At a counterterrorism conference in Nairobi yesterday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said there is an urgent need for more international support (UN) to reduce violent extremism across West Africa.
 
Guterres said that terrorism is progressing beyond the Sahel region (Al Jazeera), where millions have been displaced in recent years, and called on the UN Security Council to offer greater financial support. International donors have fallen short (Reuters) of funding pledges to the joint military effort between Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger, known as the G5. Requests from the G5 for a broader UN mandate for outside assistance have so far been denied, according to Guterres, and African Union Commission Chair Moussa Faki Mahamat called the international community’s reluctance to address the issue “incomprehensible.” 

At the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, ambassadors from twenty-two countries signed a joint letter (SCMP) urging China to end mass detentions of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in its Xinjiang region. The letter is the first joint action at the council regarding Xinjiang detentions, though it carries less weight than a formal resolution.
 
CFR looks at China’s pushback to human rights at the United Nations.
 
Australia: The country’s indigenous affairs minister pledged yesterday (NYT) to hold a national vote by 2022 to consider amending its constitution to formally recognize indigenous Australians. Indigenous peoples have sought official representation in government since the constitution was ratified in 1901.

U.S. lawmakers weakened a portion of a spending bill (The Hindu) relating to military cooperation with India, removing a proposal to bring India on par with NATO allies in terms of arms sales. Some reports indicate that India’s plan to purchase the S-400 missile shield from Russia played a role in the change.
 
This CFR timeline looks at the history of U.S.-India relations.
 
Afghanistan: A Pew research survey released yesterday found 58 percent of U.S. military veterans thought the war in Afghanistan was “not worth fighting” when they considered the costs versus the benefits to the United States, while 64 percent felt the same about the Iraq war.

A UK government spokesperson said today that three Iranian ships attempted to block (FT) a BP-operated tanker in the Strait of Hormuz but were deterred by a British warship, while Iran’s Revolutionary guard denied approaching a British tanker. Yesterday, tensions between Iran and the United States over Iran’s violations of the 2015 nuclear deal continued at an emergency meeting (Reuters) of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
 
Syria: The government is near an agreement (AP) on establishing a constitutional committee to create a political transition out of the country’s civil war, a UN envoy said after two days of talks in Damascus. A team of chemical weapons experts is also preparing to investigate (Reuters) nine alleged chemical attacks in the country between 2014 and 2018.

A top aide to Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini met with Russian businessmen and discussed plans to funnel money to Salvini’s far-right party ahead of European elections, according to a report (BuzzFeed) that cited an audio recording. Opposition lawmakers called for an explanation from Salvini, who denied (FT) taking any money from Moscow.
 
France: Lawmakers approved a new tax (NYT) on tech giants such as Facebook and Google that would amount to 3 percent of their French revenues. Washington said it would launch an investigation (BBC) into whether the measure unfairly targets U.S. companies, which could lead to retaliatory tariffs.

Legislation to cut the cost of the country’s pension system, a pillar of President Jair Bolsonaro’s economic plans, passed a major vote (Reuters) in the country’s lower house by a wide margin and is expected to be approved in the Senate. Brazil’s federal government currently spends 45 percent (WSJ) of its budget on pensions.
 
Mexico: Under an expanding program in which those seeking asylum at the U.S. southern border wait in Mexico while their claims are processed, a group of migrants was sent to the country’s northwestern Tamaulipas state (WaPo) for the first time. The U.S. State Department warns against travel to Tamaulipas due to its level of violence.
 
In Foreign Affairs, Andrew Selee discusses Mexico’s migration dilemmas.

An initiative led by Ivanka Trump to help women in developing countries announced a $27 million round (Hill) of grants yesterday, which Trump said would be accompanied by $160 million in private sector funding. The projects focus on women in the workforce and are mostly based in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.

During the first six months of 2019, investment in clean energy dropped to $117.6 billion (FT), 14 percent lower than during the same period last year, Bloomberg research found. The slowdown was due in part to China’s cuts to solar and wind energy subsidies.