March 14, 2023

UKRAINE | Today is day 383 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• U.N. and Russian negotiators yesterday announced a preliminary agreement for a 60-day extension of the deal to allow safe export of grain from Ukrainian Black Sea ports. [more]
• Responding to reports that International Criminal Court prosecutors may be seeking arrest warrants for several Russians in connection with actions in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday that Russia does not recognize the Court or its jurisdiction. [more]

U.S. HATE CRIMES | The FBI released updated data yesterday showing an 11.6% increase in reported hate crime incidents from 2020 to 2021, with most such incidents having been associated with biases against race or ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religion. [more]

NORTH CAROLINA AND TEXAS | The FBI and police in Dallas, Texas, say a 13-year-old girl missing from her Texas home for two weeks was found locked in a building in North Carolina yesterday, and that 34-year-old Jorge Ivan Santos Camacho was arrested and charged with abduction and various sex-related crimes in connection with the case. [more]

U.S. BANKING | Addressing the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, President Joe Biden called yesterday for the strengthening of banking regulations in the United States. [more]

U.S. GUN LAWS | President Joe Biden is expected to address gun violence prevention and call for strengthening background checks for gun purchases at an event in Monterey Park, California, today. Reports say Biden is also expected to issue an executive order reinforcing federal support for background checks and for red-flag laws aimed at preventing gun sales to persons deemed to be dangerous. [White House fact sheet on executive order] [more]

RIDE HAILING | A California appeals court ruled yesterday that ride haling and delivery companies such as Uber and Lyft can continue to treat their drivers in California as independent contractors not subject to state laws requiring worker protections and other benefits. [more]

OPIOID CRISIS | The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against drugstore chain Rite Aid yesterday, alleging that the chain contributed to the U.S. opioid crisis by filling improper or illegal prescriptions for controlled substances from 2014 to 2019. [more]

NEW YORK CITY | The jury in the case of Sayfullo Saipov, 35, an Uzbekistan citizen convicted in the 2017 terrorism-related deaths of eight people killed when he drove a truck into victims on a popular city bike path, was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on imposing the death penalty in the case, meaning that Saipov will receive an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole. [more]

ALASKA OIL | On the same day as new restrictions on oil drilling in two Alaska regions were announced, the Biden administration yesterday approved ConocoPhillips' Willow project in northern Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve region, which is projected to produce 180,000 barrels of oil a day at its peak. [more]

CHINA | Ending one of its last COVID-19-related border restrictions, China announced today that it will reopen its borders to tourists and resume issuing all types of visas starting tomorrow. [more]

AUSTRALIA | Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said yesterday that his country’s newly announced purchase of multiple nuclear-powered attack submarines from the United States “represents the biggest single investment in Australia’s defense capability in all of our history.” [more]

SOUTHEASTERN AFRICA | Reports say at least 100 people in Malawi and Mozambique have died over the past two days and that many people remain missing in the wake of Cyclone Freddy, which is affecting southeastern Africa for the second time. [more]

CANADA | Authorities in Canada’s Quebec province say two people were killed, and nine others injured, yesterday when a man drove a pickup truck into a group of pedestrians in the eastern Quebec town of Amqui. No motive for the incident has been reported, but officials say it was not related to terrorism or national security. [more]

IRAN | Iranian judiciary officials said yesterday that the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has pardoned more than 22,000 people arrested in connection with recent anti-government protests that were prompted by the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody. [more]

ISRAEL | The Israeli parliament voted last night to give initial approval to legislation that would let the parliament pass laws not subject to judicial review. The measure, which will require further votes to become law, is part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial reform package that has prompted widespread protests in Israel for several weeks. [more]

NORTH KOREA | As U.S. and South Korean forces conduct their largest joint training exercises in years, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast today, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff. [more]

R.I.P. | Former 12-term U.S. Rep. Pat Schroeder, known as a leader in supporting women’s and family rights in Congress, died yesterday at the age of 82. Schroeder represented her Colorado district in Congress from 1972 to 1997. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1899, German military official Ferdinand, Graf von Zeppelin, received a U.S. patent for a “navigable balloon.” The first zeppelin made its initial flight the following year. [more history]