February 15, 2022

UKRAINE | Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told reporters today that some Russian military units have completed exercises along the Russia-Ukraine border and are beginning to return to their permanent bases. The statement came as U.S. and European leaders continue to warn of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.  [more]

ESPIONAGE | Former U.S. Navy nuclear engineer Jonathan Toebbe pleaded guilty yesterday to federal charges of conspiracy to communicate restricted data to an as-yet-unidentified foreign country. Toebbe is expected to be sentenced to at least 12 years in prison as part of the plea deal with prosecutors. [more]

COVID-19 | Washington DC  Mayor Muriel Bowser announced yesterday that the city will end its indoor vaccine mandate today, February 15. Additionally, the city’s mask mandate will end on March 1, except for in schools, healthcare facilities, and similar public gathering places, as well as on public transit. [more]

SPORTS BETTING | New York Governor Kathy Hochul said yesterday that mobile sports betting in the state has generated $70 million in state tax revenue since becoming legal on January 8.  [more]

ETHIOPIA | Ethiopian lawmakers voted today to end the African nation’s months-old state of emergency. Officials cited a significant calming of the country’s civil war that centers on the northern Tigray region as the reason for the move. [more]

CANADA PROTESTS | Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday invoked Canada’s Emergencies Act as a part of measures being taken to end weeks-long trucker protests in the capitol city Ottawa. The move gives the federal government broad powers to restore order, but no specific plans or timelines for taking related actions were announced. [more]

PRIVACY | Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against Facebook parent company Meta yesterday, claiming that the company has long collected biometric and facial recognition data on residents of Texas without their informed consent. [more]

TRUMP ORGANIZATION | Accounting firm Mazars USA, which has prepared annual financial statements for former President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization for years, has dropped the Trump Organization as a client and said its financial reports for the years 2011-2020 for the organization “should no longer be relied upon.” The move comes amidst investigations by the New York attorney general's office into fraud charges against the Trump Organization. [more]

HONDURAS | Reports say police in the Honduran capitol city of Tegucigalpa have surrounded the home of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández. The action follows requests from U.S. officials that Hernández be arrested and extradited on suspicion of colluding with drug traffickers.  [more]

BAHRAIN | Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with officials in Bahrain yesterday to discuss regional security and cooperation. The visit was the first to Bahrain by an Israeli premier. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | An explosion sank the USS Maine in Havana harbor on this date in 1898, killing 260 American seamen and precipitating the Spanish-American War, which began the following month. [more]