September 27, 2022

UKRAINE | Today is day 216 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• The U.K. defense ministry says Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to announce the annexation of Russian regions where Kremlin-backed referendums on joining Russia took place as early as Friday. [more]
• Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhailo Podolyak said yesterday that Ukrainians who assisted in the holding of Russian-backed referendums on joining Russia in four regions of the country will face treason charges and prison terms of up to five years. [more]
• Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said yesterday that Russian President Vladimir Putin, in speaking with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week, stated that Moscow was ready to resume negotiations with Ukraine but had “new conditions” for a cease-fire. [more]

RUSSIA | The death toll from yesterday's school shooting in Izhevsk, Russia, has risen to 17, including 11 children. Twenty-four other people, including 22 children, were wounded in the attack by 34-year-old Artyom Kazantsev, who was a graduate of the school and who killed himself at the scene. [more]

HURRICANE IAN | An estimated 50,000 people were evacuated from at-risk areas of Cuba today as Hurricane Ian hit the island nation as a Category 3 storm. Reports say about 300,000 people are under evacuation orders in Florida, where the storm is expected to arrive by tomorrow at Category 4 strength. [more]

JANUARY 6 | Jury selection begins today in the federal trial of Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group, and four associates on charges of seditious conspiracy in connection with their actions related to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. [more]

STUDENT LOANS | In a report released yesterday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the Biden administration plan to provide up to $20,000 in student loan forgiveness per borrower will cost about $400 billion over the next 30 years. [more]

COVID-19 | Pfizer and BioNtech filed yesterday for emergency use authorization in the U.S. for their updated bivalent COVID-19 vaccine to be used in children ages 5-11. The filing comes after a similar filing by Moderna last week. Both updated vaccines specifically target the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 coronavirus subvariants in addition to the original COVID-19 strain. [more]

PANDEMIC FRAUD | Former Nigerian government official Abidemi Rufai was sentenced to five years in prison in the U.S. yesterday for fraudulently receiving an estimated $500,000 in COVID-19-related pandemic relief benefits. Rufai, who pleaded guilty to the charges, used stolen identities to apply for pandemic-related benefits in at least nine states. [more]

FOOD CRISIS | The Philippines-based Asian Development Bank said today that it will allocate at least $14 billion through 2025 to ease Asia-Pacific hunger and nutrition problems that the bank says affects some 1.1. billion people in the region. [more]

VIETNAM | An estimated 800,000 people in Vietnam have been evacuated ahead of tomorrow's expected arrival of Typhoon Noru, which caused significant flooding and at least eight deaths in the Philippines in recent days. [more]

JAPAN | Amidst heightened security due to anticipated protests, Japan is holding a state funeral for assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe today in Tokyo. [more]

CUBA | The Cuban government says 66% of voters in Sunday's national referendum supported reforms to Cuba's family code that would provide greater protections for women, children, and the elderly, and allow same-sex couples to marry and adopt children. [more]

AIR TRAVEL | The U.S. Department of Transportation yesterday proposed a new rule that would require airlines to provide more complete pricing information whenever fare and schedule information is provided for flights to, within, and from the United States. The measure would require the disclosure of fees charged to seat a young child with an accompanying adult, change or cancel a flight, or travel with a first checked bag, a second checked bag, or a carry-on bag. [more]

SPACE | In an experiment aimed at altering the course of an asteroid, the NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test -- or DART -- spacecraft collided with the asteroid Dimorphos some seven million miles from Earth yesterday. The first-of-its-kind mission is a planetary defense experiment to see if altering the trajectory of asteroids on potential collision courses with Earth is feasible. [more]

NFL | The National Football League has announced that it is eliminating its annual full-contact Pro Bowl game and replacing it with "The Pro Bowl Games" -- a weeklong skills competition and a flag football game. The first instance of the new format will be held in Las Vegas in February 2023. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1066, after being delayed by bad weather, William, duke of Normandy, embarked his army and set sail for the southeastern coast of England in what would become known in history as the Norman Conquest. [more history]