April 12, 2022

UKRAINE | Today is day 48 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates [more]:

• U.S., U.K., and Ukrainian officials are reported to be investigating the possible use of chemical weapons by Russian forces in Mariupol. Reports note that some evidence suggests the suspected chemical use could have been phosphorous munitions instead. [more]
• Ukrainian officials say Russian forces have killed more than 10,000 civilian residents of Mariupol in their attempts to capture the port city over the past six weeks. [more]
• Nearly two-thirds of Ukrainian children have been forced to flee their homes since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, according to UNICEF‘s emergency programs director. [more]
• Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, at an in-person meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow yesterday, urged Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine. The meeting was the first by a European leader to take place with Putin in Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine began. [more]

FIREARMS | President Biden yesterday announced new rules under which self-assembled and 3D-printed so-called “ghost guns” will be required to have serial numbers — legally making them firearms and subjecting them to the same regulations as manufactured weapons. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | Federal government data due out later this morning is expected to show an 8.4% increase in the consumer price index over the past 12 months. [more]

JANUARY 6 | Former Rocky Mount, Virginia, police officer Thomas Robertson was convicted yesterday on six charges related to his participation in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. [more]

WILDFIRES | California utility company Pacific Gas & Electric has agreed to pay more than $55 million to avoid criminal prosecution for two major wildfires started by aging power lines in 2019 and 2021. [more]

COVID-19 | Officials in Philadelphia have announced that the city’s indoor mask mandate will be reinstated on April 18. This is the first such reinstatement by a major U.S. city and follows a 50% increase in COVID-19 cases in the city over the past two weeks. [more]

PHILIPPINES | Reports say at least 25 people have died in landslides and floods caused by tropical storm Megi since the storm hit the Philippines earlier this week. [more]

INDONESIA | The Indonesian parliament passed landmark sexual violence legislation today. The measures include penalties of up to 12 years in prison for physical sexual abuse, both in marriage and outside, 15 years for sexual exploitation, nine years for forced marriage, and four years for circulating content that depicts non-consensual sex. [more]

CHINA | Officials in Shanghai said today that some residents of the city would be allowed out of their homes and that a limited number of markets and pharmacies would reopen. The city of 25 million has been under a strict COVID-19 lockdown for the past two weeks. [more]

SRI LANKA | Amidst continuing economic turmoil in the island nation, Sri Lanka has suspended payments to international creditors and initiated talks with the International Monetary Fund for emergency loans. [more]

NBA | The Los Angeles Lakers yesterday fired head coach Frank Vogel after the team finished the season with a losing record and failed to make the Western Conference playoffs. [more]

WNBA | University of Kentucky guard Rhyne Howard was selected by the Atlanta Dream as the No. 1 pick in last night’s 2022 WNBA draft. [more]

MUSIC | Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood won the award for Video of the Year at last night’s CMT Music Awards in Nashville. Other awardees included Miranda Lambert (Female Video of the Year for “If I Was a Cowboy”) and Cody Johnson (Male Video of the Year for “Til You Can’t.” [full list of winners] [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1981, NASA launched the first space shuttle, Columbia, which was designed to orbit Earth, transport people and cargo to and from orbiting spacecraft, and glide to a runway landing on its return to Earth. Also, on this date, in 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in outer space. [more history]