May 24, 2022

UKRAINE | Today is day 90 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Reports say Russian forces are advancing from three directions in an attempt to encircle the area around the cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk as the next step in its offensive in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region. [more]
• U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said yesterday that some 20 countries agreed to new packages of military equipment and security aid to Ukraine in a virtual meeting of global defense ministers earlier in the day. [more]
• Reports say veteran Russian diplomat Boris Bondarev has resigned from his post at the U.N. office at Geneva, citing his country's invasion of Ukraine as the reason. Bondarev said in a letter that he had never been so ashamed of his country. [more]
• European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, speaking today at the annual World Economic Forum summit, accused Russia of using food supplies as a weapon by confiscating grain stocks and blocking the shipment of crops from Ukraine. [more]

FIRST AMENDMENT | A panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that a Florida law that intended to regulate the moderation policies of large social media companies is unconstitutional, saying in its decision that "social media companies — even the biggest ones — are private actors whose rights the First Amendment protects." [more]

COVID-19 | Swedish health officials today recommended a fifth COVID-19 vaccine dose for people at high risk of serious infection, including pregnant women and anyone over the age of 65. [more]

MONKEYPOX | World Health Organization advisor Dr. David Heymann said yesterday that the leading theory to explain the current spread of monkeypox in Europe is sexual transmission at raves held in Spain and Belgium. WHO officials have recorded more than 90 cases of the disease in a dozen countries in the recent outbreak. [more]

TURKEY AND SYRIA | Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today that his country intends to launch a new military operation in Syria in the near future to establish a 20-mile “safe zone” along its border with Syria. [more]

MIDDLE EAST | A sandstorm affecting parts of Iraq, Syria, and Iran yesterday prompted health emergency declarations, airport closures, and stay-at-home orders in various parts of the Middle East countries yesterday. [more]

GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT | Leaders of the U.S., Japan, Australia, and India, meeting as members of the "Quad" group of countries, reportedly agreed today to invest more than $50 billion in infrastructure assistance and investment in the Indo-Pacific region over the next five years. [more]

CALIFORNIA | Gov. Gavin Newsom said yesterday that Californians could face mandatory statewide water restrictions this summer if more is not done to address the state's severe drought-related water shortage. [more]

CLIMATE | Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, head of the next U.N. summit on climate change, says Egypt will push countries to follow through on their pledges to sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions when the Conference of the Parties annual meeting takes place in November. [more]

MORE CLIMATE | Climate change and environmental issues are the key agenda topics today for the second day of the World Economic Forum’s annual summit in Davos, Switzerland. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | Republican and Democratic primary elections to choose candidates for the upcoming midterm elections are being held in five states today: Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, and Minnesota. [more]

SUPPLY CHAIN | Toyota Motor Corp announced today that it will cut its global production by about 100,000 vehicles for the month of June due to semiconductor shortages and supply deficits triggered by COVID-19-related lockdowns in China. [more]

FACEBOOK | Facebook parent company Meta said yesterday that it will begin providing public access to data on how advertisers target people on its platforms with ads about social issues, elections, and politics. [Facebook statement] [more]

TRAVEL | Accommodations service Airbnb has announced plans to remove all listings for domestic homes and services in mainland China from its platform by July 30 due, at least partially, to complications caused by ongoing COVID-19-related lockdowns in the country. [more]

ARTS | Reports say actress Angela Lansbury will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2022 Tony Awards in June. Lansbury is a five-time Tony Award winner, including two awards for best actress in a musical. [more]

TENNIS | No. 1-seeded men's tennis player Novak Djokovic defeated Yoshihito Nishioka yesterday to improve to 18-0 for his career first-round matches at the French Open. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | A brilliant feat of 19th-century engineering, the Brooklyn Bridge—spanning the East River from Brooklyn to Manhattan Island in New York City—opened to the public on this date in 1883.  [more history]