March 22, 2023

UKRAINE | Today is day 391 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• U.S. Defense officials say they plan to speed up the delivery of Abrams battle tanks to Ukraine by providing older M1A1 versions of tanks by this fall rather than newer M1A2 versions, which would have taken more than a year to build and ship. [more]
• Russian and Ukrainian officials have provided conflicting accounts of an attack this week on the Russia-annexed Crimean Peninsula, with Ukrainian reports saying multiple Russian cruise missiles were destroyed near the town of Dzhankoi and Russian reports saying Ukrainian drones targeted civilian facilities in the town. [more]
• Reports say the International Monetary Fund has approved a $15.6 billion loan package for Ukraine to help the country maintain financial stability amidst the Russian invasion. [more]

OREGON | Lawmakers in Oregon passed a $200 million state housing and homelessness aid package yesterday. Reports say most of the funds will be used for various homelessness and eviction prevention services and that about $20 million will be used to increase production of factory-produced modular housing. [more]

NUCLEAR STORAGE | The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission yesterday delayed its licensing decision for a multibillion-dollar storage facility in New Mexico for spent fuel from commercial nuclear power plants. The Commission had been expected to rule on the license by the end of March, but says it will now issue a ruling by the end of May. [more]

CALIFORNIA | More than 14,000 people were ordered to evacuate and another 47,000 were issued evacuation warnings yesterday in California as the state’s latest heavy rainstorm brought high winds and flood risks to much of the state’s southern and central regions. [more]

WORLD WATER | A new report from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, says that about 26% of the world’s population lacks access to safe drinking water and that 46% are deficient in basic sanitation. The U.N. World Water Development Report 2023 was released yesterday ahead of today’s start of the U.N. 2023 Water Conference, the international body’s first conference on water issues since 1977. [full report] [more]

NORTH KOREA | Multiple cruise missiles were launched by North Korea into the waters off its east coast today — the fourth round of such launches since the U.S. and South Korean militaries began large-scale training exercises last week. [more]

AFGHANISTAN | Taliban authorities in Afghanistan say three members of the Islamic State group who were planning attacks in the country during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan were killed in an overnight raid in Kabul. [more]

AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN | Reports say at least 13 people were killed, and dozens of others injured, late last night when a magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck in the mountainous Hindukush region along the Afghan-Pakistani border. [more]

U.K. ECONOMY | Britain’s Office for National Statistics said today that year-over-year inflation in the U.K. rose to a higher-than-expected 10.4% in February — up from 10.1% in January. [more]

SYRIA | Syrian officials say a missile strike carried out by Israel early this morning caused damage and shut down operations at Syria's Aleppo airport. Reports suggest that Israel may have been targeting a nearby Iranian arms depot. [more]

UGANDA | The Ugandan parliament passed a law yesterday that reports say may be the first to outlaw simply identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer. [more]

SPAIN | Reports say European Union environmental regulators have warned Spain that it could face fines if it fails to protect the Doñana wetlands — a UNESCO world heritage site and environmentally sensitive biosphere in southwestern Spain that has been threatened by irrigation projects. [more]

BASEBALL | Japan beat the United States, 3-2, last night in Miami, Florida, to win the 2023 World Baseball Classic championship. [more]

ARTS AWARDS | Singers Bruce Springsteen and Gladys Knight, actresses Mindy Kaling and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and author Colson Whitehead were among 23 recipients of the pandemic-delayed 2021 National Medal of the Arts and National Humanities Medal awards presented by U.S. President Joe Biden yesterday. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1622, Opechancanough, brother of Chief Powhatan and his successor as the leader of the Powhatan Indian empire, led an attack on the Jamestown Colony, killing at least 347 colonists and initiating the Powhatan War. [more history]