US News

• The AP defends a decision to fire a journalist over pro-Palestinian social media posts. [Link]
• Biden’s 2022 Pentagon budget calls for $112 billion in research and development. [Link]
• The proposed Space Force budget for 2022 is 17.4 billion, a 13% increase. [Link]
• The Army’s budget will slightly shrink in 2022. The $3 billion in savings is mostly due to drawing down troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. [Link]
• The US is carrying out “Steadfast Defender” naval war games from the Atlantic to the  Black Sea. The war games involved 20 countries, dozens of ships, and thousands of soldiers. [Link]

Afghanistan

• The Afghan government and Taliban officials meet in Qatar for talks. [Link]
• The Taliban warned Pakistan against allowing the US to base redeploy troops from Afghanistan in Pakistan. [Link]
• The US transferred control of the New Kabul Compound to the Afghan Army. [Link]
• The 2022 Pentagon budget calls for an increase in aid to the Afghan Army. The US plans to give the Afghan government $3.3 billion and spend $9 billion on the war. [Link]

Middle East

• Israel approves 560 new settler homes. [Link]
• Netanyahu’s political rivals are working towards an agreement to unseat him as prime minister. [Link]
• The US warns Venezuela against allowing Iranian warships in its waters. [Link]
• The US is facing a growing threat of drone attacks in Iraq. [Link]
• The UN peace envoy to Yemen met with Houthi representatives. [Link]

Africa

• At least 50 people were killed in two overnight attacks in the Congo. The attacks are typically blamed on ‘Islamist militants’ often identified as ADF because of the location of the attacks. [Link]
• Gunmen abducted students during an attack on a school. Since the start of the year, over 700 Nigerian students have been kidnapped. [Link]
• Chad accuses the Central African Republic of a cross-border attack. It says one Chadian soldier was killed in the attack. Chad says the CAR committed war crimes when it executed five other soldiers that were kidnapped. [Link]