April 25, 2022

UKRAINE | Today is day 61 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky in Kyiv today. As part of the visit, the U.S. officials announced new aid consisting of foreign military financing and a $165 million sale of ammunition. [more]
• Russian military offensives this morning focus largely on the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine, though fighting continues in the port city of Mariupol. [more]
• Five train stations in central and western Ukraine were hit by Russian shelling this morning, according to the head of Ukrainian Railways. [more]

FRANCE | Incumbent President Emmanuel Macron was re-elected yesterday in France, defeating far-right challenger Marine Le Pen. Macron, who is the first French president in 20 years to win a re-election campaign, received 58.2% of the vote. [more]

NIGERIA | Reports say more than 100 people were killed Friday night in an explosion at an unlicensed oil refinery on the border of Nigeria's Rivers and Imo states. [more]

SUDAN | Reports say at least 168 people were killed over the weekend in renewed fighting between rival Arab and non-Arab groups and militias in Sudan's Darfur region. [more]

ISRAEL | Military officials in Israel say their forces fired tank rounds into southern Lebanon this morning after a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an open area in northern Israel. [more]

COVID-19 | Multiple districts in the Chinese capital Beijing were placed in lockdown today due to rising numbers of new COVID-19 infections. [more]

WILDFIRES | Officials in New Mexico say the Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak wildfires have merged and have burned more than 54,000 acres combined. As of Sunday night, the fires were about 12% contained. [more]

R.I.P. | Former U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch died Saturday at the age of 88. Hatch served as Utah's senator for 42 years, from 1977 to 2019. [more]

MORTGAGE RATES | Interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages in the U.S. averaged 5.11% for the week ended April 21 -- the highest average since April 2010 -- according to mortgage firm Freddie Mac. The average rate for the same period one year ago was 2.97%. [more]

TWITTER | Reports say the board of directors at Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are in active negotiations regarding Musk's effort to purchase the social media platform. [more]

COMEDY | Comedian and political commentator Jon Stewart received the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in Washington, DC, last night. [more]

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE | Animated comedy "The Bad Guys" was the top grossing theater release over the weekend with $24 million in sales, followed by "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" and "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore." [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1915, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) landed at Gallipoli in western Turkey during the Dardanelles Campaign of World War I. [more history]