Monday, Feb. 22

· Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged the United States government to stop meddling in what China believes are its own internal affairs, including issues regarding Tibet, Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Taiwan, and called on the U.S. to lift its “unreasonable tariffs” on Chinese goods.

· President Joe Biden launched changes to the federal coronavirus aid program for small businesses. For two weeks starting Feb. 24, the Small Businesses Administration will only accept applications for forgivable Paycheck Protection Program loans from businesses with fewer than 20 employees. PPP loans have had issues in the past with larger firms crowding out small businesses.

· The Supreme Court made a number of decisions on cases involving former President Donald Trump: It allowed a New York district attorney to obtain Trump’s tax returns, refused to hear a Republican challenge to a lower court decision extending the deadline to receive mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania and rejected adult film star Stormy Daniels’ attempt to revive her defamation lawsuit against Trump.

· The White House held a candlelight vigil as the country surpassed 500,000 coronavirus deaths. “That is more Americans who have died in one year of this pandemic than in World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War combined,” Biden said. “That is more lives lost to this virus than any other nation on earth.”

· NASA released the first video and color images from the Perseverance landing on Mars, as well as the first sound recording from the surface of the red planet.

· The Department of Homeland Security abruptly cancelled plans to bring asylum seekers from Mexico into Texas “given current operational considerations,” leaving hundreds of migrants stranded.

· The first migrant child facility opened under the Biden administration, a reactivation of a site previously opened for only a month under Trump, to detain up to 700 children ages 13 to 17. Human rights activists have criticized these facilities for their conditions, cost and lack of transparency, popularizing the phrase “kids in cages” to describe them.

· The U.S. sanctioned two more generals involved in the Feb. 1 military coup in Myanmar “in response to the security forces’ killing of peaceful protesters” when two people were killed over the weekend and a woman who was shot in the head on Feb. 9 died. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the sanctions were a step “to promote accountability for military leaders who perpetrate violence and attempt to suppress the will of the people.”

· The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission announced it would examine threats that climate change and extreme weather conditions pose to the country’s electrical grid, following the deadly Texas cold weather event that triggered rolling blackouts.

Tuesday, Feb. 23

· Biden held his first bilateral meeting with a foreign leader with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Both leaders said they looked forward to deepening and restoring the relationship between the two countries post-Trump, and unveiled a joint initiative called the “U.S.-Canada Partnership Roadmap,” a blueprint for the two governments “based on our shared values and commitment to work in partnership on areas of mutual concern” including COVID-19 recovery, climate change and military defense. The two leaders agreed to work toward achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

· The Senate confirmed Linda Thomas-Greenfield as ambassador to the United Nations. Thomas-Greenfield is a career foreign service officer and was assistant secretary of state for African affairs from 2013 to 2017 under former President Barack Obama.

· District Judge Drew Tipton indefinitely blocked Biden’s 100-day moratorium on most deportations, saying that it violated federal law and risked imposing additional costs on the state.

Wednesday, Feb. 24

· Secretary of State Blinken told the United Nations Human Rights Council that the U.S. will seek a permanent seat on the panel for the 2022-2024 term.

· Reports from the New York Times and the Associated Press indicated that the federal investigation into the police killing of unarmed Black man George Floyd may be reinvigorated with a new grand jury and new witnesses.

· Biden signed an executive order to launch a 100-day review of supply chains for semiconductor chips, large-capacity batteries for electric vehicles, rare earth minerals and pharmaceuticals, many of which are scarce, especially with the coronavirus pandemic.

· The White House coronavirus task force announced it would increase the vaccination rate across the country amid a decrease in COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths, raising the weekly supply of vaccines to states from 8.6 million as of five weeks ago to 14.5 million.

· Biden formally revoked Trump’s presidential order to cut funding from cities deemed “anarchist jurisdictions” during last year’s racial justice protest movement.

Thursday, Feb. 25

· Biden revoked a Trump proclamation that blocked many green card applicants from entering the U.S., saying that it did “not advance the interests of the United States … To the contrary, it harms the United States, including by preventing certain family members of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents from joining their families here.”

· Axios reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Biden not to lift sanctions that Trump imposed on the International Criminal Court for opening the door to a probe into Israeli war crimes. The Biden administration has said it will “thoroughly review” the sanctions.

· The House passed the “Equality Act,” legislation enshrining LGBTQ+ protections into labor and civil rights law, extending employment, housing, loan application, education, public accommodation and other protections to sexual and gender minorities.

· The U.S. military carried out airstrikes on facilities in eastern Syria used by a Iran-backed militia, the first military action taken in the Biden administration. Syria condemned the attack and compared it with Trump’s hardline foreign policy. Syria’s foreign ministry called the attacks “illegal aggression” and said the Biden administration “is supposed to stick to international legitimacy, not the law of the jungle as the previous administration.”

· Twenty-seven asylum seekers from a Mexican border camp entered the U.S. under a new policy meant to ease Trump’s immigration restrictions on the southern border. Some of these asylum seekers lived in the camp for over a year.

Friday, Feb. 26

· Secretary of State Blinken participated in virtual visits to Mexico and Canada, billed as his first official international trips, to discuss economic policy, immigration and coronavirus response efforts.

· Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected a U.S. intelligence report that assigned accountability for the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmann.

· The Justice Department charged over 300 people with participating in the deadly riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6. At least 280 were arrested.

· Biden restored an Obama-era calculation on the economic cost of greenhouse gases — from Trump’s $8 per ton of carbon emitted to $51 — although climate scientists and economists say new research reveals the cost should be even higher now.

Saturday, Feb. 27

· The House approved Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid bill that includes $1,400 in direct checks to Americans and $400 a week in unemployment benefits through August, although it excluded a $15 minimum wage hike.

· The FDA approved Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose coronavirus vaccine for emergency use.

Sunday, Feb. 28

· Iran rejected an offer to negotiate directly with the U.S. in an informal meeting proposed by Europe to revive the nuclear deal that Trump killed almost three years ago.