A civilian-majority body will rule Sudan for around three years until elections that will lead to democratic rule, under a power-sharing agreement (BBC) announced this morning between the ruling military council and opposition alliance.
 
The deal aims to end the political impasse since Sudan’s military ousted former President Omar al-Bashir after mass protests in April. In recent months, the military has cracked down violently (NYT) against protesters. The new agreement, brokered with the help of Ethiopian and African Union mediators, also mandates an independent investigation into killings of protesters. It provides for six civilians and five military figures (AP) on a new joint sovereign council, with a military figure presiding for the first twenty-one months. Protest leaders will also appoint the members of a new, technocratic cabinet, independent from the military.

A group of plaintiffs including Greenpeace and the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation filed suit (Reuters) against President Joko Widodo, two ministers, and three local governors for a lack of response to rising air pollution in Indonesia’s capital.
 
CFR looks at why air pollution is so bad in Asia’s cities.
 
China: Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has requested a small, closed-door meeting (Reuters) with representatives of student protesters in the aftermath of mass demonstrations. One university’s student union has already declined, saying any meeting should be public.

The finance ministry has presented an annual economic planning report that envisions $330 billion in investments (Reuters) in renewable energy by 2030, bringing renewables to power 40 percent of India’s grid. The country is currently powered around 70 percent (LiveMint) by coal.
 
Afghanistan: Ahead of peace talks Sunday in Qatar, Taliban and U.S. negotiators are working to prepare a timetable for U.S. and NATO troop withdrawals from the country. Taliban officials told the Associated Press that U.S. negotiators were seeking up to an 18-month period for withdrawal.

An Israeli police officer has been questioned by federal investigators (Haaretz) after fatally shooting a teenager of Ethiopian descent while off-duty, causing three days of nationwide protests this week.
 
Tunisia: More than eighty migrants drowned (VOA) off the Tunisian coast after a boat that had departed from Libya sank this week, the Coast Guard said.

South African security firm Paramount Group has reached an agreement (Reuters) with Saudi Arabia’s state defense company to develop military technology for land, air, and sea. The initiative is part of Saudi Arabia’s plan to expand its domestic defense sector so that it accounts for half the country’s military spending by 2030.

Iran summoned the UK ambassador in Tehran yesterday after British troops detained a tanker (BBC) carrying Iranian oil off the coast of Gibraltar. Tehran called the seizure illegal, while UK officials said they suspected the tanker was breaking EU sanctions that limit trade with Syria.
 
CFR’s Amy Myers Jaffe discusses the ambiguous rules of engagement for attacks on energy facilities.
 
Greece: The country will elect a new parliament (AP) on Sunday, with polls showing the center-right New Democracy party has a wide lead over the current left-wing majority party, Syriza. It is Greece’s first general election since completing its bailout program in 2018.

Venezuelan security forces killed more than 5,000 people in 2018, with many signs of extrajudicial execution, according to a new UN Human Rights report due to be presented today in Geneva. Researchers conducted more than 550 interviews and detailed accounts of arbitrary detention and torture, including sexual violence.
 
CFR’s Strength Through Peace blog looks at scenarios for transitioning out of Venezuela’s crisis.
 
Mexico: Hundreds of police, angry at reassignment to a new national security force, have seized control of a command center (WaPo) since Wednesday. They say their pay and conditions may worsen in the new force, part of president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s plan to fight crime.

President Donald J. Trump became the first president in almost 70 years to give a Fourth of July address (NPR) at the National Mall yesterday. Much of his speech was spent praising the U.S. military. The White House also commissioned fighter jet flyovers and tank displays for the event.