to interview the crew, according to the police.Eight crew members are suspected of criminal offenses, including aggravated criminal mischief and aggravated interference with communications, the police said in a statement. Five were allowed to leave Finland last week, while the other three were still barred from leaving, according to the statement.The police said the authorities hoped to conclude the investigation by the end of April.The cutting of the cables under the Baltic Sea in late December came on the heels of a series of similar incidents and prompted NATO to bolster security in the region. In January, the Swedish authorities also seized a ship and said they suspected “gross sabotage” after a different undersea cable was damaged. Last month, the European Union vowed to increase security after another cable break.The Eagle S, registered in the Cook Islands in the South Pacific, had been sailing from St. Petersburg, Russia, to Port Said, Egypt, when it was seized.Western officials have long feared that Moscow’s so-called shadow fleet could be used to circumvent sanctions imposed over the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The episodes of severed cables raised worries that the shadow fleet might also be used for sabotage.The Kremlin has denied involvement in sabotage, and Russian officials have condemned the seizure of the Eagle S. More

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      Syrian Forces Deployed in Druse Town After Deadly Gunfight

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      An uneasy calm prevailed in the town on the outskirts of Damascus on Sunday, two days after a gunfight between local men and security forces.Syrian security forces were deployed across a predominately Druse town on the outskirts of Damascus, the capital, early Sunday, two days after a gunfight between government officers and armed men from a local neighborhood left one person dead and several others wounded.A tense calm has returned to the town, Jaramana, after the deadly clash Friday night between the security forces of Syria’s new government and the Druse, a religious minority. The person killed was a security officer, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which added that nine other people were wounded.Druse spiritual leaders blamed the killing on “an undisciplined mob that does not belong to our customs, nor to our known monotheistic traditions or customs.”There were conflicting reports about how the episode unfolded in Jaramana, but the clash was thrust into the international spotlight on Saturday when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said he had instructed the military “to prepare and deliver a strong and clear warning message: If the regime harms the Druse — it will be harmed by us.”The Druse are a religious minority with populations in Syria, including the Golan Heights territory, which Israel captured and illegally annexed, and in Lebanon and Israel.Newly graduated security forces in Aleppo, Syria, last month.Aaref Watad/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Avalanche Buries Road Workers’ Camp in India, Killing 8

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      Rescuers working in extreme conditions evacuated 46 other construction workers trapped beneath feet of snow.Eight road construction workers died after becoming trapped under an avalanche in northern India, the Indian Army said on Sunday. Rescuers operating in several feet of snow evacuated 46 other workers.The workers were buried by the snow early on Friday in the village of Mana, in the state of Uttarakhand, as the avalanche hit their camp site.Disaster response teams coordinated the rescue efforts under extreme weather conditions, and the work was halted several times because of incessant snowfall and rain. GPS, sniffer dogs and thermal imaging cameras were used to find the workers.India’s Meteorological Department warned of the possibility of further avalanches in the area, which is known as a gateway for Himalayan mountain trekking.The rescued workers, many in critical condition, were taken by helicopters to hospitals in neighboring Joshimath. The workers belong to the Border Roads Organization, a division of the Indian armed forces that develops and maintains road networks in India’s border areas.Mana sits at an altitude of 3,200 meters, or more than 10,000 feet, and is about 15 miles from the Tibetan border. During the winter months, the village’s entire population migrates to lower elevations to escape the snowfall.Uttarakhand is prone to avalanches and floods. One of the country’s worst natural disasters took place there in 2013, when flooding killed more than 1,000 people. In 2021, 11 people died when an avalanche hit a Border Roads Organization camp in the district that includes Mana.As the Uttarakhand rescue efforts were completed, an operation to reach eight workers trapped in a tunnel in southern India were still underway, more than a week after the tunnel’s ceiling collapsed. Officials have said that the workers’ chances of survival are very remote. More

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      ‘S.N.L.’ Reprises the Trump-Zelensky Oval Office Face-Off

