South Asia
The leading opposition party in Nepal, the Nepali Congress, organised a nationwide protest against the incumbent Nepal Communist Party-led government over several issues including the mishandling of the COVID-19 situation and corruption. [The Himalayan Times]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
Following the Russia brokered truce in the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis, Azerbaijan and Armenia exchanged prisoners on Monday. According to Russia’s Defence Ministry, 12 captives were handed over to Azerbaijan and 44 to Armenia. [TRT]
East and Southeast Asia
South Korean President Moon Jae-in passed legislation late Monday that criminalizes sending leaflets to North Korea, with a jail term up to 3 years. The law also bans propaganda broadcasts and anti-Pyongyang material postings at the Korean border. The People Power Party, Korea’s main conservative opposition, has said it might challenge the law in court. [Hindustan Times]
Ignoring calls by scientists and environmentalists who believe that Laos’s mega-dam designs could irreversibly damage fish stocks and further endanger mammals, Laos is going forward with four dams across the mainstream of Mekong River. Several objections also exist against rising debt to Chinese state banks, which has already resulted in the loss of control over its electricity grid to China. [VOA]
Europe
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday cautioned against any attempts to change the US-brokered Dayton peace agreement that ended the Bosnian war 25 years ago, stating that such actions could lead to “grave consequences”. His remarks were in reference to recent calls made by Western diplomats and Bosnian politicians to upgrade the accords, to enable Bosnia to make progress with implementing the necessary reforms. [Reuters]
Thousands of demonstrators marched towards ruling party PiS’s leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s house to protest against the anti-abortion ruling of the Hungarian High Court. The protest was organised by a Nationwide Women’s Strike group. [Indian Express]
Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko indicated on Monday that the country might produce its own coronavirus vaccine. Lukashenko presented three plans that the government is considering to deal with coronavirus: the purchase of a Russian vaccine, the production of vaccines from the Russian strain in Belarus, and the development of Belarus’ own vaccine. [Belta]
Latin America and the Caribbean
Peru has suspended trials for the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine, which is produced in China, after recording a “serious adverse event” among one of the 12,000 volunteers. Until now, close to 37,000 people have died from the virus in Peru. [Merco Press]
Bolivia’s civil registry has recorded its first same-sex civil union after a two-year legal battle, in which the homosexual couple argued that prohibiting them from legally documenting their union runs against commonly held standards of international human rights and violates Bolivian law. It is hoped that their legal victory will lead to a reform of the nation’s marriage laws. [NBC News]
Assistant Health Secretary Hugo López-Gatell announced that the Mexican government had given emergency approval for the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine. The country has purchased 250,000 doses so far, which can be administered to 125,000 people. Mexico has recorded over 1.2 million cases and over 113,000 deaths, with experts saying that the true death toll is likely in excess of 150,000. This has left the nation’s health industry overwhelmed; in fact, hospitals in Mexico City reached 78% capacity last week. [Associated Press]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
The United States on Monday formally removed Sudan from its State Sponsors of Terrorism (SST). Khartoum will now be able to access foreign financing to overturn its crippling economic and food security crisis. [Financial Times]
Increasing tensions between opposing Kurdish groups led to clashes between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Peshmerga forces in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. The violence caused the death of one member of the armed wing of the PKK as well as one Peshmerga soldier. [Al Jazeera]
North America
Electors from the battleground states of Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, and Wisconsin—all states where US President Donald Trump legally challenged President-elect Joe Biden’s victory—have cast their electoral vote for Biden, adding yet another layer of confirmation to Biden’s victory. [CNN]
The death toll from the coronavirus in the United States has now surpassed 300,000, and the number only seems to be rising, with COVID-19 outnumbering both heart disease and cancer as the leading cause of death in the country over the past two weeks. To put things into context, the US has now lost more lives than it did in the entirety of World War II, and loses the same number of lives that were lost on 9/11 virtually on a daily basis. [NPR]
The Trump administration on Monday imposed sanctions against NATO ally Turkey for purchasing and testing the S-400 missile defence system, which they say is incompatible with NATO equipment and a potential threat to allied security. On the same day, the US also announced sanctions against two Iranian intelligence officials, for their “direct involvement” in the 2007 abduction and probable death of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson. [Al Jazeera]
US President Donald Trump announced on Monday that Attorney General (AG) Bill Barr would step down from his position this month, and named Deputy AG Jeff Rosen as acting AG to serve in the remaining weeks of his term. Barr sent in his resignation letter later that day. [The New York Times]
Oceania
Chinese state-owned media outlet Global Times reported that the country has blocked Australian coal imports and is now looking to alternative partners such as Indonesia, Russia, and Mongolia. This development severely threatens Australia’s $14 billion coal export industry and comes amidst rapidly deteriorating diplomatic and trade relations between Beijing and Canberra. [ABC News, 9 News]
Sub-Saharan Africa
Voter turnout reached historically low levels in Nigeria’s senatorial elections, with participation at roughly 10%. Experts argue that this is due to disillusionment with the government over the recent #EndSARS protests when the government led several instances of police brutality against unarmed civilians. [The Africa Report]
East African countries have been left heavily dependent on the Gavi and WHO Covax initiative to secure coronavirus vaccines after it was revealed that Pfizer/BioNTech and the Moderna’s vaccines have been pre-purchased by rich Western countries. Although there are over 230 COVID-19 candidates, only two are being tested in Africa, meaning that most African citizens will likely have to wait until 2022 to be inoculated. [The East African]
World News Monitor: 15 December, 2020
A quick look at events from around the globe.
December 16, 2020
Activists release balloons carrying anti-Kim Jong Un leaflets in 2011. SOURCE: WOOHAE CHO FOR THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE via THE NEW YORK TIMES