July 24, 2024

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR | Updates from day 292 of the conflict:

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to court sustained U.S. support for his country’s war against Hamas today when he addresses a joint session of the U.S. Congress. Significant protests over Israel’s military operations, the death toll among Palestinians, and the lack of progress in freeing Hamas-held hostages are expected in Washington, DC, surrounding Netanyahu’s address. [more]
• Reports say officials from Egypt, Israel, the United States and Qatar are scheduled to meet in Doha tomorrow to resume talks surrounding a proposed three-phase ceasefire plan to end the war in Gaza. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 881 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Responding to a European Union plan to use interest earned on frozen Russian assets to fund military aid to Ukraine, Russia characterized the program as “theft” and said it intends to take legal action against anyone involved in the decision. [more]
• Officials in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region say an overnight Russian airstrike damaged an energy facility in the region, cutting power to more than 50,000 homes and businesses. [more]

BIDEN SPEECH | U.S. President Joe Biden is scheduled to address the nation from the Oval Office tonight at 8 p.m. ET on his decision to not seek re-election. [more]

U.S. PRODUCT PRICING | The Federal Trade Commission has issued orders to eight U.S. companies to provide information on products and services that use data about consumers’ characteristics and behavior, including such things as location, demographics, credit history, and browsing or shopping history, to set individualized product prices for the same goods or services – a practice known as surveillance pricing. The agency says its investigation seeks to understand how the pricing practice can impact privacy, competition, and consumer protection. [press release] [FTC background doc] [more]

MENENDEZ | Following his recent conviction on charges of bribery and of acting as an agent of a foreign government, New Jersey U.S. Senator Bob Menendez announced that he will resign his Senate seat, effective August 20. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy will appoint a replacement to fill the remainder of Menendez’ term. [more]

OHIO | A federal judge yesterday struck down a portion of Ohio’s 2023 election law that opponents said restricted people from helping voters with disabilities cast absentee ballots by making it a felony for anyone who isn’t an election official or mail carrier to possess or return the absentee ballot of a voter with a disability, unless the person assisting them qualified as a close relative. [more]

U.S. SECRET SERVICE | Following Congressional testimony in which she admitted her agency’s failures in connection with the recent attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned her position yesterday. Deputy Director Ronald Rowe, a 24-year veteran of the agency, will serve as acting director, according to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. [more]

GLOBAL HEAT RECORD | According to the European Union’s Copernicus climate agency, Monday was the hottest day ever recorded, with a global average temperature of 17.15 degrees Celsius, or 62.87 degrees Fahrenheit. [more]

BRAZIL | As part of efforts to prevent land grabbing and illegal deforestation, Brazil announced plans yesterday to significantly expand a selective logging program on public lands in the Amazon rainforest under which companies would be granted limited logging rights in exchange for complying with volume rules. [more]

PHILIPPINES AND SINGAPORE | Amidst concern over growing regional Chinese influence, the Philippines and Singapore are expected to sign a defense agreement today that allows for joint military exercises to prepare for humanitarian emergencies and other contingencies. [more]

GERMANY | German authorities announced a ban today on the Iran-linked Islamic Center Hamburg and five of its sub-organizations after finding that the organization promoted “an Islamist-extremist, totalitarian ideology in Germany” and supported Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, which is banned in Germany. [more]

MEXICO | Authorities in Mexico’s Jalisco state say at least five workers were killed, and two others were injured, yesterday in an explosion and fire at a tequila factory in the town of Tequila. The cause of the incident is under investigation. [more]

BANGLADESH | Local media reports that at least 197 people were killed in clashes between student-led protesters and police in Bangladesh since July 16, but that the country appears to be returning to normal following a court order that limited government job allocation policies that led to the unrest. [more]

NEW ZEALAND | Results of a six-year independent study presented to the New Zealand parliament today say that an estimated 200,000 children and vulnerable results were abused while in the care of state and faith-based institutions in the country between 1950 and 1999. [more]

TAIWAN | Schools, businesses, and tourist sites are closed across Taiwan today ahead of the arrival of Typhoon Gaemi, which worsened seasonal rains in the Philippines this week, killing at least 13 people. [more]

PARIS OLYMPICS | French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said yesterday that about 1,000 people have been blocked from attending the Paris Olympics, which open Friday, due to concern over their possible involvement in spying for foreign powers. [more]

U.S. OLYMPICS | Tennis star Coco Gauff has been selected as the U.S.’ female flag bearer for the opening ceremony at the Paris Olympics. Gauff joins basketball star LeBron James, who was selected as the male flag bearer earlier this week. [more]

FUTURE OLYMPICS | The International Olympic Committee announced today that the 2030 Winter Olympic Games will be hosted by the French Alps and that the 2034 Winter Games will be hosted by Salt Lake City in the U.S. state of Utah. [more]

HIV/AIDS | A study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine says that twice-yearly injection with drugmaker Gilead’s AIDS treatment Sunlenca was 100% effective in preventing new HIV infections in women, compared to a 2% infection rate in women given daily HIV prevention pills. [full study] [more]

R.I.P. | Influential blues musician John Mayall – often called the “father of British blues” and whose group the Bluesbreakers served as a training ground for Eric Clapton, Mick Fleetwood, and many others – died yesterday at the age of 90. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1917, the trial of Dutch-born dancer and courtesan Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod – better known by her stage name Mata Hari – on charges of spying for Germany began in Paris, France. She was found guilty and later executed by firing squad, and her name became synonymous with the femme fatale. [more history]