US News

• A 60 Minutes hit piece on Ron DeSantis was selectively edited and denounced by two prominent Florida Democrats. [Link]
• Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen calls for a global minimum tax on corporations. [Link]
• DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says Biden may have to restart construction on the border wall to fill in any gaps. [Link]
• Washington police crowdfunded to pay for the surgery of a police dog that was shot. Reports at the time suggested a person arrested by police shot the dog. However, police shot their own dog, twice. The police also used the dog’s popularity to sell merchandise and raise money for the department. [Link]
• The State Department is considering a boycott of the 2022 Olympic Games in China. [Link]

Foreign Policy

• Biden will not change Trump’s pro-landmine policy. The DoD Spokesperson called them a vital tool in conventional warfare. [Link] As a candidate, Biden pledged to reverse the Trump policy. [Link]
• Biden lifted sanctions and apologized to an Italian restaurant. The restaurant was sanctioned on the last day of Trump’s presidency and alleged it was violating US sanctions on Venezuela. [Link]
• The USS McCain sailed through the Taiwan Strait. [Link]

Myanmar

• The military coup government in Myanmar is blocking the internet to most of the country. [Link]

Afghanistan

• Biden is still taking his time to decide if the US will withdraw troops from Afghanistan on May 1st. [Link]
• The CIA Twitter account bragged about supplying Stinger Missiles to the Mujahideen in Afghanistan. [Link]

Middle East

• Israel informed the US it attacked an Iranian flagged ship in the Red Sea. [Link]
• Iran has produced 55 kg of 20% enriched uranium since it started the process in January. [Link]
• Indirect talks between the US and the other members of the JCPOA established a working group to form a plan to have all sides return to compliance with the agreement. More indirect talks between the US and Iran will be held Friday. [Link]

Syria

• The USS Eisenhower is providing air support to anti-ISIS operations from the Medertarrian Sea. [Link] 

• The former US Envoy to Syria said the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria is an “asset” for the US. [Link]
• The US published pictures of training Syrian Kurdish fighters to call in airstrikes. According to the Air Force Times, the Kurds have had this ability for years. [Link]

Africa

• Talks between Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt over the fill rate of a new Nile River dam failed to reach an agreement. [Link]