July 12, 2022

UKRAINE | Today is day 139 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Reports say Ukrainian forces appear to have used U.S-supplied multiple-launch High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems to target and destroy a Russian ammunition depot east of Kherson overnight. [more]
• U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said yesterday that intelligence reports indicate Iran is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred unmanned aerial vehicles, including weapons-capable drones, for use in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. [more]
• Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday expanded access to a fast-track procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship and passports too all Ukrainians. Previously, the simplified procedure was available only to residents of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as residents of the southern Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. [more]

JANUARY 6 | A public hearing today by the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. capitol is expected to focus on the role of extremist groups in the attack and whether there was coordination between the groups and Trump administration supporters leading up to the events of January 6. An additional hearing scheduled for Thursday has reportedly been postponed. [more]

U.S.-MEXICO RELATIONS | Energy, drug trafficking, immigration, and the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement are expected to be among the key topics discussed when Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador meets with U.S. President Joe Biden today in Washington. [more]

EURO | The euro currency reached a nearly 20-year low against the U.S. dollar today, with 1 euro equaling 1 U.S. dollar -- its lowest level since December 2002. [more]

SPACE | NASA yesterday released the first image from the James Webb Space Telescope, showing the deepest look at the cosmos ever captured, with portions of the image showing light from over 13 billion years ago, according to officials. Additional images from the telescope are expected to be released today. [more]

ABORTION | The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said yesterday that federal law on emergency treatment guidelines means that hospitals “must” provide abortion services if the life of the mother is at risk due to her pregnancy. Citing the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, the department said its guidance doesn’t reflect new policy, but reminds doctors and providers of their existing obligations under federal law. [more]

COVID-19 | The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is expected to extend its COVID-19 public health emergency declaration by Friday, continuing measures that provide special access to health insurance and tele-health services. [more]

SYRIA | The U.N. Security Council is expected to vote today on a six-month extension of humanitarian aid deliveries to people in Syria’s rebel-held northwest region. A previous resolution to extend the aid for one year was vetoed by Russia last Friday. [more]

MORE SYRIA | Russian officials say President Vladimir Putin will meet with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi next Tuesday in Tehran to discuss the ongoing fighting, and possible paths toward peace, in Syria. The three countries are guarantor states of the Astana negotiation process, aimed at working toward a peace settlement in Syria. [more]

AFGHANISTAN | A new BBC report suggests that British special forces' SAS operatives repeatedly killed detainees and unarmed men in suspicious circumstances while serving in Afghanistan and that a senior special forces officer failed to pass along evidence of the killings to investigators after a related enquiry was opened. [more]

HUNGARY | Reports say as many as 1,000 demonstrators blocked a bridge in central Budapest today as the Hungarian parliament debated a motion that would significantly restrict access to a planned simplified tax program intended to cut costs and tax rates for small businesses. [more]

FRANCE | The French legislature yesterday failed to pass a no-confidence motion requested by a leftist coalition to symbolically mark their opposition to President Emmanuel Macron’s government and economic policies. [more]

POETRY | Poet Ada Limón has been named the United States' 24th poet laureate by the Library of Congress. Limón, who teaches in the MFA program at Queens University of Charlotte, has published six poetry collections. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1962, the iconic British rock band the Rolling Stones performed their first show, billed as the Rollin' Stones, at a club in London. [more history]