South Asia
The Indian government has approved a decision to deploy 13,000 personnel of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) to the Nepal and Bhutan borders. According to the Director-General of the SSB, this will “fortify” the “border security” in the region. [NDTV]
The Nepalese government signed a peace deal with the Communist Party of Nepal, a previously outlawed group that has orchestrated several violent attacks in the country over the years. As a result of the agreement, the government will now have to lift the ban on the group, and release its leaders and supporters and withdraw all legal charges against them. [The Hindu]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
The Armenian opposition has claimed that talks with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on conducting early elections have failed. “We have held negotiations. No understanding has been reached with the prime minister,” said Bright Armenia leader Edmond Marukian. [RFE/RL]
Two journalists from Radio Free Europe’s Tajik service were attacked while reporting on an increase in gasoline prices. RFE/RL President Jamie Fly called the attack “absolutely unacceptable,” and said that the correspondents “were only doing their job”. He called on the Tajik police “to fully investigate this incident and make sure the rights of journalists to report openly and without obstruction is protected now and in the future.” [RFE/RL]
East and Southeast Asia
Police and soldiers in Myanmar are utilising TikTok to issue warnings to protestors. Digital rights group Myanmar ICT for Development (Mido) said that more than 800 pro-military videos were found to threaten protestors of further violence. In response, TikTok issued a statement saying: “...we have been and continue to promptly remove all content that incites violence or spreads misinformation, and are aggressively monitoring to remove any such content that violates our guidelines.” [Strait Times]
Hong Kong’s legislative elections are likely to be delayed for a second year due to “a major overhaul” of the electoral system. The delay until September 22 forms part of China’s efforts to ensure that “patriots” are in charge of the region’s government. [Reuters]
Europe
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has started a rolling review of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, which could lead to it being approved for use in all 27 EU member states. However, the bloc—which has so far signed supply contracts with six European and US vaccine makers for a total of nearly 2.6 billion doses—said that there were no talks underway to include Sputnik V in its portfolio. [Reuters]
Slovakia has found itself in a diplomatic row with Ukraine after Prime Minister Igor Matovič made a joke about promising Russia southwestern Ukraine’s Zakarpattia region in exchange for two million Sputnik V doses. Though Matovič explained himself shortly after, saying he had not promised anything to Moscow, Kyiv said that such remarks were “categorically unacceptable” and demanded an official apology from the leader. [The Moscow Times]
Maros Sefcovic, the Vice-President of the European Commission, released a statement expressing “strong concerns” about the British government’s “unilateral” decision to postpone the “grace period on food controls between Britain and Northern Ireland”. He said that this was a “violation” of the Brexit agreement signed between the European Union and the United Kingdom. [Euronews]
Latin America and the Caribbean
The Brazilian economy contracted by 4.1% in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Experts have said that the economy could have shrunk even more if not for the direct cash stimulus payments made to the nation’s poor. In fact, President Jair Bolsonaro said,
“People expected us to fall 10 per cent,” adding, “What made the economy move, in part, was the emergency aid.” Promisingly, Brazil’s economy grew by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, perhaps suggesting that the country is on the road to recovery. [Al Jazeera]
The vice president of Venezuela’s ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello, announced that police had arrested nine people in connection with a failed attempt to kidnap him and “deliver him to the US”. This follows the arrest of 13 people last March, including two Americans, for a failed coup attempt against President Nicolás Maduro. [Telesur]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
An unnamed former deputy chief of Mossad criticised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to curb Iran’s nuclear programme, decrying the leader’s “poor management” by pointing to the “amount of uranium Iran has accumulated”. [Middle East Monitor]
Interim Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, who was appointed via a UN-backed process on February 5, has submitted his proposed government to the parliament, who must now decide whether or not to approve the proposed Cabinet by March 19. If Dbeibah’s Cabinet is approved, it would replace the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) Cabinet and the Libyan National Army (LNA) Cabinet in the east. [The New Arab]
North America
The US and Japan held bilateral security discussions on Thursday. According to the US State Department, the participants “exchanged views on the Indo-Pacific security environment, including the impact of COVID-19, as well as regional issues and bilateral defence cooperation.” [US Department of State]
The US Senate on Thursday approved the motion to begin its debate on the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package. Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking 51st vote on the measure after the evenly divided chamber was deadlocked on whether to advance the bill. [The Hill]
A national panel of Canadian vaccine experts have recommended extending the interval between two doses of a COVID-19 shot from a few weeks to four months to quickly inoculate as many people as possible amid a supply shortage. The National Advisory Committee on Immunization said that such a measure could lead to as many as 80% of Canadians over the age of 16 receiving their first shot by the end of June. [ABC News]
Alek Minassian, who killed 10 people by ploughing a van into pedestrians in Toronto in 2018, was found guilty of all the charges related to the attack on Wednesday, after a judge dismissed his lawyers’ claims that he was not criminally responsible due to his autism spectrum disorder. Justice Anne Malloy of the Ontario Superior Court said that the incident was an “act of a reasoning mind,” and the ruling comes with an automatic 10 life sentences. [The New York Times]
Oceania
New Zealand’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has downgraded its tsunami threat level and has said that evacuees may now return to their homes. There was a threat of a tsunami hitting New Zealand after an 8.1 earthquake was recorded near the Kermadec Islands. [Newshub]
Vox Pop Labs conducted a survey in Australia that revealed that 72% of citizens are “very likely” to get a COVID-19 vaccine. What is more concerning, however, is the increase in the percentage of people who are “very unlikely” to get the vaccine among those who lean to the right on the political spectrum, with this number going up from 11% in September to 19% now. In comparison, the number of people on the left side of the political aisle who said they are “very unlikely” to get the vaccine has decreased from 8% to 4% over the same period. [ABC News]
Sub-Saharan Africa
The Ghanaian Supreme Court has dismissed a petition by former president John Mahama disputing the results of the presidential election in December, in which President Nana Akufo-Addo maintained his incumbency by securing a narrow victory over Mahama. The court determined that a 42-day investigation had yielded no evidence of Mahama’s allegations of electoral fraud. [Africa Feeds]
Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko was arrested on a rape charge on Wednesday, prompting hundreds of his supporters to take to the streets of the capital city, Dakar, in protest. Sonko has accused President Macky Sall of political suppression. Sall has been in office since 2012, was re-elected in 2019, and has hinted at running for a third term in 2024, despite the opposition saying that this is illegal. [Reuters]
World News Monitor: 05 March, 2021
A quick look at events from around the globe.
March 5, 2021
SOURCE: MARCO VERCH