South Asia
During a meeting between Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and members of parliament, Qureshi said that the United States’ plan to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan has been preponed. He said that while the Biden administration said that the withdrawal would be complete by September 11, the troops are likely to leave “at the earliest” by May 1. [Times of India]
The World Health Organisation said that only one of the lineages of the B.1.617 strain of the COVID-19 virus, recently labelled as the Delta strain, continues to be “of concern.” The threat level of the other two, he said, have been downgraded. [NDTV]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara on Wednesday to discuss bilateral and strategic ties. Garibashvili stressed the importance of cooperation between Ankara and Tbilisi in the area of “economic and regional cooperation to ensure peace and stability in the region.” [Agenda.ge]
Armenian caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Wednesday as part of his European tour, which includes a visit to Brussels later today. While Pashinyan welcomed France’s support of Armenia through humanitarian assistance, Macron expressed his support for Armenia and called on Azeri forces to withdraw from “the sovereign territory of Armenia.” [Office of the Prime Minister of Armenia, Armen Press]
East and Southeast Asia
Japan’s TV Asahi said on Tuesday that even though experts warn that it will be difficult to host the Olympics unless the rising rate of infections falls in the capital, organisers are preparing to let Japanese residents attend the games next month. Spectators would be required to provide a negative COVID-19 test or a vaccination certificate. [The Straits Times]
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has approved Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use. This is the second Chinese-produced vaccine to be approved by the global health body and allows the shot to be included in the COVAX initiative, which aims to deliver equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. [The Straits Times]
Europe
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that during this month’s NATO summit, he would speak with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson about resuming tourism between the countries. Previously, the United Kingdom had put Turkey on its “red list”, thereby restricting any travel to the country. In addition, Erdoğan also said that similar discussions, which had already been conducted with officials from Russia and Germany, had been fruitful. [Reuters]
Speaking to Reuters, three diplomats from the European Union said that the bloc was planning on introducing sanctions against Belarus’ national airlines, along with 12 top officials from the company. The proposed sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes and follow the forced landing of a commercial plane to arrest a political dissident. [Reuters]
Latin America and the Caribbean
Following a review ordered by Prime Minister Violeta Bermúdez, Peru has now revised its official COVID-19 death toll from 69,342 to 180,000. This revelation comes just days before a presidential run-off election between leftist Pedro Castillo and right-wing Keiko Fujimori. [BBC]
The Executive Director of the World Health Organisation's Health Emergencies Programme, Dr. Mike Ryan, has expressed concern about the COVID-19 situation in South America, saying that it is “starting to turn in the wrong direction.” He said, “Case fatality rates in South America [are generally] higher than in many parts of the rest of the world,” and noted that eight of the ten countries with the highest mortality rates for the virus are in the Americas. [Buenos Aires Times]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
A World Bank report has said that the ongoing economic and financial crisis in Lebanon ranks as one of the worst the world has had since the “mid-nineteenth century.” The report blamed “deliberate inaction [and] the absence of a fully functioning executive authority” for deepening the crisis in Lebanon. [World Bank]
The Syrian regime’s election to the World Health Organisation (WHO) executive board has led to protests among medical workers and activists who fear that Syria will use its position in WHO to cut off vital aid to millions in the country. The Assad regime, along with Russia, has been accused of bombing hospitals and medical facilities during the ten-year Syrian war. [Middle East Monitor]
North America
On Tuesday, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken participated in the virtual NATO Foreign Ministerial hosted by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. Following the meeting, the US State Department released a statement saying that Blinken “reaffirmed US commitment to NATO,” “expressed support for [...] the NATO 2030 initiative,” and said that the body must become “more resilient and capable of confronting systemic challenges from Russia and the People’s Republic of China.” He further called on the Organisation to increase cooperation with Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea. [US Department of State]
Canadian Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam announced that the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) is now recommending that the Astra-Zeneca-Oxford, Pfizer-BioNTechm and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines can be used “interchangeably in certain situations.” Tam said, “When vaccines programs and supplies change this is not an unusual thing to do.” [CBC News]
Oceania
The Australian state of Victoria is considering extending its seven-day lockdown that is due to expire at the end of Thursday, due to concerns about a variant of the virus spreading “faster than any other strain we’ve dealt with,” according to Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton. [ABC News]
New Zealand Trade Minister Damien O’Connor is set to conduct a ‘virtual’ tour of Japan on Friday, and will be joined by business leaders from the country’s food and beverage, health technology, consumer technology, and renewable energy sectors. [New Zealand Government]
Sub-Saharan Africa
Chad has accused the Central African Republic’s (CAR) military of attacking a Chadian military post and killing one of its troops and kidnapping and executing five others after taking them to CAR. The two countries share a 1,000-kilometre border. Chad’s embassy in CAR’s capital city, Bangui, described the incident as a “war crime” and a “premeditated murderous attack” that “cannot go unpunished.” [Reuters]
Doctors Without Borders has reported that following a volcanic eruption in the Democratic Republic of Congo last week and dozens of earthquakes this past weekend, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced and over 500,000 in the city of Goma now have no access to clean drinking water. [Doctors Without Borders]
World News Monitor: 2 June, 2021
A quick look at events from around the globe.
June 2, 2021
French President Emmanuel Macron SOURCE: SOAZIG DE LA MOISSONNIERE / PRÉSIDENCE DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE