June 7, 2024

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR | Updates from day 245 of the conflict:

• Amidst ongoing tensions over U.S. support for Israel and the manner in which it has carried out its war against Hamas in Gaza, U.S. congressional leaders announced yesterday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address a joint session of Congress on July 24. [more]
• A new report from the U.N.’s International Labor Organization says the unemployment rate in Gaza has reached 79.1% since the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Hamas in October of last year and that the gross domestic product in the Palestinian enclave has contracted by 83.5% over the same period. [press release] [full report] [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 834 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• During a visit to Sweden yesterday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that, under international law, Ukraine has the right to attack legitimate military targets within Russia to defend itself. [more]
• U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are scheduled to meet in Paris today – one day after both leaders attended commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the Allied D-Day landings in Normandy and the U.S. announced a new $225 million military aid package for Ukraine. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | Economists predict that the latest Commerce Department jobs data, due out later this morning, will show that U.S. employers added about 180,000 jobs in May and that the unemployment rate will have remained at 3.9% for the second consecutive. month. [more]

VIRGINIA | Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced this week that Virginia will abandon, at the end of 2024, its adoption of California-based mandates requiring a certain percentage of new passenger vehicles sold in the state be either electric or hybrid models. [more]

U.S. WEATHER | The National Weather Service has extended its excessive heat alert for much of Arizona and Nevada through Friday evening, and through Saturday in some areas, including Las Vegas. Temperatures in the region have reached past 110 degrees Fahrenheit, or 43 degrees Celsius, over the past few days. [more]

U.S. BIRD FLU | Citing state officials, a new Reuters report says that, while most dairy cows infected with bird flu recover well, cattle in five U.S. states — South Dakota, Michigan, Texas, Ohio and Colorado — have died or been slaughtered by farmers because they did not recover from infection with the virus. [more]

YEMEN | Citing unnamed regional officials, the Associated Press reports that at least nine Yemeni employees of United Nations agencies, including the U.N. human rights agency, its development program, and the World Food Program, have been detained by Yemen’s Houthi rebels under unclear circumstances. [more]

SUDAN | The U.N.’s International Organization for Migration said today that more than 10 million people in Sudan could soon be internally displaced amidst the country’s ongoing civil war between military and paramilitary forces. [press release] [more]

SOUTH CHINA SEA | At a diplomatic function in Manila yesterday, Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson suggested that China’s repeated actions against Philippine vessels in the South China Sea threaten global security and that actions in the region should be guided by the U.N. charter, the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, and other similar international regulations. [more]

EUROPEAN ECONOMY | Citing decreased inflation pressure, the European Central Bank cut its benchmark interest rate yesterday to 3.75% – down from a record high of 4% and the first such rate cut since 2019. [more]

INDIA | After winning 293 seats in the 543-member Indian parliament, National Democratic Alliance coalition lawmakers today formally elected Indian leader Narendra Modi to serve as prime minister for a third consecutive term. [more]

COLLEGE SOFTBALL | Oklahoma beat Texas, 8-4, last night to complete a two-game sweep of the Women’s College World Series softball championship – the team’s fourth straight and eighth overall NCAA title. [more]

BASKETBALL | The Boston Celtics beat the Dallas Mavericks, 107-89, last night to win Game 1 of the teams’ best-of-seven NBA Finals series. [more]

TENNIS | Iga Swiatek will face Jasmine Paolini in tomorrow’s women’s final at the French Open. Sunday’s men’s final at the tournament will feature the winner of today’s semifinal matches between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud and Alexander Zverev. [full bracket] [more]

ENTERTAINMENT | Pat Sajak’s final episode as host of the U.S. television game show “Wheel of Fortune” is scheduled to air tonight. Sajak has hosted the show for more than 8,000 episodes across 41 seasons. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1929, the Lateran Treaty, through which Vatican City became a sovereign state, was ratified by the Italian parliament. [more history]