US News

• A judge denied a Texas police officer qualified immunity after the officer removed a 14-year-old child from her home because she was alone. The child’s mother was charged with felony abandonment, a jury found her not guilty. She is now suing the officer that traumatized her family. [Link]
• The US plans to allow vaccinated land travel to the US starting in November. Non-essential travel from Mexico and Canada has been restricted for over a year. [Link]
• US official Victoria Nuland failed to make progress during talks in Russia. The US and Russia are seeking to come to agreements on the sizes of their embassies’ staff. The US and Russia agreed to another round of talks. [Link]

Japan

• Japan’s ruling party is looking to increase the country’s defense budget to 2% of GDP. Currently, Japan’s constitution prevents the country from spending more than 1% of its GDP on defense. [Link]

Middle East

• Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he hopes the Abraham Accords can help progress diplomacy between Israel and Palestine. The Palestinians view the Abraham Accords as a betrayal. [Link]
• Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett says there are non-peaceful ways to deal with Iran. [Link]
• Israel’s Foreign Minister Yapid says Iran is becoming a nuclear weapons threshold state. [Link]
• Sources say Turkey aided Iraq in the recent capture of a top ISIS member. [Link]
• Pro-Saudi forces in Yemen claim to have killed 100s of Houthi fighters in recent days. [Link]
• Saudi airstrikes in Yemen are at the highest levels since March. [Link]

Africa

• The Kenyan president will travel to the US to meet with Biden. [Link]
• The International Court of Justice ruled mostly in favor of Somalia in an Indian Ocean territorial dispute with Kenya. Last week, Kenya revoked the authority of the ICJ. [Link]
• The State Department said it is looking at a full range of options to deal with reports of renewed fighting in Ethiopia. [Link]
• A French soldier died in Mali due to an accident. [Link]