April 11, 2023

UKRAINE | Today is day 411 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Reports say 106 Russian soldiers and 100 Ukrainian troops were repatriated yesterday in the latest prisoner swap between the warring nations. After the swap, officials at Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said that approximately half of the returned Ukrainian prisoners “have series injuries, illnesses, or have been tortured.” [more]
• The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights reports that 8,490 civilian deaths have been confirmed in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began, and that 14,244 Ukrainian civilians have been wounded over the same period. [more]

U.S. GUN VIOLENCE | Five people were killed, and another eight, including two police officers, were wounded, yesterday when an employee entered the Old National Bank in Louisville, Kentucky, and opened fire with a rifle. The shooter, identified as 25-year-old Connor Sturgeon, was also killed during the incident. Reports say the Louisville bank shooting was the 15th mass shooting in the U.S. this year. [more]

COVID-19 | U.S. President Joe Biden yesterday signed a bipartisan Congressional resolution ending the U.S. COVID-19 national emergency. The related public health emergency is scheduled to expire on May 11. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 1.13 million people in the U.S. died from COVID-19 over the three-year national emergency period, including 1,773 in the week ended April 5 of this year. [more]

PENTAGON LEAK | U.S. Defense Department officials say dozens of classified briefing documents leaked online recently present a "very serious" risk to national security. In addition to updates on both Russian and Ukrainian forces, the leaked information is reported to include sensitive information on multiple U.S. allies, as well as intelligence assessments of Russian relations with various countries. [more]

FBI | The House Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena yesterday to FBI Director Christopher Wray seeking information on an FBI report that suggested developing sources within Catholic churches to report on suspicious activity. Reports say the internal FBI document was withdrawn from consideration and removed from the agency’s internal system earlier this year and that a review of its production is underway. [more]

ABORTION PILL | The U.S. Justice Department yesterday filed an appeal of last week’s ruling by a federal judge that would nullify the 23-year-old Food and Drug Administration approval of the abortion drug mifepristone, saying a lone judge overruling an FDA scientific and medical approval is “extraordinary and unprecedented.” [more]

TENNESSEE | The Nashville city council voted yesterday to restore state House Representative Justin Jones — one of two Black House members expelled last week after taking part in a gun violence protest on the House floor — to his position. Jones, whose current appointment is on an interim basis, is expected to run for the position in a special election in the coming months. [more]

ELECTRIC VEHICLES | Reports say the Biden administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will propose new regulations tomorrow that would require at least 54% of new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2030. [more]

OKLAHOMA | Oklahoma’s statewide charter school board is scheduled to vote today on whether to approve the establishment of what would reportedly be the first taxpayer-funded religious charter school in the United States. The application for creating the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School is backed by the Catholic church’s Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. [more]

U.S. AND POLAND | Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki begins a three-day visit to the U.S. today aimed at strengthening defense and economic ties between the two countries. Morawiecki is scheduled to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris today and to meet with representatives of various U.S. defense companies during the visit. [more]

ISRAEL AND WEST BANK | Reports say thousands of Israeli citizens, accompanied by at least seven Israeli cabinet members and protected by Israeli troops, took part in a march yesterday to the evacuated Eviatar settlement in the northern West Bank in a show of support for expanded Jewish settlements in the region. [more]

MYANMAR | Reports say at least 50 people were killed in military warplane and helicopter attacks this morning on the central Myanmar town of Pazigyi, which is located in the Sagaing area known for its opposition to the country’s military government. [more]

PHILIPPINES | The annual “Balikatan” joint U.S.-Philippine military exercises begin today and will run through April 28. The exercises, which are expected to include operations in the disputed South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, will involve some 17,000 military personnel, according to reports. [more]

CHINA AND TAIWAN | At the conclusion of three days of large-scale military exercises around Taiwan yesterday, Chinese military officials said their forces are ready to “fight at any time to resolutely smash any form of Taiwan independence.” [more]

ISRAEL | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday reversed his decision to fire Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over comments made by Gallant last month against government plans to overhaul Israel's judiciary system, which has since been put on hold. [more]

ETHIOPIA | The Associated Press cites U.N. World Food Program internal communications as saying that the agency is investigating the theft of food aid from humanitarian operations in Ethiopia, and that the thefts pose a risk to the agency's reputation and threaten its ability to assist those in need. [more]

U.K. | Junior doctors across the U.K. began a planned four-day strike over pay issues today, which is expected to significantly disrupt operations of the country’s National Health Service through Saturday morning. [more]

MORE U.K. | Anne Keast-Butler, currently the deputy director general at Britain's MI5 intelligence agency, has been named the first female director of the country’s GCHQ, or Government Communications Headquarters, signals intelligence agency. Keast-Butler will begin her new role in May. [more]

SOUTH KOREA | Science Ministry officials in South Korea said today that their country will launch a commercial-grade satellite aboard a domestically produced rocket for the first time next month. [more]

R.I.P. | Award-winning cartoonist Al Jaffee, best known for his work in Mad magazine, died yesterday in Manhattan at the age of 102. [more]

BASKETBALL | Play-in games for the NBA playoffs begin today with Atlanta facing Miami and Minnesota playing the Los Angeles Lakers. [more]

MORE BASKETBALL | The Indiana Fever selected South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston as the No. 1 pick in last night’s WNBA draft. Boston was a three-time Associated Press All-American and was named Player of the Year as a junior. [full draft details] [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1970, Apollo 13 was launched from Cape Kennedy (now Cape Canaveral), Florida. Although scheduled to be the third lunar landing, the mission was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded en route to the Moon.  [more history]