May 15, 2024

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR | Updates from day 222 of the conflict:

• Reports cite congressional sources as saying that the Biden administration plans to send a new $1.2 billion military aid package to Israel – its first since holding back a shipment of bombs over concerns about their possible use in Israel’s military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The new aid package will reportedly include funds for tank ammunition, tactical vehicles, and mortar rounds. [more]
• The United Nations is reported to have launched a formal investigation into an attack Monday that killed U.N. Department of Safety and Security worker Waibhav Anil Kale while he was traveling to the European Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 811 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• In an interview published today, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that China has a “full understanding” of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and that he backs a Chinese plan for resolving the conflict. The Chinese plan, released last year without specific guidelines for implementation, calls for a cooling-off of hostilities, setting conditions for restoring peace, and minimizing the effects of the conflict on the global economy. [more]
• Russian officials say their forces shot down 10 Ukrainian missiles targeting Crimea and nine over the Belgorod region early today. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | Ahead of today’s release of the government’s latest monthly inflation report, the Labor Department said yesterday that its producer price index rose 0.5% from March to April and 2.2% from April 2023 to April 2024. [more]

CALIFORNIA | Gov. Gavin Newsom announced yesterday that California will make $3.3 billion available ahead of schedule for counties and private developers to expand development of behavioral health treatment centers as part of efforts to fund housing and drug use programs. [more]

FLORIDA | At least eight people were killed yesterday when a bus carrying farm workers crashed after being struck by a pickup truck in Marion County, Florida. The driver of the pickup, Bryan Maclean Howard, 41, was arrested following the incident and charged with eight counts of DUI-Manslaughter. [more]

U.S. AIRLINE INDUSTRY | In a court filing yesterday, the U.S. Justice Department accused aviation giant Boeing of violating a settlement that allowed the company to avoid prosecution related to two crashes – in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia – of its new 737 Max jets. The department said the company failed to make promised changes to detect and prevent violation of federal anti-fraud laws, making it subject to potential crash-related prosecution. [more]

GLOBAL CLIMATE | In a new study, the World Weather Attribution science group says extreme heat waves across Asia and the Middle East this year were made about 45-times more likely and 0.85 degree Celsius hotter due to human-caused climate change. [full study] [more]

JORDAN | The Associated Press cites unnamed sources as saying that Jordan has foiled an Iran-backed plot to smuggle weapons into the kingdom to help opponents of the ruling monarchy carry out acts of sabotage. [more]

INDONESIA | Emergency authorities and the Indonesian military collaborated to seed clouds with salt today in an effort to make storm clouds drop their water before reaching areas of West Sumatra province affected by weekend flooding in which at least 58 people were killed. [more]

PHILIPPINES AND CHINA | A flotilla of about 100 small boats set sail today from the Philippines to the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, which has been a key location in disputes between China and the Philippines. Activists taking part in the flotilla say the action is intended to assert their rights and safeguard the Philippines’ territorial integrity. Reports say several Chinese naval vessels are maintaining their presence near the shoal and that at least two Filipino ships are monitoring the civilian flotilla. [more]

FRANCE AND NEW CALEDONIA | Officials in the French territory of New Caledonia say at least three people have been killed in riots sparked by changes to voting eligibility laws that have increased tensions between native Kanak separatists and French residents of the Pacific island territory. [more]

GAMBIA | Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court yesterday found former Gambian government minister Ousman Sonko guilty of crimes against humanity while serving under former dictator Yahya Jammeh and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. [more]

SUDAN | The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says a least 27 people have been killed, and another 130 have been wounded, in intensified fighting between Sudan’s military and paramilitary forces in the North Darfur state over the past several days. [more]

SOCCER | World soccer governing body FIFA says it intends to appoint a panel to consider changes to rules that currently block domestic soccer league games from being played in other countries. [more]

SOLAR FLARE | The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the sun produced its largest solar flare in nearly two decades yesterday, but that the flare and resulting solar storm were not directed at Earth, unlike the flare last week that produced northern lights displays in many areas not accustomed to the phenomenon. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1948, hours after declaring its independence, the new state of Israel was attacked by Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon in the first Arab-Israeli war. [more history]