The U.S. Is Looking to Use Russian Assets to Aid Ukraine

The Biden administration has quietly signaled support for seizing more than $300 billion in Russian central bank assets held in Western countries and using the funds to aid Ukraine’s war effort.

Until recently, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had argued that seizing the funds without congressional action would be illegal. Others had cautioned that it would cause concern among other nations that are holding their funds in the U.S. Seizing such a large sum of money from another sovereign nation would be without precedent.

But with financial support waning, and Ukrainian leaders warning of the dire consequences, American officials have begun urgent discussions over whether to use existing authorities or seek congressional action to use the funds.

A small portion of the Russian assets, perhaps $5 billion or so by some estimates, is in the hands of U.S. institutions. As a result, diplomatic negotiations are underway over how to gain access to funds held in Europe.

The talks among finance ministers, central bankers, diplomats and lawyers have intensified in recent weeks, officials said, with the Biden administration pressing Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan to come up with a strategy by Feb. 24, the second anniversary of the invasion.

At least 15 people were killed in a shooting in Prague

A gunman in the Czech Republic killed at least 15 people today, including 14 students at Charles University in Prague, the authorities said. At least 24 others were wounded at the university.

The assailant, identified as David K., a 24-year-old student at the university, also died. He first killed his father in their family home outside Prague before going on a shooting rampage and then killing himself, the police said. The chief of the national police force said the gunman “got inspired by a similar terrible event abroad.”

The U.S. and Egypt negotiate over aid to Gaza

Officials from the U.S. and Egypt were holding intense negotiations intended to salvage a U.N. Security Council resolution that would call for a pause in the war in the Gaza Strip and allow more aid to enter the territory.

Negotiators were seeking common ground on how aid would be inspected for weapons and other contraband before entering Gaza, according to an American official. The U.N. has this week repeatedly delayed the vote amid concerns from the U.S. that allowing the U.N. to inspect aid into Gaza would leave Israel with no role in the process.

Kendra’s law was meant to prevent violence. It often fails.

New York designed a premier monitoring program for the seriously mentally ill people it has judged to be most at risk of committing violence. But a Times investigation has found that people under Kendra’s Law orders have been accused of committing more than 380 violent acts in the past five years alone, including in five cases involving subway shovings.

More top news

A ‘fun’ film for grown-ups

Jason Momoa reprises his role as the Atlantean hero-king in James Wan’s “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” which comes out in theaters tomorrow. Our critic said it goes “beyond the paint-by-numbers superhero movies we’ve been watching for decades now, and that makes it feel like a film for grown-ups who like fun.”

In the holiday spirit? We asked readers for their favorite holiday movies. Nearly 3,000 responses later, here’s what they said.

The holidays can test your relationship

Fall and winter have affectionately become known as “cuffing season” in recent years — a period when couples stay “cuffed” indoors together throughout the cold months. But they can also be a fraught time that puts pressures on newer relationships.

UNWIND DURING THE HOLIDAYS

We asked readers to share tips about the ways they unwind during the holidays. If you would like to participate, you can fill out this form.

“I create a character to engage with my family, adults and kids alike, Marty the Magical Mystery Elf, who mischievously devises Christmas shenanigans, sending people on scavenger hunts when they open a box, or promoting games and activities, always with rhymes. He decorates the house in fun and new ways every year.” — Stephanie Gardner from Lama, N.M.

It’s teatime somewhere

For people looking for a soothing escape from the noise of modern life, tea salons have become more popular. The ritualized and often formal experience of tea, which took hold among the English gentry in the 1840s, is now the main attraction at more than a dozen spots in New York City and Los Angeles.

The high ritual’s apparent comeback can be explained, one tea expert suggested, as an attempt to “rediscover our humanity, which has become obscured amid a life that is often moving too fast and filled with too much.”

Have a tranquil evening.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew

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