Monday, Jan. 31

· President Joe Biden told Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani that Biden is planning to designate Qatar as a major non-NATO ally “to reflect the importance of our relationship.” This ally status would grant Qatar special economic and military privileges in its relationship with the United States. Kuwait and Bahrain are also non-NATO allies of the U.S.

• The Treasury Department joined with the United Kingdom and Canada to impose sanctions on senior Myanmar officials — Attorney General Thida Oo, Supreme Court Chief Justice Tun Tun Oo and Anti-Corruption Commission Chairman U Tin Oo — who are said to have been closely involved in the “politically motivated” prosecution of ousted elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi during last year’s military coup.

· The Justice Department said Allison Fluke-Ekren, 42, of Kansas, who is accused of leading an “all-female military battalion” of ISIS in Raqqa, Syria, and was arrested late the previous week, made a brief appearance in federal court to face “terrorism” charges.

· Russia and the U.S. verbally sparred over the Ukraine crisis at a United Nations Security Council meeting. American UN ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said a Russian invasion of Ukraine would threaten global security, while Russia’s UN envoy Vasily Nebenzya accused the U.S. and its allies of playing up war threats despite Russia’s repeated denials of an invasion.

· The U.S. military launched interceptor missiles in response to an attack from Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeting the United Arab Emirates, the third such attack in two weeks. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the U.S. is working closely with the UAE. The U.S. also later deployed a destroyer and fighter jets to Yemen, per Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

Tuesday, Feb. 1

· The Bureau of Prisons placed all federal prisons on lockdown overnight following an incident late the previous day in a Texas facility where two prisoners were killed in a deadly gang brawl. The men were Andrew Pineda, 34, and Guillermo Riojas, 54.

· The U.S. asked the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting to discuss North Korea’s test-launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile, which North Korea confirmed it had fired Sunday.

Wednesday, Feb. 2

• Biden relaunched a federal government effort to cut cancer deaths in half in the next 25 years. The effort was first launched in 2016, when the U.S. assigned $1.8 billion in federal funds to combating cancer over the course of seven years. Just $400 million remains of the original funding. “I committed to this fight when I was vice president,” Biden said. “Let there be no doubt, now that I’m president, this is a presidential White House priority.”

· As U.S./Russian tensions increase amid the Ukraine conflict, Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. is sending 2,000 soldiers to Europe and repositioning another 1,000 from Germany to Romania to ensure the “robust defense” of European NATO members. This is in addition to the 8,500 soldiers the Pentagon put on “heightened alert” last week.

· The Treasury Department said it gave the go-ahead for international banks to transfer money to Afghanistan for humanitarian purposes, as well as allow aid groups to pay teachers and healthcare workers at state-run institutions without breaching sanctions on the Taliban.

Thursday, Feb. 3

• Residents and first responders revealed to news media that at least 13 people, including six children, were killed in a U.S. special operations raid in Syria. Biden said the raid targeted the leader of ISIS, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, whom Biden confirmed was killed by a self-detonated explosive in an “act of desperate cowardice.”

· After nine months of work, a panel of technical and medical experts convened by U.S. intelligence services speculated that some cases of so-called “Havana Syndrome” — a set of unusual symptoms including ear pain, vertigo and nausea – may be caused by “directed electromagnetic energy.” The CIA previously released a report finding that the cases were unlikely to be part of a worldwide coordinated attack.

· Ahead of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, U.S. legislators, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, criticized China’s abuse of its Uyghur population, as well as ethnic cleansing in Tibet and suppression of democracy in Hong Kong. Pelosi said China is “perpetrating a campaign of gross human rights violations, including genocide.”

· Pentagon spokesman John Kirby accused Russia of plotting a “false flag” operation to fabricate an attack by Ukraine to use as a pretext for military action.

Friday, Feb. 4

· The State Department approved a series of proposed U.S. weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the UAE, including tens of millions of dollars worth of upgrades to defense systems, fighter jets, communications and navigation equipment, among others. The sales can still be blocked by Congress.

· The Biden administration restored a sanctions waiver to Iran that was rescinded by the Trump administration in May 2020. The waiver allows Russian, Chinese and European companies to continue work at Iranian nuclear sites and is intended as a means of smoothing over negotiations toward restoring the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Saturday, Feb. 5

• Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian welcomed the U.S. restoring a sanctions waiver but said, “It should be known that what happens on paper is good but not enough … We seek and demand guarantees in the political, legal and economic sectors.”

Sunday, Feb. 6

• No news to report.