South Asia
As European countries and the United States look to expand their alliances to counter China’s aggressive economic ambitions, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has extended invitations for next year’s G7 summit to India, South Korea, and Australia. According to the Prime Minister’s office, the decision has been made in light of Johnson’s “ambition to work with a group of like-minded democracies to advance shared interest and tackle common challenges.” [SCMP]
A Taliban delegation headed by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the group’s top political leader, arrived in Pakistan for a three-day visit. They are scheduled to meet with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi. Pakistan is likely to negotiate with the group to motivate them to finalise the peace deal with the Afghan government and call for a nationwide ceasefire. [Reuters]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an interview that Turkey will take the necessary steps to ensure that the ceasefire agreement is upheld in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. After recent violations from both, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Turkey called upon Russia to do better to suppress such breaches of the ceasefire in the disputed region. [Trend]
On Monday, Uzbekistan’s delegation of the Agency for Space Research and Technologies visited Kazakhstan to discuss the prospects for cooperating in aerospace. They discussed ways to develop cooperation in the field of space activities, in particular, using the capabilities of the Kazakh Earth remote sensing system (ERS) and the space communication system of Kazakhstan. Additionally, a proposal was introduced to establish a joint venture to provide services of the satellite communication and broadcasting system "Kazsat" in Uzbekistan. [Trend]
East and Southeast Asia
Chinese prosecutors have indicted 10 Hong Kong citizens for attempting to flee the city. Two of them are minors and a decision on how their trial will proceed has not yet been made. However, all 12 dissidents have been barred from hiring lawyers and it is alleged that the reasons for detaining them are politically motivated. [Hindustan Times]
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $171 million loan to Myanmar for the development of electricity infrastructure. The fund will be dedicated to providing electricity to more than 40,000 households by building 44 medium voltage substations and 1,006 kilometres of distribution lines. [Pinsent Masons]
Europe
A French court on Wednesday convicted 14 people who massacred cartoonists at satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and customers at a Jewish supermarket in January 2015, handing out prison terms from four years to life. On September 2, the case was brought back into the limelight when the publication republished the caricatures that had instigated the attack in 2015 to celebrate the start of the trial. Following this, France saw several hate crimes, including the infamous death of Samuel Paty, which sparked nationwide protests. [DW]
Less than a week after Hungary and Poland reached a deal with the European Union (EU) to pass a historic 1.8tn euro budget and relief package, the European Court of Justice announced on Thursday that both countries had violated the bloc’s rules. The high court ruled that aspects of Hungary’s asylum process breached EU law, while a separate opinion from the court’s advocate general said that Poland’s undermining of judicial independence also broke bloc regulations. [Financial Times]
Latin America and the Caribbean
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro finally congratulated US President-elect Joe Biden on his election victory. [Associated Press]
Chilean lawmakers approved a bill that will reserve 17 of the parliament’s 155 seats for Indigenous communities. The move has garnered rare praise for under-fire President Sebastián Piñera. [NBC News]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
On Thursday, following the arrival of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, Saudi Arabia began its three-phase COVID-19 immunization campaign. Individuals aged over 65 and high-risk citizens with pre-conditions will be the first to receive the vaccine. [France 24]
North America
The US confirmed on Wednesday that a recent hacking campaign, reportedly undertaken by Russian entities, had affected its federal networks and that the attack was “significant and ongoing”. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) have formed a Cyber Unified Coordination Group to coordinate the US government’s response. [Reuters]
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Wednesday that the outgoing Trump administration is in talks with the United Kingdom (UK) to try and secure a deal to reduce trade tariffs. [BBC]
The US military has condemned China for not attending the virtual Military Maritime Consultative Agreement (MMCA) this week, focused on maritime safety. The commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command said that it was just “another example that China does not honour its agreements”. [Al Jazeera]
Oceania
Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard offered a damning indictment of US President Donald Trump’s coronavirus response, saying that Trump would have likely won the election against Joe Biden if he had “handled the pandemic half-decently”. Howard added, “Every time [Trump] had a news conference he was penning a political suicide note.” [The Guardian]
Sub-Saharan Africa
Liberian citizens have voted in favour of reducing the head of state’s term and allowing dual citizenship during the recently concluded referendum launched by President George Weah. There are fears that Weah will use the constitutional amendment to reset his term counter. [Africa News]
Facebook has closed multiple groups it held responsible for spreading disinformation in Africa; one of the groups was linked with “individuals associated with the French military”, while several others were from Russia. [Africa Times]
World News Monitor: 17 December, 2020
A quick look at events from around the globe.
December 18, 2020
An artist’s sketch shows the Paris courthouse during the sentencing hearing in the Charlie Hebdo trial on Wednesday. SOURCE: MARIE WILLIAMS via AFP/SCMP