OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas held into a third day on Sunday as mediators spoke to all sides about extending the period of calm after the worst outbreak of fighting in years. Lynn Hastings, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for the Palestinian territories, also announced yesterday that the U.N. would launch an appeal to repair the damage in densely populated Gaza. Reuters reports. Israeli lawmaker Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi, who quit the government last week, has decided to rejoin the ruling coalition helping Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to stay in power and avoid new elections. On Sunday Rinawie Zoabi said she would rejoin the coalition following intense pressure from Arab municipal officials worried about an alternative government that would likely include hard-right figures. Dov Lieber and Adam Rasgon report for the Wall Street Journal. A senior member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps was assassinated in Tehran yesterday outside his home, according to a statement by the Guards. The statement identified the man as Col. Sayad Khodayee and blamed the assassination on foreign “terrorists” affiliated with world powers considered enemies of Iran’s Islamic revolution. Farnaz Fassihi and Adam Nossiter report for the New York Times. Allegations of human rights abuses in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region are dominant issues as the U.N.’s top rights official begins her visit. Michelle Bachelet’s visit is the first to China by a U.N. high commissioner for human rights since 2005. However, rights groups have warned that the visit may serve to whitewash the ruling Communist Party's abuses in Xinjiang. “The U.N. must take steps to mitigate against this and resist being used to support blatant propaganda,” Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary-General said in a statement. AP reports. The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) has said the global number of forcibly displaced people has passed 100 million for the first time, describing it as a “staggering milestone”. The U.N. high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, said the new statistic should act as a wake-up call for the international community and that more action is needed internationally to address the root causes of forced displacement around the world. Diane Taylor reports for The Guardian. Australia’s new prime minister Antony Albanese was sworn in today, before flying to Tokyo for a summit with President Biden. Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor Party ousted predecessor Scott Morrison’s conservative coalition at Saturday’s election. However, it is not yet clear whether Albanese will control a majority in Parliament. Rod McGuirk reports for AP.
DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS Rudy Giuliani testified on Friday before the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The onetime attorney of former President Trump met with the committee for roughly nine hours, including breaks. Garrett Haake and Zoe Richards report for NBC News. Senate Republicans are set to vote against a House-passed bill that would authorize special offices within the government to investigate and monitor domestic terrorism. The Republican Party has compared the proposal, which sets up offices in the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and the FBI to target domestic terrorism, to the recently paused disinformation board set up by the Biden administration. Senate conservatives say empowering the departments of Homeland Security and Justice with new authority to monitor domestic terrorism could easily morph into federal policing of political speech, and they worry it would be more targeted toward anti-government, anti-immigration activists than extreme left-wing groups. Alexander Bolton reports for The Hill.
COVID-19 COVID-19 has infected over 83.28 million people and has now killed over 1.00 million people in the United States, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Globally, there have been over 525.617 million confirmed coronavirus cases and over 6.28 million deaths. Sergio Hernandez, Sean O’Key, Amanda Watts, Byron Manley and Henrik Pettersson report for CNN. A map and analysis of the vaccine rollout across the U.S. is available at the New York Times. A map and analysis of all confirmed cases of the virus in the U.S. is available at the New York Times. U.S. and worldwide maps tracking the spread of the pandemic are available at the Washington Post. A state-by-state guide to lockdown measures and reopenings is provided by the New York Times. | 
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