As part of a package of new pandemic-containment measures, U.S. President Joe Biden announced federal COVID-19 vaccination and testing mandates that will soon affect some two-thirds of U.S. workers (WSJ). The federal government’s broadest-yet requirements come as COVID-19 continues to kill at least one thousand Americans per day (AP) and jeopardize U.S. economic recovery. 

U.S. firms with more than one hundred employees must mandate vaccinations or weekly testing, and large companies must offer paid time off for immunizations. Some state governors objected to the mandates as federal overreach. The new requirements mirror vaccine mandates (Reuters) elsewhere in the world, such as in Canada, where all federal employees and many other workers must be vaccinated.

President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping had a ninety-minute phone conversation (SCMP). The White House said they discussed how to keep U.S.-China competition from escalating into conflict.
 
This timeline traces U.S.-China relations.
 
China: Beijing announced it will sell oil (Bloomberg) from its strategic reserve for the first time in a bid aimed at lowering domestic prices.

Qatar and Turkey have worked to help restore civilian flights out of Kabul, which the Taliban had said they would permit. After the first flight landed in Qatar (Al Jazeera), international officials hailed it as an important step.
 
Afghanistan: A UN development report predicted that Afghanistan’s gross domestic product (GDP) could decline (AP) 3.6–13.2 percent next year, depending on the degree of international engagement. The poverty rate could rise from 72 percent to 97 percent, according to the report.

The country’s president and prime minister announced a new cabinet (Al Jazeera) after thirteen months of political deadlock and a spiraling economic downturn.
 
Libya: German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas traveled to Tripoli to reopen the German embassy (Al-Monitor). France and Spain also reopened their embassies after Libya’s transitional government took office in March.

Fearing that jihadis in Africa will be emboldened by the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told AFP that an African counterterrorism force in the Sahel region should receive UN funding. Washington previously rejected the move.
 
Guinea: In an attempt to control state assets, the country’s military junta ordered the central bank (Reuters) to freeze all government accounts. 
 
CFR’s John Campbell looks at the resurgence of coups in West Africa for the Africa in Transition blog.

Madrid authorities arrested Hugo Carvajal (AP) almost two years after he defied a Spanish extradition order and disappeared. Carvajal is wanted in the United States on narcotics charges.
 
Denmark: The country becomes the first in the Europe Union to lift all pandemic-related restrictions (Politico). The move comes amid high vaccination rates and low incidence of death and hospitalization from COVID-19. Only those infected with the virus, and not their contacts, will be required to quarantine.

The countries reopened a high-level dialogue (AP) on trade, infrastructure, and migration that had been launched during the Barack Obama administration but was cut off under President Donald Trump.
 
Brazil: President Jair Bolsonaro ordered truck drivers (Reuters) who were striking in support of him to stand down amid concerns that their actions would cause food and fuel prices to rise.

Biden is set to visit the three memorial sites (VOA) for the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks tomorrow to mark the twenty-year anniversary of the tragedies.
 
In Project Syndicate, CFR President Richard N. Haass looks at the world 9/11 made.