Roads were blocked across Hong Kong today and primary and secondary schools closed as a monthslong pro-democracy movement has grown around university campuses (SCMP) in recent days, increasing clashes between protesters and security forces.
 
Protesters have set up barricaded bases (Reuters) and are stockpiling improvised weapons at several Hong Kong universities, some of which announced they too will suspend classes or move them online. Two universities urged staff on Thursday to evacuate (NYT). At least sixty-four people received medical treatment related to clashes across the semiautonomous territory yesterday, according to Hong Kong’s hospital authority.

General Mark A. Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with his South Korean counterpart today in Seoul, where he pledged continued U.S. support (Yonhap) and discussed an intelligence-sharing pact between South Korea and Japan that is set to expire this month.

The country’s supreme court has asked New Delhi’s pollution authority to look into using hydrogen fuel (Hindustan Times) for the city’s public transportation system and installing air-purification towers to help combat air pollution in the capital region.
 
CFR explores why air pollution is so bad in Asia’s cities.

Israel and the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad agreed to a cease-fire (AP) that was to begin this morning after more than two days of escalated fighting, according to spokespeople for both sides. However, Gazan militants reportedly fired rockets into Israel after the truce began.
 
Tunisia: The Heart of Tunisia party backed a parliamentary speaker (Al Jazeera) from the rival Ennahda party, signaling a possible alliance between the two ahead of Ennahda’s announcement of a nominee for prime minister by tomorrow.

The attorney general said his office plans to charge fifty-eight people (Bloomberg) for their alleged involvement in June attacks on government officials that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed described as a coup attempt. At least six officials were killed in the attacks.
 
Namibia: The justice minister and the fisheries minister have resigned (Al Jazeera) following reports they took bribes in exchange for awarding preferential access to fishing grounds.

Moscow plans to reduce (FT) its sovereign wealth holdings in U.S. dollars and look toward alternative currencies such as the euro and yuan, the deputy finance minister announced. Russia is considering a yuan-denominated government bond for 2020.
 
In Foreign Affairs, Thomas Graham argues for a more pragmatic U.S. approach to Russia.
 
Italy: Venice has been submerged by its worst floods (BBC) in fifty years. The city’s mayor attributed the high water levels to climate change.

The UN refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration are set to launch a coordinated response plan (UN) to support the estimated 6.5 million Venezuelans who will have fled their country by next year. The agencies have called for $1.35 billion in funding.
 
Brazil: President Jair Bolsonaro signed several agreements (AP) with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Brasilia and said China will increasingly be part of Brazil’s future. The announcement marked a shift from Bolsonaro’s campaign rhetoric that was critical of China.

President Donald J. Trump asked the U.S. ambassador to the European Union about a possible investigation by Kyiv into the Biden family in a phone call the day after he pressured Ukraine’s president on the matter, the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine said in testimony (WaPo) before House lawmakers.
 
On this episode of The President’s Inbox podcast, CFR’s Stephen Sestanovich discusses the history of U.S.-Ukraine relations.

The World Health Organization announced it will launch a program to prequalify insulin (UN) for use in low- and middle-income countries with the hope of making it more accessible and affordable. The program is modeled on past initiatives aimed at reducing the prices of generic drugs for HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis.