December 4, 2024

MIDDLE EAST | Update from regional conflicts:

• Israeli military officials say Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank carried out a series of attacks overnight on Palestinian towns, vandalizing and burning several homes and clashing with Israeli troops. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1014 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here is your update:

• NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, ahead of a meeting with the alliance’s foreign ministers, said yesterday that strengthening Ukraine's position through the continued supply of weapons and other military aid should be NATO’s priority ahead of any peace talks aimed at ending the country's war with Russia. [more]

U.S. CYBERSECURITY | The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued new guidance yesterday urging telecommunications and internet infrastructure companies to increase network security measures in response to the Salt Typhoon cyberattack campaign that was discovered earlier this year to have operated from China. [press release] [full guidance] [more]

ARIZONA | Reproductive rights advocates, including the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and the Center for Reproductive Rights, sued Arizona yesterday, seeking to undo the state’s 15-week abortion ban that the groups say conflicts with the recent voter-approved constitutional amendment that extends abortion access up to fetal viability. [more]

U.S. LABOR | According to the Labor Department's latest data, job openings rose 5% in October to 7.7 million - up from 7.4 million in September. Employers hired 5.3 million people during the month and job separations for all causes also stood at 5.3 million. [full report] [more]

U.S. TRANSGENDER RIGHTS LITIGATION | The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments today in a case brought by the Biden administration and multiple Tennessee families that challenges a state law banning gender-affirming treatments for minors. [more]

SOUTH KOREA | Opposition lawmakers filed a motion to impeach South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol today following Yoon’s surprise announcement yesterday that he was imposing martial law to eliminate “anti-state” forces and counter opposition parties that he accused of supporting North Korea. The country’s parliament voted unanimously to reject Yoon’s declaration, ending the state of martial law after only about six hours. [more]

GLOBAL PLASTICS | International negotiators failed to reach an agreement early this week in Busan, South Korea, on what is planned to be the first legally binding treaty on plastics pollution. Negotiators agreed to resume the talks next year. [more]

E.U. DEFORESTATION REGULATIONS | In the face of objections by producer nations and domestic interests, the European Union announced yesterday that it will delay by a year the implementation of new rules that ban the sale of products linked to large-scale deforestation. [more]

ISRAEL | Judges in the Jerusalem district court yesterday ordered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to testify next week in the long-delayed corruption trial in which he is charged with fraud, breach of trust, and accepting bribes in three separate scandals. [more]

PHILIPPINES | Activists including human rights, labor, and student groups filed a second impeachment complaint against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte today, accusing her of misusing government funds and demanding that she be permanently barred from holding public office. [more]

FRANCE | Opposition lawmakers are expected to vote today on a no-confidence measure regarding French Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government amidst contentious debate over his planned budget. If the measure passes, Barnier’s cabinet would collapse, and President Emmanuel Macron would be responsible for appointing a new prime minister. [more]

CUBA | Electricity service across much of Cuba was cut off this morning when the country's largest power plant failed. Officials with the island nation's energy and mines ministry say work is ongoing to restore the national power grid. [more]

SOCCER | Goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher played her last game for the U.S. women’s national soccer team yesterday, finishing her 115-game period on the team with a 2-1 win over the Netherlands. [more]

COLLEGE FOOTBALL | Oregon tops the final college football playoff rankings before next week’s full bracket selections, followed by Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame, and Georgia. [full rankings] [more]

FILM AWARDS | “The Brutalist” was named the best film of 2024 yesterday by the New York Film Critics Circle, and its lead, Adrien Brody, was named best actor. The film, which tells the story of a Hungarian Jewish architect who flees WWII Budapest for America, is scheduled for a December 20 release. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1918, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson departed for France to attend the Paris Peace Conference, where, following the cessation of hostilities in World War I, the League of Nations was established and the Treaty of Versailles was drafted.  [more history]