The UN human rights office called for restraint (Guardian) in Iran after authorities shut down the internet and detained hundreds of people in response to protests sparked by a hike in the price of fuel last week. Amnesty International reported that more than one hundred protesters across twenty-one cities have been killed, though it warned the death toll could be much higher.

The protests, which began on Friday, have escalated faster (AP) than widespread demonstrations in 2017 over the country’s economic woes. The International Monetary Fund has described Iran’s economy (Al Jazeera) as being in “severe distress,” and projected it will contract by more than 9 percent this year. President Hassan Rouhani announced on Monday that the government would begin cash payments to most Iranians to compensate for the price hike, but warned that “anarchy and rioting” would not be tolerated.

A former employee at the British consulate in Hong Kong said he was shackled, hooded, and blindfolded and held in solitary confinement during a fifteen-day detention (Guardian) by Chinese authorities. He also said he was questioned about the United Kingdom’s role in Hong Kong’s protests. The UK foreign secretary summoned the Chinese ambassador and called for an investigation.

Japan: Shinzo Abe became Japan’s longest-serving prime minister (Japan Times) today. Speaking with the press, he vowed to address deflation, Japan’s aging population, and unresolved postwar foreign policy issues in the remainder of his term.

The minister of state for home affairs told parliament that the federal and local governments can “intercept, monitor, or decrypt” any of its citizens’ digital communications (TechCrunch) for security purposes. He was being questioned after allegations of state use of Israeli spyware to surveil the WhatsApp accounts of activists, journalists, and politicians.

Sri Lanka: Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will resign this week (Reuters), at which point his government will be dissolved and replaced with an interim one. Neither his party nor President-Elect Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s party has an absolute majority in parliament, and new elections are not until April.

Two people were killed in the air attacks (Al Jazeera) on the outskirts of Damascus early today, according to Syrian state media. Israel said the attacks, against Iran’s elite Quds Force and the Syrian army, were in retaliation for rocket attacks fired from Syria toward Israeli territory yesterday.

Residents in the country’s Sidama region will vote (DW) in a referendum today on whether to make their own semiautonomous state within Ethiopia.

This CFR Backgrounder looks at the towering challenges facing the East African country.

DRC: A Congolese court sentenced (Reuters) warlord Frederic Masudi Alimasi to life in prison for crimes against humanity that include murder and sexual violence, according to lawyers in the case.

Turkey’s interior minister said most of the hundreds of suspected militants from the self-proclaimed Islamic State currently detained in Turkey will be returned to their home countries (Reuters) by the end of the year. This includes 287 militants Ankara said it recently captured in northern Syria, and detainees whose home citizenship has been revoked. 

Malta: Authorities arrested (AFP) prominent businessmen Yorgen Fenech as part of an investigation into the 2017 murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who reported on corruption in the country.

Thirty-eight municipalities are now clear of landmines (Reuters) and unexploded ordnance, President Ivan Duque announced, as part of the country’s postconflict transition.

In Foreign Affairs, Gimena Sanchez-Garzoli discusses the slow death of Colombia’s peace deal.

Nicaragua: Authorities shut off water and electricity (WaPo) to a church where women were on a hunger strike to protest detentions of their children, who they say are political prisoners. Thirteen people who tried to bring the women water were arrested. The UN human rights office and countries including Spain and Costa Rica condemned the police actions.

The National Security Council’s top Ukraine expert as well as an aide to Vice President Mike Pence called (Axios) U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s July 25 phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “improper” and “unusual,” respectively, in testimony before House lawmakers.