The self-proclaimed Islamic State, also known as ISIS, likely increased its attacks in northeastern Syria by at least 20 percent after an October U.S. troop drawdown and subsequent Turkish incursion, according to U.S. government estimates cited in a new Defense Department Inspector General report. The report said the group’s command structure remains intact despite the killing of leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in October.
 
Supporters of the Islamic State have rallied around Baghdadi’s replacement, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official told Voice of America. A U.S. special envoy to the coalition to defeat the group said last week (State Department) that “we are seeing ISIS come back as an insurgency, as a terrorist operation.” Still, U.S. President Donald J. Trump praised (WaPo) Baghdadi’s killing and celebrated the destruction of the Islamic State’s territorial caliphate in his State of the Union address.

President Trump touted the U.S. economy, trade deals, and the strengthening of the military in his 2020 State of the Union address (NYT) last night. He did not mention his impeachment, though the Senate is set to vote on his acquittal today.
 
This CFR Timeline looks at Trump’s most significant foreign policy decisions.

Thirty Afghan media outlets joined international groups including Reporters Without Borders and the European Union to demand better access to government-related information (TOLO).
 
Sri Lanka: Independence Day celebrations excluded (AP) a version of the national anthem sung in Tamil, Sri Lanka’s second national language. New President Gotabaya Rajapaksa commanded government forces that defeated Tamil rebels during the country’s decades-long civil war.

The two sides in the country’s civil war showed a “genuine will” to begin negotiating toward a cease-fire at talks in Geneva (Al Jazeera), UN envoy Ghassan Salame said. Salame said evidence of both sides’ ongoing violations of an arms embargo had been referred to the UN Security Council.

Nigeria is working to lift a new U.S. ban (Reuters) on visas that could lead to permanent residency for Nigerian nationals, Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama said.
 
For the Africa in Transition blog, CFR’s John Campbell looks at the new U.S. restrictions on immigration from Nigeria.
 
South Sudan: The armed forces of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition rebel group released seventy-eight women and fifty children it abducted in 2018, the UN announced.

The United Kingdom will ban the sale (BBC) of new diesel, petrol, and hybrid cars beginning in 2035, five years sooner than previously planned, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
 
Greece: The government dispatched riot police to the island of Lesbos to contain protests (Guardian) by thousands of migrants, most from Afghanistan, denouncing conditions in the island’s overcrowded refugee camp.

Mexicans working abroad sent $36 billion (AP) worth of remittances back to Mexico in 2019, the highest amount on record, the country’s central bank announced. 
 
Bolivia: Exiled former President Evo Morales will run for Senate (NYT) in Bolivia’s May 3 election, despite a warrant for his arrest issued by the country’s interim government.