Assange

• Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has expressed frustration over the Biden administration’s efforts to convict WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, an Australian citizen. AWC

Russia

• The Pentagon has ordered more Javelin anti-tank missiles manufactured by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin as Washington’s stockpile dwindles. The Institute 
• Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian mercenary outfit Wagner Group, said he was promised his fighters would get as much ammunition and weapons as needed to continue fighting in Bakhmut. AWC
• Zakhar Prilepin, a prominent Russian novelist and supporter of Russia’s war in Ukraine, was injured in a deadly car bombing in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod oblast on Saturday. AWC
• Russian-backed authorities in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia oblast have ordered the evacuation from areas that are threatened with shelling, including Enerhodar, the town where the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) is located. AWC
• Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Turkey has rejected a US request for Ankara to provide Kyiv with Russian-made S-400 missile defense systems it purchased from Moscow in 2017. AWC

China

• The US and the Philippines on Wednesday agreed on new guidelines for the 1951 US-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty that formalize the US commitment to going to war if Philippine vessels come under attack in the South China Sea. AWC
• NATO is planning to open a liaison office in Japan next year, the alliance’s first in Asia, Nikkei Asia reported Wednesday. AWC

Middle East

• On Sunday, the Arab League voted to readmit Syria, marking a significant step in Damascus’ efforts to normalize relations with regional countries. AWC
• A US MQ-9 Reaper drone was fired at by a Russian SA-22 Pantsir air defense system in Syria back in November, a US official told Air & Space Forces Magazine. AWC
• According to a report from The New Arab, the leader of the Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has slammed Saudi Arabia for its normalization deal with Iran. AWC
• National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was in Saudi Arabia on Sunday to discuss a rail project that would link Middle East countries and extend to India via seaports, Axios reported. AWC

Sudan

• President Biden on Thursday signed an executive order expanding his authorities to impose sanctions on Sudan over the conflict that broke out between rival generals on April 15. AWC