August 25, 2022

UKRAINE | Today is day 183 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Ukrainian officials say at least 25 people were killed, and another 50 injured, when Russian missiles hit a train station yesterday in the town of Chaplyne in Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region. [more]
• U.S. President Joe Biden yesterday announced $2.98 billion in new long-term funding for Ukrainian military weapons and training "to ensure it can continue to defend itself over the long term." [more]

U.S. STUDENT LOANS | President Joe Biden yesterday announced federal student loan debt cancellation of $10,000 for borrowers who earn less than $125,000 per year, with those who received federal Pell Grants qualifying for an additional $10,000 in debt forgiveness. Biden also extended the current pause on student loan payments through the end of 2022. [more]

ABORTION | So-called trigger laws banning almost all abortions go into effect in Idaho, Tennessee, and Texas today when state-mandated waiting periods following the U.S. Supreme Court overturning of the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights ruling in June expire. A similar trigger law is scheduled to take effect tomorrow in North Dakota. [more]

UVALDE | The Uvalde, Texas, school district's board of trustees voted unanimously yesterday to fire police chief Pete Arredondo, who has been on leave since the May 24 massacre at Uvalde's Robb Elementary school in which 19 students and two teachers were killed by an 18-year-old gunman. [more]

CLIMATE | The California Air Resources Board is scheduled to vote today on a proposal to set a 2035 deadline for all new cars, trucks, and SUVs sold in the state to be powered by electricity or hydrogen. The proposed plan would also allow up to one-fifth of sales after 2035 to be plug-in hybrid vehicles that use both batteries and gasoline. [more]

SYRIA | The U.S. military's Central Command says several U.S. soldiers were wounded, and at least two suspected militants killed, yesterday in clashes between U.S. troops and Iran-backed militant groups in northeast Syria. [more]

PORTUGAL | The government of Portugal has recommended that non-essential water use, including for street cleaning, swimming pools, and watering green spaces, be temporarily suspended and that water prices be increased for the largest consumers in 43 of the country's 278 municipalities due to low water levels caused by the nation's ongoing drought. [more]

IRAN | The Iranian foreign ministry said yesterday that Iran has begun its review of a U.S. response to a European Union-drafted agreement that would restore the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and Western powers. [more]

JAPAN | Japanese National Police Agency Chief Itaru Nakamura said today that he will resign from his position to take responsibility for the July 8 fatal shooting of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Nakamura's announcement came after his agency released a report citing flaws in police protection as contributing to Abe's assassination. [more]

FRANCE AND ALGERIA | French President Emmanuel Macron departs on a three-day visit to Algeria today aimed at improving economic and diplomatic relations between the two countries sixty years after Algeria won its independence from France. [more]

TAIWAN | Taiwan's defense ministry said yesterday that it will begin deploying anti-drone defense systems on the territory's outlying islands next year. The announcement comes following the release of video footage showing Taiwanese soldiers throwing rocks at a Chinese drone near a Taiwanese military guard post. [more]

PAKISTAN | A Pakistani court has granted former Prime Minister Imran Khan bail following this week's filing of terrorism-related charges against him for saying in a speech that he intends to sue police and a judge and alleging that a former aide had been tortured by authorities. [more]

HEALTHCARE | Amazon has announced that it is closing its Amazon Care telehealth service on December 31. The service was launched for Amazon employees in 2019 and made available to employers nationwide in 2021. [more]

GOLF | Golfers Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have announced plans to form a technology-focused team golf league in which matches will be held in stadiums and three-person teams will compete using simulators for long shots and live shots for shorter ones. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1944, some two months after the Allied invasion of Normandy, Paris was liberated from German occupiers as the Free French 2nd Armored Division under General Jacques-Philippe Leclerc entered the city. [more history]