Three people were killed and twelve others wounded in clashes between Iraqi security forces and anti-government protesters who tried to storm the Iranian consulate (Reuters) in the central city of Karbala, according to the country’s human rights commission.

Iraq’s foreign minister condemned the consulate attack, calling the security of diplomatic offices a “red line that cannot be crossed.” Protesters criticized (WSJ) what they say is Iranian influence in Baghdad as well as violence against protesters by Iran-backed militias. Demonstrators near the southern city of Basra blocked access to a vital port over the weekend. Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi called for an end to the protests (Al Jazeera), saying they have cost the country billions of dollars.

In a Monday editorial, the state-backed newspaper China Daily called on Hong Kong authorities (Reuters) to take a harder line against pro-democracy demonstrations in the territory after protesters vandalized the office of the Xinhua news agency over the weekend.

South Korea: U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris said the White House is seeking a fivefold spending increase (Japan Times) by Seoul as part of a bilateral defense agreement under which more than twenty-eight thousand U.S. troops are stationed on the Korean Peninsula.

Pakistan’s Foreign Office summoned the Afghan chargé d’affaires and closed the consular section (Dawn) of the Pakistani embassy in Kabul after reporting that its staff have been harassed in recent days around the embassy compound.

India: New Delhi schools have been temporarily closed and cars in the capital ordered to drive on alternate days as air pollution reached its worst levels (Guardian) so far this year. The air quality index surpassed 900, compared to the level of 25 deemed safe by the World Health Organization.

CFR explores why air pollution is so bad in Asia’s cities.

The oil giant announced it will issue a prospectus (FT) for its initial public offering on Saturday, a long-awaited step in the kingdom’s plans to diversify its economy and lessen its oil dependence (NPR). 

On CFR’s Energy Realpolitik blog, Amy Myers Jaffe discusses Saudi Arabia’s oil vision.

Nine crew members of a Norway-flagged shipping vessel, including its captain, were kidnapped (Al Jazeera) off the coast of Benin, according to port authorities. It is the latest in a string of abductions in the Gulf of Guinea.

Mali: The self-proclaimed Islamic State claimed it was behind (BBC) an attack on a military post in the country’s north that killed at least forty-nine soldiers.

A New York Times investigation of nine EU countries found that a large portion of the bloc’s agricultural subsidies, which total about $65 billion annually, go to politically powerful land barons. The report says the system “grossly undermines” EU environmental goals and is “warped by corruption and self-dealing.”

Turkey: The interior minister said Turkey will send suspected members of the Islamic State who have been captured back to their countries of origin (AP) even if their citizenship has been revoked. He criticized European countries who have been unwilling to take them back.

CFR lays out who’s who in northern Syria.

Venezuela has expelled Salvadoran diplomats (BBC) in a reciprocal move after El Salvador’s government ordered representatives of President Nicolas Maduro’s government to leave, saying it would instead welcome representatives of opposition leader Juan Guaido.

Brazil: Illegal loggers attacked an indigenous group (Guardian) that wards off loggers to protect the Amazon Rainforest in northeastern Brazil, killing one man and wounding another, according to a national indigenous peoples association.

A federal court temporarily blocked (WSJ) a rule by Donald J. Trump’s administration that new immigrants must present either proof of health insurance or the ability to afford it. The rule was set to take effect today.