Daily News Brief

August 30, 2024

Editor’s Note: There will be no Daily News Brief on Monday, September 2 in observance of Labor Day.

Top of the Agenda

United Nations agencies plan to begin a polio vaccination campaign in Gaza on Sunday that aims to reach some 640,000 children. Israel and Hamas have both agreed to daytime pauses in fighting in three staggered locations of the enclave so that the first round of shots can be administered, a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official said. The campaign comes just over a week after the WHO confirmed a two-year-old had been paralyzed by polio in the territory, the first such case there in twenty-five years. 

As aid officials have prepared for the vaccination campaign, Israel has continued a separate offensive targeting militants in the West Bank. On Thursday, those operations killed a Palestinian Islamic Jihad Commander, the Israeli military reported. Meanwhile, a round of indirect Israel-Hamas talks on a potential ceasefire in Gaza concluded last night in Doha. “We have advanced the discussion to the point where it is in the nitty gritty and that's a positive sign of progress, but nothing is done until it's done,” U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said yesterday. (Reuters, WaPo, Axios)

Analysis

“The [vaccination] effort faces enormous logistical challenges in a war zone where much of the infrastructure has been destroyed. The operation depends on the brief cease-fires holding while rule of law has broken down, hundreds of thousands are living in temporary shelters and many buildings are in ruins,” the New York Times’ Lara Jakes writes.

“Beyond the question of whether Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and members of the Israeli government actually want a cease-fire, there are several important sticking points for negotiators to overcome,” CFR Senior Fellow Steven A. Cook writes in a new Expert Brief.

Read the full suite of Foreign Affairs and CFR.org resources on Israel and the current conflict.

Pacific Rim

The two countries’ defense ministers signed the bilateral agreement in Manila today. Its details were not immediately made clear, but Radio Free Asia reports that it focused on maritime cooperation. Hanoi’s defense minister did specify a country in his remarks, though Manila has had mounting tensions with Beijing in the South China Sea. He said Vietnam was pursuing a policy of no force or threat of force in international relations. (Nikkei, Radio Free Asia)

This timeline traces China’s maritime disputes in the South China Sea.

Japan: Authorities issued evacuation orders today for more than four million people as tropical storm Shanshan moves across the country. It has killed at least four people and injured one hundred. (NYT)

South and Central Asia

Germany had resisted such moves as refugee groups warned of risks to returnees and because it did not have formal relations with the Taliban Afghan government. The Afghans deported today were convicted criminals, a spokesperson for Germany’s chancellor said. The flight came after the self-declared Islamic state claimed responsibility for an attack in Germany last Friday. (FT)

Pakistan: Pakistan’s military carried out an offensive against separatist militants in Balochistan province after militants killed dozens of people earlier in the week. Security forces killed five militants, Pakistan’s military said. (Dawn)

Middle East and North Africa

Iran has grown its supply of up to 60 percent enriched uranium since May, the UN atomic watchdog said in a report obtained by multiple news outlets. The report comes days after Tehran’s supreme leader signaled openness to negotiating with Washington over the country’s nuclear program. (AP)

Sub-Saharan Africa

The plant will be a small modular reactor; a previous agreement between the United States and Ghana set out plans for a regional training center for small modular reactor technology. (Business Insider, Bloomberg)

Niger/Nigeria: The two countries signed a deal yesterday to renew military cooperation, Nigeria’s military said. That’s despite bilateral tensions following a 2023 coup in Niger. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), of which Nigeria is a member, at one point threatened to invade Niger if attempts to restore a democratic government fell through. (Reuters)

For the Africa in Transition blog, CFR’s Ebenezer Obadare analyzes the future of ECOWAS in regional security.

Europe

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer continued to shore up ties with European countries by visiting French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday. They discussed defense, security, migration and energy, including work to curb undocumented migration to the UK from across the English channel. (Euronews, AP)

This Expert Brief by CFR’s Sebastian Mallaby discusses the UK government’s intention to deepen European ties.

Russia/Mongolia: Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Mongolia next week. It will be his first trip to an International Criminal Court (ICC) member country since the court issued a warrant for his arrest. The Kremlin said today it had “no worries” about the visit, though ICC members are expected to detain suspects for whom a warrant has been issued. (AP)

Americas

The social media platform X said last night that it expects a shutdown order soon. The platform closed the company’s office in Brazil last week in objection to a court order to ban certain accounts. The top court then said X must name a legal representative in the country or face a ban. (Axios, NYT)

U.S./Cuba/Haiti/Nicaragua/Venezuela: Washington is restarting a migrant parole program that approves entry to some citizens of the four countries if they have U.S. sponsors and meet other conditions. It was previously paused over fraud concerns. (Reuters)

U.S. Campaign 2024

President Kamala Harris said her policy on arms support for Israel would not depart from President Joe Biden’s. She also reiterated backing for a bipartisan border bill and said she would not ban fracking, a practice she opposed in the past. Harris added that she would appoint a Republican to serve in her cabinet. The comments came during her first television interview since becoming the Democratic nominee. (CNN) 

Friday Editor’s Pick

The New York Times documents the recent record-breaking fire in Brazil’s Pantanal, the world’s largest wetlands, and its deadly toll on wild life.

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