November 15, 2024

MIDDLE EAST | Updates from regional conflicts:

• The Lebanese Health Ministry says at least 12 Lebanese rescue workers were killed yesterday in an Israeli airstrike on a civil defense and medical center in the eastern city of Baalbek. [more]
• Syrian state media reports that Israel carried out multiple airstrikes on Syrian targets in Damascus and Qudsaya, killing at least 15 people and wounding 16 others. Israeli officials say the strikes targeted infrastructure sites and command centers of the Islamic Jihad militant group. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 995 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Gennady Gatilov, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, said yesterday that Moscow is open to Ukraine-related peace talks that could be initiated by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, but that any such talks would need to be based on the “realities on the ground” of Russian advances in Ukraine. [more]
• Speaking to reporters yesterday, U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine Matthias Schmale said that additional Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy system could trigger a new wave of mass displacement as winter approaches, adding to the estimated 3.6 million Ukrainians that are currently displaced internally. [more]

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION | Among the selections announced yesterday by President-elect Donald Trump for roles in his upcoming administration were: former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to run the Department of the Interior, former Rep. Doug Collins to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Trump criminal case attorney Todd Blanche to be the Deputy Attorney General.  [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said yesterday that interest rate cuts in the coming months would be made slowly and deliberately amidst ongoing inflation pressures, leading economic analysts and stock traders to reduce their estimates on the likelihood of a Fed rate cut in December. [more]

GEORGIA | A new U.S. Justice Department report accuses jail officials in Georgia’s Fulton County of violating the constitutional rights of people in their custody by failing to protect them from violence, using excessive force, holding them in “unsanitary and dangerous” conditions, and failing to provide adequate medical and mental health services. County officials say they have begun to make changes to improve jail conditions and will continue to do so. [press release] [full report] [more]

BIDEN OVERSEAS TRIP | President Joe Biden arrived in Peru yesterday to begin a six-day visit to Latin America during which he will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima and meet with G20 leaders in Brazil. Biden is also expected to attend a one-on-one meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and a joint meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. [more]

U.S. UFOs | The latest report from the Pentagon’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office reviews 757 cases of unidentified flying objects, or UFOs, from around the world that were reported to U.S. authorities from May 2023 to June 2024. Report authors say most of the incidents were linked to misidentified balloons, birds, satellites, and other objects, and that there was “no evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity, or technology. [full report] [more]

GLOBAL MEASLES | According to new estimates from the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were about 10.3 million cases of measles worldwide in 2023 - a 20% increase from 2022. The agencies say about 107,500 people, mostly children younger than 5 years of age, died due to measles in 2023 and that such deaths are highly preventable through long-accepted vaccination practices. [press release] [full report] [more]

GLOBAL CLIMATE | According to a new report from global climate data tracker Climate Trace, global greenhouse gas emissions rose 0.7% in 2023 and 9.2% between 2015 – the year of the Paris Agreement – and 2023. [press release] [more]

INDIA | Officials in the Indian capital Delhi closed primary schools in the city yesterday due to dangerous pollution levels that reports say were measured at 50-times the level deemed safe by the World Health Organization. [more]

SOUTH KOREA | Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was convicted of violating election law today in connection with what the Seoul Central District Court said was the making of false statements while denying corruption allegations during a presidential campaign. Lee, who is facing three other trails on corruption and other charges, says he intends to appeal the conviction. [more]

CROATIA | Local media reports say Croatian Health Minister Vili Beros, along with multiple doctors and hospital managers, were arrested today on corruption charges believed to be linked to suspected graft in procurement deals for Croatian hospitals. [more]

SPAIN | Authorities in Spain’s northeastern Aragon region say at least 10 people died early today in a fire at a nursing home in the city of Zaragoza. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. [more]

E.U. TECH REGULATION | The European Commission yesterday fined Facebook parent company Meta nearly 800 million euros for what regulators said were the company’s “abusive practices” involving its Marketplace online classified ads business. [more]

SKIING | American skiing icon Lindsey Vonn, 40, announced yesterday that she is coming out of retirement to rejoin the U.S. Ski Team and compete internationally. [more]

HOCKEY | The Edmonton Oiliers' Connor McDavid scored twice last night in his 659th National Hockey League game to become the fourth-fasted NHL player to reach 1,000 points. [more]

MUSIC AWARDS | Among the winners at last night’s 2024 Latin Grammy Awards were: Juan Luis Guerra 4.40 for album of the year for “Radio Güira” and record of the year for “Mambo 23” and Jorge Drexler for song of the year for his composition “Derrumbe.” [full list of awardees] [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1988, meeting at Algiers, the Palestine National Council, at the urging of PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, issued a declaration of independence for a state of Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.  [more history]