sOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA

UK Troops Deploy for Final Major Mission in Afghanistan

Britain's Seventh Armored Brigade has deployed to Helmand in southern Afghanistan to pack up equipment ahead of the British pullout next year. The mission is expected to be the final major operation of UK forces in Afghanistan (BBC).

PAKISTAN: Malala Yousafzai, the sixteen-year-old Pakistani activist who was shot in the head by the Taliban last year, was awarded the European Parliament's Sakharov human rights prize (AFP) on Thursday.

MIDDLE EAST

Libya's Prime Minister Kidnapped, Released

Libyan prime minister Ali Zeidan was kidnapped from a Tripoli hotel on Thursday and freed a few hours later, underscoring the weakness of the state just a few days after the U.S. captured a suspected al-Qaeda operative in the capital (al-Jazeera). The abductors were allegedly among the government-aligned militias that provide security.

Expert Stephen Vladeck explains the legal process facing the captured Abu Anas al-Libi in this interview.

AFRICA

Sudan's al-Bashir Calls Protesters 'Traitors'

Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir labeled detractors who protested against his regime as "bandits," "traitors," and "saboteurs" (Sudan Tribune). More than two hundred people were killed in the government's violent crackdown on protests last month.

LIBERIA: Former Liberian president Charles Taylor, convicted last year of aiding rebels in Sierra Leone, will serve his fifty-year war crimes sentence in the UK (BBC).

EUROPE

Azerbaijan Releases Election Results Before Vote

Rights groups did not expect Azerbaijan's Wednesday elections to be free and fair, but authorities turned it into farce by releasing the results a day before voting started. President Ilham Aliyev, who took over from his father a decade ago, "won" in a landslide (WaPo).

NETHERLANDS: The Dutch foreign minister apologized to Moscow on Wednesday for detaining a Russian diplomat in The Hague, saying his right to diplomatic immunity had been violated (Moscow Times).

AMERICAS

U.S. Lawmakers Open to Debt Ceiling Deal

Politicians in Washington appear likely to agree on a short-term deal to avoid a default on U.S. debt as long as the agreement isn't attached to policy conditions (Bloomberg). Favorability of the Republican Party has sunk since the partial U.S. government shutdown began last week.

This CFR Backgrounder explains the costs and consequences of the U.S. debt ceiling.

BRAZIL: Brazil's central bank raised its benchmark Selic interest rate to 9.5 percent and suggested that it will continue to hike rates at its next meeting in November to curb inflation (MercoPress).