July 11, 2024

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR | Updates from day 279 of the conflict:

• As cease-fire talks continue in Qatar, the Israeli military urged all civilians to leave Gaza City yesterday, saying increased operations in the city – Gaza’s largest – are in response to a regrouping of Hamas militants nine months into the ongoing war. [more]
• Reports say Iranian president-elect Masoud Pezeshkian, in a letter to Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, said this week that Iran considers support for the Palestinian people and standing up to Israeli occupation a “human and Islamic duty,” and promised to continue “all-encompassing support for the wronged Palestinian people until the realization of all their goals and rights.” [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 868 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• In a document summarizing their two-day summit in Washington, DC, NATO members said that "Ukraine's future is in NATO," and that Ukraine is on an "irreversible path" to NATO membership when its ongoing war with Russia ends. [more]
• Also in the summit's summary document, NATO called China a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, citing Beijing’s “no-limits partnership” with Russia and its support for Russia’s military industrial base. China condemned the statement, saying NATO should not bring its “chaos” to Asia. [more]
• NATO announced yesterday that it will supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets – a process already underway – and that the jets are expected to be flying operational missions as early as this summer. [White House statement] [more]

TEXAS | Authorities estimate that some 1.4 million homes and businesses remain with power in the Houston, Texas, area in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, which struck the region early Monday as a Category 1 storm. Regional power company CenterPoint Energy has reportedly brought in about 12,000 additional workers to help restore electricity service. President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration for affected areas of Texas this week, freeing up federal aid to supplement state, tribal, and local recovery efforts. [more]

U.S. TAXES | The Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service announced today that an initiative launched last year to collect past-due tax debt from high-income, high-wealth individuals has yielded more than $1 billion in revenue. The agencies note that the debt-recovery effort is concentrated on taxpayers with more than $1 million in income and more than $250,000 in recognized tax debt. [press release] [more]

BIDEN PRESS CONFERENCE | Amidst ongoing Democratic Party concern over the viability of his presidential re-election candidacy, President Joe Biden is scheduled to hold a rare solo press conference today at 5:30pm Eastern time at the conclusion of the NATO summit in Washington, DC. [more]

U.S. AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY | The Department of Energy has announced the awarding of $1.7 billion in grants to help restart or expand the production of electric vehicles in eight U.S. states: Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, and Virginia. [more]

U.S. PRISONS | The Senate voted yesterday to approve the Federal Prison Oversight Act, which aims to boost monitoring and transparency at federal prisons and empowers a new independent ombudsman to collect, investigate, and report complaints from staff and inmates. The bill was passed by the house in May and is expected to be signed into law by President Joe Biden in the near future. [more]

U.S. AND CHINA | U.S. Coast Guard officials say a cutter on routine patrol came across several Chinese military ships in the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska yesterday. U.S. authorities note that the Chinese ships were in international waters, but within the U.S. exclusive economic zone, which extends 200 nautical miles from the U.S. shoreline, and that they operated in "accordance with international rules and norms." [more]

U.S. AND GERMANY | In a move supporters say is necessary for the strategic defense of Europe, but criticized by Russia and others for reviving Cold War-era outlooks, the United States and Germany announced yesterday that the U.S. will expand long-range missile deployments in Germany starting in 2026. The deployments will include SM-6, Tomahawk, and developmental hypersonic missiles, according to reports. [more]

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES | The UAE’s state-run WAM news agency says 43 people were sentenced to life in prison yesterday in a mass trial linked to activities of the Muslim Brotherhood organization, which has been declared a terrorist organization in the UAE. Reports note that 10 other defendants received 10-15-year prison sentences and 24 defendants had their cases dismissed in the mass trial, which has been criticized by human rights groups as targeting dissidents. [more]

KOREA | South Korean military officials have announced plans for their country to become the first in the world to deploy and operate laser weapons to shoot down drones. Reports note that five North Korean drones crossed into South Korea in December, prompting Seoul to launch fighter jets and attack helicopters to try to shoot the drones down. [more]

FRANCE | Following last Sunday’s elections in which his centrist alliance failed to maintain a legislative majority, French President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday that he will wait for the country’s political parties to build a majority coalition before he can decide on the appointment of a new prime minister. [more]

BURKINA FASO | The governing military junta in Burkina Faso said today that it has adopted an updated family law code under which “homosexuality and related practices are prohibited and punishable by law." Reports note that the West African nation had been among the 22 out of 54 nations on the continent that allowed same-sex relations. [more]

SOCCER | England beat the Netherlands, 2-1, yesterday to advance to the final of the European Championship, where they will face Spain on Sunday. [more] In the Copa America tournament, Colombia beat Uruguay, 1-0, yesterday to advance to the tournament final, where they will play defending champion Argentina, also on Sunday. [more] Finally, U.S. men’s national team coach Gregg Berhalter was fired yesterday following his team’s first-round elimination from the Copa America tournament. [more]

BASKETBALL | Reports say the National Basketball Association has agreed to terms on a new seventy-six billion dollar, 11-year package of media and broadcasting deals that will include league games being aired on ESPN, ABC, NBC, and Amazon Prime. Talks with longtime NBA broadcasting partner TNT Sports are said to be still ongoing. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1804, U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr mortally wounded former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton during a pistol duel in Weehawken, New Jersey. Hamilton died the following day. [more history]