Axios

The UN Human Rights Council on Friday voted to appoint an independent expert to monitor alleged human rights violations in Russia.

Why it matters: It's the first time the 16-year-old body has adopted a motion establishing a special rapporteur to monitor potential human rights abuses by a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Ukraine's military has retaken roughly 200 square miles of territory from Russian forces since the beginning of October, primarily from its ongoing counteroffensive in Kherson Oblast, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an address Thursday night.

Why it matters: Russia is in retreat on two fronts — in Kherson and Kharkiv Oblasts — after Ukraine launched massive counteroffensives in those regions in late August and recaptured large swaths of territory.

Six Nobel Prizes will be awarded by committees in Sweden and Norway over the next week for work in the sciences, literature, economics and peace.

The latest: The Nobel Peace Prize was jointly awarded on Friday to Ales Bialiatski, a detained activist in Belarus, Russian human rights organization Memorial and Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties.

The Nobel Peace Prize was jointly awarded on Friday to Ales Bialiatski, a detained activist in Belarus, Russian human rights organization Memorial and Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties.

The big picture: The prize comes at a critical time in Russia's invasion. A Ukrainian counteroffensive has pushed back Russian forces in some areas annexed by the Kremlin, a move widely denounced by western countries as illegal.

President Biden warned Thursday that the Russian invasion of Ukraine invites the highest nuclear "prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis."

Why it matters: Kremlin officials hinted at using nuclear weapons ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin signing laws Wednesday claiming the annexation of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk into Russia, vowing to defend the Ukrainian regions as Russian territory.

The blockade of Haiti’s main fuel terminal by a federation of gangs has made it nearly impossible for millions of Haitians to obtain fuel and increasingly difficult to find drinking water or food.

The big picture: Three-quarters of Haiti’s hospitals have closed due to “the fuel crisis, insecurity and looting,” the UN says, just as cholera is beginning to spread around the country.

Two Russians who fled their country to avoid military conscription have requested asylum in the U.S. after arriving in Alaska.

Driving the news: The pair arrived in a small boat onto a remote island near Gambell in the Bering Sea, Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) office said Thursday.

At least 37 people — including at least 24 children — were killed in a mass shooting at a child care center in northeast Thailand, police said Thursday.

Driving the news: Authorities identified the gunman as a former police officer and said that, after the attack in the province of Nong Bua Lamphu, he killed his wife and child, then shot himself, Reuters reports.

The U.S. Treasury issued new sanctions on Thursday against seven Iranian officials it said are connected to the government's ongoing crackdown on internet availability and protests in the country.

Driving the news: The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was arrested by Iran's morality police has sparked weeks of protests across dozens of cities in Iran — the largest demonstration against the regime in years.

A new initiative that mixes federal funding with private donations is seeking to help entrepreneurs of color start businesses.

The big picture: Less than 1% of funds from the top 25 venture capital and private equity firms wind up in the hands of Latino-owned businesses. The project is one of several launched in recent months to tackle this inequality.

Representation of U.S. Hispanics in the media industry stagnated over the past decade even though the population skyrocketed, the federal Government Accountability Office found.

Why it matters: Despite promises by news outlets and movie studios to diversify, the GAO study requested by U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) showed little has changed for Latinos in 10 years.

When Priscilla Almodovar was named CEO of Fannie Mae last week, it marked only the third time a Latina has been appointed to lead a Fortune 500 company, and Hispanic people remain the least represented demographic in boardrooms, per a new report.

Why it matters: Latinos in the U.S. are major economic drivers and the second largest racial or ethnic group, but a report by the Latino Corporate Directors Association, an organization that aims to increase the representation of Latinos in corporate America, shows they are often excluded from decision-making positions.

The UN Human Rights Council on Thursday rejected a Western-led motion to hold a debate on China's alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang after a UN report concluded the Chinese government's actions against the Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the region may constitute crimes against humanity.

Driving the news: Nineteen countries voted against the motion, 17 voted in favor, and 11 abstained. It's only the second time in the U.N. body's 16-year history that a motion has been defeated, according to Reuters.

Cherelle Griner said in an interview on Thursday that a call she had with WNBA star Brittney Griner, who is detained in Russia, "was the most disturbing phone call I'd ever experienced."

Driving the news: "You could hear that she was not okay. If you think about just a person's suffering and when they have suffered to a max … she was at the max that day," Cherelle told "CBS Mornings" co-host Gayle King.

Russian forces on Thursday fired seven missiles into residential buildings in the city of Zaporizhzhia, home to Europe's largest nuclear power station, the New York Times reported.

Driving the news: At least one person has died but rescuers have recovered 21 people from the rubble so far, Zaporizhzhia regional Gov. Oleksandr Starukh wrote in a Telegram post.

The U.S.-mediated talks between Israel and Lebanon over their maritime border dispute faced a major crisis on Thursday after Israel rejected the Lebanese comments on the draft agreement and claimed they were a “material breach” of the text.

Why it matters: Over the last week, it appeared the two sides were headed towards a deal. But this major crisis in the negotiations could lead to a military escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, which has threatened war if Lebanon's economic rights are not respected.

Ukrainian forces have broken through Russian lines on two fronts during audacious counteroffensives in territories Vladimir Putin recently declared to be part of Russia.

The big picture: Ukraine is recapturing territory with remarkable speed, but may have a narrowing window to gain ground before winter weather makes offensive operations difficult, and before Russia is able to flood in newly drafted soldiers to reinforce their lines.

The U.S. ambassador to the UN accused Beijing and Moscow of "enabling" North Korea's military after it fired two more ballistic missiles on Thursday following a Security Council meeting on the country's recent launches.

Why it matters: Thursday's launch was the sixth in 12 days, occurring after the U.S. redeployed an aircraft carrier off the Korean peninsula.

As Sydney experiences its wettest year since records began in 1858, widespread heavy rains left much of eastern Australia on flood alert Thursday.

The big picture: At least 20 people have died in Australia this year because of widespread flooding driven by climate change and the La Niña conditions present for a third-straight year in the Pacific, according to climate scientists.

Astronaut Nicole Aunapu Mann became the first Native American woman to travel to space on Wednesday.

Driving the news: She was a part of the four-person crew that SpaceX launched to the International Space Station for NASA.

Human-caused climate change made the drought conditions that gripped large portions of the Northern Hemisphere this past summer far more likely to occur, a new study found.

Why it matters: The study, published Wednesday, found human-caused global warming dramatically upped the odds of drought throughout the hemisphere outside of the tropics — making them at least 20 times more likely compared to the preindustrial era.

President Biden has tried to convince the Saudis to pump more oil with honey. Now he's trying vinegar.

Why it matters: With a new warning that the White House might support legislation targeting OPEC+ in Congress, Biden crossed a symbolic threshold — and sent a clear signal to the Saudis that he’s prepared to escalate.