Houthi supporters rally to mark the Ashura day in Sanaa, Yemen August 8, 2022. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah/File Photo Daily News Brief      August 23, 2022

Top of the Agenda Separatist Offensive Complicates Truce in Yemen Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council (STC), a group of Emirati-backed separatists from the country’s south, began a new military offensive (Reuters) to combat “terrorist organizations” in Abyan Governorate. The move prompted a rebuke from the Saudi-backed presidential council that has allied with the STC to fight the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen’s civil war. A truce between the council and the Houthis has been in place since April.    The STC’s announcement comes after a week of clashes in southern Yemen, during which southern separatists took over (AP) the city of Ataq and several oil fields in Shabwa Governorate. Continued instability in the south complicates UN efforts to push all of Yemen’s warring parties to negotiate a permanent cease-fire.

Analysis “The fresh infighting was the first since the shake-up at the top of the internationally recognized government that saw President Abdo Rabbu Mansour Hadi removed during the Riyadh consultations in April,” writes the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies’ Maged Al-Madhaji.  “The conflict [in southern Yemen] betrays the fragility of Yemen’s new leadership in Aden and the disharmony among the pro-government forces fighting a common foe: the Iran-backed Houthi group,” Al-Monitor writes.    This Backgrounder unpacks the eight-year conflict in Yemen.

Pacific Rim Report: Japan, South Korea, Taiwan Spent Billions on Russian Fuel Amid War The three democracies bought a combined $5.5 billion (Nikkei) worth of Russian fuel in the first five months of the war in Ukraine, according to a report by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air. They have not laid out a timeline for phasing out purchases of Russian fuel, as many European countries have.   Malaysia: Former Prime Minister Najib Razak lost an appeal and will be jailed (Nikkei) for twelve years for links to a corruption case that siphoned billions of dollars from state funds.

South and Central Asia Pakistani Prime Minister Visits Qatar Seeking Investment Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif begins a two-day visit (Dawn) to Qatar today, his first trip to the country since taking office in April.    Bangladesh: The government ordered schools to remain closed (BDNews24) on Fridays and Saturdays and told public-sector institutions to reduce their hours amid an electricity shortage.

Middle East and North Africa Iran Reportedly Drops Some Demands for Revived Nuclear Deal An unnamed U.S. official told Reuters that Tehran relaxed its demands on ending international inspections of its nuclear program and removing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from a U.S. list of terrorist organizations. An official U.S. response to Iran will come “soon,” the official said.   This Backgrounder looks at the Iran nuclear deal.

Sub-Saharan Africa China to Forgive Loans to Seventeen African Countries, Direct IMF Funds to Continent Beijing will forgive (Bloomberg) twenty-three interest-free loans and funnel $10 billion of its International Monetary Fund (IMF) resources to African countries, China’s foreign ministry said.   CFR’s Brad W. Setser discusses China’s role in the debt distress facing emerging markets.   Burundi/DRC: Soldiers from Burundi became the first to deploy (AP) in a new regional force that will fight militant groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Europe Ukrainian Rail Link to Moldova Restored The rail line, which was inactive for twenty-five years, could carry ten million tons of freight (Kyiv Independent) per year to neighboring Moldova, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.   Europe: Business activity in the eurozone fell to its lowest level (FT) in eighteen months, according to an S&P Global index. Higher prices and falling demand are fueling concerns of a recession in Europe.

Americas Argentine Prosecutors Request Twelve-Year Sentence for Vice President Prosecutors said Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner should be jailed (AP) and barred from political office for allegedly awarding public works contracts to a friend. Fernández denies any wrongdoing, and President Alberto Fernández’s office said she is a victim of “persecution by the courts.”  Brazil/Venezuela: Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said he supports free elections (Bloomberg) in Venezuela, a shift from his party’s long-standing support for the government that began under Hugo Chávez in 1999. Lula is likely to normalize diplomatic relations with Venezuela if he wins Brazil’s presidential election in October.   In Foreign Affairs, Brian Winter discusses what the return of a Lula government could look like in Brazil.

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