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Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaska said he will step down on Wednesday, according to the prime minister’s office. The announcement comes after masses protested in the streets of Colombo over the weekend in response to the country’s economic collapse. Protesters currently occupy the presidential residence as well as the prime minister’s home and have said that they do not intend to leave until both officials formally resign. The prime minister’s office also said that all cabinet ministers will resign after an agreement is reached to form a new government.

Japan’s ruling party won a significant victory at the polls following the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The sizable majority of the Liberal Democratic Party could allow its now-leader Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to rule uninterrupted until 2025. With the support of his win, Kishida could advance long-term objectives such as amending the constitution, which restricts military activity to self-defense.

Putin signed a decree extending expedited Russian citizenship to all Ukrainians in an effort to expand Moscow’s reach in the country. The measure was first introduced for Donetsk and Luhansk residents in 2019, where 18% of the population has since obtained Russian passports. It was expanded to include residents of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions in May. This extension came as Russian attacks in Kharkiv, Ukraine left six dead and 31 injured, reports AP News.

Russia shut down the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline to Germany for repairs, raising concerns in Germany that Moscow will not turn it back on after the 10-day maintenance ends. According to Germany’s minister for economic affairs and climate action, the move could lead to a “nightmare scenario” in Germany this winter, writes the Washington Post.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on China to join the United States in opposing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, following a five-hour meeting he had with the country’s foreign minister. “I would start with the proposition that it’s pretty hard to be neutral when it comes to this aggression,” Blinken said. “There’s a clear aggressor. There’s a clear victim,” he added, reports the New York Times.

Hundreds in Zhengzhou who have been protesting frozen bank deposits at the local branch of the People’s Bank of Chinawere met with physical force on Sunday. Videos of the violence spread on Chinese social media before internet censors could react, leading to an influx of critical responses online. Protestors say there were multiple injuries due to the attempt to stifle the protest, though it is not fully clear who the individuals—many of whom were wearing plainclothes—stopping the protest were. 

ICYMI: This Weekend on Lawfare

Katherine Harvey discussed the challenges Iraq faces as the United States takes increasing measures to expand its regional coalition in the Middle East to contain Iran.

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