US News
- New Mexico legalizes marijuana. The bill doesn’t legalize the sale of cannabis until 2022. The bill expunged low-level marijuana offenses. [Link]
- The number of US soldiers with serious sleep disorders is increasing. [Link]
- Mexico doubled the number of troops it deploys to its southern border and has doubled the number of migrants it is arresting. The US has pressured Mexico to stem the flow of migrants. [Link]
Foreign Policy
- Biden reverses Trump’s planned troop drawdown from Germany. Biden will deploy 500 additional troops to Germany in the fall. [Link]
- The US carried out a freedom of navigation operation in waters claimed by India. [Link]
Japan
- Japan plans to treat the nuclear-contaminated water from its nuclear disaster then start dumping it in the ocean in two years. [Link]
Afghanistan
- The Taliban say they will not attend peace talks in Turkey if they are held this week. The Taliban would be open to attending at a later date. [Link]
Middle East
- The US is holding talks with Israel about Iran policy. [Link]
- Biden is only restoring aid to Palestinians to half of the pre-Trump levels. [Link]
- The international chemical weapons watchdog – the OPCW – reports that the Syrian government dropped a single chlorine bomb in Idlib in 2018. To support the finding, the OPCW claims a few people had symptoms like red eyes and coughing. [Link]
- Over 100 people have been killed in heavy fighting in Yemen. [Link]
Africa
- Mogadishu’s police chief announced he had suspended parliament before the legislature was able to extend the president’s term. The police commissioner then fired the police chief.
- Egypt and Sudan reject Ethiopia’s proposal for data sharing about a new giant dam in Ethiopia. [Link]
- In the Congo, protests against the UN mission devolved into clashes between ethnic rivals that killed ten. [Link]
