April 5, 2022

UKRAINE | Today is day 41 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates [more]:

• International calls for war crimes and potential genocide charges against Russia continue to mount as evidence of the killing of civilians mounts in regions around the capital Kyiv recently abandoned by Russian forces. [more]
• In response to reports of Russian atrocities against Ukrainian civilians, French President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday that he would support a total ban on Russian coal and oil exports to the European Union. [more]
• The U.S. will be calling for Russia’s removal from the U.N. Human Rights Council, according to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield. [more]
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is scheduled to address the U.N. Security Council today via video link. [more]
• Ukrainian military officials say Russian forces appear to be preparing for a major offensive in the eastern Donbas region. [more]

CYBERSECURITY | The U.S. Department of State yesterday announced the launch of a new Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy. The Bureau will comprise three policy units: international cyberspace security, international information and communications policy, and digital freedom. [more]

COVID-19 | Bipartisan negotiations in the Senate have reportedly resulted in an agreement on a $10 billion funding package for COVID-19 treatments, vaccines, and additional measures to combat the pandemic. [more]

CALIFORNIA | Police in Sacramento have arrested one person in connection with this past weekend’s mass shooting in the city’s entertainment district that killed six people and wounded 12 others, but the search for others involved in the shooting continues. [more]

SUPREME COURT | Three Republican senators have said they will join Democratic colleagues in voting to confirm the elevation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. [more]

EDUCATION | A new McKinsey & Co. report released yesterday says that pandemic-related learning delays due to school closures could lead to annual losses of $1.6 trillion globally — a level that is about 0.9% of total global GDP — by 2040. [full report] [more]

CLIMATE | A new report from the U.N.-convened Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that while the global rate of fossil fuel emissions growth slowed in the 2010s compared to the 2000s, the international goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius could be out of reach by the end of this decade. [full report] [more]

MORE CLIMATE | The World Health Organization said yesterday that 99% of the global population regularly breathes air that exceeds the organization’s air quality standards. [more]

COVID-19 | Chinese health officials have expanded the COVID-related lockdown in Shanghai to encompass the entire city of 25 million people. More than 13,000 new cases of COVID-19 infection were reported in the city yesterday. [more]

SUDAN | An International Criminal Court trial is underway today in a case against Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, who is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity as the alleged leader of militia forces in Sudan’s Darfur region in the early 2000s. [more]

PACIFIC SECURITY | Japan and the Philippines will hold their first ministerial-level security talks on Saturday in Tokyo to enhance cooperation in countering what is seen as China's increasing maritime assertiveness in the South and East China seas, according to Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi. [more]

BUSINESS | Tesla CEO Elon Musk has purchased a 9.2% stake in Twitter, making him the social media platform’s largest shareholder. [more]

NCAA BASKETBALL | Kansas came back from a 15-point halftime deficit to defeat North Carolina, 72-69, last night to win the 2022 men’s NCAA basketball championship. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1879, Chile declared war on Peru and Bolivia, beginning the War of the Pacific. The dispute, which was about control of a mineral-laden area of the Atacama Desert, was won by Chile. [more history]