US News

• The LAPD worked with the Polish company Edge NPD during the George Floyd protests to monitor social media posts supporting “defund the police” and Black Lives Matter. [Link]
• Amtrak suspends its vaccine mandate to avoid service cuts. Less than five percent of Amtrak employees are not in compliance with the policy. [Link]
• The Pentagon is using TikTok for recruitment. [Link]
• The Navy says it successfully used a laser to take out a boat. [Link]

Russia

• The European Parliament gives an award to Alexi Navalny. Navalny is a part of Russia’s anti-Putin opposition and is currently jailed. Navalny has encouraged violence against Russian Muslims. [Link]
• Poland will buy four Blackhawk helicopters from the US. [Link]
• NATO head Jens Stoltenberg says the alliance has no plans to deploy medium-range missiles to Europe. [Link]
• Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia seek NATO membership at a summit for the alliance. [Link]
• Putin tells French President Macron that he wants talks about stopping further NATO expansion. [Link] 
• After taking a trip to Ukraine, a bipartisan group of lawmakers calls on Biden to expedite weapon shipments to Ukraine. [Link]
• The US condemns the possible deploying of mercenaries from the Russian Wagner group to Mali. [Link]

China

• The White House announces Biden will sign the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act – banning most imports from Xinjiang, China – if it passes Congress. [Link]
• Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the US will combat Chinese aggression in the South China Sea and donates more covid vaccines to Indonesia. The US has donated 25 million doses to the SE Asian nation. [Link]
• A journalist on Blinken’s plane tested positive for covid. The Secretary of State canceled the tour without going to Thailand. [Link]

Afghanistan 

• More evidence emerges that some civilians were killed by US soldiers, or CIA-trained Afghan forces, after an ISIS suicide bombing on the Kabul Airport during the withdrawal. [Link]

Middle East

• Blinken says the US is working on alternatives in case the nuclear deal fails. [Link]
• The US held economic talks with Palestinian Authority officials on economic issues. [Link]
• Turkey killed nine PKK fighters in northern Iraq. [Link]
• Turkey is targeting Yazidis it claims are linked to the PKK. [Link]