July 12, 2024

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR | Updates from day 280 of the conflict:

• Reuters cites unnamed Egyptian sources as saying that Israeli and Egyptian ceasefire negotiators are in talks about an electronic surveillance system along the border between Gaza and Egypt that could allow Israel to pull back its troops from the area if a ceasefire is agreed. [more]
• In its first report on investigations into failures associated with the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, the Israeli military yesterday said that slow responses and disorganization were key failures in defending the residents of Kibbutz Be’eri, where more than 100 people were killed and more than 30 others were taken hostage by Hamas during the attacks. Reports note that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected calls for an official state investigation into responses to the attacks, saying that such an investigation cannot take place while the country is focused on the war in Gaza. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 869 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• At the NATO summit in Washington, DC, yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the U.S. and other Western nations to lift restrictions on the use of donated weapons to strike military targets deep inside Russia, saying ““If we want to win, if we want to prevail, if we want to save our country and to defend it, we need to lift all the limitations.” [more]
• The U.N. General Assembly voted 99-9 yesterday, with 60 countries abstaining and 25 countries not voting, to adopt a resolution calling for Russia to withdraw its personnel from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – Europe’s largest nuclear facility – and to immediately return the facility to Ukrainian control. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released yesterday shows that consumer prices in the U.S. declined 0.1% from May to June – the first monthly decline since May 2020. Compared to the year-ago period, consumer prices were up 3% in June – down from a 3.3% annual rate in May. [more]

U.S. TELECOMS | Communications giant AT&T said today that the call and messaging data of “nearly all” the company’s cellular customers that used its networks between May 1, 2022, and October 31, 2022, were exposed in a recent massive data breach. Company officials note that the stolen data contained records of every number AT&T customers called or texted – including customers of other wireless networks – the number of times they interacted, and call durations, but not the actual content of the calls or messages. [more]

NEW YORK | Affirming a lower court ruling, New York state’s highest court yesterday allowed a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would bar discrimination based on gender identity or pregnancy outcomes to appear on the ballot this November. [more]

WEST VIRGINIA AND IDAHO | In separate filings yesterday, West Virginia and Idaho each asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review lower court rulings that blocked the enforcement of state laws prohibiting transgender athletes from competing in sports in state schools. [more]

TEXAS | Houston-area power company CenterPoint Energy says about 500,000 homes and businesses in the region are expected to remain without power into next week in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, which struck the area Monday as a Category 1 storm. [more]

U.S. AND SOUTH KOREA | U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington, DC, signed a joint nuclear deterrence guidelines agreement yesterday that calls for integrating U.S. nuclear assets and South Korean conventional weapons to better respond to North Korean nuclear threats. [more]

NEPAL | Officials in Nepal’s central Chitwan district say two buses carrying at least 60 people were swept into a river by a landslide early today and that only three survivors have been located. Reports say search and rescue operations are continuing today, but are being hampered by ongoing rain and more landslides. [more]

FRANCE | The leader of France’s influential hard-left CGT labor union called yesterday for mass demonstrations and possible strikes as part of efforts to pressure President Emmanuel Macron into allowing the New Popular Front left-wing coalition, which won the most legislative seats in recent elections, to form a government. [more]

CONGO | Speaking in Geneva yesterday, World Health Organization senior emergency officer Adelheid Marschang said more than one million children in the Democratic Republic of Congo are at risk from acute malnutrition as violence between Congolese forces and the Rwanda-backed M23 militia in eastern areas of the country drives up needs among millions of displaced people. [more]

BRAZIL | Federal police in Brazil say an investigation has indicated that the country’s main intelligence agency spied on members of the country’s legislature and judiciary, as well as on journalists, during the administration of former President Jair Bolsonaro. At least five arrest warrants were issued in connection with the spying yesterday, and reports note that while Bolsonaro has not been formally accused of ordering any espionage, his name appears multiple times in documentation supporting the warrants. [more]

CHINESE EXPORTS | Official customs data released in China yesterday show the country’s exports increased a higher-than-expected 8.6% in June, compared to the year-ago period, to $307.7 billion. The increased exports for June led to the country’s trade surplus widening to $99 billion for the month – up from $82.6 billion in May. [more]

TURKEY AND SYRIA | Reports say Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has indicated he intends to soon extend an invitation to Syrian President Bashar Assad for a meeting to discuss possible resumption of relations between their two countries, which were halted in 2011 following the outbreak of Syria’s still-ongoing civil war. [more]

AUSTRALIA | Federal police arrested an Australian army private and her husband in Brisbane yesterday on espionage charges related to alleged spying for Russia. Reports note that Kira Korolev, 40, and her husband Igor Korolev, 62, are Russian-born Australian citizens and hold Russian passports. [more]

TENNIS | Jasmine Paolini and Barbora Krejcikova will play for the women’s Wimbledon championship tomorrow. Sunday’s men’s final will feature the winners of today’s matches between Novak Djokovic and Lorenzo Musetti and Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev. [more]

R.I.P. | Actress Shelley Duvall, best known for her co-starring role in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” died yesterday at the age of 75 from complications of diabetes. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1909, the House of Representatives joined the Senate in passing the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, allowing for a federal income tax. The amendment was submitted to the states and declared ratified in February 1913.  [more history]