August 23, 2024

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR | Update from day 322 of the conflict:

• Muhannad Hadi, the top United Nations humanitarian official for the Palestinian territories, said yesterday that successive Israeli evacuation orders in Gaza have displaced 90% of the territory's 2.1 million residents since the beginning of the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 911 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Visiting the border area where his forces launched an ongoing incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine has captured an additional village in Russian territory and has taken additional Russian prisoners of war. [more]
• The International Atomic Energy Agency said yesterday that Director General Rafael Grossi will visit Russia’s Kursk nuclear power plant next week to assess the plant’s safety following reports of drone remains having been found within the facility’s boundaries. [more]
• Reports say U.S. officials have approved a new $125 million military aid package for Ukraine consisting of missiles, electronic warfare systems and equipment, artillery ammunition, vehicles, and other equipment. Formal announcement of the aid package is expected as early as today. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | On the closing night of the Democratic National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic presidential nomination last night. [more]

MORE U.S. POLITICS | Amidst speculation that he will endorse Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy is expected to drop his independent presidential bid today. Both Trump and Kennedy are scheduled to appear in Arizona today. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | At the annual meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell is expected to say in the speech today that the Fed is more confident that inflation is nearing its 2% target rate, lending support to a widely anticipated interest rate cut in September. [more]

U.S. MEDICAL DEBT | New Orleans-based hospital and clinic system Ochsner Health is reported to have reached an agreement with New York nonprofit Undue Medical Debt to wipe out some $366 million in medical debt for about 193,000 needy patients in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. [more]

COVID-19 | Amidst an ongoing summer wave of increased infections, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved updated COVID-19 vaccines yesterday. The updated Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are expected to begin shipping immediately. [more]

U.S. AND NICARAGUA | The American Chamber of Commerce was among 151 nongovernmental organizations ordered closed in Nicaragua yesterday as part of President Daniel Ortega’s ongoing measures to remove organizations that he says have been involved with attempts to remove him from office. [more]

NATO AND GERMANY | Security at the NATO air base in Geilenkirchen, Germany, was raised today due to an unspecified “potential threat. Officials noted that operations at the base continue as planned, but that staff not essential to missions have been sent home as a precaution. [more]

VENEZUELA | Despite ongoing claims of victory by opposition candidate Edmundo González and international condemnation of election processes and tallies, Venezuela’s Supreme Court said yesterday that incumbent President Nicolas Maduro won last month’s presidential election and that voting records published online showing that Maduro lost were forged. [more]

SOUTH KOREA | The Korean Medical Association warned today that a surge in COVID-19 cases and the ongoing strike by trainee doctors could cripple hospital emergency rooms across South Korea next month. [more]

AFGHANISTAN | Under new “vice and virtue laws” published by Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban this week, women’s voices and bare faces will be banned in public, the publication of images of living beings will be prohibited, and the mixing of men and women who are not related to each other will be forbidden. [more]

INDONESIA | Parliamentary ratification of election measures that analysts say would deepen the political influence of outgoing Indonesian President Joko Widodo was halted yesterday as thousands of protesters tried to storm the legislative building in Jakarta. [more]

NEPAL | Police say at least 14 people were killed, 16 were injured, and several others remain missing after a bus carrying dozens of Indian pilgrims drove off a highway today near Nepal's Kathmandu-region town of Abukhaireni. [more]

MORE NEPAL | Saying that all social media platforms should be treated equally, Nepal’s government announced yesterday that it will lift its ban on the video-sharing app TikTok, which was imposed last November for “disrupting social harmony.” [more]

MEXICO | The Mexico City government yesterday approved new laws aimed at controlling rent levels in the city of 9 million residents. The new measures require all rental agreements to be registered with the government and limit rent increases to the rate of inflation in the previous year. [more]

U.K. | British energy regulator Ofgem has announced a 10% increase in its price cap on household energy bills from October 1, saying the jump is due to a volatile global gas market influenced by severe weather events and conflicts such as the war in Ukraine. [more]

ICELAND | Following a series of earthquakes last night, Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula volcano erupted for the sixth time since December. Icelandic authorities say the eruption has closed some local roads, but does not appear to be a threat to the nearby town of Grindavik. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1305, William Wallace was executed for treason in London, 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]