July 13, 2022

UKRAINE | Today is day 140 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Russian and Ukrainian delegations will hold their first talks in months today in Istanbul to discuss a United Nations plan to export blocked Ukrainian grain to world markets through the Black Sea. [more]
• The United Nations human rights office says more than 5,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began, and that the real civilian death toll is probably much higher. [more]

UVALDE | The Austin American-Statesman newspaper has published surveillance footage of the gunman and police responders inside Robb Elementary School during the May 24 massacre of 19 students and two teachers. [more]

MIDDLE EAST | U.S. President Joe Biden begins a three-day visit to Israel today, where the Iranian nuclear threat is expected to be a main focus of talks with Israeli leaders. Biden will head to Saudi Arabia on Friday. [more]

GENDER GAP | The World Economic Forum has released its 2022 Global Gender Gap Report, which measures global gender parity across four key dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment. The 2022 report concludes that It will take another 132 years to close the global gender gap. [key report findings] [more]

JANUARY 6 | At the conclusion of yesterday's public hearing of the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, Wyoming congresswoman Liz Cheney said the committee has informed the Department of Justice that former President Donald Trump attempted to contact a committee witness and that any occurrences of witness tampering were being taken very seriously. [more]

U.K. POLITICS | A first round of voting by Conservative Party lawmakers in the U.K is scheduled for today to begin the process of selecting a new party leader from a list of eight candidates. A series of elimination votes will take place, with the eventual winner becoming the new U.K. prime minister, replacing outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson. [more]

U.S.-MEXICO RELATIONS | Meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington yesterday, Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador agreed to spend $1.5 billion over the next two years on smart border technology. Reports say the two leaders also reached agreements on expanding the number of work visas the U.S. issues and creating a bilateral working group on labor migration. [more]

SRI LANKA | Prime Minister and acting president Ranil Wickremesinghe declared a nationwide state of emergency for Sri Lanka today amidst ongoing widespread protests over the government's handling of the South Asian nation's economic crisis. Wickremesinghe was named the country's acting president by Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who promised to resign the presidency and fled the country this morning. [more]

HAITI | Officials in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince say at least 50 people have died and more than 50 others wounded in four days of gang violence in the city's Cite Soleil district. [more]

AFGHANISTAN | The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says at least 39 people have died in eastern Afghanistan over the past week due to flooding and mudslides caused by heavy rains. [more]

MONKEYPOX | The World Health Organization reports that more than 9,200 cases of monkeypox in 63 countries have been detected in the current outbreak. The U.N. agency will hold a second emergency meeting next week to consider declaring the outbreak a global health emergency. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | Government economists are expected to release data today showing an 8.8% increase in U.S. consumer prices in June compared to the year-ago period -- the highest such increase since December 1981. [more]

SOUTH KOREA | In a move aimed at taming record inflation rates, the Bank of Korea raised its benchmark interest rate today by 50 basis points to 2.25%, the largest increase since the bank adopted its current policy system in 1999. [more]

TRAVEL | Officials at London’s Heathrow Airport announced yesterday that they have capped the number of daily passengers departing the airport at 100,000 and urged airlines to not sell additional tickets that route passengers through the airport. The move is expected to exacerbate travel issues caused by increased travel demand and staff shortages. [more]

TWITTER | Social media company Twitter filed a lawsuit against Tesla CEO Elon Musk yesterday, seeking to compel Musk to complete his $44 billion purchase of the company. Musk said Friday he was backing away from the deal due to Twitter failing to provide adequate information about the number of fake accounts on its service. [more]

EMMY AWARDS | Nominees for the television industry's 2022 Emmy Awards were announced yesterday, with HBO's "Succession" receiving a pack-leading 25 nominations, followed by "Ted Lasso" and "The White Lotus," with 20 nominations each.  Netflix' "Squid Game" became the first non-English language series to be nominated for the best drama award. The 2022 Emmy Awards show will be aired on September 12. [complete list of nominees] [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1985, the Live Aid benefit concert was held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, drawing an estimated 1.9 billion television viewers and raising millions of dollars for famine relief. [more history]