Ukraine: Russia is demanding an apology from Ukraine claiming artillery fire hit a Russian border post and destroyed a building. It happened just as Ukraine declared a one-day ceasefire. A Kremlin statement said about the ceasefire, “this is not an invitation to peace and negotiations but an ultimatum for the militias of southeast Ukraine to surrender.”

The US has imposed economic sanctions on seven pro-Russian leaders in the conflict. Their assets in the US will be frozen and Americans companies will be banned from doing business with them. It’s a move that may cause some discomfort, but it won’t stop tanks.

Speaking of which, the Obama administration also accuses Russia of covertly supplying the separatists with weapons, including 13 tanks so far. Artillery might soon follow. The US says Russia is giving the separatists weapons similar to what the Ukrainian army has so they can claim they were captured in battle.

World: At least 51.2 million people have been pushed out of their homes by conflict, the highest number since World War II, according to the United Nations. It’s the first time the number has topped 50 million since the 1940s. Many people are displaced within their own countries, but more than five million refugees, people who have fled to another country, come from Afghanistan and Syria.

>Chinese police shot and killed 13 attackers who rammed their vehicle into a police station in Xinjiang, where there’s increasing unrest among the Uighur population. Uighurs are mostly Muslim and over the years have been the subject of repression by the Chinese government.

Drone On: The Washington Post reports that the military has crashed 400 drones around the world between September 2011 and December 2013. A quarter of the accidents happened in the US. Some of the accidents destroyed homes and property, causing at least $2 million damage. The military claims drones are more reliable and crash less frequently than they used to.

The report comes just as the National Park Service announced it is banning popular civilian drones from all 84 million acres of national parks. Director Jonathan Jarvis said in a statement, “We have serious concerns about the negative impact that flying unmanned aircraft is having in parks, so we are prohibiting their use until we can determine the most appropriate policy.”

The Obit Page: Stephanie Kwolek, the Dow Chemical scientist who invented the bulletproof fabric Kevlar, has died at age 90. Best known for stopping lead, Kevlar has been used for everything from tires to armored limousines, hockey sticks, and Army helmets. It’s been credited with saving the lives of 3,000 police officers. Kwolek, one of few women in the industry in the 1960s, was part of a team trying to develop a fabric to replace steel cord in tires, and the result was something much bigger. Kevlar has earned billions of dollars for Dow. Kwolek worked in the lab for 15 years without a promotion before her big discovery.

>New Yorker cartoonist Charles Barsotti has died at age 80. Barsotti populated his cartoons with dogs, bearded writers, and worried humans trying to enter heaven. In one famous cartoon a piece of rigatoni talking on the telephone says, “Fusilli, you crazy bastard! How are you?”

> We should also note the passing this week of Isabelle Collin Dufresne, the beautiful member of Andy Warhol’s “Factory” crew known in the 1960s as “Ultra Violet.” She later condemned the drugs and orgiastic sex of the era and joined the Mormon Church.

Fusilli, You Bastard: The Huffington Post has a story suggesting that shrinking business at the Red Lobster and Olive Garden restaurant chains suggests economic trouble in the middle and lower classes. They’ve cut back on spending, according to the company that owns the two chains. They don’t seem to consider the possibility that maybe it’s the food.

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