Chronicle briefs for June 8

Ukraine Mounts Offensive Against Russian Lines in South

Ukrainian forces mounted a major attack overnight Thursday in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, as Ukraine’s army went on the offensive on multiple fronts in an operation that carries high stakes for Kyiv and its Western allies.

A senior U.S. official said Thursday that the attack appeared to be a main thrust of a much-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive. Russia claimed its forces had withstood a Ukrainian assault involving tanks and armored vehicles, saying it had so far thwarted Ukraine’s attempts to recapture land. Kyiv remained quiet on the intensified fighting.

For months, Ukrainian officials have been mobilizing new units, gathering weapons and training for what its leaders have billed as a major counteroffensive aimed at pushing Russian forces back and retaking occupied territory.

In recent days, Russia has reported that Ukrainian forces have launched attacks on front lines in the east and south. The fighting in the east, in the Donetsk region, prompted U.S. officials this week to say that the counteroffensive may have begun.

Taken together, these attacks suggest Ukrainian forces are increasingly on the offensive, though it remains unclear whether the assaults on Russian lines are preludes to a larger push or mark the start of the much-anticipated counteroffensive Ukraine’s generals have said they have planned.

Supreme Court says Alabama should draw new voting map

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A divided Supreme Court on Thursday said the Alabama legislature should have created a second congressional district in which Black voters had a chance of electing a representative of their choice, an unexpected decision from a court that has expressed skepticism of key parts of the Voting Rights Act.

The decision, written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., bucked the court’s recent trend of decisions that weakened provisions of the act. He was joined by fellow conservative Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh and the court’s three liberals, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

“We see no reason to disturb the District Court’s careful factual findings,” Roberts wrote, adding that Alabama was asking for a radical rewrite of the court’s precedents.

Thursday’s ruling upholds a decision by a three-judge panel that threw out Alabama’s new congressional map, which included only one congressional district with a majority of Black voters even though African Americans make up more than a quarter of the state’s population.

It was a surprise from a court whose conservative majority had signaled it was suspicious of the Voting Rights Act that Alabama was challenging, which the state said requires legislatures to prioritize race over traditional redistricting techniques.

Thursday’s opinion in effect preserves the status quo in the court’s interpretation of voting rights protections, and Roberts acknowledged concerns that those rulings “may impermissibly elevate race in the allocation of political power within the States.”

The Eurozone Slipped Into a Mild Recession Early in Year

PARIS – The eurozone slipped into a recession earlier this year amid the shock of high food and energy prices, Europe’s statistics agency reported Thursday. The shallow downturn reflected the challenges facing the European Central Bank as policymakers weigh how to continue curbing high prices without further damaging the economy.

Growth in the 20 nations that use the euro currency declined in the first three months of the year by 0.1%, revised data showed, following a fourth-quarter contraction of the same magnitude. It was the first six-month contraction in the eurozone since early in the coronavirus pandemic, creating what economists call a technical recession.

Stubbornly high inflation tipped many consumers across the continent into a cost-of-living crisis, prompting them to pull back considerably on spending during the period. Spending in the eurozone fell 0.3% in the first three months of this year after falling 1% in the previous quarter. Imports were also down sharply as demand for goods and services shrank.

Public spending, which soared during the pandemic lockdowns, also posted a sharp decline, contracting in the first quarter by 1.6% from a year earlier.

The downturn mirrors a contraction in Germany, the eurozone’s largest economy, which last month reported that data from the first three months of the year showed that its economy had fallen into a recession amid the energy price shock.

But Thursday’s report showed a mixed performance across the region, as southern European economies including Spain, Italy and Portugal all posted strong growth rates, while Germany and the Netherlands shrank, and France grew only mildly.

Winston, Pianist With Soothing ‘New Age’ Sound, Dies at 74

George Winston, who during decades when pop and rock dominated the musical landscape became a bestselling musician by playing soothing piano instrumentals in a style that was often described as new age but that he liked to call “rural folk piano,” died Sunday in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. He was 74.

His publicist, Jesse Cutler, said the cause was cancer. Winston, who lived in the Bay Area, had dealt with several cancers for years while continuing to record and perform; he credited a 2013 bone marrow transplant with extending his life.

Winston released his first album, “Ballads and Blues,” in 1972, but it was “Autumn,” released in 1980 on the fledgling Windham Hill label, based in Palo Alto, California, that propelled his career. It consisted of seven solo piano compositions that were, like most of his music, inspired by nature. They bore simple titles – “Sea,” “Moon,” “Woods” – and hit a sweet spot for many listeners. Sales soared into the hundreds of thousands.