US News

• The FDA is expected to give emergency approval for Moderna and Pfizer boosters for all Americans over 18. [Link]
• The Army will no longer allow soldiers who are unvaccinated – and do not have a waiver – to reenlist or receive a promotion. [Link]
• The Marines say  91% of the branch’s soldiers are fully vaccinated and 94% have at least one vaccine. The branch’s head says it will address the over 16,000 unvaccinated on a case by case basis. [Link]
• The 2022 NDAA includes a boost in funding to African militaries. [Link] 

Criminal Justice 

• Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt commutes Julius Jones’ death sentence to life in prison. [Link]
• Facebook tells the LAPD to stop creating fake accounts to spy on its users. [Link]
• The Department of Justice will give police departments across the US $139 million to hire over 1,000 police officers. [Link]
• In the fiscal year 2021, the IRS seized $3.5 billion in crypto, accounting for 93% of assets seized. It expects another multi-billion year in 2022. [Link] 

Russia

• Putin says the West is not taking Russian redlines seriously enough. [Link]
• Russia says it is in talks with the US for a second Putin-Biden summit. [Link]
• Russia denounces the new naval agreement between the UK and Ukraine. [Link]
• The EU rejects an offer from Belarus for talks. [Link]

China

• Biden says he is considering a diplomatic boycott of the Chinese Winter Olympics. [Link]
• The US now has about 40 troops in Taiwan, about double the number from last year. [Link]
• The AUKUS agreement is increasing space and air ties between the US and Australian militaries. [Link]
• After a confrontation with Chinese ships in the South China Sea, the Philippines warns China that it has a mutual defense pact with the US. [Link]

Afghanistan

• More than 28,000 Afghans have applied for temporary admission to the US. So far, only 100 have been approved. [Link]
• The Biden administration is considering sending Afghans who cannot pass vetting to come to the US back to Afghanistan. [Link]

Iran

• The US charged two Iranians with conspiracy and fraud alleging they plotted to sway the 2020 election. [Link]
• The Treasury Department sanctions six Iranians and one Iranian company over alleged interference in the 2020 election. [Link]
• France wants the IAEA to send Iran a strong letter demanding a return to compliance with the JCPOA. [Link]

Middle East

• Unnamed American and Israeli officials claim Iran was behind the October 20th multi-drone strike targeting the US base at al-Tanf, Syria. The officials say the attack was a response to Israeli strikes on Iranian allies. Iran has not commented on the attack. [Link]
• The Houthi say 15,000 of their fighters have been killed since June and 4,000 have died since mid-October. [Link]
• The US sanctions a Houthi military leader. [Link]
• Ten migrants were found dead on a boat 30 miles off Libya’s coast. [Link]