China

• Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with top Chinese officials in Alaska next week. [Link]
• Blinken said the US will take action against those who commit human rights violations in Hong King. [Link]

Myanmar

• The US sanctioned the children of Myanmar’s military leader. The US also sanctioned six companies the children own. [Link]
• The Myanmar Army removed the Arakan Army from the country’s terrorist list because the group has been helping to ‘establish peace.’ [Link]

Middle East

• An Israeli-Canadian firm, Dickens and Madson Canada, will be paid $2 million by the Myanmar military as lobbyists to explain the “real situation in the country.” [Link]
• National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will meet with his Israeli counterpart this week. [Link]
• US Envoy to Iran Robert Malley said the US is in no hurry to return to the Iran Nuclear Deal before the Iranian elections this summer. [Link]
• The head of the UN World Food Program traveled to Yemen and described the country as ‘hell.’ [Link]
• A CNN investigation finds the US/Saudi blockage of Yemen is causing fuel and food shortages. [Link]

Africa

• Blinken demands Ethiopia’s military must withdraw from the country’s Tigray region. [Link]
• The US designated the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in the Congo and Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jama in Mozambique as terror groups for ties to ISIS. [Link]