October 30, 2023

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR | Updates from day 24 of the conflict:

• Israeli forces expanded their ground operations in northern Gaza over the weekend, with reports saying troops and tanks appear to have pushed 2-3 miles into the Palestinian enclave. [more]
• In announcing their expansion of ground force operations against Hamas, Israeli officials said humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza would be increased significantly. Aid groups and countries around the world have noted the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and calls for pauses in fighting to ensure the delivery of aid appear to be increasing. [more]
• As U.S. and other Western nations warn of the risk of the Israel-Hamas war expanding into a wider regional conflict, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said yesterday that Israel’s actions in Gaza “have crossed the red lines, which may force everyone to take action.” [more]
• An Associated Press summary of casualties and damage in Israel and Gaza since the October 7 Hamas attacks includes the following: 1,400 people in Israel and 8,005 people in Gaza killed; 5,431 Israelis and 20,242 Palestinians injured; 239 hostages still being held by Hamas; and 27,781 residential units destroyed in Gaza. [AP summary] [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 613 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Ukraine’s presidential office reported today that Russian artillery and missile attacks over the past 24 hours killed at least three civilians and wounded at least five others, and noted that the areas hit included a high-rise apartment building in the Kherson region. [more]
• The Russian Ministry of Defense said its air defense systems destroyed 36 Ukraine-launched drones over the Black Sea off the Crimean Peninsula this weekend. [more]
• Oleh Kiper, governor of Ukraine's southern Odesa region, said today that two people were wounded and several buildings were damaged in early morning Russian missile attacks on a ship repair yard in the port city of Odesa. [more]

U.S. GUN VIOLENCE | In two mass shooting incidents in the U.S. over the weekend:

• Two people were killed, and 18 others were injured, when gunfire broke out as bars and clubs closed early Sunday morning in a popular nightclub area of Tampa, Florida. Police say the violence began as a fight between two groups and that at least one arrest has been made in the case. [more]
• In another incident that police say stemmed from a dispute between two groups, four people, including two students, were shot early Sunday morning near the downtown Atlanta campus of Georgia State University. [more]

MAINE | Robert Card, the suspect in last week’s shootings in Lewiston, Maine, in which 18 people were killed, and 13 others were wounded, was found dead Friday evening on the grounds of a local recycling business, ending a large-scale manhunt that had locked down the local region. Police say Card died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Reports say local police received warnings from the Maine National Guard weeks ago that there were concerns from a fellow soldier that Card would “snap and commit a mass shooting.” [more]

TRUMP FEDERAL ELECTION TRIAL | U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the federal election interference case against former President Donald Trump, reimposed a narrow gag order against Trump yesterday after prosecutors said recent social media posts by Trump about his former chief of staff represented attempts to influence and intimidate a likely witness in the case. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | Amidst waning support and financial challenges, former Vice President Mike Pence announced the suspension of his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination on Saturday. [more]

MORE U.S. POLITICS | Hearings on two lawsuits, one in Colorado and one in Minnesota, are scheduled to begin this week in cases brought by liberal political groups seeking to remove former President Donald Trump from the 2024 presidential ballots in their states. Both lawsuits claim Trump’s efforts to overturn election results and the subsequent January 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol disqualify him from the presidency based on the Constitution’s 14th Amendment insurrection clause. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | Commerce Department data for September released on Friday shows that, compared to August levels, both personal income and disposable personal income in the U.S. rose 0.3%, while personal spending rose 0.7%. [full report] [more]

HALLOWEEN CANDY PRICES | Retail price tracking firm Datasembly reports that, for the second year in a row, candy and gum prices in the month leading up to Halloween saw double-digit inflation, compared the previous year. The company says prices for candy in October 2023 are 13% higher than they were in October 2022. [more]

U.S. LABOR | The United Auto Workers union expanded its seven-week-old strike against General Motors on Saturday, with some 4,000 union workers at the GM engine plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, which supplies engines to nine assembly plants, joining picket lines. The UAW reached a new contract agreement with Chrysler-owner Stellantis on Saturday and Ford last Wednesday, leaving GM as the only U.S. automaker with ongoing UAW strike action against it. [more]

U.S. AND RUSSIA | Speaking at a defense forum in Beijing, China, today, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu accused the United States of “deliberately undermining the basis of international security and strategic stability” to “maintain its geopolitical and strategic dominance.” [more]

DAGESTAN | Reports say Russian police have taken control of the Makhachkala airport in the Russian republic of Dagestan after anti-Israel protesters stormed the airport yesterday as a plane from Israel arrived. Russian officials say at least 60 people were arrested in connection with the incident. [more]

MEXICO | Authorities in Mexico say the death toll from Hurricane Otis rose to 48 over the weekend and that 36 people remain missing in the aftermath of the storm, which struck the Acapulco region of Mexico’s Pacific coast last week. [more]

JAPAN | The Group of Seven industrial powers – the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, and Canada – called yesterday for an end to import restrictions on Japanese seafood products enacted by some countries, including China and Russia, in response to Japan’s ongoing release of treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific. [more]

INDIA | Authorities in India’s southeastern Andhra Pradesh state say at least 13 people died, and 25 others were injured, yesterday when a passenger train crashed into another stationary train. Reports say preliminary investigations have found human error to be the cause of the crash. [more]

BANGLADESH | The death sentences of seven Islamic militants convicted for roles in a 2016 attack on a cafe in the city of Dhaka that killed 20 people were committed to life in prison by Bangladesh’s High Court today. [more]

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order today that, among other things, orders the development of guidance for content authentication and watermarking for items generated by AI, and requires that developers of AI systems that pose risks to U.S. national security, the economy, public health, or safety share the results of safety tests with the U.S. government. [White House fact sheet] [more]

WORLD SERIES | Game 3 of the World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Texas Rangers is scheduled to be played in Phoenix, Arizona, tonight, with the Series tied 1-1. [more]

COLLEGE FOOTBALL | Following this weekend’s games, Georgia remain No. 1 in the AP College Football Poll, followed by Michigan, Ohio State, Florida State, and Washington. [full AP Poll] [more]

WEEKEND MOVIES | "Five Nights at Freddy's" topped the North American box office over the weekend with an estimated $78 million in receipts, followed by "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" and "Killers of the Flower Moon." [more]

R.I.P. | Actor Matthew Perry, best known for his role as Chandler Bing in the hit sitcom “Friends,” died Saturday at the age of 54 at his home in Los Angeles. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1938, Orson Welles' radio dramatization of H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds was broadcast, causing great alarm—though reports of a nationwide panic were unfounded—as some listeners feared a genuine invasion from Mars.  [more history]