South Asia
Ranjan Ramanayake, a political leader from the United National Party, an opposition party in Sri Lanka, was arrested for his comment to news reporters in 2017 accusing Sri Lankan judges of corruption. He was convicted for contempt of court and sentenced to four years of rigorous imprisonment. [Al Jazeera]
The Indian Border Security Force (BSF) discovered a 14 feet long tunnel across the international border of India and Pakistan. Officials said that the tunnel, which is the second such passage that has been unearthed by Indian authorities, was being used by Pakistan for orchestrating terror attacks in India. [Economic Times]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
On Thursday, Amnesty International advised Azerbaijan and Armenia to immediately probe the use of “inaccurate and indiscriminate weapons” in heavily populated civilian areas during the recent fighting over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh territory. According to a report by the organisation, despite “incontrovertible evidence,” both sides have denied targeting civilians. The London-based human rights group has found “internationally banned cluster munitions and other explosive weapons” in the region and based its report on that evidence. [Amnesty International]
East and Southeast Asia
Laos started a five-yearly congress of its long-ruling Lao People’s Revolutionary Party on Wednesday. 700 party members will take part in the congress, which runs till Friday, to decide the new economic plan and the country’s leadership. [Bangkok Post]
The US State Department announced that it was cancelling UN Ambassador Kelly Craft’s trip to Taiwan in order to assist with the transition of the new administration. Craft’s three-day trip was originally supposed to begin on Wednesday and included high-level meetings with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu. The planned visit was also initially met with disapproval from Beijing. [The Hindu]
Europe
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to improve relations with the European Union, adding that he looks forward to the bloc showing the same goodwill. This comes in the same week that Turkey expressed its willingness to resume talks with Greece to resolve their ongoing conflict in the East Mediterranean. [Al Jazeera]
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday agreed to look into Ukraine’s complaint against alleged human rights violations in the Russia-annexed Crimean Peninsula. [ABC News]
Latin America and the Caribbean
Former Bolivian President Evo Morales, who was ousted from power via a US-backed coup last year, has contracted the coronavirus and is “currently stable” and “receiving medical attention”. [The Rio Times]
Brazil’s inflation rate for the year 2020 was 4.5%, with food prices increasing by 14.1%, the biggest jump in two decades. The central bank has sought to reassure the public by saying that these increases are ‘temporary’. [Merco Press]
Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard has said that Mexico will leverage the recently-signed free trade agreement with the US to push for access to the COVID-19 vaccine for its citizens. [Associated Press]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
According to Sudan’s Foreign Ministry, on Wednesday, an Ethiopian military aircraft crossed the Sudanese-Ethiopian border in a “dangerous and unjustified escalation.” The Ministry further added that this development “could have dangerous consequences, and cause more tension in the border area” and called on Ethiopia to not repeat “such hostilities in the future given their dangerous repercussions on the future of bilateral relations between the two countries and on security and stability in the Horn of Africa.” [Reuters]
Lebanon is expected to receive $246 million in emergency aid from the World Bank. A statement by the organisation said: “Lebanon has been facing compounded and unprecedented crises. A severe economic and financial crisis led to a projected 19.2 percent decline in GDP in 2020, triple-digit inflation and a projected increase in poverty to 45 percent and in extreme poverty to 22 percent.” [Middle East Monitor]
North America
Former Michigan governor Rick Snyder has been charged with two misdemeanor counts of willful neglect of duty after an investigation of decisions that left the US city of Flint with lead-contaminated water and a regional outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease. Each count carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. [Reuters]
After cancelling her trip to Taiwan, US UN Ambassador Kelly Craft said on Wednesday that she had spoken to President Tsai Ing-wen and communicated to her that the United States “stands with Taiwan and always will, as friends and partners, standing shoulder-to-shoulder as pillars of democracy.” [The Straits Times]
Oceania
New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs is conducting “monitoring and analysis” of “extremist content” in a bid to tackle the spread of dangerous and possibly violence-inducing ideologies and conspiracy theories. This comes against the backdrop of the recent Capitol riots in Washington, which has left many countries fearing whether such attitudes and incidents could reach their shores. [Newsroom]
Sub-Saharan Africa
The African Union has secured around 300 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, with South African President and AU Chair Cyril Ramaphosa expected to make an announcement today. The procurement does, however, fall well short of Africa's 1.2 billion population. [Africa Feeds]
The Economic Community of West African States’ (ECOWAS) commission on Mali, led by former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, has expressed the Community’s confidence in Mali’s interim administration transitioning to civilian rule within the stipulated 18-month deadline. The current Malian government was formed following the military coup in August, when erstwhile President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta was ousted from power. [Africa News]
Rebel groups in the Central African Republic (CAR) once again tried to take control of the capital city, Bangui, in yet another act of post-electoral violence following President Faustin-Archange Touadéra’s victory. The CAR army is being supported by troops from Rwanda, France, Russia, and the United Nations. [Africa News]
World News Monitor: 14 January, 2021
A quick look at events from around the globe.
January 15, 2021
AU Chair South African President Cyril Ramaphosa SOURCE: CGIS via NEWS 24