The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed two bills (Reuters) in support of Hong Kong protesters and sent them to President Donald J. Trump to sign into law. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi rebuked the measures (SCMP), saying they “have seriously poisoned the atmosphere” of U.S.-China relations.
 
The bills advanced as Washington has also sought to de-escalate trade tensions with Beijing. One bill would require U.S. sanctions (NYT) on officials who abuse human rights in Hong Kong and would also mandate annual certifications of Hong Kong’s autonomy in order for it to keep trade privileges. The second bill would ban exports of some crowd-control weapons to Hong Kong. China’s state-owned People’s Daily wrote on Thursday (CNN) that China would take “effective measures to resolutely counteract” the legislation.

A new report [PDF] by Global Energy Monitor shows China’s coal production grew by forty-three gigawatts in the past two years, roughly the size of Germany’s entire coal-producing capacity. Some in China’s energy industry are pushing for the country’s coal cap to rise (WaPo) by nearly 30 percent in its next five-year plan.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s brother Mahinda was sworn in as prime minister (Al Jazeera) today. The two brothers helped defeat the Tamil Tigers militant group a decade ago.
 
On the Asia Unbound blog, CFR’s Alyssa Ayres lays out the geopolitical consequences of Sri Lanka’s election.
 
Afghanistan: The Taliban overtook the self-proclaimed Islamic State to become the world’s deadliest terrorist group in 2018, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace’s Global Terrorism Index. Terrorism-related deaths attributed to the Taliban accounted for 38 percent of the global total.

The leader of Israel’s Blue and White party, Benny Gantz, was unable to form a governing coalition (Jerusalem Post) before a deadline last night and returned the mandate to Israel’s legislature. If no lawmaker earns majority support to form a government in twenty-one days, Israel will hold a new election.
 
Egypt: Exiled Egyptian whistleblower Mohamed Ali, whose videos denouncing government corruption sparked street protests two months ago, announced plans to unite opposition groups (Guardian) in an effort to oust President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.

France’s armed forces minister said that Riyadh has not followed through (Reuters) on a 2017 pledge to provide $110 million for the G5 Sahel force, aimed at countering extremism in the region.
 
On the Africa in Transition blog, CFR’s John Campbell writes that foreign troops fighting jihadis in the Sahel are facing criticism as terrorism grows.
 
Nigeria: Former Attorney General Mohammed Adoke was arrested in Dubai (Al Jazeera) by Interpol as part of an anticorruption probe into the 2011 sale of a Nigerian offshore oil field.

The Greek government announced plans to relocate between one thousand and five thousand migrants from overcrowded island camps to new closed centers (BBC) aimed at deterring asylum seekers.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed seven new members (CBC) to his cabinet and moved former Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland to serve as deputy prime minister and minister of intergovernmental affairs.

Guatemala: The United States has reportedly begun interviews with asylum seekers at its southern border with the aim of deporting some to Guatemala (BuzzFeed) under a “safe third country” agreement.

CFR looks at whether “safe third country” agreements can resolve the asylum crisis.

In congressional testimony, U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland said that many officials were aware (CNN) of efforts by the president to condition U.S. assistance to Ukraine on an investigation by Kyiv into the Biden family.

Governments are currently planning to produce around 50 percent more fossil fuels in 2030 than the maximum level that would still allow the world to limit global warming to 2°C above preindustrial levels, and 120 percent more than would limit warming to 1.5°C, according to a new report by the United Nations and several environmental groups.