1. The Biden administration this week, for the first time, referred to Edmundo González Urrutia as "president-elect" of Venezuela.
Independently collected voting tallies of the July 28 election show González got about 70% of the vote, but there has been no official vote count shared – and President Nicolás Maduro instead claims he won a third term.
It's unclear what impact calling González president-elect might have as Venezuela gets close to the Jan. 10 date for a presidential inauguration. González is currently in exile in Spain.
2. Mauro Cid, a Brazilian military officer who served as a private secretary to former President Jair Bolsonaro, was called to testify before the Supreme Court today about his knowledge of an alleged plot to assassinate President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Big congrats are in order for Consuelo Lyonnet for her work in marketing pharmaceutical and health care to Hispanic communities.
Consuelo, who is bilingual, helps create culturally nuanced messages for Hispanic audiences, having worked with clients such as Gilead Sciences, Pfizer, and Sanofi.
She strives to improve health outcomes for Latino communities.
Nicaragua's regime announced dozens of constitutional amendments yesterday that include extending President Daniel Ortega's term without elections.
Why it matters: Observers say the changes could sound the death knell for the nation's democracy, after years of the regime increasingly cracking down on any perceived opposition.
For the third yearin a row, high preterm birth rates earned the U.S. only a D+ in a March of Dimes report on the state of maternal and infant health.
The big picture: Black, Latina, Native American and Pacific Islander women experience disproportionate rates of preterm births, infant mortality and maternal deaths.
The war in Ukraine has veered into volatile new territory, ignited by a final push — in Washington, Moscow and Kyiv — to change the game before President-elect Trump takes office.
Why it matters: There are 60 days until inauguration — the starting gun for Trump's improbable vow to end the war between Russia and Ukraine in 24 hours.
Gautam Adani, the billionaire chair of India's conglomerate Adani Group, was indicted in New York on charges related to allegations of "an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials," prosecutors said Wednesday.
The big picture: Adani, one of the world's richest people, and two other executives of a renewable energy firm are accused of conspiring to commit securities and wire fraud.
Israel formally promised the Biden administration last week that it has no intention of forcibly displacing Palestinians from northern Gaza or starving the civilian population there, according to a copy of the letter obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: Despite the assurances, Biden administration officials are deeply concerned that the Israel Defense Forces will not allow tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians that left northern Gaza — especially the town of Jabalia — to return.
President Biden has authorized the provision of anti-personnel mines to Ukraine for the first time, a defense official confirmed to Axios Wednesday.
Why it matters: It's the second major U.S. policy shift in a matter of days aimed at strengthening Ukraine's defenses against Russian forces, and comes on the heels of the Kremlin ramping up its nuclear threats.
