July 9, 2024

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR | Updates from day 277 of the conflict:

• Hamas officials accused Israel yesterday of risking the collapse of Gaza cease-fire talks by renewing military operations in and around Gaza City. [more]
• Calling the move an “operational necessity,” as well as a “complex social issue,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said today that the Israeli army will start drafting ultra-Orthodox Israeli men starting next month in compliance with the recent Israeli Supreme Court ruling that ordered an end to the longstanding practice under which Jewish seminary students were exempt from conscription. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 866 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at least 31 people were killed, and more than 150 others were wounded, yesterday in Russian missile attacks on five Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Slovlanks, and Pokrovsk. [more]
• Russian officials deny targeting a Kyiv children’s hospital in its missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital yesterday, saying that, instead, Ukrainian air defense missiles were responsible for the damage. Reports note that debris from a Russian KH-101 cruise missile were found at the hospital compound, which was severely damaged. [more]

U.S. NUCLEAR ARSENAL | Reports cite newly released budget and cost review data as showing that the U.S. military’s ongoing Sentinel nuclear missile and facility modernization project is 81% over budget and is now projected to cost nearly $141 billion. The project, run by Northrop Grumman, involves the development of the Sentinel nuclear warhead, as well as the modernization of missile launch control centers and bases, testing facilities, and 450 missile silos. [more]

U.S. LAND SALES | Under a newly proposed rule, review of land sales near U.S. military facilities to foreign entities by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States would be expanded to an additional 56 sites, bringing to 227 the total number sites where the Committee reviews real estate transactions for potential national security concerns. [more]

HURRICANE BERYL | An estimated 2.4 million homes and businesses in the Houston, Texas, region remained without power last night as the area continued to deal with the effects of Hurricane Beryl, which made landfall early yesterday as a Category 1 storm. Reports say at least seven deaths in Texas, and one in Louisiana, have been linked to the storm. [more]

U.S. TRAVEL | Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas said yesterday that, on Sunday, for the first time since the Transportation Security Administration’s founding in November 2001, TSA officers screened more than three million travelers on a single day at airports across the country. [press release] [more]

ARIZONA | Members of Arizona’s congressional delegation introduced legislation yesterday that would, if passed, authorize a $5 billion water rights settlement with three Native American tribes in the Southwest. The measure would grant Colorado River and groundwater rights and protections to the Navajo Nation as well as the Hopi and San Juan Southern Paiute tribes and fund the construction of water development and delivery projects. [more]

U.S. PHILANTHROPY | Johns Hopkins University announced yesterday that, thanks to a $1 billion donation from businessman Michael Bloomberg's philanthropic organization, most students pursuing medical degrees at the school will receive free tuition. [press release] [more]

NATO | Amidst increased cooperation between Russia and China and ongoing tensions between North and South Korea, the leaders of New Zealand, Japan and South Korea, as well as Australia’s deputy prime minister, will attend the NATO summit that starts today in Washington, DC. Reports note that China has condemned increased NATO coordination with its four Indo-Pacific partners, accusing the alliance of “breaching its boundary, expanding its mandate, reaching beyond its defense zone, and stoking confrontation.” [more]

IRAN AND ISRAEL | Masoud Pezeshkian, who won Iran’s presidential election last week and is scheduled to be inaugurated in August, reaffirmed his country’s anti-Israel stance yesterday, saying resistance movements in the Middle East would not allow the “illegitimate Zionist regime” to continue its “criminal policies” toward the Palestinian people. [more]

INDONESIA | Rescue operations continue today at the site of an unauthorized gold mine on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island where, according to local authorities, at least 23 people were killed, and 35 others remain missing, after the site was struck by a landslide yesterday. [more]

COLOMBIA | Government officials in Colombia say deforestation in the South American nation fell 36% in 2023, compared to 2022, to the lowest level since related records began to be kept. Authorities attribute the lower level to reduced environmental destruction in the Amazon, limits on agribusiness expansion, and advancing peace talks between the government and guerrilla groups. [more]

GEORGIA | Pawel Herczynski, the European Union ambassador to Georgia, said yesterday that Georgia's E.U. accession process has been halted and some 30 million euros of financial support to the Caucasus region country has been frozen in the wake of Georgian authorities adopting a controversial law on “foreign influence” despite weeks of protests. [more]

BRAZIL | An investigative report unsealed by Brazil’s Supreme Court yesterday shows that federal law enforcement officials allege former President Jair Bolsonaro embezzled jewelry worth about $1.2 million during his time in office. Bolsonaro was indicted last week on charges of embezzlement, asset laundering, and criminal association. [more]

PHILIPPINES | Authorities in the Philippines’ southern port city of Zamboanga say at least 27 people were injured yesterday when a large pile of confiscated illegal fireworks exploded, damaging houses and businesses as far as three kilometers from the site of the explosion. [more]

SOCCER | In high profile soccer matches today, Spain and France play in the semifinals of the European Championship and Argentina faces Canada in the semifinals of the Copa America tournament. [Euro 2024 bracket] [Copa America bracket] [more]

COLLEGE BASKETBALL | University of Connecticut men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley has reportedly agreed to a six-year, $50 million contract that will keep him at the school through the 2029-30 season. The contract deal comes after Hurley turned down a lucrative offer to coach the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1762, Catherine the Great overthrew her husband, Peter III, and began her reign as empress of Russia, leading her country into full participation in the political and cultural life of Europe and extending Russian territory. [more history]