October 5, 2022

UKRAINE | Today is day 224 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Russian President Vladimir Putin signed measures into law today that formally recognize the annexation into the Russian Federation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. [more]
• The United States announced plans yesterday to provide an additional $625 million in military aid to Ukraine. This latest aid package includes four High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, 200 mine-resistant vehicles, and artillery and mortar ammunition. [more]

AI TECHNOLOGY | The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released a "Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights" yesterday. The release does not include implementation mandates or enforcement actions, but provides a set of guidelines for protecting digital and civil rights "whenever automated systems can meaningfully impact the public’s rights, opportunities, or access to critical needs." [full document] [more]

U.S. NATIONAL DEBT | Treasury Department data released yesterday indicates that the United States' public debt exceeded $31 trillion for the first time ever on Monday. [more]

TRUMP INVESTIGATIONS | Attorneys for former President Donald Trump submitted an emergency filing to the Supreme Court yesterday, asking the Court to overturn a lower court ruling and allow special master Raymond Dearie to review classified documents that were among those records seized from Trump's Florida home in August as part of a Department of Justice investigation. [more]

ETHIOPIA | The government of Ethiopia has agreed to attend peace talks this weekend in South Africa aimed at ending its two-year conflict with forces in the country's northern Tigray region. No response to an invitation to join the African Union-sponsored talks has yet been received from Tigray leaders, according to reports. [more]

SOUTH KOREA | A live-fire ballistic missile launch in South Korea yesterday failed, and the missile crashed inside an air base near the coastal city of Gangneung. The launch was one of a series of surface-to-surface missile launches conducted by U.S. and South Korean forces in response to recent North Korean missile tests. [more]

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC | U.N. officials say three Bangladeshi members of the U.N. peacekeeping force in the Central African Republic were killed by a roadside bomb explosion earlier this week near the northwestern village of Kaita. [more]

OIL SUPPLY | Reports say the OPEC+ group of oil exporting countries is expected to decide to cut oil production by 1-2 million barrels per day when the group meets today in Vienna. [more]

NOBEL PRIZES | Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Morten Meldal and K. Barry Sharpless were named the winners of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry today for "the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry." [more]

R.I.P. | Country music legend Loretta Lynn died yesterday in Tennessee at the age of 90, according to a statement from her family. Over the course of her career, Lynn had 51 Top 10 country hits, won four GRAMMY awards, seven American Music Awards, and eight Country Music Association awards. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. [more]

TWITTER | In a letter to Twitter executives yesterday, attorneys for Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk say Musk intends to proceed with his purchase of the social media company. The move comes after months of legal proceedings prompted by Musk announcing that he would not move forward with the deal. [more]

PHONE CHARGING | The European Parliament approved a rule yesterday that would require all mobile phones, tablets, and cameras sold in the European Union to be equipped with a USB Type-C charging port by the end of 2024. The measure still requires approval by the European Council to become law. [more]

CHESS | A 72-page report by Chess.com says that 19-year-old American chess grandmaster Hans Niemann "likely cheated" in more than 100 online matches. Controversy over Niemann's play was sparked last month when world chess champion Magnus Carlsen accused Niemann of cheating. [more]

BASEBALL | The New York Yankees' Aaron Judge hit his record-setting 62nd home run of the season last night, breaking Roger Maris' American League record. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1969, the British television series Monty Python's Flying Circus debuted on the BBC and proved to be a watershed for TV comedy around the world. [more history]