South Asia
Nepalese President Bidya Devi Bhandari called for a session of the country's Parliament on March 7. This comes just days after the Supreme Court declared Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s dissolution of the Parliament to be “unconstitutional”. [Hindustan Times]
The Pakistani Supreme Court ruled in favour of conducting the Parliament’s upper house’s election through a secret ballot. This invalidates the government’s decision to mandatorily conduct the Senate’s elections through an open ballot after several instances of legislatures going against party orders due to horse-trading amongst political parties [Al Jazeera]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
The European Union (EU)-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) has entered into force, committing both parties to “supporting democratic principles, the rule of law, and a broad reform agenda.” The agreement will strengthen ties in several sectors, such as the “economy, transport, digitalisation, green energy, and the judicial system”. [RFE/RL]
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Monday that if the opposition agrees to certain conditions, the country will hold early elections. Among these conditions are the proposed holding of a referendum in October regarding the adoption of a new constitution that would “expand presidential powers to avoid future crises”. [RFE/RL]
East and Southeast Asia
The Immunitee Health Passport is Mayalsia’s first health passport that will enable tourists to be accepted into Singapore upon being “verified and cleared”. According to the program’s maker, Affinidi, Immunitee works as a “blockchain-based health passport” and is built on a “highly secure end to end vaccine registry management system”. Further, it provides a “common vaccine tracking system” that integrates private and public healthcare systems. [Mobi Health News]
Singapore is testing its locally developed “unmanned surface vessels” which have an “AI-driven navigation algorithm that could be used for maritime security operations” in the strategically important and contested international waters around the country. The country’s defence ministry said that the vessels will “add another layer of surveillance and operational response for its maritime borders.” [Defense News]
Europe
UN human rights experts Agnes Callamard and Irene Khan on Monday called for an international investigation into Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s poisoning to ensure accountability for the “sinister” operation. They also demanded his “immediate release” from a Russian penal colony where he was transferred last week. [France24]
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Sunday that his Fidesz party will quit the European People’s Party (EPP) group in the European parliament if new rules making suspension of entire parties possible are approved on Wednesday. [POLITICO]
A report published by the Council of Europe stated that Austria’s progress to curb corruption has been “overall insufficient.” The release, published by the Group of States against Corruption, accused Austria of failing to take the necessary steps to crack down on judicial and political misconduct. [Euronews]
Latin America and the Caribbean
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele appears to be on track to wrest control of the legislature from the conservative National Republican Alliance and the leftist Farabundo Marti Liberation Front. Preliminary results from about 80% of votes show Bukele’s New Ideas party and an allied party with a majority of votes. [Associated Press]
Ecuador’s parliament has rejected a bill from outgoing president Lenín Moreno that proposed 84 reforms to the country’s Organic Monetary and Financial Code, deeming that the bill has 14 ‘unconstitutional’ elements. Moreno sought to privatise the central bank and pave the way for a $400 million loan from the International Monetary Fund. [Telesur]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
The Moroccan foreign ministry urged the government to “suspend all contacts” with the German embassy in Rabat. Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said that this turn of events was due to the “deep misunderstandings with Germany on the subject of fundamental questions of the Kingdom of Morocco”. It has been speculated that the decision might have been taken due to Germany's reluctance to recognise Morocco’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara. [Middle East Online]
Saudi Arabia has committed $430 million towards the United Nations’ Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan 2021. Advisor to the Royal Court and Supervisor General of King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) Dr. Abdullah Al Rabeeah said that Riyadh remains committed to engendering “peace, harmony, and cooperation” but warned that Houthi militias are “scaling up their terrorist actions”. He declared, “This requires a firm and resolute stance from the international community to protect the Yemeni people and to reach sustainable solutions that achieve security, stability and development for Yemen and, ultimately, for the region and the world.” [Ashraq al-Awsat]
North America
Canada on Monday announced $69.9 million in new funding to help address the humanitarian needs of conflict-affected people in Yemen. According to Ottawa, the money will be provided to UN agencies, the Red Cross, and other non-governmental organisations. [Global Affairs Canada]
US President Joe Biden virtually met with his Mexican counterpart Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Monday to “review cooperation on migration and to advance joint efforts to promote development in Southern Mexico and the Northern Triangle of Central America.” The leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation in COVID-19 response and recovery efforts, as well as in addressing climate change. [The White House]
Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou appeared in a Canadian court on Monday to begin a series of hearings aimed at introducing new evidence in her case that could halt her extradition proceedings. [Associated Press]
Oceania
New Zealand’s birth rate has startlingly dropped to 1.6 children per woman, which represents a 20% decrease over the past decade. This figure is less than the replacement rate of 2.1 which is required for a population to “replace itself”. This change has been attributed to the increased accessibility of contraception, rising female participation in the labour force, greater education levels among women, and a fall in teenage pregnancies. [RNZ]
Data from the Chinese Investment in Australia Database (CHIIA) revealed the diplomatic and trade tensions between Australia and China precipitated a 61% drop in Chinese investment in Australia in 2020 from $2.6 billion in 2019 to around $1 billion last year. The total number of Chinese investments dropped from 111 in 2016 to 20 in 2020. [news.com.au]
Sub-Saharan Africa
Swiss news outlet CH Media has apologised for its coverage of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s appointment as the new Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), in which it referred to the former Nigerian finance and foreign minister as a “grandmother”. A number of senior African diplomats in the United Nations decried the coverage as “offensive, sexist and racist in a world where both public and private sector leadership is dominated by ageing Caucasian men who are revered for the experience and skills they bring and have never been characterised by their lineage and offspring”. [Nation]
Nigerien opposition politician Mahamane Ousmane, who lost the recently held presidential election to Mohamed Bazoum, has continued to insist that the election was “marred with a lot of irregularities and fraud”. [DW]
World News Monitor: 02 March, 2021
A quick look at events from around the globe.
March 2, 2021
Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno SOURCE: EQUIPO DE FOTOGRAFÍA, ASAMBLEA NACIONAL / FLICKR