A shooting that killed twenty people and injured dozens more at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, is being investigated as domestic terrorism (Reuters), U.S. authorities said, after an online manifesto attributed to the suspected gunman called the attack a response to a “Hispanic invasion of Texas.”
 
The El Paso attack was followed by another mass shooting, in Dayton, Ohio, that killed at least nine people in the thirty seconds before police shot the assailant (Guardian). Six former counterterrorism directors at the National Security Council issued a statement (Twitter) calling to make domestic terrorism “as high a priority” as international terrorism has become since the 9/11 attacks. On Twitter today, President Donald J. Trump called for “strong background checks,” suggesting that immigration reform could be packaged with new gun legislation.

Road and subway transportation has been disrupted and more than two hundred flights canceled after pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong launched a general strike (NYT) today. Police said they arrested more than eighty people. 
 
South Korea: The country is planning to hold annual joint military exercises (AP) with the United States this month, its National Defense Ministry said. North Korea said its launch of short-range missiles last month was a “solemn warning” against the joint drills.

New Delhi issued a presidential order to revoke the special status (AP) of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region, which banned individuals outside the territory from buying land and holding local office there. Pakistan’s foreign minister condemned the move, saying it violates a UN resolution on the Kashmir conflict. It comes as New Delhi has built up troops (Reuters) in the region, suspended some public schools and institutions, and called for tourists to leave.
 
CFR’s Global Conflict Tracker looks at the long-standing territorial dispute over Kashmir.
 
Afghanistan: More than 1,500 civilians were killed amid an escalation in violence last month, according to the UN mission in Afghanistan. It was the deadliest month for civilians since May 2017.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that Turkish forces could soon launch a military operation (FT) in northeast Syria against U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters who control a portion of the region.
 
Iran: Iranian authorities seized a tanker (Al Jazeera) they say was suspected of smuggling fuel in the Persian Gulf, according to state news agency IRNA. It reported that the vessel belongs to Iraq, which Iraq’s oil ministry denied.

The ruling military council and a pro-democracy coalition have agreed to a deal for a political transition (NYT) that is set to be signed on August 17. The deal gives most decision-making power to a civilian government and legislature, according to a negotiator for the coalition. A prime minister chosen by the coalition is set to be named immediately after the signing.
 
In Foreign Affairs, Michael Woldemariam and Alden Young write that what happens in Sudan could have wide ramifications for the continent.
 
Zimbabwe: The country will not publish inflation data (Bloomberg) for the next six months, the finance minister said, amid a worsening economic crisis. The economy is expected to contract for the first time since 2008, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Russian police detained more than eight hundred people (NYT) protesting a ban on some opposition candidates in a local election, according to a monitoring group. Federal investigators announced a money-laundering probe into an anticorruption organization led by prominent opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who has organized the recent protests.
 
Belgium: EU finance ministers have nominated Bulgarian economist Kristalina Georgieva, chief executive of the World Bank, to head the International Monetary Fund (FT). The IMF board is set to vote on her confirmation in October.
 
This CFR Backgrounder explains the role of the IMF.

U.S. federal prosecutors accused Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez of taking $1.5 million in drug proceeds (WSJ) to benefit his 2013 election campaign. They say Hernandez and other politicians leveraged “drug trafficking to maintain and enhance their political power.” Hernandez denied the accusations.
 
Brazil: President Jair Bolsonaro dismissed (NYT) the head of the government research body tracking Amazon deforestation after the agency reported a significant spike in the deforestation rate under his administration’s watch.