November 19, 2024

MIDDLE EAST | Updates from regional conflicts:

• Reports say a U.S.-backed cease-fire proposal for Israel and Lebanon that calls for both Hezbollah militants and Israeli ground forces to withdraw from a U.N. buffer zone in southern Lebanon is being viewed positively by both Lebanese and Hezbollah officials. [more]
• The U.S. Treasury Department announced new sanctions yesterday against multiple Israeli organizations and firms involved in building unauthorized settlements in the occupied West Bank. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 999 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a revised nuclear doctrine today that declares any conventional attack on Russia by a country supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack on his country. Signing of the doctrine, which was first announced in September, follows U.S. President Joe Biden’s recent decision to allow Ukraine to use long-range, U.S.-supplied missiles to strike within Russian territory. Preliminary reports say Ukraine used U.S. ATACMS missiles to strike within Russia for the first time early today. [more]
• The U.K. Foreign Office announced new sanctions yesterday against Iran, including the freezing of assets for Iran’s national airline and its state-owned shipping company, for supplying ballistic missiles and other weapons to Russia for use in the invasion of Ukraine. [more]

U.S. ATMOSPHERIC RIVER | Residents of Northern California and the Pacific Northwest are bracing for several days of intense rain from a storm system that the National Weather Service says is expected to be the region’s strongest-yet of the season. Meteorologists have characterized the storm system, which is expected to last through Friday, as both an ‘atmospheric river’ and a ‘bomb cyclone.’ [more]

WYOMING | A state judge yesterday struck down Wyoming’s overall ban on abortion and its explicit prohibition against the use of medications to end pregnancy, saying the laws violated women’s rights under the state constitution. [more]

U.S. LABOR | A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments yesterday in lawsuits filed by Amazon and SpaceX that claim the National Labor Relations Board’s structure is unconstitutional. Reports note that the companies filed the lawsuits after the Board filed complaints against them in disputes about workers’ rights and union organizing. [more]

G20 | Ahead of the conclusion of the Group of 20 summit in Brazil, leaders of the world’s leading economies issued a joint declaration yesterday calling for a global pact to end hunger, increased aid for Gaza, and an end to fighting in both the Middle East and Ukraine. The declaration, which was supported by most, but not all, attendees, also called for a future global tax on billionaires and for reforms that would allow the eventual expansion of the U.N. Security Council beyond its current five permanent members. [full text of declaration] [more]

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT | Reports say U.S. President Joe Biden, speaking during a closed session at the G20 leaders’ summit in Brazil yesterday, pledged a $4 billion U.S. contribution over three years to the World Bank's International Development Association fund for the world's poorest countries. [more]

NEW ZEALAND | Tens of thousands of people took part in marches today in the New Zealand capital of Wellington to support the rights of the country’s indigenous Māori people and in protest against a proposed law that would revise the relationship between the Māori and the British Crown. [more]

CHINA | Officials in central China’s Hunan province say a yet-undisclosed number of children and adults were injured today when a small SUV drove into a crowd of students at an elementary school in the city of Changde. Reports say none of the victims’ injuries were life-threatening and that the driver of the SUV has been arrested. [more]

U.K. | Thousands of farmers and their supporters are expected to take part in demonstrations today in central London to protest increased inheritance taxes that they say unfairly impact family farms. [more]

ECUADOR | A 60-day national emergency was declared yesterday by Ecuador’s government due to widespread wildfires that have burned more than 25,000 acres amidst the South American country’s ongoing severe drought. [more]

HONG KONG | Forty-five activists and former lawmakers were sentenced to four to 10 years in prison today in Hong Kong after being convicted of conspiracy to commit subversion for organizing or participating in an unofficial primary election for the city legislature in 2020. Reports note that the mass conviction is the territory’s largest national security case yet undertaken under a Beijing-imposed law that critics say seeks to dismantle the territory’s pro-democracy movement. [more]

PAKISTAN | Ahead of a planned march by supporters of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan, Pakistani government authorities announced a two-month ban today on gatherings of five or more people in the capital Islamabad. [more]

BASEBALL | The Pittsburgh Pirates’ Paul Skenes and the New York Yankees’ Luis Gil, both pitchers, have been named rookies of the year for Major League Baseball’s National and American Leagues, respectively. [more]

FOOTBALL | With last night’s 34-10 loss to the Houston Texans, the Dallas Cowboys extended their losing streak to five games – the NFL franchise’s longest since 2015. [more]

R.I.P. | Arthur Frommer, whose guidebooks became a travel industry standard since launching in the late 1950s, died yesterday at the age of 95, according to a statement released by his daughter. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1863, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered the brief but renowned Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the National Cemetery in Pennsylvania during the American Civil War. [full text of the Gettysburg Address] [more history]