US News

• Maryland police killed Duncan Socrates Lemp while he was in bed at his home. It is unclear why SWAT teams raided Lemp’s home in the middle of the night. [Link]
• The FED plans to inject $500 billion into the market three times to keep rates where the FED wants them. The first $500 billion was injected last Thursday. [Link] The FED also cut rates to 0. [Link]
• Three mass surveillance programs expired as the Senate failed to take up a bill passed by the House that would have extended the programs. [Link]
• The Pentagon announces it will again accept bids on the contract for the JEDI program to provide the Pentagon with a cloud. Since the Pentagon has awarded the contract to Microsoft, Amazon and others have sued claiming the process was illegitimate. [Link]
• Trump nominates Kenneth Weinstein to be US Ambassador to Japan. Weinstein is CEO of the Hudson Institute and chairman of the board for Voice of America. [Link]

Afghanistan

• The planned release of 1,500 Taliban prisoners by the Afghan government has stalled. The Taliban believe the prisoners should be released without precondition and the Afghan government is requiring them to make a pledge not to return to the battlefield. [Link]
• The opposing presidents of Afghanistan are having a tense standoff in Kabul. The standoff threatens potential fighting in the city and a crumbling of the US-Taliban agreement. [Link]

Middle East

• Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s corruption trial has been delayed until late May due to the coronavirus. [Link]
• Bernie Gantz’s Blue and White Party will have a mandate to form a government. Gantz has the opportunity because of consent from the Arab parties. [Link]
• The US sees the Coronavirus as a way to pressure Iran. [Link]
• The first joint Russian/Turkish patrols in Idlib were cut short by protesters who oppose the cease fire. [Link] 

Iraq

• The US airstrikes in Iraqi last week killed three Iraqi soldiers, two militants aligned with the Iraqi Army, and a civilian. The British forces decided not to participate in the strike because of the weak evidence that an Iranian-backed militia carried out the rocket attack. [Link]
• The Iraqi government condemned the US airstrike. [Link]
• The same Iraqi base – where two US soldiers were killed last week – was hit with rockets again on Saturday morning. The rockets injured three coalition soldiers and two Iraqi soldiers. [Link]
• Iraq will submit a formal complaint to the UN about US violations of its sovereignty. [Link]