US News

• Senator Rand Paul airs his Festivus grievances, including the US spending $22 million on Serbian cheese and $700,000 on smoking fish. [Link]
• Trump signs the 2020 NDAA. [Link]
• The US and South Korea carry out military drills simulating capturing high value North Korean targets. [Link]

Russia

• Russia and Ukraine agree on the amount Ukraine will change Russia to transit gas through Ukraine to the rest of Europe. [Link]
• Russia officially opens a rail route from Russia’s two largest cities to Crimea. [Link]

India

• At least 13 people have been killed during protests in India. Muslims are protesting a law that discriminates against Muslims by granting citizenship to non-Muslims who live in India. [Link]

Afghanistan

• Afghan officials say a runoff in September presidential elections is likely. Preliminary results show Afghanistan’s president won reelection with a narrow majority. Thousands of election complaints have already been filed, which will likely dip his vote total below 50%. [Link]
• Taliban elders agree to a short term ceasefire that will take effect once a deal with the US has been finalized. [Link]
• The Taliban kill a US soldier in northern Afghanistan. [Link]

Middle East

• Iran reopens part of its AROK nuclear reactor in compliance with the JCPOA. [Link]
• Twitter permanently suspends 10,000s of accounts associated with a Saudi man accused by the US of spying. [Link]
• Saudi Arabia sentenced five people to death and three to lengthy prison sentences for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. The court ruled it was not a premeditated decision. A top adviser to de facto ruler MbS was not among the punished. Evidence suggests MbS was involved in the planning of the murder. [Link]
• Syria says it intercepted missiles fired from Israel. [Link]
• A car bomb killed two Iraqi soldiers. [Link]
• Warring parties in Yemen exchange 135 POWs. [Link]

Turkey/Libya

• Haftar’s forces seize a ship with a Turkish crew off of Libya’s coast. [Link]
• Haftar’s government claims that Turkey is moving military equipment into Libya with civilian aircraft. It warned it could shoot down civilian plans with military equipment. [Link]
• Turkey’s parliament recognizes an agreement with Libya’s UN-backed government that allows Turkey to deploy forces to Libya. [Link]
• Israel announces its opposition to Turkey and Libya’s eastern Mediterranean agreement. [Link]