Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said he will withdraw (Nikkei) from an upcoming leadership election for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), ending his tenure after just one year. A longtime behind-the-scenes aide (NYT) for his predecessor, Shinzo Abe, Suga began his term with high public approval, but that plummeted (Kyodo) to around 30 percent amid dissatisfaction with Japan’s handling of the pandemic. Suga pushed forward with hosting the Olympic Games despite mounting public opposition. 

Later this fall, Japanese voters will also choose a new lower house of congress, an election that the LDP is widely expected to win. The party has controlled Japan for most of the post–World War II period, though at times it has rapidly churned through leaders. Before Abe’s seven-year tenure, there were six prime ministers in six years.

Police shot and killed (RNZ) a man who stabbed six people in a New Zealand supermarket. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called the event a terrorist attack (AP) and said the man, a Sri Lankan national whom security officials had been monitoring, was inspired by the self-declared Islamic State.

The Taliban and rebels from the National Resistance Front clashed (Reuters) in Panjshir Valley in the country’s north, with both groups saying they inflicted heavy casualties. The rebels claim they have control (AFP) over all entrances into the valley.

Afghanistan: The United States authorized financial companies (Reuters) to process badly needed remittances to Afghanistan in light of the humanitarian situation there. Countries including the United States froze altogether about $9 billion in Afghan assets following the Taliban’s takeover.

Egypt’s Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, and the Palestinian Authority’s Mahmoud Abbas discussed the prospect (AP) of reviving the Middle East peace process and shoring up a cease-fire that halted the intense fighting in May between Israel and Hamas. They voiced support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Libya: The most intense clashes since an October 2020 cease-fire broke out (Reuters) in Tripoli, underscoring the lack of progress in unifying opposing factions into a single military. No casualties were reported.

The European Union has agreed to send back (AFP) millions of doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine that were produced in Africa following public outcry over vaccine inequity. Less than 3 percent of Africans have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, compared with close to 60 percent of the European Union’s population.

In Foreign Affairs, the Rockefeller Foundation’s Rajiv J. Shah writes that vaccine inequity makes it more difficult to control the pandemic.

Madagascar: Amid a four-year drought, at least thirty thousand people are experiencing the most severe level of food insecurity (Al Jazeera), the UN World Food Program said. UN officials believe climate change to be the cause of the famine.

Josep Borrell, foreign policy chief for the European Union, urged the bloc to create (Reuters) a “first entry force” of five thousand troops to boost its military independence from the United States. Borrell said Europe should increase its strategic autonomy in light of the recent U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Ireland: Regulators fined messaging service WhatsApp (Guardian) $267 million after a three-year investigation into alleged breaches of EU data protection rules.

Delegations representing President Nicolas Maduro and the opposition begin formal negotiations (Economist) in Mexico City aimed at ending a political standoff. Maduro seeks relief from international sanctions, while the opposition seeks guarantees on conditions for upcoming elections.

This Backgrounder looks at the rise and fall of the petrostate.

Argentina: The International Monetary Fund called on the Argentine government (MercoPress) to create a plan for gradually lifting its currency restrictions. Argentina is seeking to restructure $45 billion in debt with the IMF.

At least forty-five people across the northeast were killed in storms (AP) caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida, officials said. Widespread flooding prompted calls for shoring up U.S. infrastructure (Politico) to better deal with climate change.

On this episode of The President’s Inbox, CFR’s Alice C. Hill discusses how to better prepare for the impacts of climate change.