The Wire China: “As Chinese-made fentanyl — a synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than heroin — has flooded the U.S. market in recent years, Chinese nationals and Mexican cartels have worked ever closer.”

“When CIA Director William Burns arrived in the United Arab Emirates in May with the U.S. delegation following the U.A.E. president’s death, it was his third visit as spy chief—a reflection not only of the Gulf country’s strategic importance to Washington but also of Mr. Burns’s role in American national-security strategy,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Fifteen months into President Biden’s tenure, Mr. Burns, a veteran diplomat, has assumed a unique place on the president’s team, current and former U.S. officials say. While running the Central Intelligence Agency, he has also become a sort of special envoy for complex problems.”

“A federal judge in New York on Monday signed a warrant authorizing the seizure by the Justice Department of two jets owned by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich,” CNBC reports.

“The seizure effort is the latest in a series of sanctions and economic attacks on Russian billionaires in response to their nation’s invasion of Ukraine.”

The Economist: “Mr Xi’s first decade as chief has seen ever-stricter party rules against ‘cliques and cabals’ and the disparaging of leaders’ policies. Discipline has been reinforced by a years-long anti-corruption campaign. It has seen millions of party members and officials of all ranks investigated, ostensibly for graft and immorality but with notably harsh prison sentences for grandees who challenged or criticized Mr Xi.”

“Last month the party announced, in effect, a ban on grumbling, with retired senior members forbidden to make “negative political speeches” or comment publicly on important policies.”