April 26, 2022

UKRAINE | Today is day 62 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• In a television interview yesterday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Ukraine and its supporters against escalating the war in Ukraine, saying that the risk of nuclear conflict should not be underestimated. [more]
• U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin today in Moscow, with talks expected to focus on arranging for the evacuation of civilians from the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. [more]
• British military officials report that Russian forces have taken control of the city of Kreminna in the Luhansk region. [more]

NATO | Media reports in both Sweden and Finland say the two countries are expected to jointly announce their wish to join the NATO alliance in May. [more]

TWITTER | Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the board of directors of Twitter reached an agreement yesterday to move forward with Musk's $44 billion purchase of the social media company. [more]

MOLDOVA | Two explosions damaged radio towers used to broadcast Russian media this morning in the Russia-backed separatist region of Transdniestria in northeastern Moldova. Local media reports say explosions also occurred yesterday near the state security building in the area's regional capital of Tiraspol. [more]

COVID-19 | The Biden administration is announcing plans today to make Pfizer's COVID-19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid more widely available in the U.S. -- increasing the number of locations where the drug is distributed from 20,000 to 40,000 nationally. When administered within five days of the onset of COVID-related symptoms, Paxlovid has been found to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death by as much as 90% in high-risk patients. [more]

MORE COVID-19 | Chinese health officials continued mass COVID-19 testing of residents of the capital Beijing today and imposed lockdowns on several residential areas in which cases were detected. [more]

NORTH KOREA | North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in a speech at a military parade marking the 90th anniversary of North Korea's army yesterday, said his country would accelerate its development of nuclear weapons to deter military threats against it. [more]

TURKEY | Turkish activist Osman Kavala was convicted yesterday on charges related to protests against the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2013 and sentenced to life in prison. The verdict was denounced by human rights organizations, including Amnesty International. [more]

PAKISTAN | Reports say at least four people were killed this morning in a suspected suicide attack at Karachi University in Pakistan. [more]

TRUMP INVESTIGATIONS | A New York judge held former President Donald Trump in contempt yesterday and ordered him to pay $10,000 per day for failing to turn over files related to a state investigation into the Trump Organization's business practices. [more]

FLORIDA | Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law yesterday to establish a Florida state police unit that will focus specifically on election crimes and security. [more]

MYANMAR | Reports say a court in Myanmar is expected to announce its verdict on the first of 11 corruption charges against deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi tomorrow. Suu Kyi was arrested last year when Myanmar's military took over the government. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | A devastating environmental catastrophe occurred on this date in 1986 when an explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine released large amounts of radioactive material into the atmosphere. [more history]