July 17, 2024

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR | Updates from day 285 of the conflict:

• A new report from global human rights group Human Rights Watch concludes that the actions of Hamas’ military wing and four other Palestinian groups committed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity during the October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel, including "murder, hostage-taking, and other grave offenses." [press release] [full report] [more]
• Following a related recent Israeli Supreme Court ruling, Israel’s military said yesterday that it will begin drafting Jewish ultra-Orthodox men on Sunday – a move that analysts say could destabilize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 874 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Authorities in Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, have announced plans to restrict civilian access to 14 villages in the region due to increases in Ukrainian artillery shelling. [more]
• Reuters cites an unpublished draft of Germany’s federal budget for next year as indicating that German aid to Ukraine will be cut to 4 billion euros in 2025 – down from about 8 billion euros in 2024. [more]

U.S. SUPREME COURT | Reports say President Joe Biden is seriously considering proposals that would establish term limits for U.S. Supreme Court justices, implement an ethics code for the Court that would be enforceable under law, and call for a constitutional amendment to eliminate the broad immunity granted to presidents by the Court recently. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | The Commerce Department released revised data yesterday, showing a 0.3% increase in U.S. consumer spending for May. The update means that retail sales were unchanged in June, compared to the previous month. [more]

MENENDEZ | A Manhattan jury found U.S. Senator Bob Menendez guilty of all charges yesterday in the New Jersey politician's corruption trial in which he was accused of accepting bribes and acting as an agent of the Egyptian government. Following the conviction, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and others called on Menendez to resign his Senate seat. [more]

WASHINGTON | Gov. Jay Inslee announced yesterday that tens of millions of dollars raised by Washington state's landmark climate law, under which allowances to emit carbon are auctioned off to heavily polluting companies, will go to the state's Native American tribes that are at risk from climate change and rising sea levels. [more]

ISRAEL AND LEBANON | Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said today that the militant group will hit new Israeli targets if Israel continues to target civilians in Lebanon. The statement follows Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon that, according to state media, killed at least six Lebanese civilians in the past three days. [more]

MIDDLE EAST | Officials with the U.S. military’s Central Command say the Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for 153 attacks in Syria and Iraq in the first six months of 2024 and is on pace to double its number of attacks compared to last year, which saw 121 IS attacks in the two countries for the entire year. [more]

GLOBAL CLIMATE | Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijani ecology minister and president-designate of November’s U.N. COP29 climate summit, said today that the urgent goal of this year’s summit is a new financial aid package for poor and disaster-struck countries affected by climate change. [more]

OMAN | Officials in Muscat, Oman, say six people were killed, and at least 28 others were wounded, yesterday when gunmen opened fire near a Shiite mosque in the capital city. The Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack. [more]

PERU | Peruvian authorities say at least 25 people were killed, and 17 others were injured, yesterday when a bus crashed in the South American country’s south-central Andean Ayacucho region. [more]

CANADA | Flooding from as much as four inches of rain in areas of the Toronto region yesterday closed a major highway and other roads and affected key public transportation in Canada’s largest city. Reports say as many as 109,000 city residents remained without power due to the storm as of late yesterday afternoon. [more]

U.K. | King Charles III presided over the ceremonial opening of a new session of Parliament today, which saw the introduction of legislative priorities for the newly installed government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who heads the U.K.’s first left-leaning government in 14 years. [more]

BANGLADESH | Education officials in Bangladesh today urged all of the country’s universities to close temporarily following violent clashes yesterday between rival student groups and police in which at least six people were killed during protests over the allocation of government jobs. [more]

BASEBALL | The American League beat the National League, 5-3, last night to win its 10th Major League Baseball All-Star Game in the past 11 contests. The Boston Red Sox’s Jarren Duran, who hit a tie-breaking, 2-run home run to give the AL the lead, was named the game’s most valuable player. [more]

SOCCER | The U.S. women’s national soccer team finished with a 0-0 draw with Costa Rica last night in the team’s last match before the Paris Olympics. [more]

FOOTBALL | The Chicago Bears have reportedly reached a deal with rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, who was the No. 1 pick in this year’s NFL draft. Under the four-year deal, Williams will receive a fully-guaranteed $39.49 million, with a $25.5-million signing bonus. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1945, following Nazi Germany’s surrender, U.S. President Harry Truman, Soviet leader Josef Stalin, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met at the Potsdam Conference – the last Allied summit conference of World War II. [more history]