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The Russian tanks and missiles besieging Ukraine also are threatening the food supply and livelihoods of people in Europe, Africa and Asia who rely on the vast, fertile farmlands of the Black Sea region — known as the “breadbasket of the world.” Ukrainian farmers have been forced to neglect their fields as millions flee, fight or try to stay alive. Ports are shut down that send wheat and other food staples worldwide to be made into bread, noodles and animal feed. And there are worries Russia, another agricultural powerhouse, could have its grain exports upended by Western sanctions. (Wilson, Magdy, Batrawy and Asadu, 3/6)

China's Red Cross will provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine "as soon as possible", Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday, as he praised his country's friendship with Russia as "rock solid". ... It was the first time the country has announced such help. China proposes that "humanitarian action" must abide by the principles of neutrality and impartiality, and humanitarian issues should not be politicised, he added. (Woo, 3/7)

A man who split his time between the St. Louis area and Ukraine, helping arrange adoptions of children with medical needs, has died amid the fighting in the war-torn country. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Serge Zevlever was killed when he volunteered to check on a commotion outside a Kyiv bomb shelter on Feb. 26, his daughters said. That was just two days after Russian forces launched an invasion of Ukraine. (3/5)

Hong Kong’s Covid-19 death rate is now the highest in the world, after fatalities among the city’s under-vaccinated elderly surged and concerns mount there may be more to come as infections spread through care facilities. The financial hub’s seven-day rolling average rose to 27 deaths per 1 million people as of Sunday, according to Bloomberg calculations based on Johns Hopkins University data. That’s double Latvia, which has the second-highest rate, and far surpasses the peak of the U.S.’s omicron wave. (3/6)

China reported its biggest one-day tally of coronavirus infections since the Wuhan outbreak at the start of the pandemic, with efforts to contain its spread set to challenge the strict Covid Zero strategy that’s isolated it from the rest of the world. The nation announced 526 cases on Monday, including 312 asymptomatic infections, with multiple clusters around the country. Shanghai, which has seldom seen a flareup during the pandemic, saw almost 50 infections. The port city of Qingdao had 163, centered around students at a high school, and the southern manufacturing hub of Dongguan reported 153 cases. (3/7)

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law a bill that raises the minimum age of sexual consent from 12 to 16, his office said on Monday, in a bid to protect minors from rape and sexual abuse. The Philippines until now has had one of the world's lowest minimum ages of sexual consent, behind Nigeria's age of 11, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). (3/7)