August 15, 2024

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR | Updates from day 314 of the conflict:

• Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Health Ministry says that the Palestinian death toll from the ongoing conflict with Israel surpassed 40,000 as of this morning. [more]
• U.S., Qatari, and Egyptian negotiators are scheduled to meet with an Israeli delegation in Qatar today in a new round of talks aimed at achieving a cease-fire in Gaza and securing the release of dozens of hostages. Hamas officials have not committed to attending the talks. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 903 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Ukrainian military officials say their forces continued their week-long advance into Russia’s Kursk region yesterday, advancing an additional 1-2 kilometers, taking more than 100 Russian soldiers prisoner, and destroying a Russian air force bomber in an attack on a military airfield. [more]
• Russia declared a state of emergency today in its Belgorod region amidst the ongoing Ukrainian offensive in the neighboring Kursk region. [more]
• Reports say Ukraine launched its largest drone attack yet in its war with Russia yesterday, targeting four Russian airfields in the southwest Russian regions of Kursk and Voronezh, and Nizhny Novgorod, east of Moscow. [more]

U.S. DRUG PRICING | The Department of Health and Human Services released final new pricing details today for 10 of Medicare’s most popular and costliest drugs for which the agency recently completed price negotiations with drug makers. Officials say if the new pricing had been in place in 2023 it would have saved U.S. taxpayers some $6 billion and older Americans an estimated $1.5 billion. [full pricing details] [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | According to Labor Department data released yesterday, consumer inflation rose 0.2% from June to July. Year-over-year inflation rose 2.9% in July – down from 3% in June and the lowest gain since March 2021. [press release] [more]

MONTANA | Upholding a lower court ruling, Montana’s Supreme Court ruled yesterday that minors in the state do not need parental permission to get an abortion, saying the state’s parental consent law violates a fundamental right to privacy. [more]

NEW YORK | In ongoing fallout from on-campus protests and unrest over the Israel-Hamas war earlier this year, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik resigned yesterday. [more]

U.S. ELECTIONS | Google’s Threat Analysis Group says in a new report that an Iranian group linked to the country’s Revolutionary Guard is actively attempting to infiltrate the e-mail accounts of people associated with the campaigns of candidates for this year’s U.S. presidential election. [full report] [more]

HURRICANE ERNESTO | About half of electricity customers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands were left without power for a period yesterday afternoon as Category 1 Hurricane Ernesto passed through the region. The storm is expected to strengthen over the next two days, prompting a hurricane warning in Bermuda and bringing, according to meteorologists, a threat of dangerous beach conditions along the U.S. eastern seaboard. [more]

U.S. AND RUSSIA | In a closed hearing today in Yekaterinburg, Russia, a court sentenced dual Russian-American citizen Ksenia Karelina to 12 years in prison today after she was found guilty of treason for donating money to a charity supporting Ukraine. [more]

AFGHANISTAN | In a new report today, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, says Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban has deliberately deprived some 1.4 million Afghan girls of schooling, noting that Afghanistan is the only country in the world that bans female secondary and higher education. [more]

MPOX EMERGENCY | Amidst the ongoing spread of mpox, also known as monkeypox, in Africa, the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency regarding the virus yesterday. WHO officials say more than 14,000 cases of the disease and 524 related deaths have been reported in Africa this year, more than 96% of which have occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo. [more]

FRANCE | The French Defense Ministry says two fighter jet pilots were killed yesterday when their plane collided with another and crashed in northeastern France near the town of Colombey-les-Belles while on a training mission. [more]

SRI LANKA | National election officials in Sri Lanka said today that applications from a record 39 candidates have been accepted and approved for running in next month’s presidential election. [more]

BASEBALL | New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, in his 955th professional game, set a new record last night as the quickest player to hit 300 career home runs. [more]

FOOTBALL | Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy, the former Michigan star and first-round NFL draft pick, will miss his rookie professional season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1947, after three decades of efforts led by Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian independence movement achieved its goal of establishing a free and independent India, ending nearly 200 years of British rule. [more history]