December 31, 2024

EDITORIAL NOTE | In recognition of the New Year holiday, there will be no Daily Brief edition published tomorrow, Wednesday, January 1, 2025. We look forward to resuming service on Thursday and wish each of you a happy and safe New Year!

UKRAINE | Today is day 1041 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Russia carried out multiple missile attacks on Ukraine overnight, including on Kyiv and the northeastern Sumy region city of Shostka, where 12 residential buildings and two educational facilities were damaged. [more]
• In the latest round of prisoner of war exchanges, 150 Russian servicemen and 189 Ukrainians were repatriated yesterday. [more]

U.S. GUN VIOLENCE | Six people, including a 12-year-old girl and her mother, were shot yesterday at a New York City convenience store in an incident police called “a brazen and heartless attack on innocent New Yorkers.” Reports say the shooters, who have not been arrested, appeared to have been targeting a group of people standing outside the store. [more]

U.S. CYBERSECURITY | In what officials termed a “major cybersecurity incident,” the U.S. Treasury Department said yesterday that several department workstations and unclassified documents were accessed by Chinese hackers by compromising a third-party software service provider. The scope of the breach remains under investigation, and the Chinese Foreign Ministry has denied that China’s government was involved in the hack. [more]

TRUMP SEXUAL ABUSE TRIAL | The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday upheld the $5 million award to columnist E. Jean Carroll in the 2023 jury trial in which now-President-elect Donald Trump was found guilty of defamation and sexual abuse. [more]

NEVADA | The Biden administration announced plans yesterday to prohibit oil, gas, and geothermal development for 20 years on 264,000 acres of federal land in Nevada's Ruby Mountains. The proposal starts a 90-day public comment period and prevents development on the land for two years during the evaluation process. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | President-elect Donald Trump yesterday endorsed House Speaker Mike Johnson’s bid for reelection to the speakership. The House is scheduled to elect a speaker on Friday following the swearing-in of the new Congress. [more]

WORLD POPULATION | According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the world population increased by 0.9%, or about 71 million people, in 2024 and will reach 8.09 billion people on New Year’s Day. [world population dashboard] [more]

MOLDOVA | Strict energy-saving measures are due to take effect in Moldova tomorrow when Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom is set to halt gas supplies to the country over an alleged $709 million debt for past supplies. Reports note that the cutoff will stop the supply of gas to Moldova’s largest power plant, which generates much of the electricity for a large part of the country. [more]

SOUTH KOREA | Warrants were issued by a South Korean court yesterday authorizing the detention of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol and the search of his office and residence over allegations of rebellion in connection with his short-lived declaration of martial law earlier this month. [more]

ARGENTINA | An Argentine court yesterday confirmed charges against five people in connection with the October death of former musical group One Direction member Liam Payne in Buenos Aires. Two of those charged have reportedly been placed in pre-trial detention for allegedly supplying Payne with drugs prior to the fall that resulted in his death. [more]

U.K. | Actor, writer, and activist Stephen Fry, former England soccer boss Gareth Southgate, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, and Paris Olympics gold medalist Keely Hodgkinson are among more than 1,200 people in politics, sport, the arts, and community service named in King Charles’ New Year honors list. The awarded honors range from Member, Commander or Officer of the Order of the British Empire up to knighthoods and damehoods. [press release] [high honors list] [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1999, as part of the Torrijos–Carter Treaties, the United States officially handed over control of the Panama Canal to Panama, ending U.S. control of the canal that had been in place since 1903. [more history]