July 15, 2022

UKRAINE | Today is day 142 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Ukrainian officials say the death toll from Russian missile strikes yesterday in the central Ukraine city of Vinnytsia has risen to at least 23 people, with more than 100 others wounded. [more]
• At the Ukraine Accountability Conference held yesterday at The Hague, delegates from more than 40 countries agreed to collaborate on investigations into Russian war crimes committed in Ukraine. [more]

MIDDLE EAST | After two days of meetings with Israeli officials, U.S. President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today in Bethlehem, where he is expected to announce more than $300 million in aid for Palestinians, including $100 million for Palestinian hospitals. Biden will travel to Saudi Arabia later today. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | Initial applications for unemployment benefits rose by 9,000 to 244,000 for the week ended July 9, according to Labor Department data released yesterday, while the total number of Americans receiving such benefits fell by 41,000 to 1,331,000 for the week ended July 2. [more]

U.S. CRISIS HOTLINE | The new U.S. 988 nationwide Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is scheduled to go live tomorrow. Modeled after the 911 emergency system, people who are suicidal or in any other mental health crisis can connect with a trained mental health professional by calling or texting the numbers 9-8-8. [more]

ABORTION | The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote today on two abortion-related bills in the first national legislative efforts to address the recent Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. The bills would prohibit punishment for a woman or child who decides to travel to another state to get an abortion and enshrine abortion access as protected under federal law. Regardless of voting outcomes in the House, neither bill is expected to have sufficient support in the Senate to become law. [more]

MORE on ABORTION | The Texas Attorney General's office filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging recent Biden administration guidance that said federal law requires doctors to perform abortions for pregnant people in emergency rooms when it is "the stabilizing treatment necessary" to resolve a medical emergency. The Texas lawsuit claims the guidance violates the state's "sovereign interest in the power to create and enforce a legal code." [more]

U.S. VIOLENCE | The U.S. House of Representatives this week passed a bipartisan bill that would establish a nationwide alert system, similar to Amber alerts, to inform residents of local active-shooter incidents. [more]

HAITI | The U.N. Security Council is scheduled to vote today on a resolution calling for all countries to stop the transfer of small arms, light weapons, and ammunition to any party supporting gang violence and criminal activity in Haiti, which has seen a recent increase in violence and kidnappings. [more]

SRI LANKA | Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s interim president today, following the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday amidst widespread protests over the government's handling of the country's economic crisis. Sri Lanka’s Parliament will begin a series of meetings this weekend to choose a new president who will serve out the remainder of Rajapaksa's term, which ends in 2024. [more]

SAUDI ARABIA | Officials in Saudi Arabia today announced that the country has opened its airspace to all air carriers, effectively ending its longstanding ban on Israeli flights overflying its territory. [more]

CHINESE ECONOMY | Beijing released data yesterday showing that China's economy shrank by 2.6% in the second quarter of 2022, compared to the first three months of the year, with COVID-19-related shutdowns being responsible for most of the economic contraction. [more]

HUNGARY | The European Commission has announced that it is suing Hungary in the European Court of Justice over two issues: an anti-LGBT law and a refusal to renew the broadcast license of a broadcaster critical of the government. [more]

ITALY | Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi offered his resignation yesterday after losing the support of the coalition government member group Five Star. Italian President Sergio Mattarella refused to accept Draghi's resignation, calling instead for a parliamentary resolution to the issue. [more]

U.K. POLITICS | The five remaining candidates to become Britain's Conservative Party leader and the country's new Prime Minister, replacing Boris Johnson, will take part in the first of three televised debates tonight. [more]

G20 | Finance leaders from the Group of 20 leading economies begin a two-day meeting in Indonesia today, with efforts to counter global economic effects of the war in Ukraine expected to be the main topic of discussion. [more]

CLIMATE | Pacific island national leaders meeting at the Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji declared a climate emergency today, calling on its 18 member nations to commit to clear progress on the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). [more]

SOCCER | Women's national teams from the U.S. and Canada advanced to the final of the CONCACAF W Championship with wins last night against Costa Rica and Jamaica, respectively. Canada and the U.S. will play for the championship on Monday evening with the winner qualifying for the 2024 Olympics. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1834, the Spanish Inquisition was abolished by royal decree more than 350 years after its establishment. [more history]