May 1, 2025

UKRAINE | Today is day 1162 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• The U.S. and Ukraine signed an agreement yesterday establishing the "United States-Ukraine Reinvestment Fund." While full details of the deal, which will require approval by the Ukrainian parliament, have not yet been released, it is reported to grant the U.S. access to mineral resources in Ukraine and provide Kyiv with a measure of reassurance concerning continuing U.S. military aid. [more]
• Ukrainian emergency officials say an overnight Russian drone attack killed two people and injured 15 others in the Black Sea port city of Odesa. [more]

U.S. TARIFFS | With a 49-49 vote, a measure that would have blocked global tariffs announced by President Donald Trump earlier this month was defeated in the Senate yesterday. Two senators who have been critical of the Trump tariff plans – Mitch McConnell and Sheldon Whitehouse – were absent from the vote. [more]

U.S. IMMIGRATION | Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdaw was released on bail from immigration detention yesterday on a federal judge's order. In ordering the release, U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford said Mahdawi had raised a “substantial claim that the government arrested him to stifle speech with which it disagrees." [more]

MORE U.S. IMMIGRATION | Maryland-based U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis yesterday ordered the Trump administration, again, to comply with her order, supported by a Supreme Court ruling, to provide information on what steps, if any, have been taken to retrieve Kilmar Abrego Garcia from an El Salvador prison. Abrego Garcia, 29, has been imprisoned in El Salvador for nearly seven weeks after his deportation, which the administration has admitted was mistakenly done due to an "administrative error." [more]

U.S. MATERNAL DEATHS | According to provisional data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday, the number of U.S. women who died during pregnancy or shortly after giving birth rose slightly to 688, or 19 deaths per 100,000 live births, in 2024, reversing two years of declines. [more]

U.S. SOCIAL SECURITY | In a 9-6 ruling yesterday, the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a Trump administration request to lift an order blocking Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from having unlimited access to Social Security Administration data, upholding a lower court ruling that found such access likely violates federal privacy laws. [more]

FLORIDA | Miami-based U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams said this week that her injunction against enforcing a state law that makes it a crime for people in the U.S. illegally to enter Florida by eluding immigration officials applies to all of the state’s local law enforcement agencies. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier argued that the law aims to protect citizens by "aiding the enforcement of federal immigration law," while the judge said there is a likelihood that the law would be found unconstitutional. [more]

INDIA AND PAKISTAN | Tensions remain high amidst concern over possible military conflict between India and Pakistan – both of which are nuclear powers – in the aftermath of last week's killing of 26 tourists, mostly Hindu men, in India-controlled Kashmir, which Indian authorities have blamed on militants allegedly linked to Pakistan. The tensions have prompted international calls for de-escalation, including from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who urged both sides yesterday to "continue working together for peace and stability in South Asia." [more]

MAY DAY | Workers' rights rallies and marches for social justice are scheduled for locations around the world today to mark the annual May Day recognition, which began as International Workers Day in the late 1800s. [more]

MALI | Following the discovery of dozens of bodies near a military camp last week, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs called on Mali yesterday to investigate reports of alleged executions and so-called 'forced disappearances" by the country's military and Russian mercenaries. Reports say most of the bodies found near the Kwala military camp in western Mali’s Koulikoro region were ethnic Fulani. [more]

KENYA | Kenyan President Willian Ruto has condemned the yesterday's killing of opposition legislator Charles Were in a Nairobi attack that police have described as "targeted and premeditated." [more]

RUSSIA AND NORTH KOREA | Russian news agency Tass reports that construction has begun on the first road link between North Korea and Russia. The 1 km bridge, which representatives of the countries say will expand their trade ties and cooperation, will span the Tumen River in North Korea's northeastern region. [more]

SERBIA | Following claims that a sound cannon was directed at protesters during an anti-government rally in Belgrade on March 15, the European Court of Human Rights said yesterday that while it was not taking “any position as to whether use of such weapons had occurred," Serbia should “prevent the use of sonic weapons or similar devices” for crowd control. [more]

GLOBAL ECONOMY | A new International Monetary Fund report says that countries across the Middle East and North Africa face significant challenges to economic growth as the region faces economic uncertainty due to tariff measures, declining oil prices, and cuts to international financial aid. [more]

AUTO INDUSTRY | In a letter to shareholders yesterday, General Motors cut its full-year profit outlook, citing as much as $5 billion of exposure to U.S. auto tariffs. The company notes that it still expects earnings before interest and taxes to fall into a range of $10 billion to $12.5 billion, and that it expects to defray at least 30% of its tariff exposure through U.S. production offsets. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1960, the Soviet Union shot down an American U-2 reconnaissance plane over Sverdlovsk, Russia, and captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers, in what became known as the U-2 incident. [more history]