January 13, 2023

UKRAINE | Today is day 323 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• The Russian defense ministry says its forces now control the Donbas region town of Soledar and that the victory will allow its troops to cut off Ukrainian supply routes to the nearby city of Bakhmut. Ukrainian officials deny the Russian claims of control and say fighting in and around Soledar is continuing. [more]
• French armed forces minister Sebastien Lecornu said in a statement today that France hopes to deliver AMX 10-RC light combat tanks to Ukraine within two months. [more]

BIDEN DOCUMENTS | U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland yesterday appointed a special counsel to investigate the discovery of classified documents in the home and former office of President Joe Biden. Former U.S. attorney Robert Hur will lead the investigation. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | Year-over-year consumer price inflation declined for the sixth straight month in December, according to government data released yesterday, falling to 6.5% — down from 7.1% in November. [more]

SEVERE WEATHER | At least seven people in Georgia and Alabama were killed yesterday when a severe storm system and related tornados hit much of the southeastern United States. Tornado warnings associated with the storm system were issued in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, and North Carolina. [more]

INSULIN | California yesterday became the latest U.S. state to sue companies that make and promote most of the insulin used in the United States, accusing them of working together to increase the price of the drug. [more]

IMMIGRATION | U.S. Customs and Border Protection yesterday announced the launch of an online appointment system for migrants as the only way to apply for exceptions to the COVID-19-related Title 42 border restrictions. The CPBOne system allows migrants to make immigration appointments at eight border crossings in Texas, Arizona, and California. [more]

PRIVACY & SECURITY | Speaking before the U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board yesterday, Army Gen. Paul Nakasone, director of the National Security Agency, urged Congress to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act before it expires at the end of 2023. Section 702 allows for the broad intelligence and communications monitoring of foreign nationals, but has been criticized for allowing warrantless access to U.S. citizens’ communications with foreigners. [more]

U.S.-JAPAN RELATIONS | Security cooperation, China, and North Korea are expected to be among the main topics of discussion when U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meet today at the White House. Also today, representatives of the two countries are scheduled to sign an agreement on cooperation in space at the NASA headquarters in Washington, DC. [more]

WEST BANK | Palestinian officials say three Palestinians were killed in two separate overnight arrest raids by Israeli forces in the West Bank yesterday — one in the Qalandia refugee camp and one in the village of Qabatiya. [more]

SOUTH KOREA | Officials at South Korea’s National Police Agency say they are seeking criminal charges against 23 officials and law enforcement officers in connection with an alleged lack of safety measures that contributed to last October’s Halloween crowd surge incident in Seoul’s Itaewon entertainment district that killed at least 150 people. [more]

SRI LANKA | In a ruling yesterday, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court said that the failure of the South Asian nation’s former president and multiple defense and intelligence officials to act on specific foreign intelligence contributed to a series of Easter Sunday bomb attacks in the capital city of Colombo in 2019 and ordered them to pay restitution to victims. Two Islamic militant groups claimed responsibility for the bombings, which killed 269 people and wounded at least 500 others. [more]

CHINESE ECONOMY | Customs data released by China today indicates that the country’s trade surplus rose to a record-high $877.6 billion in 2022 — up from $676.43 billion in 2021 — despite significant import and export slowdowns in the final months of the year. [more]

MEXICO | Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum announced yesterday that some 6,000 National Guard officers will be deployed to the city’s subway system following a series of accidents and mechanical problems that Sheinbaum characterized as “not normal.” Reports say the National Guard officers are expected to patrol the subway system for several months. [more]

CLIMATE | A report released yesterday by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says 2022 was the sixth-warmest year on record since 1880, with a global average temperature of 58.55 degrees Fahrenheit (14.76 degrees Celsius). [more]

CANCER | According to the American Cancer Society’s annual cancer statistics report, from its peak in 1991, the cancer death rate in the U.S. for men and women combined fell 33% by 2020, the most recent year for which data were available for the report, representing an estimated 3.8 million fewer deaths from cancer over the 29-year period. [more]

R.I.P. | Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of late rock 'n' roll legend Elvis Presley, died yesterday at the age of 54, just hours after suffering a reported cardiac arrest at her California home. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1968, American singer and songwriter Johnny Cash recorded the album Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison in front of an audience of some 2,000 inmates at California's Folsom Prison. [more history]