September 14, 2023

UKRAINE | Today is day 567 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Reports cite Ukrainian intelligence sources as saying a Russian air defense system in western Crimea was destroyed in a cruise missile follow-up to a drone attack overnight. Russian officials say 11 drones were shot down over the Crimean Peninsula in the action, but made no mention of any damage. [more]
• South Korea’s presidential office said today that intelligence has confirmed Russia’s use of weapons provided by North Korea in Ukraine. [more]

U.S. LABOR | United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain said yesterday that contract offers from General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis are still insufficient and that union members intend to strike at selected production plants of all three companies if a new labor agreement is not reached by 11:59 p.m. tonight. [more]

U.S. IMMIGRATION | According to a report from the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration, 686 deaths and disappearances of migrants on the US-Mexico border were documented in 2022, making it the deadliest land route for migrants worldwide on record. [more]

MORE U.S. IMMIGRATION | Ruling on a lawsuit brought by Texas and eight other states, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen yesterday declared the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program that provides protection against deportation for immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, to be illegal. Hansen extended the current injunction against any new DACA applications being approved, but left the program intact for existing recipients while court challenges continue. [more]

HURRICANE LEE | The U.S. National Hurricane Center has issued a hurricane watch for coastal New England and Atlantic Canada as Hurricane Lee – currently a Category 2 storm located about 295 miles southwest of Bermuda – moves northward. The storm is predicted to begin affecting portions of New England as early as tomorrow. [more]

TRUMP DEFAMATION CASE | The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said yesterday that it intends to rule within a month on a motion filed by attorneys for former President Donald Trump that argued Trump, for reasons of presidential immunity, cannot be held liable for statements made in 2019 when he denied sexually assaulting New York writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s. A jury already found Trump’s statements to be false and defamatory, and a court hearing on damages is scheduled for January. [more]

POLLUTION REGULATION | The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is scheduled to begin hearing arguments today on challenges to three regulations aimed at limiting pollution from automobiles. The regulations being challenged are: a 2021 Environmental Protection Agency rule that strengthened tailpipe pollution limits, a 2022 EPA ruling that restored California’s authority to set its own tailpipe pollution standards, and updated vehicle mileage standards from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney announced yesterday that he will not run for reelection and said the country’s many challenges call for a younger generation of political leaders to make decisions for the future. In his statement, Romney also said the U.S. would be better served if the front-runners for the 2024 presidential nominations – Democratic President Joe Biden, 80, and Republican former President Donald Trump, 77 – step aside. [more]

PENNSYLVANIA | Convicted murderer Danelo Cavalcante was apprehended yesterday near the Pennsylvania borough of Pottstown two weeks after he escaped from a state prison, prompting an extensive search involving hundreds of law enforcement officers. [more]

AI REGULATION | According to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, participants in yesterday’s closed-door Senate forum with more than 20 technology leaders supported the idea of a government role in overseeing the development, proliferation, and use of artificial intelligence. Reports note, however, that there was little consensus among attendees on the extent and exact form of such government involvement. [more]

LIBYA | Abdulmenam al-Ghaithi, mayor of the northeastern Libyan city of Derna, says deaths in the city from extensive flooding earlier this week could reach 18,000 to 20,000, based on the extent of damage surveyed, and warned of possible health epidemics due to the “large number of bodies under the rubble and in the water.” [more]

GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT AND SAFETY | A new study published in the journal Science Advances says that “Earth is now well outside of the safe operating space for humanity,” with six of nine key boundaries having been crossed. The study says measurements of climate, biodiversity, land, fresh water, nutrient pollution, and “novel” human-made chemicals are all at dangerous levels, while those for acidity of the oceans, air pollution, and the ozone layer are still within the boundaries considered safe. [full study] [more]

NIGER | The U.S. military has resumed counterterrorism drone and manned aircraft operations out of air bases in Niger more than a month after the African country’s government was ousted in a military coup, according to General James Hecker, the head of U.S. Air Forces for Europe and Africa. [more]

EUROPEAN ECONOMY | The European Central Bank is expected to decide today on a potential 10th straight interest rate increase to fight inflation as the 20 countries that use the euro currency face an annual inflation rate of 5.3%. [more]

HONG KONG | Authorities in Hong Kong have closed schools in the city today amidst warnings of extensive flooding from record-setting rain levels that have affected the region for more than a week. [more]

BANGLADESH | Reports say several hundred shops in Bangladesh’s capital city of Dhaka were destroyed early today when a fire swept through the city’s Mohammadpur market. Authorities suggested the fire was likely caused by an electrical short circuit and noted that there were no casualties in the fire. [more]

ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE | A new report from energy research and consulting company Wood Mackenzie says that global investment of $2.7 trillion per year is needed to decarbonize the energy sector if the goal of limiting global average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050 is to be met. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1847, U.S. General Winfield Scott's advance on Mexico City culminated with his forces entering the city, effectively ending the military phase of the Mexican-American War.  [more history]