July 28, 2022

UKRAINE | Today is day 155 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Reports say Russian missiles struck the Ukrainian regions of Kyiv and Chernihiv overnight. Neither region has been targeted in weeks and the missile attacks came one day after a leader of pro-Kremlin separatists in eastern Ukraine called for Russia to liberate cities founded by the Russian people, including Kyiv and Chernihiv. [more]
• British intelligence officials say a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the southern city of Kherson has cut off much of the area, leaving thousands of Russian troops stationed near the Dnipro River "highly vulnerable." [more]
• In a move seen as strengthening Ukraine's defenses against Russian cyber aggression, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency signed an agreement with its Ukrainian counterpart yesterday to share information on cyber incidents, best practices, and critical infrastructure security, and to conduct joint cybersecurity training exercises. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark overnight interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point yesterday as part of its continuing efforts to fight inflation. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said another significant interest rate hike could be appropriate in September if price pressures have not eased by that point. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin have put forward a $739 billion compromise proposal to fund inflation-fighting health care, climate change, and deficit reduction strategies as part of the "Inflation Reduction Act of 2022." One portion of the bill raises funds by imposing a new 15% minimum tax on corporations that earn more than $1 billion in annual profits. [more]

GEORGE FLOYD CASE | Two former Minneapolis police officers -- Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng --  were sentenced to prison terms in a federal court yesterday for violating George Floyd's civil rights by failing to come to Floyd's aid as he was pinned under the knee of senior officer Derek Chauvin in May 2020. Tau received a 3-1/2 year prison sentence, while Kueng was sentenced to 3 years. [more]

U.S.-RUSSIA DIPLOMACY | U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday that the U.S. has made a "substantial offer" to Russia to secure the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan from Russian prisons. Details of the offer were not given by Blinken, but reports say it could involve exchanging the U.S. citizens for Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout, who is serving a 25 year-prison sentence in the United States. [more]

JULY 4 PARADE SHOOTING | Robert Crimo III was indicted by a grand jury yesterday on 21 first-degree murder counts, 48 counts of attempted murder, and 48 counts of aggravated battery in connection with the Fourth of July parade shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, that killed seven people and wounded dozens of others.  [more]

COVID-19 | Health officials in Wuhan, China, have imposed a three-day lockdown on about one million residents of the city after four asymptomatic COVID cases were detected in the city earlier this week. [more]

MALI | Fifteen soldiers and three civilians were killed in two separate attacks on military camps by Islamic militants in southwest Mali yesterday, according to a statement from the African nation's military. [more]

IRAN | Reports say at least four people died today in landslides and flash floods caused by heavy rains in the Iranian capital of Tehran. [more]

NEW ZEALAND | Officials in New Zealand say at least a dozen schools across the country received bomb threats today and were either locked down or evacuated. No explosives were found at any of the schools, and investigators say there is evidence the bombs threats were part of a foreign cyberattack. [more]

CLIMATE | Delegates from African nations began meeting yesterday in the Mozambique capital of Maputo to identify common priorities to address the effects of climate change and to formulate a common position ahead of November's United Nations COP27 climate summit in Egypt. [more]

MONKEYPOX | U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra announced the release of an additional 786,000 doses of the monkeypox vaccine to states yesterday. More than 4,600 cases of monkeypox have been detected in the U.S. in the current outbreak. [more]

BUSINESS | Facebook parent company Meta reported its first-ever quarterly decrease in revenue yesterday. The company's total revenue fell 1% for the quarter ended June 30, compared to the year-ago period. [more]

AIRLINE INDUSTRY | JetBlue has announced plans to buy Spirit Airlines for $3.8 billion in a deal that would create the U.S.'s fifth largest airline if approved by regulators. The announcement comes one day after a proposed Spirit merger with Frontier Airlines fell apart. [more]

SOCCER | Germany beat France, 2-1, yesterday to advance to the final of the UEFA Women's EURO 2022 tournament. Germany will play England in the final on Sunday. [more]

FORMULA 1 | Four-time world Formula 1 racing champion Sebastian Vettel announced today that he is retiring after the current season. [more]

R.I.P. | Actor Tony Dow, best known for his role as older brother Wally Cleaver in the classic sitcom "Leave It to Beaver," died yesterday at the age of 77. Dow announced in May that he had been diagnosed with prostate and gall bladder cancers. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1914, using the assassination of the Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand as a pretext to present Serbia with an unacceptable ultimatum, Austria-Hungary declared war on the Slavic country on this day in 1914, sparking World War I. [more history]