Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) summoned a dozen Senate Democrats to his office last week with firm marching orders: Call your closest CEOs and ask them to press Republican senators on the China competition bill.
Why it matters: Schumer is trying to engineer an inside-outside pressure campaign to force Republicans to move faster on hammering out their differences with the House by mid-July.
Senior diplomats from the U.S., Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Morocco and Bahrain met in Manama, Bahrain, on Monday to push forward with the establishment of the Negev Forum, a new framework for cooperation in the region.
Why it matters: Regional cooperation and integration between Israel and other countries in the Middle East will be a central theme during Biden’s visit to the region in two weeks.
U.S. energy envoy Amos Hochstein told Israeli negotiators last week that he wanted to try to get a deal between Israel and Lebanon on the maritime border dispute in two months, two Israeli officials told Axios.
Why it matters: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasralla has threatened to use force to prevent the Karish rig, which is located south of the disputed area and seen by Israel as a "strategic asset," from producing natural gas, which is expected to start in 10 weeks.
Twenty people were convicted Wednesday by a French court in connection to an ISIS terrorist attack that killed 130 people and injured hundreds more across Paris in 2015.
The big picture: Salah Abdeslam, who is believed to be the only surviving member of the group that carried out the attack, was the key defendant. The nine other attackers died at the scene.
Diplomats and lawyers from the U.S., Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are working on a complex choreography of agreements, understandings and letters that will allow a deal around two strategic Red Sea islands to be inked ahead of President Biden's visit to the Middle East next month, three Israeli officials told me.
Why it matters: The deal would be a significant foreign policy achievement for the Biden administration in the Middle East and could open the way for a gradual warming of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Ukraine and Russia announced Wednesday that they have conducted their largest prisoner swap since the start of the war in February, with each exchanging 144 prisoners.
Why it matters: "This is the largest exchange since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion," the Defense Intelligence arm of Ukraine's Defense Ministry wrote in a Facebook post.
A new round of indirect nuclear talks aimed at reviving the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal ended Wednesday without any progress, a senior U.S. official said.
Why it matters: These talks might be the last chance for the parties to reach an agreement before the nuclear deal becomes irrelevant, as Iran has taken steps to advance its nuclear program and limit the work of UN inspectors.
Unilever said Wednesday that it sold its Ben & Jerry’s business interests in Israel to the local company that had the license to sell its ice cream, ending tensions between the international food conglomerate and the Israeli government.
Why it matters: Last July, the board of Ben & Jerry’s announced it would stop selling its ice cream in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, saying "it is inconsistent with our values."
The U.S. Department of Treasury announced Wednesday that the multinational task force designed to freeze Russian oligarchs' wealth has blocked or frozen more than $30 billion worth of sanctioned Russians' assets and funds.
Driving the news: The task force in its first 100 days of its operation has also immobilized about $300 billion worth of Russian Central Bank assets, the Department of Treasury said.
Finland and Sweden, who have sought to join NATO in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, were formally invited to join the alliance on Wednesday.
Driving the news: The announcement comes just a day after Turkey — which had held up their bids to join — agreed to lift its objection, paving the way for the accession process.
President Biden announced on Wednesday the creation of a permanent headquarters for U.S. forces stationed in Poland, as well as new deployments of troops and weapons to Europe amid Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.
Driving the news: The number of U.S. troops deployed in Europe soared to 100,000 in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, with 10,500 U.S. service members stationed in Poland.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday Russia should be expelled from the United Nations, and he called for an international tribunal to investigate "the actions of Russian occupiers on Ukrainian soil."
Driving the news: Zelensky said in a video address to the UN Security Council that the Kremlin must be "brought to justice," otherwise "it could bring terrorist activity" to other European countries and Asia — specifically the Baltic states, Poland, Moldova, and Kazakhstan.
