October 13, 2022

UKRAINE | Today is day 232 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• In a statement to Russian news agency TASS today, Alexander Venediktov, deputy secretary of Russia's Security Council, said that World War Three could be triggered if Ukraine joins the NATO alliance. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky formally requested NATO membership for Ukraine in late September. [more]
• Increased levels of Russian missile and drone strikes on Ukraine's capital region of Kyiv continued overnight for the fourth day in a row, according to Ukrainian officials. [more]
• The U.N. General Assembly voted yesterday to condemn Russia's recent annexation of four Ukrainian regions. A total of 143 countries voted in favor of the resolution condemning the annexations, while four -- Russia, North Korea, Syria, Belarus, and Nicaragua -- voted against, and 35 abstained from voting. [more]

JANUARY 6 | The House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol is scheduled to hold its 10th public hearing today at 1 p.m. ET. Presentations are expected to include information from witness interviews and Secret Service documents, but will not include live testimony, according to reports. [more]

U.S. SOCIAL SECURITY | The U.S. Social Security Administration is expected to announce the largest increase in benefit levels in 40 years today, along with a 3% drop in Medicare Part B premiums. [more]

SANDY HOOK | A Connecticut jury yesterday ordered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay $965 million to the families of some of the 26 people killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, and to an FBI agent who was among the first responders to the massacre, for damages caused by Jones by his claims that the shooting had been a hoax. The defamation lawsuit against Jones accused him and his media companies of using lies about the mass killing to build his audience and make millions of dollars. [more]

TRUMP INVESTIGATIONS | U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ruled yesterday that former President Donald Trump must answer questions under oath next week in a defamation lawsuit filed by E. Jean Carroll, who says she was raped by Trump in the mid-1990s. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | Government data scheduled to be released today is expected to show that U.S. consumer inflation rose in September to 8.1% compared to the year-ago period, according to a survey of economists by data provider FactSet. [more]

COVID-19 | The U.S. Food and Drug Administration yesterday authorized the use of the Pfizer and Moderna bivalent COVID-19 booster shots in children as young as 5 years of age. [more]

OPEC+ | The Saudi Foreign Ministry released a statement today saying that the U.S. urged Saudi Arabia to postpone the recent OPEC+ alliance's oil production cuts by a month -- a move which, while not specifically mentioned in the Saudi statement, would have delayed any energy price increases resulting from the cuts until after the November U.S. elections. [more]

BIODIVERSITY | The 2022 World Wildlife Fund Living Planet Report released yesterday says that populations of monitored vertebrate species around the world, including mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles. and fish, declined 69% from 1970 to 2018, with habitat loss, overexploitation of species, invasive species, pollution, climate change, and diseases playing key roles in the decline of biodiversity. [more]

NORTH KOREA | Leader Kim Jong Un supervised the test launches of two nuclear-capable long-range cruise missiles yesterday, according to North Korean state media. Kim characterized the launches as "another clear warning to enemies." [more]

ISRAEL | Reports say at least 23 people were arrested overnight in Jerusalem during clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian residents in the eastern part of the city. [more]

PHILIPPINES | Two weeks of joint combat readiness maneuvers involving more than 2,500 American and Philippine marines conclude tomorrow near Capas, Philippines. The military exercises are the first large-scale joint operations between the treaty allies under newly elected Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who took office in June. [more]

SWITZERLAND | Reports say the Swiss government has submitted a draft law to parliament that would impose a 1,000 Swiss franc, or roughly 1,000 U.S. dollar, fine on people who violate the country's national ban on face coverings in public places, which was approved by 51.2% of voters last year. Proponents of the so-called 'burqa ban' say it is a move against Islamic extremism, while opponents characterize it as Islamophobic and sexist. [more]

AUSTRALIA | Heavy rains in the southeastern Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria, and the island state of Tasmania, have prompted flood warnings and evacuations in some regions. [more]

TECH BAN | News service Axios reports that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission plans to ban all sales in the U.S. of new telecommunications equipment from Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE over national security concerns. [more]

GENIUS GRANTS | The MacArthur Foundation yesterday announced its list of 2022 fellowship recipients. Information on this year's 25 "genius grant" recipients, each of whom will receive an $800,000 no-strings grant, is available on the MacArthur Foundation website. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1903, the Boston Americans (later the Boston Red Sox) defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates to win the first modern baseball World Series. [more history]