August 15, 2022

UKRAINE | Today is day 173 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• In its daily intelligence bulletin, the British Ministry of Defense notes that heavy fighting has broken out in the village of Pisky, near the Donetsk regional airport. [more]
• Ukrainian officials say Russian missile and artillery strikes in the region around the northeastern city of Kharkiv increased significantly over the weekend. [more]
• U.N. officials say the first humanitarian food aid cargo bound for Africa from Ukraine under the grain export deal has departed for Ethiopia after loading more than 23,000 metric tons of wheat in the Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi. [more]

PENNSYLVANIA | One person was killed, and 17 others injured, yesterday when a man drove his vehicle into a crowd attending a local fundraiser in Berwick, Pennsylvania. Adrian Oswaldo Sura Reyes, 24, was arraigned on charges of criminal homicide in connection with the incident. [more]

EGYPT | Authorities in Cairo say at least 41 people were killed, and 16 others injured, yesterday when a fire broke out at a crowded Coptic Orthodox church in the city. [more]

TAIWAN | Chinese military officials have announced a new round of air and naval military exercises around Taiwan in response to a visit to the island by a U.S. congressional delegation over the weekend. The new exercises follow two weeks of Chinese live-fire drills in the area prompted by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit. [more]

IRAN | Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian says his country will respond by midnight tonight to the latest EU-authored plan for a renewal of the 2015 international agreement aimed at limiting Iran's nuclear development. [more]

ECUADOR | Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso has declared a 30-day state of emergency in the country’s second-largest city of Guayaquil after five people were killed and at least 17 others injured in an explosion Sunday, which government officials blamed on “organized-crime mercenaries." [more]

JERUSALEM | Israeli police say at least eight people were wounded Saturday night when a Palestinian gunman opened fire on a bus and other vehicles near the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City. [more]

KOREA | South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said today that his country would provide substantial economic aid to North Korea, including food supplies, power infrastructure support, and port and airport modernization, if the North stops its nuclear weapon development program and commits to denuclearization. [more]

MYANMAR | Reports say deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to six years in prison by a court in Myanmar today after she was found guilty on four charges of corruption. [more]

SPAIN | An estimated 1,500 people were forced to evacuate their homes in Spain's Zaragoza province over the weekend due to a rapidly expanding wildfire that authorities say has burned as many as 20,000 acres. [more]

RUSHDIE | Author Salman Rushdie remains hospitalized today after being stabbed multiple times Friday at an event in New York. Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey, has been charged in the attack, but has pleaded not guilty. [more]

CHINESE ECONOMY | China's central bank lowered its key interest rate today in a move economists say suggests the country does not think it can reach its official 5.5% economic growth target. The Chinese economy grew by 2.5% in the first half of 2022, according to previously released government data. [more]

ENERGY BUSINESS | State-owned Saudi oil company Aramco has reported $48.4 billion in net income for the April-June quarter -- nearly double the company's net income from the previous quarter. [more]

GOLF | Will Zalatoris beat Sepp Straka in a playoff yesterday to win the FedEx St. Jude Championship. The win was Zalatoris' first PGA Tour victory. [more]

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE | "Bullet Train" topped the North America box office over the weekend with an estimated $13.4 million in receipts, followed by "DC League of Super-Pets," and "Top Gun: Maverick." [more]

R.I.P. | Actress Anne Heche has died at the age of 53 from injuries sustained in an August 5 car crash. Heche was taken off life support yesterday following an organ donation assessment, according to reports. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1947, the Indian independence movement, led by Mahatma Gandhi, achieved its goal with the establishment of a free and independent India, ending nearly 200 years of British rule. [more history]