China

• A bipartisan House bill will recreate the Cold War-era Foreign Broadcast Information Service as the Open Translation and Analysis Center. The OTAC’s mission will be to counter China and is funded with $80 million annually from 2022 to 2026. [Link] 
• Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin hopes to deepen the US and Vietnam military relationship when he visits the country. [Link]

South Korea

• North and South Korea are in talks to hold a summit and reopen a joint meeting office. [Link]

Armenia 

• Three Armenian soldiers were killed in a battle with Azeri soldiers. A ceasefire has now been declared. [Link]

Afghanistan

• The US says it is concerned about increasing Taliban attacks on civilians. [Link]
• China met with a Taliban delegation and pushed for the Taliban to cut ties with an Uyghur militant group. [Link]
• Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Afghanistan will become a pariah state if the Taliban take over. [Link]

Middle East

• Blinken said talks to revive the Iran Nuclear Deal cannot go on indefinitely and the ball is in Iran’s court. [Link]
• Iran’s leader blames the US for stalled negotiations. He claims the US is refusing to promise not to leave the agreement a second time and the US is looking to insert new language in the JCPOA that requires Iran to negotiate on other issues before the US returns to the nuclear agreement. [Link] 
• The US says it will not offer Iran a better deal than what is on the table. [Link]
• Two rockets landed in Iraq’s Green Zone. [Link]
• The US sanctioned several Syrians under the Caesar Act. [Link]

Africa 

• Some Democrats in Congress criticize Bien for the illegal bombing of Somalia. [Link]
• The UN is working to attempt to move Eritrean refugees from a camp in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. [Link]
• South Africa will send 1,500 troops to Mozambique to help it put down an insurgency. [Link]