Why the West fears a Russian “false flag” plot

Good morning! It's Friday, February 18th. I'm Shumita Basu.

And I'm Duarte Geraldino. 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.

President Biden says the possibility of a Russian invasion of Ukraine remains "very high." Russia claimed it pulled some forces back this week, but Western officials are questioning that, saying Moscow has continued to build up troops. Meanwhile, inside Ukraine, violence has escalated, with Russian-backed rebels and the Ukrainian government accusing each other of breaking the cease-fire.

That internal violence has the West worried Russia may be trying to stoke tensions or use fake events to justify an attack. Here's NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

We have seen attempts to stage a pretext false flag operations to provide an excuse for invading Ukraine. So, of course, this is of concern.

That phrase "false flag" is important to understand right now. The Biden administration is making a similar accusation, that Russia could try to stage something as a pretext for war, which has been part of its playbook in the past.

"USA Today" looks at how this might play out. The Pentagon said there was evidence that Russia was working on a propaganda video that shows a fake attack on its troops. This video would make it look like Western allies had supplied weapons to Ukraine for the attack. One international affairs expert says tells "USA Today," another potential false flag operation could include a cyber-attack on Russian infrastructure that it would blame on Ukrainian hackers. Or Russia might infiltrate Ukrainian nationalist groups and provoke them to attack.

The U.S. and the West are sharing a lot of details on their theories about a potential Russian set-up. It's an unusual move for the U.S. to talk about intelligence assessments of another country's apparent military plans. On "CNN" last weekend, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan explained why.

We're not putting forward this intelligence to start a war, which has happened in the past. We are putting forward this intelligence to stop a war.

A Texas jury found Eric Kay guilty of supplying the drugs that led to the death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs. Kay is a former Los Angeles Angels employee. This story, it shows the deadly reach of the opioid crisis, from wealthy athletes to low-income families.

In 2019, Skaggs was found dead in his Dallas hotel room. His team was in town to play the Texas Rangers. An autopsy found fentanyl, oxycodone and alcohol in his system. The "L.A. Times" has been covering the trial. Prosecutors called four former Angels players, who said they also received drugs from Kay over several years.

Kay is facing 20 years to life in federal prison and a fine of up to a million dollars. Beyond this criminal case, the Skaggs family is suing the Angels. They say the organization was negligent. After the verdict, the family's attorney says the Angels, quote, "have given a black eye to our National Pastime." Now, in the past, the Angels said the team's investigation found no evidence management was aware of any employee providing opioids to players.

Major League Baseball is now reckoning with the issue of addiction. Months after Skaggs's death, the league and the players union started testing for opioids. The federal prosecutor said this case is a sobering reminder that fentanyl kills, whether it's dealt on the streets or out of a world-famous baseball stadium.

By now, we're all familiar with the challenges that are getting in the way of distributing COVID vaccines to developing countries. Vaccines are expensive, they require extremely cold temperatures and a lot of logistics to make sure that they're handled and administered properly. But a new vaccine is being hailed as a potentially huge game changer.

This vaccine is known as Corbevax. It was created by two scientists in Texas, doctors Peter Hotez and Maria Elena Bottazzi. Unlike the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, this one does not require extremely cold temperatures. And that's important. But, as "The Texas Tribune" reports, the other reason it's a big deal is that it's patent-free; there are no intellectual property rights attached to it. That means this formula can be licensed to a producer in any country, which can make it, name it and get it to the people for way cheaper than any other vaccine that's currently on the market.

The scientists behind Corbevax say they were motivated by access, not profits. Their goal was to make a cheap, easy-to-store COVID vaccine for people who wouldn't otherwise be able to get the shot. Dr. Bottazzi told "ABC," this is about "decolonizing" the production of vaccines.

It's really transferring and giving the opportunity to many around the world, manufacturers and producers around the world, that really can make vaccines for their own countries or for their own regions.

Even though the data for all clinical trials is not yet out, countries are already reaching out to the scientists to get the vaccine. The Indian government is planning to roll out doses soon. Producers in Bangladesh, South Africa and Botswana have licensed the technology. And, as Dr. Bottazzi told "The Guardian," if more people would just stop asking, "What's in it for me?" maybe the world can start to get control of COVID before the next variant pops up.

Did you ever put a message in a bottle as a kid, throw it out to sea, hope someone would find it? Maybe, as an adult, you've kind of lost that magic, you don't believe in it anymore. But this story could make you think twice.

"CNN" introduces us to a group of fifth graders in New Hampshire. They launched a miniature boat more than a year ago. This wasn't a Coke bottle vessel. It's part of a program called Educational Passages, which teaches kids about science and engineering. It provides kits to make little boats equipped with GPS. They've got room to store little things, gifts in case someone finds it, you know.

So, the kids could use the GPS, and they spent weeks tracking their boat. And it sailed across the Atlantic, until one day, the data just stopped. So, the kids assumed the boat was lost.

But just a few days ago, there was a new GPS data point. The boat had made its way to Norway, 8,000 miles away. The family that found it included a sixth grader. It was a mess. You can see the pictures that it's covered in all these barnacles and the mast was gone.

Yeah, this boat had been through things. But the contents inside, they were intact. And, in fact, they were dry. They included U.S. quarters, a face mask with all the kids' names on it. These kids successfully delivered a message in a boat.

You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.

And check out our weekend interview show, "In Conversation." This week, I speak with Maurice Chammah from The Marshall Project. Maurice recently wrote about how certain police interrogation techniques are known to increase the risk of false confessions.

The very same things that make a guilty person more likely to confess can also lead an innocent person to feel sort of hopeless and like their only way out is to confess to this crime, even if they didn't commit it.

Check out that weekend listen. We'll be back with the news on Monday.