US News
- Colorado abolishes the death penalty. The governor also reduced the sentences of the last three remaining death row inmates to life in prison without parole. [Link]
- A commission examining if the US should include women in the draft or abolish it reached the finding the draft should be extended to women. [Link]
Coronavirus
- The FDA’s coronavirus guidelines barred in-home testing for coronavirus. Several start-up testing companies had already sent sample kits and received samples to test. The FDA has ordered the samples be destroyed. [Link]
- The FDA decided to relax rules on ventilator production to make up for shortages caused by the coronavirus. [Link]
- US troops are concerned the Pentagon’s inconsistent response to the coronavirus will cause it to spread more. [Link]
- US sanctions are preventing Iran from more effectively responding to the coronavirus outbreak. [Link]
Afghanistan
- Four NATO service members, who recently arrived in Afghanistan, test positive for coronavirus. [Link]
- Secretary of State Pompeo met with the deputy head of the Taliban in Qatar. [Link]
- The Islamic State killed 25 people in an attack on a Sikh complex in Afghanistan. [Link]
Middle East
- Coronavirus has reached the Gaza strip. Residents are scared as they only have 20 ventilators that are not in use. [Link]
- Turkey arrested 410 people for provocative posts about the coronavirus. [Link]
- A Turkish prosecutor indicted 18 Saudis for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. [Link]
- The Houthi are preventing a UN chartered ship from leaving Hodeida. The ship is carrying members of the Saudi-backed Yemeni government that is at war with the Houthi. [Link]
- After five years of a US-backed Saudi war in Yemen, Yemen is unprepared to handle a coronavirus outbreak. [Link]
