US News

• Native American burial sites are being destroyed to build Trump’s wall. [Link]
• The DOJ is investigating John Brennan’s role in Russiagate. [Link]
• The US and China drove a global increase in military spending in 2019. [Link]
• The US is renewing pressure on China to join a nuclear arms agreement with the US and Russia. Russia is attempting to get the US to extend the bilateral New START Treaty. The treaty is the final nuclear arms agreement between the US and Russia. [Link]

Afghanistan

• Gunmen killed nine homeless civilians in Kabul. The gunmen have not been identified, and the victims have been identified as drug users. [Link]
• The US and the Taliban reach a reduction in violence pact. The pact could be the first step in a larger peace deal that ends with US soldiers withdrawing. [Link] A date has not been set for when the pact will start. [Link]

Middle East

• Oman hosted talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran failed to make progress. [Link]
• Qatar’s foreign minister says talks to end the GCC dispute have stalled since January. [Link]
• Assad’s forces have recaptured most of the Aleppo Province from the Syrian rebels. [Link]
• Turkey says the YPG killed two people with a car bomb in the Turkish-occupied area of Syria. [Link]
• Rockets hit a US-coalition building in Baghdad. No casualties were reported. [Link]

Yemen

• A Saudi fighter jet went down in Yemen. It is unclear if the jet was shot down or simply crashed. The Houthi say Saudi carried out several airstrikes in response, killing 31 civilians. [Link]
• A Saudi official said peace talks are progressing with the Houthi. [Link]

Africa

• A US soldier died in Djibouti from a non-combat related injury. [Link] 
• A UN official says the international arms embargo of Libya is a joke as several nations are pouring weapons into the country’s civil war. [Link]
• At least 30 people in two villages were killed by ‘bandits’ on motorcycles in Nigeria. After the people were killed, the bandits looted the food and stole livestock. [Link]
• Militants massacred Thirty-one people in Mali. [Link]