June 16, 2022

UKRAINE | Today is day 113 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• In one of the highest profile visits to Ukraine since the start of the invasion, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Premier Mario Draghi arrived in Kyiv together today to show their support for the Ukrainian fight against Russian forces. [more]
• U.S. President Joe Biden yesterday announced a new $1 billion package of military aid for Ukraine that includes anti-ship rocket systems, artillery rockets, howitzers, and ammunition. Bided also announced an additional $225 million in humanitarian assistance to help people in Ukraine. [more]
• Russian gas company Gazprom yesterday announced its second cut of natural gas supplies to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in as many days. Reports say the pipeline's delivery level has been cut to 40% of capacity, which Gazprom says is due to maintenance delays brought on by sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. [more]
• Valeriy Zaluzhny, head of Ukraine's armed forces, said today that Russia has concentrated its forces in the northern parts of the Luhansk region and that they appear to be trying to attack the region from nine directions. [more]

JANUARY 6 | A public hearing today of the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol is expected to focus on efforts by former President Donald Trump to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. [more]

MORE JANUARY 6 | A document filed in federal court yesterday details plans by the extremist Proud Boys group to occupy multiple federal buildings, including the Supreme Court and Senate and House office buildings, as part of their coordinated action around the Capitol on January 6, 2021. [full document] [more]

NATO | NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg says defense ministers meeting today in Brussels will discuss the alliance's future military posture along its eastern borders as a means of dissuading future Russian aggression in eastern Europe. [more]

CORONAVIRUS | An FDA advisory panel yesterday recommended approval of Moderna and Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccines for use in children as young as six months. White House officials say the vaccines could be available for young children as early as next week. [more]

MONKEYPOX | Dr. Hans Kluge, the World Health Organization's regional director for Europe, said yesterday that Europe remains the epicenter of the ongoing outbreak of monkeypox and that the outbreak poses a real risk globally. Reports say more than 1,600 cases of the disease in 39 countries have been identified in the current outbreak. [more]

BUFFALO SHOOTING | The U.S. Justice Department announced yesterday that it has filed federal hate crime charges against the man accused of the racially-motivated killing of 10 people at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket on May 14. [more]

YELLOWSTONE | Officials from Yellowstone National Park say some entrances to the park could reopen as early as this coming weekend after being closed due to severe flooding, but that some roads in the park's northern sections could be closed through the summer season due the time needed for repairs. [more]

NORTH KOREA | A report released yesterday by the U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies says North Korea has begun repairing a second tunnel at its Punggye-ri nuclear test facility, indicating that the country is preparing for a new underground nuclear detonation test. [more]

SYRIA | In a joint statement, Russia, Turkey, and Iran say they have agreed to make additional efforts to reduce violence and ensure calm  in the northern Syria region around the city of Idlib. No mention was made of how the agreement could affect Turkey's plans for military operations against Kurdish forces in the region, which it announced last week. [more]

TURKEY | Sixteen Kurdish journalists and media workers were imprisoned pending trial yesterday in Turkey. The journalists were taken into custody last week on charges of producing and spreading terrorist propaganda. [more]

SPAIN | Officials in Spain's Catalonia region said today that three wildfires in the region have burned about 2,700 acres of land amidst the area's ongoing heat wave. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | The Federal Reserve yesterday raised its benchmark interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point to a range of 1.5% to 1.75%–the Fed's largest rate hike since 1994. Fed chair Jerome Powell said the aggressive rate increase was needed to address the highest U.S. inflation rates in 40 years. [more]

EUROPEAN ECONOMY | The European Central Bank's governing council said yesterday that it would create an unspecified market backstop to help prevent financial turmoil ahead of the Bank's planned interest rate hikes in July and September. [more]

MORE EUROPEAN ECONOMY | The Bank of England is widely expected to raise its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point today, while the Swiss National Bank announced a half-percentage-point rate increase earlier in the day. [more]

CLIMATE | Australia's new government, headed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, has announced that the country is committing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 43% from 2005 levels by 2030. [more]

HOCKEY | The Colorado Avalanche beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-3, last night to win Game 1 of the NHL's Stanley Cup Final. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1963, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina V. Tereshkova became the first woman to travel in space, having been launched into orbit aboard the spacecraft Vostok 6. [more history]