December 5, 2022

UKRAINE | Today is day 284 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Two oil-related sanctions against Russia go into effect today: a European Union embargo on Russian oil shipped by sea and a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian oil that was agreed to by the U.S., Australia, Britain, Canada, Japan, and the E.U. on Friday. [more]
• Russian news agencies report that at least three people were killed, six others were wounded, and at least one military aircraft was damaged following explosions today at two Russian air force bases — one near the city of Ryazan, southeast of Moscow and in the Saratov region of Russia. No direct claims of responsibility for the blasts have been made. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | Voting takes place tomorrow in Georgia in the runoff Senate election between incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican Challenger Herschel Walker. [more]

NORTH CAROLINA | An estimated 37,000 people in and around North Carolina’s Moore County remain without power today after two power substations in the county were damaged by gunfire Saturday. Representatives of the Duke Energy power company say it could take until Thursday to restore power to all customers. [more]

TRUMP | Former U.S. President Donald Trump suggested over the weekend on his Truth Social media platform that parts of the U.S. Constitution and other regulation should be terminated to overturn the result of the 2020 election, drawing criticism from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers. [more]

SOCIAL MEDIA | Speaking at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy on Friday, U.S. FBI Director Chris Wray suggested that the Chinese government has the ability to control recommendation algorithms on the social media platform TikTok and that such control could be used to manipulate content for use in influence operations against the United States. [more]

SUPREME COURT | The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments today in the case of a Colorado website designer who refused to create a website for a same-sex marriage and who says being forced to do so under Colorado public accommodation laws would violate her religious freedoms. [more]

IRAN | Iran’s semi-official news agency ISNA cited the country’s chief prosecutor, Mohamed Jafar Montazeri, on Saturday as saying that Iran’s morality police force had been shut down. Later government statements did not confirm the closure of the force, but confirmed that Iran’s strict hijab law is under review. [more]

ISRAEL | U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday that the U.S. will remain steadfast in its support for Israel despite Biden administration concerns over policy differences with Israel’s Prime Minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu. [more]

INDONESIA | An estimated 2,000 people have been evacuated from the area surrounding Mount Semeru on the Indonesian island of Java after the volcano began erupting yesterday. Mount Semeru last erupted in December 2021, killing 51 people. [more]

NORTH KOREA | The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff reports that North Korean forces fired some 130 artillery rounds into the waters off its east and west coast sea borders with South Korea today. North Korean officials say the shelling was a warning prompted by recent South Korean and U.S. joint artillery exercises. [more]

EUROPEAN UNION | A meeting of the European Union’s executive commission tomorrow in Albania is expected to focus on potential candidates for expansion of the bloc, especially to include Western Balkan nations, and on the negative effects of Russia’s war in Ukraine on energy and food security. [more]

CHINA | Reports say China, amidst related protests and evidence of the latest coronavirus variants being less dangerous, is expected to announce further easing of its COVID-19-related restrictions and rules as early as Wednesday. [more]

TURKEY | Annualized inflation in Turkey fell in November for the first time since May 2021. Government data released today showed year-over-year consumer price inflation of 84.39% last month — down from 85.51% in October. [more]

MALTA | Reports say thousands of people took part in anti-abortion protests in Malta's capital city of Valletta yesterday following news of a proposed bill that would create an exception to the country’s strict anti-abortion laws. Malta is the only European Union member nation that currently bans abortion in all circumstances. [more]

INDIA | Officials in the Indian city of New Delhi imposed a temporary ban on private construction in and around the city yesterday as cooler weather trapped pollution, severely deteriorating the city’s air quality index. [more]

KENNEDY CENTER | Actor George Clooney, singers Amy Grant and Gladys Knight, composer and conductor Tania León, and Irish rock band U2 were among the Kennedy Center’s 2022 honorees celebrated last night at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. [more]

WORLD CUP | On the first two days of elimination play, the Netherlands beat the U.S. and Argentina beat Australia on Saturday, while France beat Poland and England beat Senegal on Sunday. Today’s matches include Japan vs Croatia and Brazil vs South Korea. [full schedule and results] [more]

ELECTRIC VEHICLES | A main topic at today’s meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council on the University of Maryland campus in College Park, Maryland, is expected to be the U.S. tax credit for electric vehicles produced in North America, which European economic ministers say would unfairly damage the market potential of European EVs. [more]

BASEBALL | Fred McGriff, a five-time All-Star and former home run leader in both the American and National Leagues, was unanimously elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame yesterday by the Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee. McGriff played for six Major League Baseball teams from 1986 through 2004. [more]

COLLEGE FOOTBALL | Following this weekend’s games, Georgia, Michigan, TCU, and Ohio State were selected yesterday for participation in this season’s College Football Playoff. [more]

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE | "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" topped the North American box office over the weekend with an estimated $17.6 million in receipts, followed by "Violent Night," and "Strange World." [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1933, Utah became the 36th U.S. state to ratify the Twenty-first Amendment, repealing Prohibition. [more history]