The world's richest democracies hope to keep Ukrainians from freezing this winter as

Russia targets their electricity grid.

That's at the top of the agenda for two days of meetings.

China's moves in Africa will come up too.

I'm Steve Innskeep with Leyla Favl, and this is our first from NPR News.

Okay, first the bad news.

Two new Omicron sub variants have figured out new ways around our immune systems.

It's a cause for concern, but not a cause for alarm.

The last bad news is these variants might infect more people this winter, although they

probably will not make people sicker than previous sub variants.

And you might have heard interest rates are through the roof, but we have some advice

on how to deal with them, so stay with us.

We'll give you the news.

You need to start your day.

Top diplomats from the leading economies known as the Group of Seven or G7 are worried

about how Ukrainians will get through this winter.

Germany's Foreign Minister, Anna-Lena Bearbach says Russia will make the cold weather hard.

President Putin is bombing not only villages and cities.

He's now also bombing power plants that millions of citizens need so heavily in their homes.

So those cities he cannot conquer by bombs or military means.

He obviously wants to starve and freeze to death.

He spoke at the start of two days of talks between G7 diplomats in the German city of

...