World News

• BRICS nations announced their intentions to expand their Group during a summit in South Africa. China seeks to grow BRICS to be a peer with the Group of 7 (G7). The Institute 

Russia

• Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is believed to be dead following the crash of a private jet in Russia’s Tver Oblast. Russian authorities told the media that Prigozhin was listed as a passenger of the plane and that all 10 people onboard were killed in the crash. AWC
• The Kremlin reports that it downed three Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow on Wednesday. TASS, Russian state media, said that no one in the Moscow region was killed or injured. One building, currently being constructed, was hit by a drone after it was disabled by Russian electronic warfare systems. The Institute 
• National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Tuesday that the US has expressed to Ukraine and European allies that Congress will back the new spending on the war in Ukraine that President Biden has requested despite “dissonant” voices among Republicans. The Institute 

China

• The State Department on Wednesday approved a potential $500 million arms sale to Taiwan for infrared search and track systems for the island’s F-16 fighter jets. AWC
• The Chinese Coast Guard said that on Tuesday, it allowed Philippine vessels to resupply a grounded Philippine warship on Second Thomas Shoal, a reef in the disputed Spratly Islands of the South China Sea. AWC
• Former President Donald Trump privately met with his top economic advisors last week and discussed plans for major tariff increases, three people familiar with the meeting told the Washington Post. One of the ideas which was floated involves a “universal baseline tariff” on nearly all imports to the US, which may be as high as 10 percent. The Institute