US News

• The White House announces $1 billion in spending in an effort to bring down meat prices. [Link]
• Twitter permanently suspends Congresswoman Majorie Taylor-Green. [Link]
• Before 1/6, the Department of Justice approved deploying tactical law enforcement units, including the FBI Hostage Rescue Team, to the Capitol and other potential targets. [Link]
• The Department of Justice says 725 people have been charged with crimes committed at the Capitol on 1/6. The DOJ has gotten 165 people to sign guilty pleas. The FBI is seeking more than 350 other people. [Link]
• The Secretary of Defense will now have sole authority to approve requests for National Guard deployments to DC. [Link]
• The US is building new courtrooms at Gitmo for $4 million. [Link]

Covid

• A judge rejected Oklahoma’s lawsuit challenging the Pentagon’s vaccine mandate for the National Guard. Members of the OK guard will have to get vaccinated or will be unable to participate in required training. [Link]
• Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin says he has covid. [Link]
• 206 Marines have been discharged for refusing the covid vaccine. [Link]
• Israel will begin administering a 4th dose of the covid vaccine. [Link]
• The US donates 5 million Pfizer vaccine doses to Pakistan through Covax. [Link]
• The US donates 1.5 million Pfizer covid vaccine doses to Egypt through Covax. [Link]
• The US donates 2.5 million vaccine doses to Angola and Ghana through Covax. [Link]

Russia

• Estonia will give artillery systems and other weapons to Ukraine. [Link]
• Russia says it was happy with the Biden-Putin call, but warned the US against sanctioning Russia over Ukraine. [Link]
• The US says Biden told Putin there were two paths for the relationship going forward, diplomacy or deterrence. [Link]
• Rep Adam Schiff says Russia will likely invade Ukraine without massive sanctions. [Link]
• Biden told Ukrainian President Zelenskyy that the US will respond decisively if Russia invades Ukraine. [Link]

China

• China told the US to end military operations near its borders. [Link]

Korea

• South Korea says it has reached an agreement in principle with the US for a formal end to the Korean War. [Link]
• South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in – whose term will expire within a few months – is seeking to make a final push for Korean peace. [Link]

Afghanistan

• The Pakistani Taliban killed four Pakistani soldiers near the border with Afghanistan. Pakistan said one militant was captured. [Link]
• The US is considering strikes against the ISIS-K cell it believes carried out the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport. [Link]
• Hundreds of Afghans have their application for humanitarian entry into the US revoked. [Link]

Soleimani Assassination

• The Jerusalem Post’s website was hacked and displayed an image of assassinated Iranian General Soleimani on the anniversary of his death. [Link] 
• The Houthi seized a UAE ship off the coast of Yemen and two suicide drones were shot down near the Baghdad airport. [Link]

Israel

• Israel signs a $3.1 billion deal with the US for military helicopters and refueling planes. [Link]
• Israel tells the US it will inform it of all major deals with China and will reconsider the deal if the US objects. [Link]
• The US announces it will send $99 million to the UN agency that supports Palestinian refugees. [Link]
• Rockets fired from Gaza land in the Mediterranean Sea. [Link]
• Israel bombed Gaza. [Link]
• Israeli officials threatened to attack Iran. [Link]

Yemen 

• The UN calls on the Saudi-backed government of Yemen to allow new communications equipment to be flown into the country’s capital airport. Saudi airstrikes damaged the communications system at the airport in recent weeks. The damaged equipment makes communicating with aircraft challenging and caused the airport to close. [Link]
• Saudi Arabia killed 12 Yemen government soldiers. [Link]
• Saudi Arabia and allied government forces claim to kill 200 Houthi fighters and seize some key positions. [Link]

Middle East

• Iran says nuclear talks have made relatively satisfactory progress. [Link]
• The Guardian reports that the Saudi execution team members who killed Jamal Khashoggi live in luxury villas. [Link] 
• Iraq’s military says it still requires US air support. The US mission in Iraq recently rebranded from combat to training. [Link]
• At least 34 people were killed in several conflicts between various groups in Iraq. [Link]
• Over 1,600 people were killed by warfare in Iraq in 2021. [Link]
• The al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria – al-Nusra or HTS – is planning elections to court Western support. [Link]
• ISIS killed five Syrian soldiers. [Link]

Africa

• An al-Shabaab attack killed four near Mogadishu. [Link]

• A Kenyan official says a suspected al-Shabaab attack killed six. [Link]
• Armed militants killed eight soldiers in Mali. [Link]
• Security forces killed five protesters in Sudan. [Link]
• Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the US is prepared to respond to deadly crackdowns on protests. [Link]
• Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok resigns. [Link]
• The US is supporting Rwanda’s military in Africa’s Great Lakes region. [Link]