North Korea to Join in Winter Olympics After Talks With South

Council on Foreign Relations Newsletter If you are unable to see the message below, click here to view. January 9, 2018 Daily News Brief TOP OF THE AGENDA North Korea to Join in Winter Olympics After Talks With South North Korea will send a delegation of athletes (Korea Times) to the upcoming Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Seoul announced on Tuesday following the first high-level talks between the Koreas in two years. South Korea's unification minister met his North Korean counterpart (NYT) in the border village of Panmunjom for the talks. An aide to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said North Korea's move signaled a welcome "change in stance" (WaPo) while a senior U.S. State Department official said President Donald J. Trump credits U.S. pressure (AP) with leading the North to agree to dialogue. The group of North Korean athletes is expected to march alongside South Koreans during the opening and closing ceremonies. ANALYSIS "Amidst the fire and fury of missile tests and testy tweets, the Moon [Jae-in] administration has been hard at work over the past few months creating the opening which we are now seeing bear fruit," John Delury writes for Foreign Affairs. "For Washington to oppose the steps for inter-Korean dialogue underway in the wake of Kim's speech would be to take Pyongyang's bait and give credence to his narrative that Washington is an enemy, not a friend, of the Korean people," writes Jongsoo Lee for CFR's Asia Unbound blog. "Recasting the U.S. policy of maximum pressure and engagement, with a serious U.S. point of contact for negotiations, could create space for diplomacy that currently does not exist," Jung H. Pak and Ryan L. Hass write for the Brookings Institution [PDF]. PACIFIC RIM U.S. Military Apologizes to Japan Japan's foreign minister told the U.S. ambassador to Japan on Tuesday that frequent accidents involving U.S. military equipment "amplify locals' anxiety." The move came after two U.S. helicopters made forced landings in Okinawa (Japan Times) in recent days. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis apologized to his Japanese counterpart following the incidents. SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA Bangladeshi Court Upholds Ban on Rohingya Marriages The High Court in Dhaka has dismissed a challenge to a 2014 ban on Bangladeshis marrying individuals from Myanmar's Rohingya minority (AFP). The ban was intended to keep refugees from seeking citizenship. This CFR Backgrounder looks at the Rohingya crisis. INDIA: Former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden tweeted on Monday in support of an Indian journalist whom authorities say committed a criminal offense by reporting that citizens' personal information, kept in a national biometric database (BBC), was available for sale online. MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA One Dead in Anti-Austerity Protest in Tunisia The Tunisian Interior Ministry said a demonstrator who was killed in a protest over recent government austerity measures (Al Jazeera) outside Tunis on Monday likely died from tear gas inhalation. Five people were injured in the demonstration. EGYPT: Electoral authorities have set a late March date (DW) for the first round of this year’s presidential elections. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who came to power in a 2013 coup, has not announced his candidacy but is widely expected to run (Al Jazeera). In Foreign Affairs, Michael Wahid Hanna and Daniel Benaim write that Cairo is drifting from traditional allies under Sisi. SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Madagascar Cyclone Kills Twenty-Nine Twenty-nine people are dead and at least two are missing after a tropical cyclone passed through Madagascar over the weekend (Reuters), the country's disaster management office said Monday. ANGOLA: President Joao Lourenco, at a Monday press conference, said there is no tension in his relationship (Africa News) with former President Jose Eduardo dos Santos. The statement comes after Lourenco fired sixty top government officials including dos Santos's daughter, who headed the state oil company. EUROPE Dozens Reported Dead After Migrant Boat Sinks The UN migration agency said sixty-four people are believed to have died after a rubber dinghy carrying 150 migrants (VOA) sank in the Mediterranean on Saturday. The Italian coast guard rescued eighty-six people (Guardian). FRANCE: Prosecutors have announced a probe into the tech giant Apple (BBC) after the company admitted its phones are slowed down in software updates as they age. Under French law, a firm can not shorten a product's lifespan to force the user to buy a new one. AMERICAS Ecuador to Investigate Correa-Era Debt The national comptroller's office announced it will audit the debt (Reuters) contracted under the last five years of former President Rafael Correa's government. Correa said recent moves by President Lenin Moreno, once his protege, to undo some of Correa's actions constitute a "coup." EL SALVADOR: President Salvador Sanchez Ceren called the U.S. announcement that it will end protected status for two hundred thousand Salvadorans an "extension," referring to the eighteen months migrants have before they will be forced to leave. The comment prompted criticism he was attempting to spin negative news (NYT). CFR's Stewart M. Patrick, in the Hill, criticizes the Trump administration's withdrawal from an international summit on migration. UNITED STATES Natural Disasters Cost Record $306 Billion in 2017 Extreme weather disasters, including hurricanes, droughts, and wildfires, cost the country $306 billion in damages in 2017 (CBS), according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The total tops a previous record of $215 billion in 2005. Puerto Rico's police chief has resigned after a year on the job (AP) amid a spike in homicides on the island. Thousands of officers have not appeared for work in recent weeks to protest a lack of overtime pay.         Council on Foreign Relations — 58 East 68th Street — New York, NY 10065 CFR does not share email addresses with third parties. Forward This Email | Subscribe to CFR Newsletters | Unsubscribe - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  

From: dailybrief@e.cfr.org

Date: January 09, 2018 at 11:13PM