US News

• Joe Biden calls for a nationwide mask mandate. [Link]
• Minneapolis business owners are struggling to rebuild after riots because of city regulations. The regulations require businesses to prepay taxes to get a demolition permit. [Link]
• The Secret Service requested a Blackhawk helicopter and spy planes from CBP during protests outside the White House. [Link]
• Former FBI Kevin Clinesmith will plead guilty to lying in an application to get a FISA warrant on Carter Page. Clinesmith altered an email to make it appear the CIA confirms FBI suspicions Carter Page was a Russian spy. The CIA email actually dismissed this as a possibility as Carter Page was working with the CIA. [Link]
• Trump says he is looking into a pardon for Edward Snowden. [Link] 
• The Department of Justice study finds Yale has a bias against white and Asian students. The study supports a lawsuit by Asian students against Yale. [Link]

Foreign Policy

• The US and South Korea delay their annual military drills due to Covid. [Link]
• The US aircraft carriers the USS Ronald Reagan carried out naval exercises in the South China Sea. [Link]

Europe

• Tensions between NATO and Russia are heating up in Belarus. NATO countries are supporting the protests and demanding a new election. Russia has offered Belarus security support. [Link]
• Turkey says it will not back down in its dispute with Greece over territorial claims in the eastern Mederrtarrian Sea. [Link]

Afghanistan

• France objects to the Afghan government releasing members of the Taliban that killed French citizens. Some Taliban that were convicted of killing French citizens are among the prisoners to be released to initiate peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. [Link]
• The Afghan government confirmed it is delaying the release of the last 400 Taliban prisoners because of concerns by France, the US, and Australia. [Link]

Iran

• The US lost a vote at the UN Security Council to extend the arms embargo against Iran. The US and the Dominican Republic voted for the resolution, while Russia and China objected. US allies – France, UK, and Germany – abstained from voting. After the vote, Russian President Putin proposed a summit to resolve the Iran Nuclear Deal issue. [Link]
• Trump dismissed the offer by Putin, saying he was unlikely to participate. [Link]
• The US confirmed it seized over a million barrels of Iranian oil that were being transported to Venezuela. The US is beginning the oil to Houston. [Link]