US News

• The VA will require 115,000 healthcare employees to get vaccinated. [Link]
• Venezuela says a US military plane violated its airspace along the border with Colombia. [Link]

Great Power

• The US will meet with Russian officials for arms control talks in Geneva this week. [Link]
• The US is moving dozens of military aircraft to Guam for the Pacific Iron 21 war games. [Link]
• China hit the US with retaliatory sanctions. Former Trump Administration official Wilbur Ross was among those sanctioned. [Link]
• Wendy Sherman held talks with Chinese officials. [Link]
• Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will travel to several southeastern Asian countries to build partnerships against China. [Link]
• The UK aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth enters the South China Sea. [Link]

North Korea

• Wendy Sherman, the Deputy Secretary of State, says the US has offered to open negotiations with North Korea. [Link]
• North and South Korea agree to restore a hotline between the two countries. [Link]

Afghanistan

• Pakistan reopens a border crossing with Afghanistan that is controlled by the Taliban. [Link]
• Four Afghan journalists were arrested for spreading propaganda. [Link]

Middle East

• Biden met with Iraq’s president and announced the role of US troops in Iraq would change but they would not be leaving the country. [Link]
• An Iraqi paramilitary’s weapons depot was hit with two drone strikes. [Link]
• Houthi fighters are making some gains in central Yemen. [Link]