January 12, 2023

UKRAINE | Today is day 322 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Polish President Andrzej Duda said yesterday that his country has agreed to provide Ukraine with a company of Leopard tanks as part of a larger international effort to provide Kyiv with tanks and other mechanized weaponry. [more]
• The Russian Defense Ministry says Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov has been appointed as the overall commander of forces in what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine. Gerasimov replaces General Sergey Surovikin, who led Russian operations in Ukraine for only three months. [more]

BIDEN DOCUMENTS | Attorneys for President Joe Biden have reportedly found multiple classified documents at a second location associated with Biden. The revelation comes only days after a first discovery of classified materials from Biden’s period as vice president at a Washington, DC, office was announced. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | The House Oversight Committee yesterday opened an investigation into financial transactions by members of the Biden family and the social media handling of stories about members of the family, drawing condemnation from Democratic members of Congress and support from Republicans, who say they are following through on promises of oversight and accountability. [more]

U.S. TRAVEL | The Federal Aviation Administration says yesterday’s outage of a pilot safety information service that caused some 1,300 flight cancellations and 9,000 delays in the U.S. appears to have been caused by a damaged database file and that it is taking steps to avoid future similar disruptions. [more]

NEW YORK CITY | A three-day strike by some 7,000 nurses at two large New York City hospitals has ended after an agreement on pay and staffing issues was reached between the New York State Nurses Association and hospital management. [more]

PERU | Officials in Peru say at least 37 civilians and six police officers were injured in protests against Peruvian President Dina Boluarte’s government in the southern city of Cusco yesterday. In a month of protests across the country, at least 48 people have been killed, according to reports. [more]

SOUTH PACIFIC | Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said today that he expects a new security and defense agreement with neighboring Papua New Guinea to be signed by June. Reports say the agreement will focus on increased defense cooperation, joint training of personnel, and the potential for joint military operations between the two countries. [more]

GERMAN ECONOMY | A new report from the German Chambers of Commerce and Industry says that 53% of 22,000 German companies surveyed are struggling to fill job vacancies and that the issue is particularly evident in positions requiring skilled workers, such as those with electrical equipment manufacturers, mechanical engineering companies, and carmakers. [more]

CLIMATE | The United Arab Emirates — host of the international COP28 climate summit later this year — today nominated Sultan al-Jaber, who heads the UAE’s state-run oil company, to be  the president of the summit. Supporters of the move say al-Jaber has a strong history of supporting clean energy efforts, while critics contend the nomination of an oil executive to lead a global climate summit represents a clear conflict of interest. [more]

CYBERSECURITY | Britain’s National Cyber Security Center says it is working with the country’s Royal Mail to investigate a cyberattack that hit the postal service yesterday, temporarily preventing it from sending letters and packages to other countries. [more]

GLOBAL ECONOMY | World markets are marginally higher today ahead of U.S. inflation data scheduled to be released later this morning. Stock indices in France, Germany, Britain, Japan, Hong Kong, and Shanghai are all up less than 1%, while Dow and S&P 500 futures are each down about 0.1% ahead of the inflation report as of 6am. [more]

WORK CULTURE | Tech giant Microsoft yesterday announced yesterday that it is changing its vacation and sick day policy for salaried employees in the US. to allow workers to take “unlimited time off.” [more]

ENTERTAINMENT | Nominees for the 29th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards were announced yesterday. In the film ensemble category, “Babylon,” “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “The Fabelmans,” and “Women Talking” were nominated for the Guild’s top award. The awards ceremony will take place February 26. [full nominee list] [more]

NFL | Buffalo Bills’ safety Damar Hamlin was released from a Buffalo hospital yesterday — a week and a half after suffering an on-field cardiac arrest during the Bill’s January 2 game against the Cincinnati Bengals. [more]

R.I.P. | Influential rock guitarist Jeff Beck has died at the age of 78 shortly after contracting bacterial meningitis, according to a statement released yesterday by his representatives. Beck won eight Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice — once with the 1960s band The Yardbirds in 1992 and again as a solo artist in 2009. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Beck fifth in its list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.” [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 2010, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti, especially Port-au-Prince, killing more than 200,000 people and leaving more than 1,000,000 homeless. [more history]