October 25, 2022

UKRAINE | Today is day 243 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Reuters cites unnamed U.S. officials as saying the U.S. is considering supplying Ukraine with older HAWK air defense systems. The HAWK system — a predecessor to the PATRIOT missile defense system — would be considered an upgrade to the Stinger missile systems that the U.S. has already provided to Ukraine. [more]
• A poll released yesterday by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found that 86% of Ukrainian respondents felt Ukraine’s armed conflict with Russia should continue despite the shelling of Ukrainian cities, while 10% felt that Ukraine should start peace negotiations with Russia to stop the shelling of cities, even if that means making concessions. [more]

U.S. GUN VIOLENCE | Two people were killed, and seven others injured, yesterday when a gunman opened fire at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis, Missouri. Authorities have identified the shooter, who was killed in a firefight with police, as 19-year-old Orlando Harris, who graduated from the school last year. [more]

HAWAII | U.S. military authorities say work will begin today to drain some 1 million gallons of fuel from three pipelines from a World War II-era fuel storage facility that leaked petroleum into Pearl Harbor’s tap water last year. [more]

MICHIGAN | Ethan Crumbley, 16, pleaded guilty yesterday to 24 charges, including terrorism and first-degree murder, in connection with last year’s school shooting at Oxford High School in southeastern Michigan in which four people were killed. [more]

CHINA | Two suspected Chinese intelligence agents were charged yesterday with attempting to bribe a U.S. official with the aim of interfering with the U.S. criminal investigation of Chinese tech giant Huawei. The charges were announced at a news conference held jointly by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray. [more]

NICARAGUA | U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order yesterday that expands authorities available to impose trade and other sanctions on Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's government for “escalating human rights violations, continued dismantling of democratic institutions, attacks on civil society, and increasing security cooperation with Russia.” [more]

U.K. POLITICS | Rishi Sunak has become Britain’s fifth prime minister in six years, and the third in less than two months, after meeting with King Charles III today at Buckingham Palace. Sunak, the U.K.'s first prime minister of color and the youngest in more than 200 years, replaces Liz Truss, who was in office only seven weeks. [more]

WEST BANK | Reports say at least five Palestinians were killed and 20 others wounded in an overnight raid by Israeli forces on a stronghold of the Lions’ Den militant group in the West Bank city of Nablus. [more]

GLOBAL ENERGY | International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol said today that tightening natural gas markets and cuts in oil production by major suppliers have placed the world in its “first truly global energy crisis.” [more]

NORTH KOREA | South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said today that North Korea appears to have completed preparations for its seventh nuclear test, which would be its first such test since September 2017. [more]

MYANMAR | Reports say the death toll from an air strike carried out by government forces on a music festival in northern Myanmar has risen to 80. The festival was being held by the Kachin Independence Organization opposition group. [more]

BANGLADESH | Reports from Bangladesh say at least 16 people died and more than 8 million were left without power after Tropical Storm Sitrang hit the South Asian nation’s southern and southwestern coastal regions yesterday. [more]

CLIMATE | Representatives from African nations began their multi-day Climate Change and Development in Africa conference yesterday in Namibia to set continent-wide climate policy priorities ahead of the U.N.’s COP27 global climate summit, which begins November 6 in Egypt. [more]

AGING | A new study published in the journal JAMA Neurology finds that approximately one-third of 3496 individuals aged 65 years and older studied in the U.S. had either dementia or mild cognitive impairment. Prevalence rates were similar by sex, but varied by age, education, and race and ethnicity. [full study] [more]

BUSINESS | Netherlands-based Royal Philips has announced plans to cut about 4,000 jobs, mostly in the U.S. and Netherlands, following poor company performance associated with the medical equipment maker's massive recall of sleep apnea devices last year. [more]

R.I.P. | Actor Leslie Jordan, best known for his roles in television’s “Will & Grace,” “American Horror Story,” and “Call Me Kat” died yesterday in a car accident in Los Angeles at the age of 67. [more]

GRINER | An appeals court hearing began today in Russia in the case of U.S. WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner, who is seeking to overturn her conviction and nine-year prison sentence for possession and smuggling of drugs. Griner has been imprisoned in Russia since being arrested at a Moscow airport in February. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1950, China entered the Korean War on the side of North Korea against South Korea and the United Nations, the United States being the U.N.'s principal participant. [more history]