August 17, 2022

UKRAINE | Today is day 175 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Reports say U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the western Ukraine city of Lviv tomorrow. [more]
• In his nightly address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned residents of Crimea last night to avoid areas around Russian military installations in the occupied peninsula. Two Russian military installations in Crimea have been targeted in attacks in recent days. [more]
• Ukrainian officials say Russian-based hackers launched a significant cyberattack on the website of Ukraine’s state nuclear power company Energoatom yesterday. [more]

WYOMING | Congresswoman Liz Cheney was defeated by Harriet Hageman yesterday in the state's GOP primary. Cheney has been one of the most vocal Republican critics of former President Donald Trump, while Hageman was endorsed by Trump. [more]

COLORADO RIVER | The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation -- the nation's water resource management authority -- said yesterday that Arizona and Colorado will face cuts in the amount of water they can draw from the Colorado River for the second year in a row. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Touton says the states have failed to meet a federal deadline for cutting their water use by at least 15%. [more]

TRUMP INVESTIGATIONS | Rudy Giuliani, former New York mayor and attorney for then-President Donald Trump, is scheduled to testify before an Atlanta grand jury today in the investigation into efforts by Trump and his supporters to overturn his 2020 election defeat in Georgia. [more]

COVID-19 | California’s 6th District Court of Appeal ruled yesterday that a San Jose church does not have to pay some $200,000 in fines for violating pandemic-related state and county limits on indoor public gatherings.  [more]

HEARING LOSS | Under a final rule issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration yesterday, adults in the U.S. with mild to moderate hearing impairment will be able to buy hearing aids directly from stores, pharmacies and online retailers without a prescription starting in October. [more]

CHINA | Reports say factory closures and rolling blackouts are being increasingly used in China's southwest to lower power consumption as the region's hydropower energy production is threatened by low water levels brought on by drought. [more]

NEW ZEALAND | States of emergency have been declared in the northern and west coast regions of New Zealand's South Island due to flooding and landslides caused by heavy rains this week. Reports say at least 200 homes in the areas have been evacuated. [more]

THAILAND | Thai officials say explosions and fires at 17 locations across southern Thailand that injured at least seven people today appear to be coordinated attacks. Reports say no claims of responsibility have been made for the attacks. [more]

NORTH KOREA | A day after South Korean and U.S. forces began preliminary joint drills ahead of larger military exercises next week, North Korea fired two cruise missiles into the sea today. The missile launches bring to 19 the number of missile tests conducted by North Korea this year. [more]

KENYA | Defeated presidential candidate Raila Odinga has rejected as “null and void” the result of Kenya's August 9 election in which he lost to Deputy President William Ruto. Odinga is expected to appeal the election result in Kenya’s Supreme Court. [more]

U.K. ECONOMY | Britain's Office for National Statistics reported today that consumer price inflation in the U.K. rose at an annualized rate of 10.1% in July -- up from 9.4% in June and the highest rate since February 1982. [more]

OLYMPICS | Former Tokyo Olympic organizing committee board member Haruyuki Takahashi was arrested yesterday on suspicion of accepting bribes from a Japanese clothing company that was a sponsor of the 2020 Games. [more]

R.I.P. | German filmmaker Wolfgang Petersen died last Friday at the age of 81, according to a statement from his representative. Petersen was best known for his films "Das Boot," "In the Line of Fire," and "Air Force One." [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1999, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck near İzmit, Turkey, killing more than 17,000 people and leaving some 500,000 homeless. [more history]