August 9, 2022

UKRAINE | Today is day 167 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• The U.S. has announced a new $1 billion military aid package for Ukraine, consisting largely of ammunition for HIMARS missile systems and other artillery pieces, mortar systems and ammunition, and shoulder-fired Javelin rockets. [more]
• Reports say Russian forces appear to have intensified ground, air, and artillery operations in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region today in their continuing effort to seize control of the industrialized region. [more]
• Russian defense officials claimed today that its forces destroyed a Ukrainian ammunition depot near the city of Uman overnight at which U.S.-made HIMARS missiles and M777 howitzers were stored. [more]
• In a Washington Post interview yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for a one-year international travel ban on all Russians and a full embargo on the purchase of Russian energy products. In response, Russian officials characterized Zelensky's call for a complete travel ban as "irrational." [more]

NUCLEAR INSPECTIONS | Russia announced a temporary freeze on U.S. inspections of its nuclear arsenal yesterday. The Russian Foreign Ministry says the freeze is due U.S. sanctions that make it impossible for Russian inspectors to travel to the U.S. to conduct their own inspections. [more]

TRUMP | The Florida home of former U.S. President Donald Trump was searched by the FBI yesterday, according to statements from Trump himself. The search, which required a federal judge to review and approve a search warrant application, is widely reported to be linked to investigations into the removal of classified material from the White House when Trump left office. [more]

AHMAUD ARBERY CASE | Father and son George and Greg McMichael were sentenced to life in prison yesterday on federal hate crime charges in connection with the February 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. The McMichaels were previously sentenced to life in prison without parole in a state court for killing Arbery. [more]

U.S. IMMIGRATION | The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said yesterday that it has ended a Trump-era policy that required asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court. The move follows a June 30 Supreme Court ruling that the "Remain in Mexico" policy could be terminated. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | Four states -- Wisconsin, Minnesota, Vermont, and Connecticut -- are holding primary elections today to choose candidates for November's general elections. [more]

TAIWAN | Military officials in Taiwan have announced the start of the island's own live-fire exercises amidst similar drills by Chinese forces around the island that were a response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taipei last week. [more]

WEST BANK | The Palestinian Health Ministry says at least three people were killed and 40 others wounded in a shootout between Israeli forces and Palestinians today during an arrest raid in the West Bank city of Nablus. [more]

GAZA | Reports cite Israeli officials as suggesting that up to a third of the 47 Palestinians killed in weekend clashes between Israeli forces and Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza died from errant rockets fired by the militant group. [more]

SOUTH KOREA | At least 10 people have died, and seven others remain missing, in the South Korean capital of Seoul due to extensive flooding caused by heavy rains that officials say are the heaviest in nearly 80 years. [more]

KENYA | Voting is underway in Kenya today in a tightly contested presidential election race between longtime opposition leader Raila Odinga and Deputy President William Ruto. More than 18,000 local and international election observers are reported to be monitoring polls across the country to ensure the integrity of voting. [more]

HEALTH & CLIMATE | A new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change concludes that 58% of 375 human diseases studied worldwide have been aggravated, and 16% diminished, at some point by climate-related factors. [full study] [more]

R.I.P. | Recording artist and actress Olivia Newton-John died yesterday at the age of 73. Newton-John had 14 top-10 singles in the U.S. and won four Grammy awards over the course of her music career, and starred in films including "Xanadu" and the blockbuster musical film "Grease." [more]

MORE R.I.P. | Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian David McCullough died Sunday at the age of 89. McCullough is widely known for his biographies of U.S. Presidents John Adams and Harry Truman, historical treatments of the Panama Canal and the Brooklyn Bridge, and for narrating the PBS series "American Experience" and Ken Burns' "Civil War" television series. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1945, the second atomic bomb dropped on Japan by the United States in World War II struck the city of Nagasaki. [more history]