US News

• The Supreme Court removes a lower counts ruling that prohibited the Pentagon from altering the deployment of unvaccinated Navy SEALs. [Link]
• The Biden administration will request an $813 billion war budget in 2023. [Link]

Russia

• Australia sanctions the president of Belarus and his family. Canberra also blacklisted several media organizations including Russia Today and the Strategic Culture Foundation. [Link]
• The US and EU reach an agreement that would reduce the bloc’s imports of Russian energy. [Link]
• NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg had his term extended for another year. [Link]
• The Mexican president denied allegations from a US general that Russia was basing its spies on Mexican soil. [Link]
• Blinken and Lavrov have not spoken since before the Russian invasion. [Link]
• Turkey asks for NATO countries to lift sanctions on its defense industry. [Link]
• The US bars Marines from traveling to Ukraine, Belarus, or Moldova. The Ukrainian embassy in America said 7,000 Americans had signed up for the Ukrainian foreign legion. [Link]
• Russia says it has completed the first phase of its offensive in Ukraine and will now focus on securing the Donbas. Russia reports controlling over 90% of Luhansk and over 50% of Donetsk. [Link]
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the US launched a hybrid total war on Russia. [Link]
• Zelensky requests 500 Javelins and 500 Stingers per day. [Link]
• The US announced an additional $100 million in security assistance to Ukraine. [Link]
• US intelligence claims Russia hacked a Ukrainian military communications satellite at the start of the invasion. [Link]
• A top Pentagon official says Russia will be weakened by the war in Ukraine. [Link]

China

• The US held a meeting on cybersecurity with Quad members, India, Japan, and Australia. [Link]

Afghanistan

• According to a new ProPublica report, some of the Afghan children that fled to the US remain in group homes and are struggling with a variety of serious mental health issues. Nearly 200, almost all teenage boys, are in the US without their parents. [Link]

Middle East

• The US is considering allowing Russia to buy Iran’s excess enriched uranium. [Link]
• The Houthi claim to have successfully hit a target in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A fire has broken out in the city, but the Saudis have not confirmed the cause. [Link]
• The Houthi and Saudi-backed Yemen government are working on a large prisoner swap. [Link]
• Human Rights Watch reports Egyptian police arrested several Sudanese migrants and forced them to do physical labor. [Link]

Articles by Kyle Anzalone and Will Porter

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