Russia

• A Russian court found WNBA star Brittney Griner guilty of smuggling drugs and sentenced her to nine years in prison - which is just one year shy of the maximum possible sentence of ten years. Russia still hasn't publicly responded to the U.S. offer to swap her for convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout.
• Pres. Biden called the sentence "one more reminder of what the world already knew: Russia is wrongfully detaining Brittney."
• Switzerland banned gold imports from Russia in response to Russia's war in Ukraine. Switzerland refines 60-70% of the world's gold production, so its ban is going to be far more painful for Russia than the EU's identical ban has been.

• Three more grain ships left Ukraine yesterday, and more are loaded in port and ready to sail.
• Ukraine is also seeking to expand the deal that reopened grain exports to allow safe passage for other exports like metals.

• Iran announced that it now has the technical ability to make a nuclear warhead - although it denied having plans to do so.
• With uncanny timing - given the warhead announcement / threat - the U.S. and Iran resumed negotiations about restoring the 2015 nuclear deal yesterday. Expectations are low since neither side has expressed willingness to make the concessions the other side demanded.

• Miffed about House Speaker Pelosi's trip to Taiwan, China suspended cooperation with the U.S. on a number of topics - including climate talks and annual naval meetings - and sanctioned Pelosi and her family.
• China also flexed its muscle by delaying shipments to an iPhone assembly company after one of the company's executives met with Pelosi.
• China's live-fire drills around Taiwan continued today, and tensions are high. Taiwan says Chinese warships and aircraft passed the symbolic median line halfway between Taiwan and mainland China, which Taiwan views as an informal border of control.

• Tullow plugged and abandoned its Beebei-Potaro well offshore Guyana, after drilling it to over 14,000 feet deep. Tullow plans to focus on exploring assets in Africa.

• A new UN report cites "solid evidence" that Rwandan troops are fighting alongside M23 rebels in DRC. DRC had long accused Rwanda of supporting the rebels, but this is the first significant independent corroboration.