January 23, 2024

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR | Updates from day 109 of the conflict:

• Israeli military officials say 21 soldiers were killed yesterday during a demolition operation in central Gaza – the deadliest single incident involving Israeli military deaths since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. [more]
• The Associated Press cites an unnamed Egyptian official as saying that Hamas has rejected a two-month cease-fire proposed by Israel that would have included the freeing of all Israeli hostages in Gaza and the release of Palestinians from Israeli prisons. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 698 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• A series of Russian missile attacks on Ukraine this morning killed at least six people – one in Kyiv and five in Kharkiv – according to Ukrainian officials. More than 50 people were wounded in the missile strikes on the two cities. [more]
• NATO’s support and procurement agency signed a $1.2 billion contract today for the purchase of 220,000 rounds of 155-millimeter artillery shells to replenish member nation stockpiles as alliance members continue to supply ammunition to Ukraine. [more]

RED SEA | In an interview yesterday, Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, said that Iran is “directly involved” in attacks carried out by Houthi rebel forces in Yemen on commercial and military ships in the Red Sea. [more]

MORE RED SEA | U.S. and British forces struck Houthi rebel sites at eight locations in Yemen overnight in a coordinated action aimed at destroying Houthi storage sites for missiles, drones, and other weapons and equipment. The strikes were the second U.S.-U.K. coordinated action against Iran-backed Houthi militants, who have been targeting ships in the Red Sea. [more]

U.S. GUN VIOLENCE | Police say Romeo Nance, 23, the suspect in the shooting deaths of eight people at three different locations in the Chicago suburbs over the weekend fatally shot himself last night after being located by U.S. Marshals near Natalia, Texas. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | Voters in New Hampshire are taking part in the state’s Republican and Democratic primary elections today, with the major focus being on the Republican campaigns of former President Donald Trump and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. [AP summary] [more]

MISSISSIPPI | The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear arguments today on whether Mississippi can continue to permanently revoke the right to vote from people convicted of certain felonies, including bribery, theft, and arson. [more]

TEXAS | With a 5-4 vote yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for federal Border Patrol agents to cut or clear out razor wire installed by Texas along the banks of the Rio Grande to deter illegal immigrant crossings. [more]

CALIFORNIA | A planned weeklong strike by some 30,000 faculty and staff members of the California State University system over pay and working condition issues was called off after one day yesterday, as members of the California Faculty Association union reached a deal with the largest public university system in the United States. [more]

NATO | The Turkish parliament is expected to give its long-delayed approval of Sweden’s bid to join NATO today, leaving Hungary as the only alliance member nation not to have approved Sweden's accession. [more]

CHINA | Chinese state media reports that yesterday’s landslide in the southwestern province of Yunnan killed at least 20 people and that 24 others remain missing. [more]

MORE CHINA | Officials in China’s western Xinjiang region say at least six people were injured and 47 houses were destroyed this morning when a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck in the region’s Uchturpan county. [more]

PHILIPPINES | Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., said today that his country will not cooperate with an investigation by the International Criminal Court into violent anti-narcotics campaigns by the government of former President Rodrigo Duterte, calling the investigation a threat to Philippine sovereignty. [more]

TENNIS | The quarterfinal rounds of the Australian Open take place today and tomorrow, with headline events including wins by top-ranked Novak Djokovic over Taylor Fritz and U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff beating Marta Kostyuk. [full bracket: women | men ] [more]

ENTERTAINMENT | Nominations for the 2024 Academy Awards are scheduled to be released later this morning, with “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer,” “Poor Things,” “The Holdovers,” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” expected to be among the top Oscar nominees. [more]

R.I.P. | Canadian-born director Norman Jewison, best known for films including “In the Heat of the Night,” “Moonstruck,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” and “The Thomas Crown Affair,” died on Saturday at the age of 97, according to a statement released by his publicist. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1964, the Twenty-fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited the federal and state governments from imposing poll taxes before a citizen can participate in a federal election, was ratified. [more history]