US News
- The Minneapolis police department obtained a geofence warrant. The warrant forced Google to give the police the names of the accounts of the people at an area of the George Floyd protest. [Link]
- Healthcare workers replaced police in 750 calls in the past year. The team was able to respond to the calls without arresting or murdering anyone. [Link]
- The bipartisan support for new domestic terrorism laws is growing. [Link]
- Biden will deploy 1,000 troops to help vaccinate Americans. [Link]
- The State Department approved a missile sale to Chile and communications equipment for NATO. [Link]
Great Power
- Russia says Biden’s anti-Russian rhetoric is aggressive and unconstructive. [Link]
- The US is planning a meeting of the Quad countries, US, Japan, India, and Australia. [Link]
Afghanistan
- The Taliban threaten to escalate fighting if the US ends peace talks. [Link]
- The Koch-backed Concerned Veterans for America is launching a major media campaign in an effort to end the Afghan War. [Link]
- Congress is looking to end a program that provides cash payments to Afghans and Iraqis. [Link]
Iran
- Biden says the US will not lift sanctions on Iran until Iran stops enriching uranium. The JCPOA allows Iran to enrich uranium. [Link]
- Iran’s Supreme Leader says Iran’s final position on a return to the JCPOA is the US must lift sanctions. [Link]
- The WSJ reports the IAEA found ‘trace amounts’ of radioactive material at a site in Iran. No further information is available, but hawks are speculating this is proof of a clandestine program. [Link]
Middle East
- As part of Biden’s policy shift on Yemen, the administration has indefinitely paused two bomb sales to Saudi Arabia. The sales are for 3,000 Boeing made bombs and 7,000 Raytheon made smart bombs. [Link]
- Three Shi’ite Saudis – who were sentenced to death for protesting as minors – had their sentence commuted to ten years in prison. [Link]
- The Biden Administration removed the Houthi from the terror list. Aid groups warned that placing the Houthi on the list would stifle the ability to bring aid into Yemen. [Link]
