March 6, 2023

UKRAINE | Today is day 375 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, said yesterday that Russia’s controlling position around the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut is at risk due to the lack of ammunition supplies for his forces. [more]
• Ukrainian military officials say 13 of 15 Russian drones launched in overnight attacks were shot down, but that a school and several apartment buildings in the eastern city of Kramatorsk were damaged in the attacks. [more]

OHIO | Railway and public health officials say no hazardous materials were involved in the Saturday derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train in Springfield Township, Ohio. The cause of the derailment — Norfolk Southern’s second in the state in a month — is under investigation. [more]

U.S. CIVIL RIGHTS | President Joe Biden spoke yesterday at the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, emphasizing the continuing need for voting rights protections and marking the anniversary of Selma's pivotal March 1965 “Bloody Sunday” civil rights event. [more]

MEASLES | The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health alert Friday advising clinics and public health officials to be watchful for cases of measles after a case of the disease was confirmed in an attendee of a large mid-February religious gathering of some 20,000 people at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. [more]

ATLANTA | Reports say at least 35 people were arrested yesterday following sometimes-violent clashes between police and protesters at the 85-acre construction site of a police and fire training center in Georgia's DeKalb County. [more]

U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS | The Associated Press cites an unnamed U.S. official as saying U.S. President Joe Biden is planning to issue a new executive order soon that would restrict American investment in overseas technologies that could be used by China to advance its military capabilities. [more]

CHINESE ECONOMY | Speaking at a meeting of China’s legislature yesterday, Chinese economic officials set a goal of 5% growth for the country’s economy this year, which they said would be facilitated by the creation of 12 million new jobs and by encouraging consumer spending. [more]

ENVIRONMENT | Representatives of more than 200 countries signed a binding U.N. agreement yesterday that establishes a framework for the protection of marine life and biodiversity in international waters. The agreement will require ratification by each of the signatory nations. [more]

IRAN | Iranian officials this weekend confirmed that suspected chemical poisonings have taken place at 52 girls’ schools across Iran  since November. No related fatalities have been reported, but affected children have complained of headaches, heart palpitations, feeling lethargic, and being unable to move. Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said Saturday that “suspicious samples” have been recovered at the schools and that investigations into the incidents are ongoing. [more]

PAKISTAN | Media regulators in Pakistan yesterday banned all media outlets in the country from broadcasting recorded or live speeches by former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has been highly critical of current Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, and of the country’s military, since being removed from office in a no-confidence vote last April. [more]

SOUTH KOREA | South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin announced plans today for the formation of a national foundation that will raise funds through civilian donations to compensate Korean victims of Japanese forced labor policies during Japan’s colonial rule of Korea from 1910 to 1945. [more]

ISRAEL | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday characterized as “inappropriate” a recent comment by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said last week that the West Bank town of Hawara, in which two Israelis were killed in a recent Palestinian shooting attack, should be “erased.” [more]

BANGLADESH | Officials from the U.N. Refugee Agency say thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees were left homeless yesterday following a fire at the Balukhali refugee camp in southern Bangladesh. [more]

GREECE | Reports say a local train stationmaster has been jailed and charged with negligent homicide in connection with last week’s train collision that killed at least 57 people near the central Greece city of Larissa. [more]

R.I.P. | Guitarist Gary Rossington, the last surviving original member of the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, died yesterday at the age of 71, according to a statement released by the band. [more]

MORE R.I.P. | Judy Heumann, renowned disability rights activist and former assistant secretary of the U.S. Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services, has died at the age of 75, according to a statement posted on her website on Saturday. Heumann lobbied for legislation that eventually led to the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and the Rehabilitation Act, and was involved in passage of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. [more]

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE | "Creed III" topped the North American box office over the weekend with an estimated $58.7 million in receipts, followed by "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" and "Cocaine Bear." [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1957, Ghana became an independent nation, led by Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah. [more history]