Is there a shift in how the US justice system deals with police shootings?

During his first year in office, former president Donald Trump banned most transgender Americans from joining the US military. Shortly after taking office, his predecessor Joe Biden reversed the policy, prohibiting discrimination against transgender troops. On that very same day, Lieutenant Colonel Bree Fram came out publicly as transgender while in a command position. She is now one of the highest ranking, openly transgender officers in the US military. She joined us on Perspective.

The Biden administration has announced plans to impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG, the company building a controversial gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.

More than 1,000 Afghan refugees living in Albania are waiting for the United States to approve their asylum applications. Many fear that they might be stuck there — and their dreams of a life in the US are fading.

Lawmakers in Nepal voted in favor of the $500-million grant by Washington for new road and power projects. But its opponents say the US move undermines Nepal's sovereignty.

The European Union said it will spend €450 million on weapons and equipment for Ukraine. Kyiv and Moscow have sent envoys to peace talks on the Belarus border.

The former US general in Europe praised the defense budget increases announced by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. He also told DW that "nobody should be surprised" at Putin's threat of using nuclear weapons.

Former defense officials from the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama visited Taiwan. The delegation arrived amid fears Russia's Ukraine invasion could spark China's geopolitical ambitions for the island.

A US House committee says former President Trump engaged in a "criminal conspiracy." The claim outlined an attempt to prevent the certification of Biden's win.

The US, EU and their allies have been announcing measures designed to isolate and weaken the Russian economy. Since 2014, Vladimir Putin has been taking pre-emptive steps to protect the economy from future sanctions. But Brian O'Toole, a former US Treasury official and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, says that in the face of Western sanctions, "Fortress Russia is gone."

Solidarity for Ukraine was front and centre during US President Joe Biden's State of the Union address this week. Biden reiterated that American troops will not fight in Ukraine, but warned that NATO territory would be defended. He also announced that US airspace would be closed to Russian planes and warned oligarchs that their assets would be seized. To find out more about the effectiveness of such sanctions, we speak to Daniel Tannebaum, who's Global Head of Sanctions at Oliver Wyman and a former compliance officer with the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the US Treasury Department.

In a nonofficial visit to Taiwan, former US diplomat Mike Pompeo said Washington should take steps to recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation. China described his comments as "nonsense."