February 14, 2023

UKRAINE | Today is day 355 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Amidst views that increased Russian operations in eastern Ukraine signify the start of Moscow’s new offensive in the nearly year-old invasion of Ukraine, NATO defense ministers are meeting today in Brussels, where discussions are expected to center on increased weapons and ammunition supplies for Kyiv. [more]
• Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere announced today that his country will provide 36 German-made Leopard 2 advanced battle tanks and four special-purpose armored engineering and bridge laying tanks to Ukraine. [more]

U.S. GUN VIOLENCE | Three people were killed, and five others wounded, last night on the East Lansing campus of Michigan State University when a gunman opened fire at two different locations. Police say the suspect, who they describe as a 43-year-old man, killed himself when confronted by authorities off campus. [more]

MEDAL OF HONOR | Nearly 60 years after his heroic actions taken to save two injured soldiers while serving as a member of the 5th Special Forces Group in Vietnam, Colonel Paris Davis, one of the first Black Green Berets, was informed by President Biden yesterday that he will be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Reports say the paperwork recommending that Davis receive the Medal of Honor was originally lost in 1965. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | In its monthly inflation report due out later this morning, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is widely expected to announce that consumer prices rose 6.2% in January, compared to the year-ago period — down from a 6.5% increase in December. [more]

NEW YORK CITY | At least one person was killed, and eight others wounded, yesterday when a man driving a rented moving truck swerved onto sidewalks and into bike lanes during a nearly hour-long incident in Brooklyn’s Bay Ridge neighborhood. Reports say the driver, Weng Sor, 62, who is in police custody, has a history of mental illness and violence. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and Trump administration ambassador to the United Nations, announced this morning that she will seek the Republican nomination for president for the 2024 election. [more]

TRUMP INVESTIGATIONS | Fulton County (Georgia) Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney yesterday ordered the partial release of a report from the grand jury that investigated alleged efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The report’s introduction and conclusion, as well as a portion of the report in which grand jurors stated concerns that some witnesses may have lied under oath, are expected to be released on Thursday. [more]

TURKEY AND SYRIA | U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has welcomed a decision by the Syrian government to open two new border crossings from Turkey to Syria to facilitate the flow of aid to millions of people in the country affected by last week’s earthquakes. [more]

PHILIPPINES | In response to allegations that a Chinese naval ship aimed a military-grade laser at at Philippine patrol vessel earlier this month, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said yesterday that the U.S. would stand by its mutual defense agreements with the Philippines and help defend the country in the event of an external attack. [more]

MOLDOVA | Moldovan President Maia Sandu said yesterday that Russia has been plotting to overthrow her government in an attempt to undermine Moldova’s bid to join the European Union. Sandu’s statement came a week after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his forces had intercepted Russian plans for action against the Moldovan government. Russia's foreign ministry responded by saying Sandu's claims are "unfounded and unsubstantiated."  [more]

NEW ZEALAND | In order to allow federal aid and support, officials in New Zealand declared a national state of emergency today for six administrative regions in the northern part of the country around Auckland where local emergencies had been in force due to landslides, flooding, and power outages caused by Cyclone Gabrielle. [more]

TUNISIA | In its latest move against opposition organizations, government authorities in Tunisia yesterday arrested Noureddine Bhiri, a leader of the Ennahda opposition Islamist movement, accusing him of taking part in a “conspiracy against the country’s security.” [more]

SPAIN | Human rights group Greenpeace said yesterday that it plans to appeal a recent Spanish Supreme Court decision that blocks public access to information on Spain’s sale of vehicle-mounted weapons systems to Saudi Arabia on national security grounds. [more]

AUTO INDUSTRY | Automaker Ford announced yesterday that it plans to cut some 3,800 jobs in Europe over the next three years — mostly in Germany and the U.K. — as part of the company’s operational streamlining efforts. [more]

NFL | Broadcaster Fox Sports says an estimated 113 million people watched Sunday night’s Super Bowl LVII — the third largest Super Bowl audience ever. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1946, the first programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer, the ENIAC (or Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), was announced and demonstrated to the public for the first time at the University of Pennsylvania.  [more history]