U.S. President Joe Biden will host Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in Washington today. It will be Biden’s first in-person meeting (NPR) with a foreign leader at the White House since taking office. 

Tensions with China will likely figure prominently at the meeting, as Japan is an important U.S. ally in the Indo-Pacific region. Biden and Suga are expected to issue a joint statement on the security of Taiwan (Yomiuri Shimbun) amid rising Chinese aggression toward the island. They will also announce a $2 billion commitment to support alternatives to 5G networks developed by Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications giant, according to a Biden administration official. An administration official also said North Korea (CNN), climate change, and Japan’s rocky relationship with South Korea will be discussed.

The publishing tycoon Jimmy Lai, the founding chairman of the Hong Kong Democratic Party Martin Lee, and seven former lawmakers were sentenced to prison (SCMP) for their roles in organizing unauthorized protests in 2019. Lai was sentenced to fourteen months, and the others received sentences between eight and eighteen months, though some were suspended. 

This CFR Backgrounder looks at Beijing’s crackdown on freedoms in Hong Kong.

Indian hospitals are filling up with patients and the country will begin importing oxygen as it continues to report a record number (Reuters) of COVID-19 cases and deaths. India’s health ministry reported more than two hundred thousand new cases, the seventh daily record in eight days. 

Pakistan: Prime Minister Imran Khan spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and reiterated Pakistan’s commitment (Al Jazeera) to the Afghan peace process. A summit on Afghan peace is slated to begin in Turkey next week, though the Taliban has refused to participate. 

This CFR Backgrounder looks at the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Talks in Vienna aimed at resurrecting the 2015 Iran nuclear deal came to a close (RFE/RL). Two working groups will continue discussions to negotiate the United States’ lifting of sanctions and Iran’s return to compliance with the agreement. The Vienna talks were overshadowed by an attack on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility and the country’s subsequent decision to increase uranium enrichment. 

Iran: The country signed a contract to purchase sixty million doses (RFE/RL) of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, Iran’s ambassador to Russia announced. Iran, which is also testing a domestically produced vaccine, is struggling to contain a new coronavirus wave.

Eritrean troops are continuing to commit atrocities (NYT), including massacres and rapes, in Ethiopia’s region of Tigray, a top official from the United Nations told the Security Council. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has said Eritrean troops were withdrawing from his country, but the UN official alleged that is not happening.

Mali: The country’s transitional government announced that presidential and legislative elections will be held early next year (Al Jazeera), which it said upholds the timetable promised after the military coup in August 2020.

The European Union and the United Kingdom agreed to step up efforts (BBC) to reach an agreement over customs checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain. The UK delayed imposing the checks, angering the EU. Meanwhile, the EU-UK post-Brexit trade deal cleared (BBC) two key European Parliament committees, bringing it closer to ratification. 

CFR’s Matthias Matthijs explains the EU-UK Brexit deal. 

Moldova: The country’s constitutional court ruled that President Maia Sandu can dissolve parliament (RFE/RL), allowing her to call snap elections in an effort to secure a working majority. Sandu has accused pro-Russian legislators of sabotaging her agenda.

Brazil’s Supreme Court upheld an earlier decision and annulled the convictions of former President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, allowing him to seek another term (MercoPress) next year. Lula was previously implicated in a far-reaching corruption probe and jailed, though he has maintained his innocence.

Argentina: Inflation is rising faster than expected (Bloomberg), according to new government data. The trend threatens to disrupt the country’s economic recovery.

A gunman killed eight people (WaPo) and himself at a FedEx facility in Indiana’s capital, authorities said. It is the fifth mass shooting in the United States in as many weeks.