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President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris are due to meet with a bipartisan group of Congressional members today at 1345ET (1845BST, 1945CET) to gauge prospects of bipartisan support for the administration's multi-trillion dollar infrastructure and jobs plan.

• The group consists of Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS), Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE), Representative Garret Graves (R-LA), Rep. Don Young (R-AK), Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), Representative Donald Payne Jr. (D-NJ) and Rep. David Price (D-NC).
• The invited Republicans are not viewed as traditional bipartisan deal makers in the GOP, but instead sit as the ranking members on relevant committees.
• Even before the meeting expectations are low, with some in the GOP reported by Politico to be disgruntled at Biden's comments last week implying that Republicans refused any compromise on pandemic relief.

The presidium of Bavaria's centre-right Christian Social Union (CSU) has officially backed party head and Bavarian Minister-President Markus Soeder as its chancellor candidate, showing the party has not yet given up on the prospect of their leader going into the September federal election as the chancellor candidate for the centre-right 'Union parties'.

• Earlier today, the presidium of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the centre-right party that operates in all German states except Bavaria, leant its support to CDU head and North Rhine-Westphalia Minister-President Armin Laschet to be the Union parties' chancellor candidate.
• It is unclear where the two parties go from here. Soeder will likely need to rally significant support among CDU Bundestag members to get the nomination. His strong opinion polling support - far in excess of that recorded for Laschet - could spur such an outcome.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has stated that the third wave of COVID-19 infections and the associated lockdowns are likely to be the toughest Germany has faced, adding that the number of new cases being recorded is 'far too high'.

• Merkel's comments come as Germany's Bild reports that plans by the federal gov't, as well as the gov'ts of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania and Bavaria, to purchase Russia's Sputnik V vaccine could breach US sanctions related to the poisoning of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny.
• Two of the research organisations involved in the development of Sputnik V are under US sanctions for their alleged role in producing the novichok nerve agent that nearly killed Navalny in 2020.
• Germany already facing US ire over the continued construction of the Nord Stream II gas pipeline from Russia. Purchasing Russian vaccines in breach of US sanctions would only intensify Washington, D.C's feelings on the matter further.