June 18, 2024

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR | Updates from day 256 of the conflict:

• Reports say at least 17 Palestinians were killed today in Israeli airstrikes on the Nuseirat and Al-Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza. Israeli military sources said the commander of an Islamic Jihad sniper cell was killed and a militant cell was “eliminated” in the attack. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 845 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said yesterday that technology provided by China is allowing Russia to prolong its invasion of Ukraine, and called for China to face consequences for such support. [more]
• Reports say the Ukrainian Security Service carried out an overnight drone attack that ignited a major fire at an oil depot in the southern Russian city of Azov. [more]

U.S. IMMIGRATION | President Joe Biden is expected to announce a new policy today under which some 490,000 foreign-born spouses of U.S. citizens without legal residency status would be shielded from deportation, have paths to citizenship eased, and be issued work permits if they have lived in the U.S. for at least 10 years. [more]

CALIFORNIA | Authorities in Los Angeles County, California, say progress has been made in battling the region’s Post Fire, which has burned more than 24 square miles, but that the blaze remains only about 8% contained. [more]

NEW MEXICO | Some 7,000 residents of Ruidoso, New Mexico, were ordered to immediately evacuate their homes yesterday evening due to risks from the area’s fast-moving South Fork Fire, which had burned at least two square miles near the village at the time of the evacuation order. [more]

COLORADO | Anderson Lee Aldrich, who is already serving a life sentence following his conviction on state murder charges for the 2022 killing of five people at Colorado Springs’ Club Q gay nightclub, is expected to plead guilty today to federal hate crime and gun charges and to be sentenced to a concurrent sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. [more]

WASHINGTON | A federal judge yesterday ordered BNSF Railway to pay $394 million to the Swinomish Tribe in Washington state for violating the terms of a 1991 easement that allowed the railway to cross the tribe's reservation with only a limited number of rail cars per day. [more]

GLOBAL CONFLICTS | Speaking before the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk said today that three times as many children and twice as many women were killed in global conflicts in 2023, compared to 2022, and that the overall number of civilian fatalities in conflicts around the world rose by 72% over the same period. [more]

NATO | In a speech yesterday in Washington, DC, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that a record 23 of NATO’s 32 member nations are on track to hit the alliance defense spending target of 2% of GDP this year. [more]

U.S., PHILIPPINES, AND CHINA | Following multiple recent clashes between Philippine and Chinese vessels in the South China Sea, the U.S. reaffirmed yesterday that, under a 1951 mutual defense treaty, the U.S. obligation to help defend the Philippines “extends to armed attacks on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft – including those of its coast guard – anywhere in the South China Sea.” [more]

U.S. AND INDIA | In the first high-level U.S.-India meeting since the re-election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, U.S. and Indian national security officials met today in New Delhi and pledged to increase defense, trade, technology, and clean energy cooperation between their countries. [more]

RUSSIA AND NORTH KOREA | Ahead of his arrival in Pyongyang today for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked North Korea for its support of Russia's actions in Ukraine and said Russia and North Korea would work together to overcome U.S.-led sanctions. [more]

KOREA | In the second such incident in a week, South Korean soldiers fired warning shots today to repel North Korean troops who had temporarily crossed the military demarcation line that separates the two countries. The North Korean soldiers, who were engaged in a suspected anti-tank barrier construction project, retreated following the warning shots. [more]

CHINA | Chinese media reports that landslides caused by heavy rains have killed at least nine people, caused widespread power outages, and damaged crops in southern China’s Fujian and Guangdong provinces this week. Authorities say some locations in the region received 14.7 inches (372.4 millimeters) of rain over a 24-hour period. [more]

THAILAND | The Thai senate today gave final legislative approval to the country’s marriage equality bill, which, when it takes effect, will make Thailand the first country in Southeast Asia to grant full legal, financial, and medical rights for marriage partners of any gender. [more]

EL SALVADOR | Civil protection authorities in El Salvador say at least 11 people have died in landslides and other accidents caused by torrential rains that have affected the Central American country since the weekend. [more]

BASKETBALL | The Boston Celtics beat the Dallas Mavericks, 106-88, last night to win the NBA Finals and clinch the team’s record-setting 18th league championship. Boston’s Jaylen Brown was named the NBA Finals most valuable player. [more]

HOCKEY | The Florida Panthers hold a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven NHL Stanley Cup Final series against the Edmonton Oilers, with the potentially title-clinching Game 5 scheduled for tonight in Florida. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1815, Napoleon was defeated by British and Prussian troops at the Battle of Waterloo, marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. [more history]