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      Mike Myers, as Elon Musk, adds an extra measure of crazy to an already bizarre moment in MAGA-era foreign policy.A shockingly combative White House meeting between President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine may have precipitated a diplomatic crisis and signaled a fissure in the longstanding relationship between the United States and Europe. But the incident provided ample grist for the satirical mill on “Saturday Night Live” in the first new broadcast after its 50th anniversary celebration.This weekend’s show, hosted by Shane Gillis and featuring the musical guest Tate McRae, began with a voice-over that declared the meeting between Trump and Zelensky had gone “really, really well,” adding, “Everyone who watched felt at ease and thought, ‘the world is now a safer place.’”The “S.N.L.” replay of this meeting began with Mikey Day as Zelensky and James Austin Johnson in his recurring role as Trump, introducing himself as “President and CEO of Gaza Hotel and Casino” and saying that he welcomed Zelensky to “this incredible trap; it’s going to be a big, beautiful trap, and we’re going to attack him very soon for no reason.”Bowen Yang, playing Vice President JD Vance, chimed in, saying, “Watch out, ’cause this kitty’s got claws.”Turning to Marcello Hernández, who was playing Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Johnson asked, “Are you excited to attack our European ally?”Hernández gave a vacant stare into the camera and replied, “Um, no Inglés.”Johnson also said he thanked Zelensky for “dressing like casual ‘Star Trek,’” adding that he loved “Star Trek” because “there’s no D.E.I.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Is the Movie ‘Wicked Really an Anti-Authoritarian Musical?

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      I first saw “Wicked” in 2003, when I was 22 and studying musical theater writing at N.Y.U. As a nascent musical theater writer, I was impressed by its craftsmanship and unusual premise: that the cackling, green-faced Wicked Witch of the West most of us know from the 1939 film has a name: Elphaba Thropp.We also learn that she is not wicked at all. That’s just propaganda spread by Elphaba’s enemies because she stood up for the rights of the enchanted land’s talking animals, whom the not-so-wonderful Wizard of Oz had oppressed. At the time, the plot and its modern sensibility read very simply to me as a quirky, catchy musical fairy-tale soap opera subversion of a beloved classic.It was only in the intervening years that I learned that “Wicked” was intended to have real world political resonance. With the election of President Trump to a second term, and the release of the first of its two parts as a film, “Wicked” has blossomed into what the director and producer Adam McKay recently described online as “one of the most radical big studio Hollywood movies ever made.” It is now feminist, queer and antifascist. I’ve even seen it suggested, however unseriously, that releasing the film before the 2024 election might have helped Kamala Harris win the presidency. “Wicked: Part One” is up for 10 Academy Awards on Sunday. If it wins Best Picture, I can only imagine that will be a signal to some on the liberal left that the roundly defeated Trump “resistance” is not so dead after all, and that the time has come to levitate on their brooms and take to the Western skies for battle in the 2026 midterms and beyond.But are assertions like this reading too much into this film? Does Elphaba have anything at all to do with this or any political moment in America? Or are we engaging in what I call progressive magical thinking — a mode of reasoning that takes existing texts and then tries to reclaim or reimagine them for the purpose of imbuing them with socially correct attitudes or critiques? As a musical and a film, “Wicked” falls squarely in the middle of this trend that has been exacerbated over time and by the internet’s obsession with current events and “timeliness.”But the inclusion of these references and themes does not paint a convincing portrait of any real-world political parallels in either 2003 (when “Wicked” opened on Broadway) or today.As one example, progressive magical thinking makes it reasonable to suggest that because of the fact that L. Frank Baum, the writer of the 1900 novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” upon which all of this is loosely based, had undeniably racist attitudes toward Native Americans, his judgment might have been too compromised to compassionately portray the true character of the Wicked Witch (a character he created), and thus, like child protective services, Gregory Maguire, who wrote the novel that the musical is based on, and later Stephen Schwartz, its composer, and Winnie Holzman, who wrote the musical’s book, rightly took custody of Mr. Baum’s abused child with their revisions. But if Mr. Baum’s racism is so objectionable, isn’t any attempt to reimagine his work just striking a complicit and corrupt bargain with a bigot?We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Transgender Rights Are Human Rights

