As the U.S. carries out a sudden, near-total withdrawal from Syria, Russia is rushing into the breach.
Why it matters: The hasty U.S. exit from Syria makes it certain the outcome there will bear Vladimir Putin’s imprint. Russia entered Syria in 2015 to help dictator Bashar al-Assad regain his grip on the country, and Russia has steadily gained influence in the wider Middle East.
A Turkish bank known as Halkbank has been charged in a 6-count indictment for "fraud, money laundering, and sanctions offenses related to the bank’s participation in a multibillion-dollar scheme to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran," federal prosecutors in New York announced on Tuesday.
Why it matters: Bloomberg reported last week that in 2017, President Trump pressed former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to help convince the Justice Department to drop a sanctions evasion case against an Iranian-Turkish gold trader named Reza Zarrab — a client of Rudy Giuliani's whose case was a high priority for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Zarrab later pleaded guilty and testified against the CEO of Halkbank, also alleging that "Erdogan knew of and supported the laundering effort on behalf of Iran."
TikTok, the short-form video sharing app owned by Chinese tech giant Bytedance, is attempting to distingush itself from its Chinese owner, but it remains caught in the escalating conflict between Washington and Beijing.
Driving the news: TikTok is bringing on outside experts, including 2 former congressmen, to take a look at its content moderation policies.
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Nepal over the weekend bearing gifts: a pledge of $500 million in economic aid for the impoverished Himalayan country and a series of infrastructure deals worth billions more.
Why it matters: Phanindra Dahal of BBC Nepali, and a former Axios fellow, emails from Kathmandu that Xi's visit was "massive news" in a country at the center of a tug of war between India and China:
British politicians, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, are urging caution on optimism for a possible Brexit deal between the U.K. and EU and say there remains "significant" work to be done, but investors have thrown caution to the wind and bet big on the British pound.
Why it matters: The pound surged to its highest against the dollar since July on Friday, jumping nearly 2%. That followed a similar 1% jump on Thursday, marking sterling's biggest 2-day gain since before the June 2016 vote to leave the EU.
