Monday, June 7

· The Food and Drug Administration approved the first new medication for Alzheimer’s disease in nearly two decades — aducanumab, an intravenous drug intended to slow cognitive decline — despite opposition from the agency’s independent advisory committee and some experts who feel there is not enough evidence that the drug is helpful.

· The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that immigrants who are allowed to stay in the United States for humanitarian reasons cannot apply for green cards if they first entered the country unlawfully, a decision that could affect tens of thousands of immigrants.

· Kamala Harris made her first foreign trip as vice president by traveling to Guatemala, where she met with President Alejandro Giammattei to discuss curbing migration and cracking down on corruption in Central American countries. She made her position bluntly to migrants looking to flee from these countries: “Do not come.”

· The New York Times reported that research shows relief funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to support survivors of climate disasters in the U.S. have disproportionately benefited white people.

· The Justice Department said it had recovered most of the ransom paid to the hackers who shut down the computer systems for the Colonial Pipeline after the pipeline operator paid about $4.4 million in Bitcoin to the perpetrators, a Russian hacking group called DarkSide.

· Eritrea’s foreign minister Osman Saleh sent a letter to the United Nations Security Council in which he accused the Biden administration of “stoking further conflict and destabilization” in Ethiopia’s Tigray region through interference and intimidation.

Tuesday, June 8

· China warned the Biden administration against pursuing a trade deal with Taiwan. Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the U.S. should “handle the Taiwan issue cautiously” and “refrain from sending any wrong signals to Taiwan independence forces” because China claims Taiwan as its own territory.

· A Senate report on the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol was released and uncovered intelligence agency breakdowns, lack of adequate training and preparation among Capitol police and other government, military and law enforcement missteps.

· The Biden administration announced it will launch a “supply chain trade strike force” to combat unfair trade practices. The force will look for violations in international trade law that contribute to the weakening of U.S. supply chains.

· The Treasury Department asked law enforcement to investigate the leak of individual tax information to ProPublica, which then released a report that showed that some of the country’s richest people like Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk paid little to no income taxes.

· The Department of Homeland Security released a report indicating that Biden’s efforts to reunite migrant families separated by the former President Donald Trump’s administration has so far reunited seven children with their parents, while at least 2,127 children are still believed to be separated.

Wednesday, June 9

• The Senate voted to approve a $190 billion package of legislation intended to strengthen U.S. technology and research in an effort to compete with China. It includes $54 billion to increase semiconductor and telecommunications equipment production and research, $2 billion of which is dedicated to chips used by automakers that have seen massive shortages recently. China’s parliament said it held a “resolute opposition” to the bill and that it was indicative of the U.S.’s “paranoid delusion” about China.

· Biden signed an executive order reversing Trump-era executive orders attempting to ban the Chinese-developed social media apps TikTok and WeChat. Biden will instead conduct an “evidence-based” review to identify national security risks with Chinese software.

· Biden began his first overseas trip to Europe with the goal of deepening ties with allied Group of Seven nations and “telling the world that democracy — not autocracy — is the path forwards,” according to al-Jazeera.

· The Washington Post reported that the Bureau of Prisons has allowed more than 20 prisoners to hold large sums of money — over $100,000 in some cases for a total exceeding $3 million — in government-run accounts under lax policies that face little oversight and are protected from most court orders.

· Attorney General Merrick Garland defended a Justice Department decision to continue representing Trump in a defamation lawsuit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, who accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in the 1990s. Garland said to a Senate panel that “The job of the Justice Department in making decisions of law is not to back any administration previous or present.”

· An Interior Department internal investigation into the aggressive police removal of racial justice demonstrators in a Washington, DC, park last year was not influenced by Trump’s plan for a photo op outside a church while holding a Bible as commonly believed.

Thursday, June 10

· The New York Times reported that the U.S. is considering bringing drones or warplanes into Afghanistan in the event that major Afghan cities are at risk of falling to the Taliban despite its continued withdrawal of ground troops from Afghanistan.

· Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, pleaded guilty in federal court to helping her husband run the Sinaloa cartel.

· Customs and Border Protection data showed the number of migrants arriving in the U.S. through the Mexican border remained high in May despite diplomatic efforts from the Biden administration to curb immigration, up to 180,034 people apprehended from 178,622 last month.

· The Biden administration released updated COVID-19 safety guidelines that allow federal government employees to return to their workplaces without being vaccinated or disclosing their vaccination status.

· The Treasury Department sanctioned members of a smuggling network allegedly led by Iran-based Houthi financier Sa’id al-Jamal that U.S. officials believe fund in part Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iran-aligned Houthi fighters in Yemen.

· At the G-7 summit in the U.K., Biden announced the U.S. will donate 500 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to the world’s poorest countries with “no strings attached.” “Our vaccine donations don’t include pressure for favors, or potential concessions. We’re doing this to save lives, to end this pandemic, and that’s it,” Biden said.

· The New York Times reported that prosecutors in the Justice Department under the Trump administration subpoened data from Apple on two Democratic lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee — Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell — as well as their staff and family members.

Friday, June 11

· Following a request from Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, the Justice Department’s internal watchdog announced it launched an investigation into the Trump administration’s secret campaign to obtain communications data from Democrats in the House of Representatives.

· Attorney General Garland announced the Justice Department will review and challenge laws being proposed and passed by Republicans in key states like Texas, Georgia, Florida, Arizona and Arkansas that would restrict voting rights. “The right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy, the right from which all other rights flow,” Garland said.

· Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke over the phone with Yang Jiechi, the Chinese Communist Party’s top foreign affairs officer, to voice his concerns about the “ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing” against Muslim Uigurs in China’s western Xinjiang region and “the deterioration of democratic norms” in Hong Kong.

· Ahead of his meeting with Biden, Russian President Vladimir Putin said relations between the U.S. and Russia “has deteriorated to its lowest point in recent years.”

· State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the U.S. is “gravely concerned” about the environment under which the upcoming election in Ethiopia are to be held, saying its credibility is in doubt due to ethnic violence and the detention of opposition figures there.

Saturday, June 12

• Biden attempted to urge G-7 nations to, according to the New York Times, “counter China’s growing economic and security influence by offering developing nations hundreds of billions in financing as an alternative to relying on Beijing for new roads, railways, ports and communications networks,” but officials from Germany, Italy and the European Union said they had concerns about risking trade and investment deals with China or causing a rift with the global power that could spiral into a Cold War.

Sunday, June 13

• Biden reaffirmed his support for the Tokyo Olympics at a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga despite health concerns from both the Japanese public and medical community. A White House statement said Biden supports “moving forward with all public health measures necessary to protect athletes, staff and spectators.”
• This year’s G-7 summit came to a close with a declaration castigating Russian and Chinese government, Russia for its “destabilizing behavior and malign activities” and China for its internal repression of dissent, although G-7 nations disagreed on other issues like the timeline for halting the burning of coal.