January 29, 2025

UKRAINE | Today is day 1070 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Reports say Ukrainian forces carried out large-scale drone attacks overnight on the Russian regions of Kstovo, Smolensk, and Belgorod, wounding several people and damaging an oil refinery. [more]
• The office of Ukraine's Prosecutor General says it has opened a criminal investigation following the online release last week of a video that appears to show Russian soldiers executing six unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war. [more]

U.S. FEDERAL FUNDING | A federal judge yesterday temporarily blocked a pause in federal loans, grants, and other funding ordered by the Trump administration. The vaguely worded Office of Management and Budget memo ordering the funding pause was criticized as being unclear and for being potentially in violation of federal law. [more]

U.S. FEDERAL EMPLOYEES | An Office of Personnel Management memo distributed yesterday said federal employees will be subject to “enhanced standards of suitability and conduct” going forward and that employees who voluntarily resign by February 6 could receive about eight months' salary. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | The Federal Reserve is widely expected to hold its benchmark interest rate unchanged when its two-day policy meeting ends later today. [more]

U.S. IMMIGRATION | Amidst the federal spike in immigration-related detentions and deportations, the U.S. military's Northern Command said in a statement that it began this week to allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement to use its Buckley Space Force Base in Colorado to hold detained migrants. [more]

FLORDA | Legislators in Florida passed the Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy, or TRUMP Act, yesterday – a state measure that would allocate some $475 million to immigration-related law enforcement and cooperation with federal immigration initiatives. The measure conflicts in some areas with alternate legislation proposed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and it remains unclear if DeSantis will sign the measure into law. [more]

KANSAS | Health officials in Kansas say an ongoing outbreak of tuberculosis in two counties is one of the largest the U.S. has seen since national tracking of the disease was started in the 1950s. The state health department says 67 people were being treated for active TB, and another 79 had latent TB, in Wyandotte and Johnson counties as of January 24. [more]

U.S. EDUCATION | The National Center for Education Statistics reports that its 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress shows that American children have continued to lose ground on reading skills in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and have made little improvement in math. [full reports] [more]

CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES | A new report from climate research agency World Weather Attribution suggests that human-caused climate change increased the likelihood of high fire risk weather conditions linked to the ongoing wildfires in Southern California by 35% and increased the intensity of such conditions by 6%. [more]

DOOMSDAY CLOCK | In its annual assessment of the current risk of the destruction of humanity, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the hands of its Doomsday Clock to 89 seconds until midnight yesterday – the closest it has ever been. The group cited risks including climate change, AI weaponization, nuclear proliferation, and the risk of pandemics as factors in its current risk assessment. [more]

CONGO | Rwandan President Paul Kagame joined calls yesterday for a ceasefire in eastern portions of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where M23 rebels largely believed to be backed by Rwanda have made recent gains, including the capture of Goma, the largest city in the region. [more]

INDIA | Authorities in India’s Uttar Pradesh state say at least 39 people died early today in a stampede of people taking part in the Maha Kumbh religious festival, which is celebrated every 12 years by hundreds of millions of Hindus. [more]

AFRICA | The junta-led West African nations of Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso completed their formal withdrawal from the ECOWAS regional economic and political bloc today and have formed their own security partnership, known as the Alliance of Sahel States. [more]

AUSTRALIA | Amidst ongoing investigations into a series of antisemitic attacks in Australia, police in New South Wales state say a suspected bombing attack was thwarted when a van containing explosives was discovered January 19 in the Sydney suburb of Dural. [more]

YEAR OF THE SNAKE | Today marks the advent of the Lunar New Year – celebrated by millions of people around the world to usher in the Year of the Snake and say goodbye to the Year of the Dragon. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1886, German mechanical engineer Karl Benz patented the first practical automobile powered by an internal-combustion engine. [more history]