October 12, 2023

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR | Updates from day six of the conflict:

• Current casualty estimates in the Israel-Hamas war include more than 1,300 Israelis and 1,200 Palestinians killed since Saturday’s Hamas attacks. An estimated 150 hostages are being held in Gaza by Hamas, and Israel said today that there would be no exceptions to its siege of Gaza until all hostages are released. [more]
• Israeli military officials confirmed yesterday that they are preparing for a possible ground invasion of Gaza, but that such an operation has not yet been ordered by the country’s government. The confirmation comes amidst the massing of Israeli military forces along the border with Gaza and continued Israeli airstrikes throughout the Palestinian enclave. [more]
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday announced the formation of a new war cabinet that includes longtime opposition members and former Israeli defense officials. The war cabinet will be responsible only for policy and decisions related to Israel’s war with Hamas. [more]
• U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel yesterday and appeared alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a press conference today, during which he reiterated the United States' unwavering support for Israel. [more]
• U.S. State Department officials say the number of Americans killed in the Hamas attacks on Israel has risen to 22, that at least 17 U.S. citizens remain unaccounted for, and that a “handful” of Americans are believed to be among the approximately 150 hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza. [more]
• The United States, in a further show of strength aimed at deterring additional groups or nations from becoming involved in the Israel-Hamas war, announced plans yesterday for the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier battle group to join the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier battle group in the Mediterranean Sea. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 595 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Ukrainian military officials say Russian forces have launched a series of attacks on the eastern Ukraine town of Avdiivka in one of the largest Russian offensive operations in months. [more]
• Reports say at least four people were killed yesterday when a Russian missile struck a school in the town of Nikopol in the central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | In a closed-door secret ballot yesterday, a majority of Republicans in the House of Representatives chose Majority Leader Steve Scalise as their nominee for Speaker of the House. Scalise, however, does not appear to have the level of support needed to be elected speaker in a House floor vote, meaning that the timing for such a vote and a resumption of House legislative activity remains unclear. [more]

U.S. LABOR | The United Auto Workers union expanded its ongoing strike yesterday with some 8,700 workers at a Ford truck plant in Kentucky joining picket lines. An estimated 33,700 UAW workers are now participating in strikes against the Big 3 U.S. automakers. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | Ahead of the government release of inflation data later today, economists surveyed by data company FactSet predict U.S. consumer prices rose 0.3% from August to September, down from a 0.6% increase in the previous month. On an annualized basis, economists expect that consumer inflation rose 3.6% in September – down from a 3.7% increase in August, but still higher than the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. [more]

NEW MEXICO | U.S. District Judge David Urias yesterday rejected a request to block New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s temporary ban on the carrying of firearms in public parks and playgrounds in the Albuquerque metro area. Grisham ordered the ban following a series of recent shootings in the region in which several children were killed. [more]

RUSSIA | Reports say Russia’s lower house of parliament will vote next week on withdrawing Moscow's ratification of the global treaty that bans nuclear tests, which it signed and ratified in 2000. Russian officials say they have no plans to conduct nuclear tests even if their country withdraws from the treaty. [more]

CHINA | Reuters cites unnamed sources as saying that Chinese military combat operations and planning chief General Liu Zhenli has emerged as the top contender to replace Defense Minister Li Shangfu, who has not been seen in public for more than six weeks. [more]

EUROPEAN MIGRATION | Poland and the Czech Republic have announced an extension of temporarily expanded controls on their borders with Slovakia to restrict the flow of illegal migrants. The border controls are now scheduled to expire in early November. [more]

COLOMBIA | Speaking before the U.N. Security Council yesterday, U.N. special envoy Carlos Ruiz Massieu said limited progress in implementing rural reforms has impeded positive transformation in areas of Colombia that a 2016 peace accord between the Colombian government and rebel groups was expected to bring. [more]

JAPAN | Reports say the Japanese government intends to ask a court to revoke the legal and tax exemption status of the South Korea-based Unification Church over the church’s fundraising and recruitment tactics identified as part of investigations into the 2022 assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. [more]

ENTERTAINMENT | Three months into actors' ongoing strike, movie and television studios announced yesterday that they have suspended contract negotiations with the SAG-AFTRA actors union, saying the gap between the two sides was too great to make continued talks productive at this time. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1810, the first Oktoberfest was celebrated in Munich, in the form of a horse race held in honor of the marriage of the crown prince of Bavaria (who later became King Louis I) to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. [more history]