Monday, Feb. 15

· Iran criticized the United States for seizing more than a million barrels of Iranian oil then selling it earlier this month, calling it an “act of piracy.” The U.S. federal government alleged the cargo belonged to the private sector, not the Iranian government, and that selling it broke U.S. terrorism regulations.

· A coalition of 58 countries including the U.S. endorsed a non-binding declaration condemning the political detention of foreign nationals called the Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations, which is aimed “to protect citizens of all countries who live, work and travel abroad.”

· House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congress would establish a commission to investigate and report on the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol in a form akin to the commission that investigated 9/11.

Tuesday, Feb. 16

· The Biden administration officially revoked the terrorist designation of Yemen’s Houthi movement, as had been announced Feb. 12 by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, with the aim of easing the country’s humanitarian crisis and to end its civil war. The administration of former President Donald Trump made the designation on its last day in power against the warnings of the United Nations, which warned that the accompanying sanctions could push Yemen into a major famine.

· The U.S. special envoy to Yemen, Timothy Lenderking, said the White House is working to “energize international diplomatic efforts,” which include using back-channel discussions with Houthi rebel leadership to work toward “a negotiated settlement to end the war in Yemen.”

· Biden extended a federal moratorium on foreclosures and mortgage forbearance policies through the end of June. The moratorium was previously set to expire at the end of March.

· Biden held a town hall event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in which he pressed his case for a $1.9 trillion federal COVID-19 pandemic relief bill; denounced the popular leftist rallying cry to “defund the police,” instead calling to fund police even more; and said China will face “repercussions” for its human rights abuses.

Wednesday, Feb. 17

· The Biden administration began a two-day meeting with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in an effort to restore cooperative relationships with the U.S.’s European allies.

· Biden had his first call with a leader in the Middle East: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Biden told reporters he had a “good conversation” in which, according to a spokesperson, he “emphasized U.S. support for the recent normalization of relations between Israel and countries in the Arab and Muslim world.” Placing Netanyahu first among Middle Eastern leaders suggests Biden will follow Trump in bolstering U.S.-Israeli relations, commenters said.

· The U.S.’s new COVID-19 testing coordinator Carole Johnson announced expanded efforts to improve coronavirus testing alongside ramped up efforts to vaccinate Americans. “We need to test broadly and rapidly to turn the tide of this pandemic but we still don’t have enough testing and we don’t have enough testing in all the places it needs to be,” Johnson said.

· The Justice Department charged three computer programmers working for the North Korean military, known as the “Lazarus Group,” with conducting cyberattacks including extortion, malware and phishing schemes on international banks and other companies, including Sony Pictures Entertainment, since 2014, stealing more than $1.3 billion for North Korea.

· A White House spokesperson said Biden supports a study to determine whether descendants of enslaved people in the U.S. should receive reparations as part of his “commitment to take comprehensive action to address the systemic racism that persists today.”

Thursday, Feb. 18

· Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) faced overwhelming criticism after media reports surfaced that he had fled to a resort in Cancun, Mexico with his family as the state he represents faced a federal emergency due to severe winter weather that has led to dangerous infrastructure failures including power, heating and water systems.

· The House reintroduced a bipartisan bill banning imports from China’s Xinjiang region, where slave labor abuses against Uighurs and other Muslim groups are alleged, unless the imports are certified to have not been produced with slave labor.

· NASA’s fifth Mars rover, Perseverance, landed onto the red planet in its scientific mission to search for traces of ancient microbial life.

· The federal government issued interim guidance to limit who can be arrested and deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, focusing on individuals deemed national security and public safety threats who entered the U.S. after Nov. 1, 2020.

· The U.S. imposed travel restrictions on 43 Belarusian nationals who allegedly took part in President Alexander Lukashenko’s crackdown on protestors and journalists. Secretary of State Blinken said the U.S. “remains alarmed by the Lukashenko regime’s continuing violent crackdown on peaceful protestors, pro-democracy activists and journalists.”

Friday, Feb. 19

· The Federal Reserve, in its twice-yearly update to Congress, said it will continue to bolster a U.S. economy wracked by the COVID-19 pandemic by holding interest rates near zero through 2023 at least and buying bonds at a monthly pace of $120 billion, among other measures.

· The Capitol police department said 35 Capitol police officers are being investigated for their actions possibly “violating the department’s rules of conduct” during the deadly Jan. 6 riot. Only six of them had been suspended without pay to date.

· Twenty-five migrants — part of a group of over 25,000 held at the southern border — were allowed into the U.S. after being forced to wait in Mexico while their asylum claims were being processed following the reversal of a Trump-era immigration policy.

· Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin urged the Taliban to decrease violence and move towards peace in Afghanistan. “Clearly, the violence is too high right now and more progress needs to be made in the Afghan-led negotiations,” Austin said in a Pentagon news conference.

· A federal grand jury indicted nine people affiliated with the far-right domestic terror group the Oath Keepers for conspiring to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6.

· The U.S. formally rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement.

· Biden declared a “major disaster” in Texas, authorizing further funding and other forms of assistance to state and local authorities as the state continues to deal with the impact of severe winter storms.

Saturday, Feb. 20

· The Justice Department deported Friedrich Karl Berger, 95, from his home in Tennessee to Germany after evidence was found showing he was a former concentration camp guard in World War II.

Sunday, Feb. 21

· House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said not to blame Trump for the Jan. 6 riot, pointing to Trump’s tepid denunciation of the violence and claiming that Democrats did not adequately denounce unrelated violence during the George Floyd protests over the summer of 2020.