August 7, 2023

UKRAINE | Today is day 529 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Russian officials say two bridges connecting annexed Crimea to parts of the Kherson region under Russian control were damaged yesterday in a continuation of Ukrainian targeting of Russian infrastructure. [more]
• International peace talks held in Saudi Arabia over the weekend, which did not include Russian representatives, concluded without a clear resolution. Reuters cites attendees as saying, however, that the talks helped consolidate international consensus on finding a peaceful resolution to the war in Ukraine. [more]
• The Ukrainian Security Service reports today that a Russian informant who took part in a plan to coordinate a Russian airstrike in the Mykolaiv region as part of a July plan to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been arrested. [more]

OHIO | Ahead of a planned November public vote on enshrining abortion rights in the state’s constitution, residents of Ohio will vote tomorrow on “Issue 1” — a ballot initiative that would raise the threshold for approving future changes to Ohio’s constitution from a simple majority to 60%. [more]

CALIFORNIA | Emergency officials in southern California say three people died yesterday when two firefighting helicopters collided while fighting a blaze in Riverside County, causing one of the helicopters to crash and killing all crew members on board. [more]

NEW YORK CITY | Police say 65 people, including 30 juveniles, were arrested, and several people were injured, when a crowd packed New York City’s Union Square on Friday after social media influencer Kai Cenat announced he would be giving away prizes at the location.  Cenat, who is facing charges of inciting a riot and promoting an unlawful gathering, was taken into police custody and released Saturday. [more]

TRUMP ELECTION TRIAL | U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan has given attorneys for former President Donald Trump a deadline of 5pm today to respond to a request from prosecutors in the 2020 election case that she issue a protective order limiting what evidence about the case the defendant and his team can share publicly. The request followed a social media post by Trump on Friday in which he wrote, “If you go after me, I’m coming after you!” Also this weekend, Trump indicated that he will seek a new judge and a change of venue in the case. [more]

TRUCKING BANKRUPTCY | Tennessee-based freight and trucking company Yellow Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday after years of financial trouble and just three years after receiving $700 million in pandemic-era federal loans. Yellow had some 30,000 employees across the United States. [more]

NIGER | Niger’s military junta has announced the closure of the country’s airspace amidst concern that external forces, including the West African regional bloc ECOWAS, could take action to restore the administration of deposed President Mohamed Bazoum. [more]

SYRIA | Syrian state television cites military sources as saying at least four Syrian soldiers were killed, and another four were wounded, in Israeli airstrikes on a group of weapons and munitions warehouses near Damascus early today. [more]

PAKISTAN | Authorities in southeast Pakistan’s Sindh province say 30 people were killed yesterday when 10 cars of a passenger train derailed near the town of Sarhari. [more]

SOUTH KOREA | As Tropical Storm Khanun approaches, authorities in South Korea have announced plans to relocate some 36,000 scouts from 156 countries attending the World Scout Jamboree in the southwestern coastal region of Busan. Reports say the scouts will be accommodated at venues in the Seoul metropolitan area. [more]

U.K. | Reports say tens of thousands of university students across the U.K. will not graduate from their programs as expected this summer due to striking academic staff at some 140 universities refusing to grade papers required for graduation. [more]

INDIA | Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to face a no-confidence vote in parliament this week in a move that opposition leaders say is aimed at forcing Modi to address the topic of ethnic violence in the country’s northeastern Manipur state before parliament. [more]

ITALY | Italian coast guard officials say at least two people have died and 30 others remain missing after two migrant boats thought to be traveling from Tunisia wrecked over the weekend near the southern Italian island of Lampedusa. [more]

OIL PROFITS | Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil giant Aramco today reported $30 billion in profit for the second quarter of 2023 — down about 40% from the year-ago period. [more]

WOMEN’S WORLD CUP | The United States was eliminated from the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup yesterday, losing to Sweden on penalty kicks following a full-time 0-0 tie. It was the earliest elimination for the U.S. in Women’s World Cup history. [scores and brackets] [more]

GYMNASTICS | American gymnast Simone Biles won the U.S. Classic competition over the weekend — her first competition in two years. [more]

COLLEGE SPORTS | Five additional schools announced plans to leave the Pac-12 college athletic conference late last week: Oregon and Washington to the Big Ten, and Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah to the Big 12. The new departures, along with similar recent announcements from Southern California, UCLA, and Colorado, leave the Pac-12 with only four teams: California, Stanford, Oregon State, and Washington State. [more]

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE | "Barbie" topped the North American box office over the weekend with an estimated $53 million in receipts, followed by "Meg 2: The Trench," and "Oppenheimer." [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1782, George Washington ordered the creation of the first U.S. military decoration, the Badge of Military Merit -- today called the Purple Heart. [more history]