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Ukraine says the clock is ticking for diplomacy with Russia · Apple News Today

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  Duarte Geraldino, Narrating: Good morning! It's Monday, February 14th. I'm Duarte Geraldino.
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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: And I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
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  Geraldino: There's so much that happened in the last 48 hours, so let's just start with a quick round-up of headlines.
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  Basu: Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva will be allowed to continue competing in the Olympics. The sporting world court announced its decision today, citing her young age as a factor.
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  Geraldino: Canada reopened the Ambassador Bridge last night. Over the Weekend, Canadian police arrested dozens of protesters who were blocking the border crossing for several days.
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  Basu: And of course, the Rams are Super Bowl champions. They beat the Bengals in the final minutes of the game. Plus, a buzzy halftime performance by hip-hop legends had people calling it a love letter to Los Angeles and a real gift for millennials and Gen Xers.
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  [INTRIGUING MUSIC]
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  Geraldino: Now let's focus on the crisis along the Ukraine-Russia Border. The clock is ticking. Early Monday morning, Ukraine said it wants to meet Russia and several members of a key European security group within the next 48 hours. Ukraine wants Moscow to explain what exactly it plans to do as more than 100,000 troops surround the country. This move, it marks a new level of tension. The "BBC's" reporting Russia has ignored several formal requests from Ukraine for answers at this point.
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  Basu: On Sunday, President Biden had a one-hour phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and promised that the United States and its allies would act "swiftly and decisively" if Russia shows further aggression. On the same day, "The Wall Street Journal" is reporting several airlines announced they had to cancel flights to Ukraine this week because insurers are refusing to cover air travel over Ukraine due to threats from Russia.
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  Geraldino: Over the weekend, foreign embassies withdrew non-essential staff from Ukraine. Countries, including the United States, urged their citizens to evacuate. In an interview on "CNN's" "State of the Union," President Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, warned Russia could attack at any time.
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  [START STATE OF THE UNION ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  Jake Sullivan: The way they have built up their forces, the way they have maneuvered things in place, makes it a distinct possibility that there will be major military action very soon. And we are prepared to continue to work on diplomacy, but we are also prepared to respond in a united and decisive way with our allies and partners should Russia proceed.
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  [END STATE OF THE UNION ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  Basu: Sullivan's comments came one day after President Biden spoke by phone with Vladimir Putin for reportedly more than an hour. The president made a similar comment to Putin as he had to Zelenskyy, promising "swift and severe costs" if Russia invades.
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  Thousands of Black employees are suing Tesla over racism and harassment claims. Now a warning, some of these claims include racist slurs. According to the complaint reported by the "L.A. Times," workers say the electric vehicle company's California plant segregated Black employees into a separate area, which was then referred to as, quote, "the slave ship," or "the plantation."
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  Geraldino: The suit goes on to allege that only Black workers were required to do menial tasks, like getting on their hands and knees and scrubbing the floors, and that graffiti containing offensive language like, "Go back to Africa" were written in common areas, like restroom walls. And when employees complained about it, these workers say Tesla was slow to act.
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  Basu: This lawsuit is a culmination of complaints going back nearly a decade. And Black workers also say they were paid less than their non-Black counterparts, they were more quick to be punished for minor infractions and denied promotions. And even though Black workers make up 20% of Tesla's factory assemblers, according to the lawsuit, there are no Black executives at the company.
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  Geraldino: In response to these allegations, Tesla said a state agency investigated almost 50 complaints of discrimination and found no wrongdoing. That agency denies Tesla's claim. It's also worth mentioning Tesla is the only major American automaker to operate a non-union plant in the U.S. According to the "L.A. Times," this is one of the largest lawsuits brought by the state for racial discrimination in nearly a decade.
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  Basu: In total, since 2006, the "L.A. Times" reports that at least 160 lawsuits have been filed against Tesla claiming workplace harassment or other grievances. In the past few weeks alone, one Black employee filed a lawsuit claiming her white boss struck her with a hot grinding tool and used the N-word. And in October, a Black elevator operator was awarded $137 million by a federal jury after he sued Tesla, also for harassment.
