The Indian army said twenty soldiers died (Hindu) in a violent confrontation along India’s disputed border with China, the bloodiest conflict between the nuclear-armed countries in decades.
 
Both countries blamed each other for the incident (WaPo), which took place near the so-called Line of Actual Control (NYT), a poorly demarcated boundary in the Himalayas established after a 1962 war. No soldiers have been killed since 1975, and a death toll of this scale has not been reported since 1967. China has not said whether any of its troops were killed. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said Beijing was seeking a peaceful resolution to the dispute (AP).

Pyongyang rejected Seoul’s offer for a meeting between special envoys and said it will deploy troops near the countries’ border (Yonhap) as it continues to escalate a dispute over anti–North Korea leaflets. South Korea’s defense ministry warned of consequences if North Korea takes military action.
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China: Officials announced a partial lockdown for Beijing (SCMP) and said schools will move to online learning as the government tries to contain a new coronavirus outbreak.

At least seventeen Afghan soldiers were killed (RFE/RL) in two attacks by the Taliban, Afghan officials said, and others were wounded or taken hostage. The group has killed or wounded more than four hundred Afghan personnel in recent weeks, the Afghan government said.

A group of nearly fifty UN human rights experts said Israel’s plan to annex parts of the West Bank would violate international law (Reuters) and called on other countries to oppose the move.

Iraq: Turkey deployed troops to northern Iraq in an offensive against Kurdish rebels (AP). Turkish officials said the operation followed harassment and attempted attacks on bases in Turkey.
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CFR’s Global Conflict Tracker looks at Turkey’s fight with the Kurds.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nebraska announced the federal indictment of six Nigerian citizens for their alleged roles in an online scheme that defrauded Americans of $6 million (Lincoln Journal Star). They are accused of posing as business executives and love interests to persuade people to wire money.
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DRC: The country’s justice ministry opened a murder investigation (Reuters) after a judge overseeing the corruption trial of President Felix Tshisekedi’s chief of staff was beaten to death.

The European Union expressed “grave concern” (Politico) over the Donald J. Trump administration’s move to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigating possible war crimes by U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, urged the United States to reverse the decision.

CFR’s David J. Scheffer explains what to know about the ICC’s Afghanistan probe.
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Hungary: The country’s parliament voted to end the emergency powers (NYT) granted to Prime Minister Viktor Orban amid the coronavirus pandemic, but critics said the legislation would cement his authority.

Breaking with tradition, the Trump administration announced that it would nominate an American (WaPo) to lead the Inter-American Development Bank. The bank, the largest source of development financing in Latin America and the Caribbean, has historically been led by a Latin American.
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Venezuela: President Nicolas Maduro revoked the license of one of the country’s biggest political parties, giving control to an ally. Critics said the move is meant to weaken Maduro’s political opposition (WSJ) ahead of congressional elections.

Nine states reported record single-day or seven-day numbers (WaPo) of coronavirus cases. Vice President Mike Pence, however, wrote that concerns of a second wave of the virus were “overblown.”

Scientists at the University of Oxford have found that dexamethasone, an inexpensive steroid, is effective at treating severe cases of COVID-19 (NYT).