January 6, 2023

UKRAINE | Today is day 316 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday ordered his forces to observe a unilateral 36-hour cease-fire in Ukraine starting today in recognition of the Orthodox Christmas holiday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not explicitly rejected or accepted the cease-fire, but suggested that Russia could be using the period of inactivity to regroup its forces and prepare additional attacks. [more]
• U.S. officials are expected to announce a new $2.85 billion military aid package to Ukraine today, which includes Bradley fighting vehicles, HUMVEES, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, and large amounts of missiles and other ammunition. [more]

JANUARY 6 | In a ceremony today marking the second anniversary of the January 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol, President Joe Biden will award the Presidential Citizens Medal to 12 law enforcement officers, election workers, and state and local officials for their contributions to defending democracy on that day and afterward. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | The House of Representatives is set to resume balloting for the House Speaker position today at noon after Republican leader Kevin McCarthy failed to obtain enough votes to be elected in five rounds of voting yesterday. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | The Labor Department is scheduled to release its latest jobs report today, with economists expecting an increase of about 200,000 in non-farm payrolls in December and unemployment remaining at 3.7% for the month. [more]

ABORTION | Two state supreme courts issued rulings on abortion issues yesterday. The Idaho Supreme Court ruled that the state constitution does not explicitly include a fundamental right to abortion, while the South Carolina Supreme Court struck down the state’s ban on abortion after cardiac activity is detected, saying that any limitation on abortion must give a woman sufficient time to determine that she is pregnant and take reasonable steps to terminate that pregnancy. [more]

IMMIGRATION | Warning immigrants to “not just show up at the border,” U.S. President Joe Biden said yesterday that the U.S. will immediately begin turning away Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans who cross into the country illegally from Mexico seeking asylum. The move expands on a similar rule implemented in October that turned away illegal immigrants from Venezuela. [more]

UTAH | Authorities in Enoch, Utah, say the eight family members found dead in a home earlier this week were apparently victims of a murder-suicide by the husband in the family and that the incident could be related to the wife’s recent filing for a divorce. [more]

HAWAII | Officials with the U.S. Geological Survey say Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano began erupting yesterday, less than a month after it and the neighboring Mauna Loa volcano last erupted. [more]

U.S.-MEXICO BORDER | President Joe Biden is expected to visit the U.S.-Mexico border for the first time as president on Sunday ahead of the two-day North American Leaders’ Summit with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday and Tuesday in Mexico City. [more]

MEXICO | Mexican Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval has announced that Ovidio Guzmán, son and drug operation heir of former cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, was captured yesterday by Army and National Guard personnel in the northern Mexico state of Sinaloa. Reports say the arrest triggered cartel violence across the state in which at least seven people have been killed and 21 others wounded. [more]

CHINA | Chinese authorities today urged travelers to reduce trips and gatherings during this month’s Lunar New Year celebration to minimize the risks of compounding the country’s COVID-19 case surge. The Lunar New Year, which begins January 22, is China’s most travel-intensive period of the year, with an estimated 2 billion trips to be made during the weeklong festival season. [more]

EUROPEAN ECONOMY | European Union statistics agency Eurostat reports today that consumer prices in the 19 countries that use the euro rose 9.2% in December -- down from a 10.1% increase in November and the smallest increase since August. [more]

ELECTRIC VEHICLES | Automaker Mercedes-Benz announced yesterday that it intends to build its own worldwide network of electrical vehicle charging stations, which will be open to use by owners of all EV makes. [more]

TRAVEL | Delta Air Lines said yesterday that it will start offering free Wi-Fi service on most of its U.S. flights beginning next month. [more]

CLIMATE CHANGE | A study published in the journal Science yesterday suggests that, at the current rate of climate change, some 32% of the world’s glacier mass could melt out of existence by 2100, resulting in a sea level rise of about 4.5 inches. [more]

NFL | The National Football League announced yesterday that Monday’s suspended Buffalo-Cincinnati game, which was halted when Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest on the field, will not be resumed or replayed, saying the game’s outcome would have no effect on which clubs qualify for the postseason. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 2021, supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol, where Congress was meeting to certify Joe Biden's win in the 2020 election. [more history]