April 1, 2022

UKRAINE | Today is day 37 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates [more]:

• A Ukrainian airstrike involving two helicopters struck an oil depot near the Russian city of Belgorod, according to Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region. [more]
• Russian forces are reported to have left the Chernobyl nuclear site in northern Ukraine after soldiers who dug trenches around the facility received significant doses of radiation. [more]
• Oleksandr Pavlyuk, governor of the Kyiv region of Ukraine, said today that some Russian forces continue to withdrawal from around the capital city and appear to be moving toward Belarus. [more]
• NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says Russian forces in Ukraine appear to be regrouping to focus their military efforts on the eastern Donbas region. [more]
• The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has predicted that Ukraine's gross domestic product will fall 20% this year and that Russia’s will fall 10%. Before Russia invaded Ukraine, both countries’ GDP had been expected to grow this year. [more]

GENETICS | Researchers yesterday published the first complete human genome. Described in the journal Science, the achievement comes almost 20 years after most of the human genome was published but left about 8% not fully deciphered. The newly published full genome comprises 3.055 billion base pairs, the units from which chromosomes and our genes are built, and 19,969 genes that encode proteins. [full report] [more]

HEALTHCARE | The House yesterday passed legislation that would cap the monthly cost of insulin at $35 for insured diabetics in America. Sufficient support for the measure to pass in the Senate is uncertain, according to reports. [more]

DENVER | A federal jury yesterday found that Denver police used excessive force against protesters in the city in 2020 and ordered the city to pay $14 million in damages to 12 protesters who sued. [more]

PACIFIC SECURITY | Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said today that the island nation would not allow Chinese military bases on its territory despite plans to sign a security pact with China. [more]

SRI LANKA | Power cuts as long as 13 hours per day and suspension of routine hospital surgeries are among the measures announced yesterday in Sri Lanka due to an energy crisis in the country caused by economic downturns. [more]

ENERGY PRICES | In moves aimed at reducing gas prices in the U.S., the White House announced yesterday that a) 1 million barrels of oil per day will be released from the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve for six months starting in May, b) President Biden would call on Congress to impose financial penalties on oil and gas companies that lease public lands but aren’t producing, and c) invoke the Defense Production Act to encourage the mining of critical minerals for batteries in electric vehicles. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | Consumer spending in the U.S. increased 0.2% in February, down from an increase of 2.7% in January, according to Commerce Department data released yesterday. [more]

MORE U.S. ECONOMY | Labor Department data scheduled to be released later this morning is expected to show an increase of about 478,000 jobs in the U.S. in March, and a reduction in the unemployment rate from 3.8% to 3.7%. [more]

NAGORNO-KARABAKH | Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan yesterday announced plans for a meeting with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev next week in Belgium amidst renewed tensions between the countries over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. [more]

CRYPTO | Two European Parliament committees are scheduled to vote this week on proposals to increase regulatory oversight of cryptocurrency transfers. The proposed measures include provisions that would require crypto exchanges to obtain, hold, and report on information about senders and recipients of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum. [more]

FLORIDA | A Florida circuit court judge yesterday approved a settlement under which people who owned units in the Surfside, Florida, Champlain Towers South condominium that collapsed last year will split  $83 million for property losses. Compensation related to deaths in the building collapse will be determined separately. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1976, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne formed Apple Computer Inc., starting what became one of the world's leading tech companies. [more history]