December 16, 2024

MIDDLE EAST | Updates from regional conflicts:

• The Gaza Health Ministry said today that the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza since Israel began its military response to the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks has surpassed 45,000 and that almost 107,000 people have been wounded since the war began. [more]
• Citing remaining threats from Syria despite the moderate tone of rebel leaders who ousted President Bashar al-Assad a week ago, Israel announced yesterday that it intends to double its population in the occupied Golan Heights. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1026 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Russia continued large-scale drone attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure over the weekend, launching some 130 drones at targets across Ukraine on Saturday. Ukrainian officials say 58 of the drones were shot down and dozens of others veered off course, likely due to electronic jamming. [more]
• According to Ukrainian officials, at least 30 North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia were killed or wounded in clashes with Ukrainian forces over the weekend in Russia’s Kursk region. [more]
• Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said today that his country will provide $242 million to Ukraine to help it deter Russian naval forces in the Black Sea. [more]

U.S. VEHICLE EMISSIONS | The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear an appeal filed by fuel producers seeking to challenge a 2022 waiver granted by the Environmental Protection Agency to California that allows the state to set vehicle emissions limits that are more stringent than national standards. [more]

RHODE ISLAND | State officials say the personal data of many Rhode Island residents were stolen recently in a cyberattack on the state’s online system for delivering health and human services benefits. The state has contracted with Experian to run a toll-free hotline for Rhode Islanders to call to get information about the breach and how they can protect their data. [more]

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION | President-elect Donald Trump said Friday that the Republican Party would seek to end the practice of daylight saving time when he returns to office in January. [more]

U.S. DRONE SIGHTINGS | Officials in several northeast U.S. states, including New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, have urged federal authorities to investigate a series of mysterious drone flights reported over the past few weeks. In a call organized by the White House with reporters yesterday, federal authorities said the drones do not appear to be a national or public safety threat and that they are not thought to be of foreign origin. [more]

ABC TRUMP DEFAMATION LAWSUIT | In a settlement announced Saturday, ABC News agreed to pay $15 million toward an eventual Donald Trump presidential library to settle a defamation lawsuit over anchor George Stephanopoulos’ inaccurate on-air assertion that Trump had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll. Reports note that Trump was found guilty by a New York jury of sexually abusing and defaming Carroll, but that neither verdict involved a finding of rape as defined under New York law. [more]

CANADA | Some 55,000 striking workers at Canada’s primary postal service, Canada Post, are set to resume work tomorrow following a month-long strike that disrupted service across the country. The Canada Industrial Relations Board ordered Canadian Union of Postal Workers members to return to work and extended the union’s current collective work agreement through May 2025. [more]

GERMANY | Chancellor Olaf Scholz is widely expected to lose a confidence vote in the German parliament today, setting the scene for an early parliamentary election in February. [more]

MAYOTTE | Authorities in France’s Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte say at least several hundred people are thought to have died over the weekend when Cyclone Chido struck the region with winds in excess of 135 mph. [more]

SOUTH KOREA | The opposition-controlled National Assembly voted Saturday to impeach South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived imposition of martial law earlier this month. The country’s Constitutional Court begins hearings today on whether to formally remove Yoon from power or reinstate him. [more]

RUSSIA | Authorities say two Russian oil tankers carrying about 9,000 tons of low-grade fuel oil were damaged in a storm over the weekend in the Kerch Strait, which separates the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula from Russia. Reports say oil has spilled from the ships into the surrounding waters and that work it ongoing today to evaluate the extent and impact of the spill. [more]

COLLEGE FOOTBALL | Colorado receiver and cornerback Travis Hunter was named the winner of the 2024 Heisman Trophy on Saturday as the most outstanding college football player. [more]

WEEKEND MOVIES | "Moana 2" topped the North American box office over the weekend with an estimated $26.6 million in receipts, followed by "Wicked" and "Kraven the Hunter." [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1773, in what became known as the Boston Tea Party, American colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians threw more than 300 chests of tea belonging to the British East India Company into Boston Harbor to protest a tax on tea. The incident helped accelerate and intensify colonial support for what became the American Revolution. [more history]