August 23, 2023

UKRAINE | Today is day 545 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Ukrainian officials say overnight Russian drone attacks in the southern Odesa region caused fires at grain production, storage, and shipping facilities. [more]
• Reports say the International Rescue Committee has been involved in evacuating residents from the Ukrainian city of Kupiansk due to repeated shelling of the city by Russian forces. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | The first Republican presidential primary debate will take place tonight in Milwaukee, with participants including: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former Vice President Mike Pence, and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. [more]

TRUMP GEORGIA ELECTION TRIAL | Ahead of a Friday deadline for all 18 defendants, attorneys for both former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Justice Department lawyer Jeffrey Clark have filed motions seeking to avoid having to turn themselves in for booking at the Fulton County, Georgia, jail on charges related to alleged actions taken to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Former President Donald Trump is expected to turn himself in at the jail tomorrow. [more]

TRUMP DOCUMENTS TRIAL | In a court filing yesterday, federal prosecutors say Yuscil Taveras, an IT director at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, has “retracted his prior false testimony and provided information” implicating Trump and other defendants in efforts to delete security camera footage sought in connection with allegations of Trump’s possession and mishandling of classified documents after leaving office. [more]

UPS | The Teamsters union says its 340,000 UPS worker members finished voting yesterday on a new contract with the shipping company — averting a possible strike and approving a tentative agreement that includes pay increases and changes in working conditions. [more]

U.S. AND NORTH KOREA | The U.S. State Department announced yesterday that its ban on use of U.S. passports to travel to, from, or through North Korea without special permission has been extended through August 31, 2024. The ban has been renewed annually since first being imposed in 2017. [more]

TROPICAL STORM FRANKLIN | Authorities in both the Dominican Republic and Haiti have issued warnings and closed schools and airports amidst fears of flooding and landslides as Tropical Storm Franklin approaches their shared Caribbean island of Hispaniola this morning. [more]

CANADA, WILDFIRES, AND CLIMATE CHANGE | A new analysis by scientists at World Weather Attribution concludes that climate change more than doubled the likelihood of extreme fire weather conditions in Eastern Canada this year and that the severity of wildfires that broke out was increased by about 20% due to human-induced climate change. [press release] [full study] [more]

INDIA | Authorities in India’s Mizoram state say at least 26 workers were killed, and several others were injured, today when a gantry at a railroad bridge being constructed in the town of Sairang collapsed. The cause of the collapse is under investigation. [more]

SPACE MISSION | Less than a week after a similar Russian mission failed, the Indian Space Research Organization's Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is scheduled to attempt the first-ever landing at the moon’s south poll later this morning. [more]

IRAN | The Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency reports today that eight people were sentenced to prison terms of varying lengths after having been convicted of aiding two men executed for killing a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s volunteer Basij force during nationwide protests last year sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody. [more]

GERMAN ECONOMY | As measured by S&P Global’s composite purchasing managers index, German business activity so far in August has hit its lowest level since May 2020. [more]

PRIVACY REGULATION | Technology regulators in Norway say Facebook parent company Meta is breaking the European Union’s privacy regulations and that the tech giant has been fined one million crowns ($94,145) per day since Aug. 14 for harvesting user data and using it to target advertising at them without permission. Meta says it has committed to asking users for consent, but the company has not detailed how or when it intends to do so. [more]

BASKETBALL | Las Vegas Aces forward A'ja Wilson tied the WNBA single-game points record last night, scoring 53 points in the Aces’ 112-100 win over the Atlanta Dream. [more]

BASEBALL | With a 2-1 loss to the Washington Nationals last night, the New York Yankees have lost nine consecutive games for the first time since September 1982. [more]

HOLLYWOOD | The Writers’ Guild of America said yesterday that the latest contract proposal from film and television studios is not sufficient to end the WGA's ongoing strike, which began in early May. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1305, William Wallace was executed in London for treason, condemned for leading Scottish resistance forces during the first years of the long and ultimately successful struggle to free Scotland from English rule. [more history]