September 9, 2022

QUEEN ELIZABETH II | Ten days of official national mourning begin today in the U.K. to honor Queen Elizabeth II, who died yesterday at age 96 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Her son, now King Charles III, is scheduled to address the nation this evening. [key milestones in Elizabeth II's life] [Elizabeth II quotes, 1940-2022] [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 198 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• During a visit to Kyiv yesterday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. will provide an additional $2.2 billion in long-term military financing to Ukraine and 18 of its neighboring countries considered to be "potentially at risk of future Russian aggression." [more]
• Matilda Bogner, head of the U.N. human rights mission in Ukraine, said today that Russia is not allowing access to prisoners of war and that the U.N. has evidence of some POWs being tortured and undergoing other ill-treatment. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | The Labor Department reported yesterday that initial claims for unemployment benefits in the U.S. fell by 6,000 to 222,000 for the week ended September 3, and that the total number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits rose by 36,000 to 1.47 million for the week ended August 27. [more]

BANNON | Steve Bannon, longtime advisor to former President Donald Trump, pleaded not guilty yesterday to New York state charges related to the misuse of funds raised for the "We Build the Wall" U.S.-Mexico border wall funding project. [more]

COVID-19 | The Biden administration announced plans yesterday to purchase an additional 100 million at-home rapid COVID-19 test for the strategic national stockpile in anticipation of increased rates of coronavirus infection in the fall, according to a White House statement. The statement also called for increased Congressional funding of COVID-related testing, research, and vaccination. [White House statement] [more]

NORTH KOREA | The North Korean parliament yesterday passed measures declaring the country to be a permanent nuclear state and requiring the North Korean military to automatically execute nuclear strikes against enemies if the country's leadership comes under attack. [more]

PAKISTAN | U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is visiting flood-ravaged Pakistan today, where he called for increased international aid for victims of flooding that has caused more than 1,300 deaths and $10 billion in damages. [more]

CLIMATE | A new study in the journal Science suggests that multiple climate tipping points could be reached with only an additional few tenths of a degree of global warming over current levels. The tipping points noted as becoming increasingly likely include a slow, but irreversible, collapse of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, an increased loss of tropical coral reefs, and the thawing of high northern permafrost. [detailed findings] [more]

TURKEY | President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced yesterday that Turkish police and intelligence have captured senior Islamic State executive Bashar Hattab Ghazal Al Sumaidai, also known by the codename Abu Zeyd, but did not specify exactly when Al Sumaidai was taken into custody. [more]

INDIA AND CHINA | India and China began withdrawing their military troops from their shared-border Gogra-Hot Springs region in the western Himalayas yesterday, according to a statement from India's foreign ministry. The border area has been the site of multiple clashes in recent years, in which at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers have been killed. [more]

SPACE | At a press conference yesterday, NASA officials said the agency is targeting September 23 or September 27 for the launch of its delayed Artemis I moon mission. [more]

NFL | The Buffalo Bills beat the defending champion Los Angeles Rams last night, 31-10, in the opening game of the 2022 National Football League season. [more]

TENNIS | Tunisia's Ons Jabeur and Iga Swiatek of Poland won their respective women's semifinal matches at the U.S. Open yesterday and will face off in the final on Saturday. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1948, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) was proclaimed, setting the stage for the Korean War. [more history]