June 14, 2022

UKRAINE | Today is day 111 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• In an interview published today in the Jesuit journal Civilta Cattolica, Pope Francis called the Russian invasion of Ukraine a violation of Ukraine's right to self-determination and condemned the cruelty of Russian forces, but also suggested that the war was "perhaps in some way provoked." [more]
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday urged Germany to supply Ukraine with needed military equipment and show full support for Ukraine in the face of German concerns about the effects of such moves on relations with Russia. [more]

JANUARY 6 | The second in a series of public hearings by the House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection yesterday focused on testimony by multiple Trump administration officials who said they told the former president that his claims of widespread voting fraud in the 2020 presidential election were false and urged him to stop making claims to the contrary. A third public hearing is scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday, June 15, at 10am EDT. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | U.S. stocks slipped into a so-called bear market yesterday -- a market condition in which prominent stock indices such as the S&P 500 fall 20% or more below recent highs for a sustained period. The market downturn yesterday came ahead of this week's Federal Reserve meeting that is widely expected to aggressively raise interest rates. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | Four states -- Maine, Nevada, North Dakota, and South Carolina -- are holding primary elections today to choose candidates for November's general elections. [more]

FLOODING | All entrances to the western-U.S.'s Yellowstone National Park were closed yesterday and mandatory evacuation orders executed in some parts of the Park due to severe flooding and mudslides caused by heavy rainfall in the region surrounding the 2.2 million acre park. [more]

ABORTION | New legislation intended to protect people seeking or providing abortions in New York were signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul yesterday. One measure that goes into effect immediately protects abortion providers in the state from arrest, extradition, and legal proceedings in other states. [more]

NUCLEAR ARMS | A report released yesterday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute says that the world's nuclear arsenals are expected to grow over the next decade for the first time since the end of the Cold War. [more]

INDIA | A new report from the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago says that air pollution in the Indian capital city of Delhi -- the world's most polluted city, according to the report -- can shorten the lives of residents by as many as 10 years. [more]

MONKEYPOX | European Union health commissioner Stella Kyriakides announced today that the EU has signed an agreement with vaccine maker Bavarian Nordic to purchase about 110,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine to be delivered to EU states. [more]

TAIWAN | Taiwan's foreign ministry said yesterday that the Taiwan Strait is an international waterway, despite China's claims to the contrary, and that the Taiwanese government supports transit of the strategic waterway by U.S. warships. [more]

CAMBODIA | A Cambodian court yesterday convicted 60 defendants of conspiracy to commit treason in connection with charges that they attempted to facilitate the return of opposition leader Sam Rainsy from exile in 2019. [more]

SCOTLAND | Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is expected to release the first in a series of papers today calling for a new referendum on Scotland's independence from the United Kingdom. Voters rejected independence in a 2014 referendum with 55% choosing to remain a part of the U.K. [more]

BASKETBALL | The Golden State Warriors beat the Boston Celtics, 104-94, last night to win Game 5 of the NBA Finals and take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1940, the first transport of Polish political prisoners arrived at Auschwitz, which became Nazi Germany's largest concentration, extermination, and slave-labor camp, where more than one million people died. [more history]