March 14, 2024

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR | Updates from day 160 of the conflict:

• Palestinian health officials say at least five people, including a U.N. aid worker, were killed yesterday in an Israeli airstrike on a U.N. food distribution center in southern Gaza. Israeli military officials say a Hamas militant who provided intelligence to the group on Israeli troop positions was among those killed in the attack. [more]
• Delta Air Lines has announced plans to resume direct flights to Israel starting June 7, becoming the second U.S. airline after United to reverse flight suspensions put in place in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks on Israel and the war in Gaza. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 749 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• The Russian-controlled management of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine said today that a Ukrainian artillery shell landed near critical infrastructure at the plant and called the incident “unacceptable.” Russia and Ukraine have blamed one another for attacks surrounding the plant over the course of more than two years of war in Ukraine. [more]
• Russian state news agency RIA quotes Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying that Moscow has no intention of participating in a proposed Ukraine peace conference in Switzerland, even if it is formally invited. [more]

U.S. SOCIAL MEDIA | The House voted 352-65 yesterday to approve a bill that, if passed by the Senate and signed into law, would ban the social media app TikTok in the U.S. unless the platform’s China-based owner sells its stake. Supporters of the ban say the company, ByteDance, is subject to Chinese laws that could compel it to turn over data on U.S. users of the platform and that privacy and national security concerns have driven the legislation. [more]

MISSOURI | Federal prosecutors announced firearms charges yesterday against three men in connection with the illegal purchase of weapons connected to last month’s shooting at a rally to celebrate the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory. The new charges are in addition to second-degree murder charges linked to the shooting filed weeks ago against two other men. [more]

TRUMP CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS TRIAL | U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon is scheduled to hear arguments today on a motion filed by attorneys for former President Donald Trump that seeks to dismiss Trump’s prosecution for the possession of classified materials after he left office and the alleged obstruction of attempts to recover the materials. [more]

TRUMP GEORGIA ELECTION TRIAL | Judge Scott McAfee yesterday dismissed six charges in the 41-count Georgia indictment against former President Donald Trump in connection with alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state, saying the dismissed charges lacked the necessary level of detail on the underlying alleged crimes. [more]

U.S. AND CHINA | Reuters cites multiple unnamed former U.S. government officials as saying that former President Donald Trump, in 2019, authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to launch a clandestine campaign on Chinese social media aimed at turning public opinion in China against its government. [more]

AI | Five years after initial regulations regarding the use of artificial intelligence were first proposed, the European Parliament voted yesterday to pass the Artificial Intelligence Act, which will implement risk-based assessments of AI uses, require developers to report the materials on which AI platforms have been trained, mandate the labeling of some video or audio generated by AI platforms, and require companies to report incidents in which AI is linked to harm to health or property. [more]

HAITI | Reports say a Caribbean Community proposal to install a transitional presidential council to govern Haiti appears to have stalled after multiple political parties in the violence- and gang-ridden country rejected the plan yesterday. [more]

U.K. | Citing concerns over press freedom and foreign influence, the U.K. government announced yesterday that it will support legislation banning foreign state ownership of British newspapers and magazines. [more]

ZIMBABWE | Police in Zimbabwe carried out a raid on an apostolic sect compound north of the capital Harare yesterday, arresting the sect’s self-styled prophet and taking more than 250 children who had been used as cheap labor at the compound into custody. Authorities say at least 16 unregistered graves, including those of infants, were found in the compound. [more]

INDIA | Thousands of farmers are reported to be taking part in protests today in the Indian capital of New Delhi to demand new legislation that would guarantee minimum prices for a variety of crops. [more]

SPAIN | Pere Aragonès, the regional president of Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region, called yesterday for an early election on May 12 after his minority government failed to pass a budget for the region. [more]

NORTH KOREA | North Korean leader Kim Jong Un joined troops for field exercises yesterday that included what is thought to be a newly developed type of battle tank. The exercises are widely seen as a response to 11 days of joint U.S. and South Korean military drill scheduled to end today. [more]

DENMARK | Danish Prime Minister Metter Frederiksen announced plans yesterday to extend military conscription to women for the first time in the country’s history and to increase the normal conscription period for both men and women from four months to 11 months. Frederiksen also said that Denmark intends to increase its defense budget by nearly $6 billion in the next five years to meet NATO defense spending targets. [more]

JAPAN | Northern Japan’s Sapporo High Court yesterday upheld a lower court ruling that found the denial of same-sex marriage rights to be unconstitutional and called for government action to address the lack of any law allowing such unions. [more]

GERMANY | Operations at multiple airports in Germany are expected to be disrupted today and tomorrow after the country’s Verdi union called yesterday for strikes by security staff over pay and working condition issues. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1899, German military official Ferdinand, Graf von Zeppelin, received a U.S. patent for a “navigable balloon." The first zeppelin made its initial flight the following year. [more history]