April 8, 2022

UKRAINE | Today is day 44 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates [more]:

• Reports say more than 30 people were killed and 100 wounded in a Russian rocket strike this morning  on a railway station in the eastern Ukraine city of Kramatorsk. [more]
• European Union nations agreed yesterday to ban Russian coal imports. The coal ban, which will not take effect until mid-August, marks the first Europe-wide energy sector sanctions on Russia since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine. [more]
• The U.S. Senate voted yesterday, 100-0, to suspend normal trade relations with Russia and to ban imports of Russian oil. The bills had already passed in the House, and President Biden is expected to sign them in the coming days. [more]
• The United Nations General Assembly voted yesterday to suspend Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council. Ninety-three nations voted in favor of the suspension, 24 voted against, and 58 abstained from voting. [more]

SUPREME COURT | The Senate voted 53-47 yesterday to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court associate justice. Jackson, who will be the first Black woman to serve on the court, will not be sworn in until retiring Justice Stephen Bryer steps down, which is expected this summer. [more]

TRUMP INVESTIGATIONS | New York Attorney General Letitia James yesterday asked a state judge to hold former President Donald Trump in contempt of court for failing to comply with a subpoena for documents in connection with a civil probe into Trump’s business practices. [more]

PUERTO RICO | Reports say as many as 1 million people in Puerto Rico remain without electricity following a fire earlier this week at one of the U.S. territory’s main power plants. [more]

COVID-19 | Multiple U.S. government officials and lawmakers announced positive tests for COVID-19 infection this week, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and Senators Susan Collins and Raphael Warnock. [more]

MORE COVID-19 | A ruling by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday upheld the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal workers, reversing an earlier lower court ruling. [more]

NATO | Reuters cites an unnamed senior U.S. State Department official as saying that the prospect of Finland and Sweden joining NATO was discussed at a meeting of the alliance’s foreign ministers in Brussels this week. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted calls for joining NATO in the two countries. [more]

ISRAEL | Security forces in Israel say two people were killed and more than 10 injured when a man opened fire in a bar in central Tel Aviv yesterday. Reports say the suspect, a Palestinian man, was found and killed in a shootout with police hours after the attack. [more]

UNITED KINGDOM | U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday announced plans to build more nuclear power plants and boost renewable energy production in moves aimed at reducing the U.K.’s dependence on foreign energy sources. [more]

FRANCE | French voters will choose among 12 candidates for president this coming Sunday. Incumbent President Emmanuel Macron and far-right candidate Marine Le Pen are polling highest among the 12 candidates. If no candidate receives 50% of the vote on Sunday, the two candidates with the most votes will proceed to a run-off on April 24. [more]

PAKISTAN | Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled yesterday that an effort by Prime Minister Imran Khan to dissolve the National Assembly was unconstitutional. The ruling clears the way for a previously-scheduled no-confidence vote against Khan that is expected to remove him from office. [more]

AUSTRALIA | More than 4,000 residents of the western suburbs of Sydney, Australia, are under evacuation orders as the area faces its most recent episode of major flooding due to heavy rains. Southeastern Australia has already received more than its average annual rainfall. [more]

CANADA | Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has announced plans to ban foreign purchases of homes in Canada for two years amidst large increases in both home prices and rental rates. [more]

MUSIC | British rock band Pink Floyd is releasing their first new song in 28 years. Proceeds from the song “Hey Hey Rise Up,” which features Pink Floyd members David Gilmour and Nick Mason, as well as Ukrainian singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk, will support aid efforts in Ukraine, according to reports. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1974, American baseball player Hank Aaron hit his 715th career home run — breaking Babe Ruth's record, which had stood since 1935. [more history]