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  Geraldino: The lawsuit, it's hitting Tesla for marketing itself to the environmentally conscious, socially responsible consumer. It says that image masks what these workers claim is really going on at Tesla. They're saying it's a company that profits off of an army of workers, many of whom are people of color, working under rampant racism that's been left unchecked for years.
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  Basu: All these years, as women have had to bear the burden of birth control, there's been this big dream, this goal, that someday we'll have hormonal contraceptives for men. And there've been plenty of different studies and attempts. But some new reporting in "Cosmopolitan" tells us one drug is showing good results in trials. And here's the thing. It's not a pill, it's not a patch, it's not a shot. It's a gel.
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  Geraldino: And the way you apply it is by rubbing this gel on your shoulders.
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  Andrew Zaleski: So, by rubbing the gel in every single day, it basically brings down the level of a man's sperm count to roughly one million sperm.
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  That's Andrew Zaleski. He reported this story for "Cosmo."
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  Zaleski: And that's the level at which the researchers and the doctors who have been working on the trial and worked in formulating the drug have said, "We're reasonably certain that a natural pregnancy can't happen if a man's sperm count is around a million."
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  The drug is called NES/T. Hundreds of couples have been taking part in clinical trials. Zaleski caught up with a guy named Seth. Now for years, his wife, Caitlin, had been the one on birth control, but she always had complications. So Seth signed up for the trial to start using this gel. He said it looks like Purell, it kinda smells like Purell too. One big downside is you have to leave it on your shoulders to absorb for about four hours every day. But aside from that, he liked using it.
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  Zaleski: It worked exactly as the researchers told him it would and as they expected it would. It suppressed his sperm count. He was on it for 12 months and Caitlin did not get pregnant. Then when the trial period was over, waited two months, his sperm count came back up to the normal number. And then a few months later, he and Caitlin were ready to have another baby and Caitlin got pregnant.
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  Basu: Some of the men in this trial say this experience gave them a new perspective on the kind of hormonal manipulation that many women take on when it comes to birth control. One participant said he would gladly go back on the gel again if it were available in pharmacies. He said, "Who said it has to be this way forever?"
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  Love is in the air. And I'm not just talking about Valentine's Day. I'm talking about the Winter Olympics ice dancing event.
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  Geraldino: The gold went to French athletes Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron.
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  [START NBC SPORTS ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  Commentator: In terms of art on the ice, this team is the absolute, the highest level, the most brilliant.
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  [END NBC SPORTS ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  As that "NBC Sports" commentator pointed out, their performance was so technically sound, they beat their previously held world record for the highest score.
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  Basu: They were skillful, they were artful. But did they seem like they were in love? "The Wall Street Journal" has this piece out about how ice dancing has historically rewarded athletes for giving steamy, romantic performances. Teams are always a man and a woman, there's a lot of, I don't know how to describe it, sensual touching, and they often dance to some of the greatest love songs of all time. But, as the "Journal" asks, is the sport showing any signs of evolving now that more of the athletes are coming out as gay?
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  Geraldino: The "Journal" rounds up what some of the top competitors in the sport are saying about this. Many of them say, clearly the most popular narrative to play out is a love story between a man and woman. But some athletes are starting to pull away from that storyline. One skater, Canadian Paul Poirier who came out in 2021, said he and his skating partner are just trying to follow their creative instincts and be true to themselves. That's how they ended up wearing tangerine jumpsuits and skating to Elton John at this year's games.
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  Basu: Many of the athletes agree, it doesn't matter what the story is, as long as the connection between the athletes is powerful. Cizeron, the French athlete who took the gold medal today, is one of several gay athletes competing in ice dancing events this year. And the way he's described it, it's just like acting in a movie. It's not about what's real off the ice.
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  Geraldino: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
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  Basu: And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News+ partners.
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  Geraldino: Happy Valentine's Day! We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
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