September 4, 2024

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR | Updates from day 334 of the conflict:

• The U.S. Justice Department announced criminal charges yesterday against six senior Hamas militants in connection with the killing of American citizens in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. The indictment also accuses Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah of providing financial support, weapons, and military supplies to Hamas for use in the attacks. [press release] [more]
• Reports cite international mediators as saying work has begun on a new attempt to bridge gaps between Israeli and Hamas conditions for a cease-fire and hostage-exchange deal for Gaza, which has been complicated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demand that Israel maintain control over Gaza’s border with Egypt. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 923 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Rafael Grossi characterized the status of central Ukraine’s Russia-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant yesterday as “very fragile” following recent attacks around the plant. Grossi also said he intends to expand IAEA inspections in Ukraine to include electrical infrastructure critical to the plant’s operation. [more]
• Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba resigned his position today ahead of this week’s Cabinet reshuffle announced last week by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as part of plans to strengthen his government more than two years into Russia’s invasion. [more]
• Reports say at least seven people were killed, and another 35 were wounded, in an overnight Russian airstrike on the western Ukraine city of Lviv that also prompted the scrambling of fighter jets in neighboring Poland due to the proximity of the Russian attack to the Ukraine-Poland border.  [more]

NEW YORK | Linda Sun, a former aide to both current New York Governor Kathy Hochul and former Governor Andrew Cuomo, was arrested yesterday and charged with acting illegally as an agent of the Chinese government. Prosecutors say Sun used her state position to advance Chinese government priorities in exchange for millions of dollars in compensation. [more]

OKLAHOMA | The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday let stand a lower court ruling that rejected Oklahoma’s request to restore a $4.5 million federal grant for family planning services that was suspended after the state’s refusal to comply with a requirement that such services provide information to pregnant women on various pregnancy outcome alternatives, including abortion. [more]

ARIZONA | Authorities in Phoenix, Arizona, say two Phoenix Police Department officers were shot yesterday while pursuing a suspect. Reports say one person has been detained in connection with the incident. [more]

TRUMP NEW YORK TRIAL | U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein yesterday rejected a request by attorneys for former President Donald Trump to move Trump’s New York business records falsification case to federal court in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity. Trump was convicted in the New York case in May and is scheduled to be sentenced on September 18. [more]

U.S. AND GLOBAL MARKETS | Stock market indices in Asia and Europe, as well as U.S. market futures, are down today following yesterday’s tech downturn in the U.S. led by a record-setting sell-off of chipmaker Nvidia, which lost $279 billion in market value. [more]

VENEZUELA | A new report from global rights group Human Rights Watch says evidence supports allegations that Venezuela’s national guard and national police were responsible for some 24 killings that took place amidst protests over the results of Venezuela’s disputed presidential election in July. [full report] [more]

EUROPEAN MIGRATION | British and French authorities say at least 12 people died yesterday when the migrant boat in which they were attempting to reach the U.K. from northern France broke apart in the English Channel. Reports say a total of 65 people were recovered from the water in the incident. [more]

EUROPEAN WATER CONSERVATION | Amidst ongoing threats of worsening droughts and related strains on farmers and agriculture, member nations of the so-called MED9 group — France, Greece, Italy, Croatia, Portugal, Malta, Spain and Slovenia – pledged yesterday to develop more water-saving technologies, share related technical and practical data, and launch joint research programs on water-use efficiency. [more]

U.K. | A new British government report says the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London in which 72 people were killed was the result of decades of failure through incompetence, dishonesty, and greed by government, regulators and industry. [more]

NETHERLANDS | Dutch regulators fined facial recognition company Clearview AI $33.7 million yesterday over the company’s creation of a database of billions of photos of faces collected online that regulators say violates both Dutch privacy laws and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR. Responding to the fine, Clearview executives said the company does not operate in the European Union and is therefore not subject to the bloc’s privacy and data regulations. [more]

BASEBALL | Los Angeles Angels rookie reliever Ben Joyce threw a 105.5 mph fastball in a 6-2 loss to the Dodgers last night – the fastest pitch in Major League Baseball this season and the third-fastest since pitch speeds began to be tracked in 2008. [more]

TENNIS | Americans Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Open yesterday with wins over Grigor Dimitrov and Alexander Zverev, respectively. In women’s play, American Emma Navarro and Belarusia’s Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the semifinals with wins over Paula Badosa and Zheng Qinwen, respectively. [men’s bracket] [women’s bracket] [more]

COLLEGE FOOTBALL | Georgia remains the No. 1-ranked team following the first full weekend of the college football season, followed by Ohio State, Texas, Alabama, and Notre Dame. [full rankings] [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1998, search engine company Google Inc. was formally established as Stanford University Ph.D. students Sergey Brin and Larry Page filed incorporation papers. [more history]