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      More from our inbox:‘I Am So Sorry’Lying to ChildrenThe Education Department said it would investigate two colleges that have been caught up in disputes regarding transgender athletes.Demetrius Freeman/ReutersTo the Editor:Re “Pain Is the Point of Trump’s Transgender Policy,” by Jennifer Finney Boylan (Opinion guest essay, Feb. 18):For most of my life I feared what would happen if anyone knew that I experienced a full spectrum of both feminine and masculine expressions. The shame began when I was a small child and followed me throughout much of my life. Even so I did not grow up with a fear of my government. America was a work in progress.I have seen rights gradually extended to women, racial minorities and sexual minorities, including trans and nonbinary people. However, today I find myself joining the rapidly growing ranks of innocent Americans who get up each morning fearing their own government.By targeting trans and nonbinary people, our president seeks to secure unchecked power at the expense of the vulnerable and innocent. Scapegoating minorities is a tried and true model for dictators throughout history. Here President Trump joins the likes of Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban by manufacturing a perceived threat from an innocent minority, which will eventually justify restrictions on civil rights for everyone.I have listened to his calls for a return to a time when there were only two genders. That was also a time when America freely and openly discriminated against women, people of color, Jews and others. The fact is there have never been just two genders. Many societies accepted us, and even those that tried to ban us recognized our existence in those very bans.We will not disappear again into the shadows. We will resist, those who love us will resist, and those who are decent will resist. As long as we do so, the ideal that all Americans are created equal will not fade, that this country might endure and grow once again.Mark PetersenPark City, UtahTo the Editor:Re “Trump’s Shameful Campaign Against Transgender Americans” (editorial, Feb. 16):The Trump administration’s attacks on transgender and nonbinary individuals compromise our safety and attempt to strip us of our rights and our humanity. These policies aren’t just cruel — they are also deeply un-American.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      An Underrated Nominee

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      Plus, news about David Leonhardt and the Morning. My colleagues and I started this newsletter almost five years ago, in the early weeks of the Covid lockdowns. And running it has been one of the best jobs I’ve had. I’m grateful to all of you who make time in your day for The Morning.But I’ve learned during my 25 years at The Times that change is healthy, and I will be switching to a new job this week on the Opinion side, overseeing the writing and editing of Times editorials.You will be in great hands here at The Morning. This newsletter has always been a group project, produced by a spirited team of journalists in New York, Washington, London and elsewhere, and The Times will name a new lead writer soon. Starting tomorrow, I will join you as one of The Morning’s many readers.Now onto the rest of today’s newsletter.María Jesús ContrerasClose encountersThe Brazilian film “I’m Still Here” is up for three trophies at tonight’s 97th Academy Awards. If I had my way, which the academy year after year for some reason sees fit to deny me, “I’m Still Here” would win best picture. It’s the movie that thrilled me the most, the movie I can’t stop thinking about and recommending and wanting to watch again. Our all-seeing awards season columnist Kyle Buchanan tells me best picture is probably going to “Anora,” but he thinks the star of “I’m Still Here,” Fernanda Torres, will win for best actress.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Trump Is Breaking Things We Can’t Just Fix

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      President Trump is doing damage to America that could take a generation or more to repair. The next election cannot fix what Trump is breaking. Neither can the one after that.To understand the gravity of the harm Trump has inflicted on the United States in the first month and a half of his presidency, a comparison with the Cold War is helpful. Republicans and Democrats often had sharp differences in their approach to the Soviet Union — very sharp. The parties would differ, for example, on the amount of military spending, on the approach to arms control and on American military interventions against Soviet allies and their proxies.Deep disagreement over Vietnam helped drive American political debate, both within and between parties, for more than a decade. During the Reagan era, there were fierce arguments over the MX, a powerful intercontinental ballistic missile, and over the deployment of intermediate-range missiles in Europe.These differences were important, but they were less important than the many points of agreement. Both parties were committed to NATO. Both parties saw the Soviet Union as the grave national security threat it was. For decades, both parties were more or less committed to a strategy of containment that sought to keep Soviet tyranny at bay.At no point did Americans go to the polls and choose between one candidate committed to NATO and another candidate sympathetic to the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. The very idea would have been fantastical. American elections could reset our national security strategy, but they did not change our bedrock alliances. They did not change our fundamental identity.Until now.Consider what happened in the Oval Office on Friday. Trump and Vice President JD Vance ambushed President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on live television. Vance accused Zelensky of being “disrespectful,” and Trump attacked him directly:You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III. You’re gambling with World War III and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country — this country — that’s backed you far more than a lot of people say they should.Trump’s attack on Zelensky is just the latest salvo against our allies. Back in office, Trump has taught our most important strategic partners a lesson they will not soon forget: America can — and will — change sides. Its voters may indeed choose a leader who will abandon our traditional alliances and actively support one of the world’s most dangerous and oppressive regimes.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More