Covid

• New Mexico is requesting National Guard soldiers and state employees to fill in as substitute teachers. [Link]
• The US donated over 300,000 Johnson & Johnson covid vaccines to Bangladesh. [Link]
• The US donated over 600,000 Pfizer covid vaccine doses to Ukraine. [Link]
• At least 2.8 million covid vaccine doses donated to Africa have expired. [Link]

Russia

• The US charged four Belarusians with air piracy. [Link]
• The US announces sanctions on four Ukrainians for assisting an alleged Russian influence campaign in Ukraine. [Link]
• A bipartisan group of Senators introduced a bill that would give the president more power to arm Ukraine. [Link]
• Germany rejects a request to send weapons to Ukraine. [Link]
• CIA Director William Burns traveled to Germany and Ukraine. [Link]
• Spain will deploy warships to the Black Sea. [Link]
• Russia will carry out a series of naval war games over the next six weeks. [Link]

China

• Taiwan’s vice president will visit the US on his trip to Honduras. [Link]
• The US is looking for ways to accelerate the delivery of F-16s to Taiwan. [Link]
• The USS Benfold – a guided-missile destroyer – sailed near the Chinese-claimed Paracel and Spratly Islands to challenge the Chinese territorial claim. [Link]
• China responds to the USS Benfold maneuvers by calling on the US to stop violating Chinese territorial claims. [Link]

Middle East

• Israel calls for Iranian proxy forces to be an issue at Vienna talks. [Link]
• China, Russia, and Iran hold joint naval drills in the Gulf of Oman. [Link]
• The Islamic State carried out an attack on a prison run by the US-backed Syrian Kurds. Some IS fighters were able to escape. [Link]
• The US bombed the Tabqa Dam in 2017. [Link]
• Saudi airstrikes led to a nationwide internet outage in Yemen. [Link]
• Saudi Arabia bombed a Yemeni youth soccer game causing casualties. [Link]

Sudan

• The US says it will withhold aid from Sudan until civilian rule is restored. [Link]