US News
- The TSA is offering a self-defense class for flight crews. [Link]
Haiti
- Haiti’s new Western-backed prime minister calls for elections as soon as possible. [Link]
Great Power
- Russia calls on the UK and France to be involved in nuclear weapons talks. [Link]
- The US sent a warship through the Taiwan Strait. Biden has made the provocative maneuver once a month since he became president. [Link]
- The Philippines fully restores the Visiting Forces Agreement with the US. [Link]
Afghanistan
- The Special IG for the Afghan War, John Sopko, says the Afghan Air Force US-made helicopter has under half the fleet operations. The Taliban are also targeting Afghan pilots. [Link]
- Sopko said the US is likely to repeat the mistakes of the Afghan War. [Link]
- The US transported the first 200 Afghans applying for special visas to Fort Lee in the US. The US expects as many as 50,000 Afghans will apply for special visas. The US has a backlog of 20,000 applications so far. [Link]
- The Taliban launched an assault on the capital of the Helmand Province, Lashkargah. [Link]
Middle East
- A Palestinian was killed by Israeli forces during clashes that occurred at the funeral of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy killed by Israeli forces earlier in the week. [Link]
- Russia has done little to prevent Israel’s bombing of Syria. [Link]
- Heavy fighting broke out in the southern Syrian city of Daara. Rebels are holding territory around the town and recent ceasefires have fallen apart. [Link]
- The Biden Administration is considering new sanctions on Iran that would target the country’s drone and missile production. [Link]
