The U.S. Supreme Court refused to block a Texas federal court’s ruling (WaPo) that ordered the revival of an immigration program implemented under President Donald Trump. The program, formally called Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) and known as Remain in Mexico, required many asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases were decided.
 
The Joe Biden administration officially ended the program in June. Although the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) pledged to appeal the lower court’s order, it said that it would move to reinstate the program (BuzzFeed News) in good faith and that it had begun to engage with the Mexican government on reimplementing MPP. Some 71,000 immigrants and asylum seekers were returned to Mexico under the program. Of those, at least 1,544 faced murder, sexual violence, or other attacks, according to the nonprofit Human Rights First. The Supreme Court said the Biden administration had appeared to act arbitrarily and capriciously (NYT) in ending MPP and cited its own decision last year to refuse to allow Trump to end protections for young immigrants known as Dreamers.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’s flight to Vietnam yesterday was delayed (CNN) for several hours due to concerns of a “possible anomalous health incident” in Hanoi, according to the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi. The U.S. government has previously used similar language to refer to the so-called Havana syndrome, which has sickened hundreds of U.S. officials in recent years.
 
Philippines: President Rodrigo Duterte agreed to run as vice president (Rappler) in next year’s presidential election. Presidencies are limited (Bloomberg) to one six-year term.

U.S. President Joe Biden said the United States will stick to an August 31 deadline (NPR) for completing its withdrawal from Afghanistan, despite calls from France and the United Kingdom to extend it. He asked military leaders to make contingency plans in case the timeline still needs to be adjusted.
 
This timeline traces the U.S. war in Afghanistan.
 
Afghanistan: The World Bank is stopping its financial support (CNN) to Afghanistan over concerns about the Taliban’s treatment of women. An official said the World Bank is exploring ways to continue supporting Afghans.

Algeria’s foreign affairs minister said that the country is cutting diplomatic ties (Bloomberg) with Morocco, citing allegations that Morocco supported separatists in Algeria and used Israeli spyware to surveil Algerian officials.
 
Qatar: A Doha air base where Afghan evacuees are being housed is in “dire conditions,” according to an email obtained by Axios. The email from an official at U.S. Central Command reported open sewage and a rat infestation. U.S. officials said they are working to improve conditions.

Zimbabwe’s finance minister said the country plans to reserve (Bloomberg) around half of the $961 million disbursed in Special Drawing Rights from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to prop up its currency. The government abandoned a one-to-one peg to the U.S. dollar in 2019, and the value of the Zimbabwe dollar has since plunged.
 
For the Africa in Transition blog, CFR’s Michelle Gavin unpacks Zimbabwe’s ongoing decline.
 
Chad: Former President Hissene Habre, the first leader convicted of war crimes by an African Union court, died (News24) while serving a life sentence. He was seventy-nine. Senegalese media reported that he died due to complications from COVID-19.

A German court ruled that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is subject to (Reuters) European Union rules that require the owners of pipelines to be different from the suppliers of gas they transport. If the ruling stands, it could force Russia’s Gazprom energy company to auction pipeline capacity, an analyst said.
 
Italy: Prime Minister Mario Draghi called for Group of Seven (G7) and European countries to adopt a common policy (Reuters) on accepting Afghan migrants.

Nine candidates confirmed they will run (Prensa Latina) in Chile’s November presidential election. The early frontrunners (Reuters) are left-wing lawmaker Gabriel Boric and independent former minister Sebastian Sichel.
 
Nicaragua: Authorities formally accused (Reuters) Carlos Chamorro, a prominent journalist and critic of President Daniel Ortega’s government, with money laundering. It was the latest charge in Ortega’s broad crackdown on the press and opposition.
 
For the Pressure Points blog, CFR’s Elliott Abrams writes that Biden is standing by as democracy is crushed in Nicaragua.