Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire testifies today (NPR) before the House and Senate Intelligence Committees about a whistleblower complaint concerning the president’s interactions with Ukraine, now the basis of an impeachment inquiry by House Democrats.

On Wednesday, the White House sent lawmakers the full complaint, which it originally barred from release (NYT). It also issued a staff-prepared memo (NYT) of a phone call in which President Donald J. Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading Democratic candidate in the 2020 election. Many Republicans in Congress appeared to support (WSJ) Trump’s position that the call was not incriminating. More than two hundred House members have publicly backed (WaPo) the impeachment inquiry.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin granted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu four weeks to put together a governing coalition (Al-Monitor) after no party earned a majority in parliamentary elections last week.
 
Iran: The United States barred senior Iranian officials and their families from entering the country, and imposed sanctions (NYT) on six Chinese firms for helping Iran export oil, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced.
 
CFR’s Ray Takeyh writes that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s UN General Assembly address punctured hope for a thaw with the United States.

Under the limited agreement, Japan will remove or reduce tariffs (USTR) on over 90 percent of U.S. food and agricultural imports, and the United States will lift or reduce tariffs on $40 million worth of Japanese agricultural imports and some industrial goods.
 
Hong Kong: Chief Executive Carrie Lam is leading a community dialogue (SCMP) today over ongoing political tensions that will include 150 randomly selected people. It is the first such event since a wave of pro-democracy protests began in June.
 
This CFR Backgrounder looks at democracy in Hong Kong.

The United Nations announced it will no longer deploy (Al Jazeera) Sri Lankan troops as peacekeepers after the government appointed a new army chief accused of war crimes.
 
Afghanistan: Eighteen women’s groups called on the country’s election commission to lift a requirement (Reuters) that all voters in this weekend’s election have their photo taken. They say it will deter women who believe being photographed by men is culturally inappropriate from going to the polls.

The agreement to open the office (UN), signed by UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet and Sudanese Foreign Minister Asma Mohamed Abdalla, comes soon after a power-sharing deal was reached between Sudan’s military and opposition.
 
Kenya/Somalia: The two countries agreed to normalize relations (East African) at a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations. Bilateral ties deteriorated in February over a maritime boundary dispute, which is currently being heard at the International Court of Justice.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, speaking before lawmakers, said the UK Supreme Court was wrong to rule on whether his suspension of Parliament was lawful and called for a general election (FT).
 
France: Former President Jacques Chirac died on Thursday (France24) at the age of eighty-six. He served as president from 1995 to 2007 after stints as prime minister and mayor of Paris.
 
Poland: The ruling Law and Justice party introduced legislation to remove licensing barriers (Al Jazeera) for new coal plants. The country aims for half of its energy to be generated by coal by 2050, far from an EU call for countries to be carbon neutral by that year.

The deal, signed on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, will allow the United States to send asylum seekers (WSJ) who transit through Honduras back to that country to apply for asylum there. It also pledges U.S. investment in Honduras’s asylum system.
 
CFR looks at whether “safe third country” agreements can resolve the asylum crisis.
 
Mexico: The state of Oaxaca became the second in the country to legalize abortion (Reuters).