South Asia
Speaking at the 9th Heart of Asia conference at Dushanbe, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar called for “double peace” in Afghanistan and in the region as a whole. He also reiterated India’s support for the Intra-Afghan Negotiations. [The Hindu]
A Committee set up by the Indian Supreme Court submitted its report on the controversial farm laws. However, the contents of the document continue to remain confidential. The proposed Committee was previously opposed by the farmers, who continue to protest in the capital city of New Delhi. [NDTV]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
On Tuesday, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev approved provisions to amend Uzbekistan’s criminal code that now make it a punishable offence to insult the president through the internet and other forms of telecommunication. The move comes at a time when Mirziyoyev is facing corruption allegations and is attempting to secure re-election in October. Earlier this month, an RFE/RL report alleged that state companies had built a luxury resort in Tashkent for Mirziyoyev at an estimated cost of around $700 million, at the taxpayers’ expense, drawing widespread anger and condemnation. [Eurasianet]
The United Nations Secretary General’s special representative for Central Asia, Natalia Gherman, has urged Kyrgyz president Sadyr Japarov to create a joint UN-Kyrgyzstan Human Rights Dialogue. Japarov has come under criticism from activists for undertaking a more authoritarian rule in the country and has proposed constitutional amendments to change the parliamentary structure into a presidential one, which would widen his powers as well as extend the presidential terms from one to two. [RFE/RL]
East and Southeast Asia
On Wednesday, Sri Lanka received 600,000 doses of the Chinese-made Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine. The arrival of the vaccines was presided over by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa as well as Chinese Ambassador Qi Zhenhong. Also in attendance were Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga. The Chinese ambassador said, “Solidarity is the only right way for the international community to defeat the pandemic at an early date and build a global community of health for mankind.” [XinhuaNet]
South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun announced that Seoul is introducing a digital vaccine passport through a smartphone application later this month. [The Korea Herald]
Japan ranked 120th out of 156 countries on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index for 2020. Although it is up one rank from 2019, this is still the 2nd lowest rank Japan has ever held in the Index. Japan also ranks the lowest among G7 countries. [Mainichi]
Europe
On Wednesday, Italy expelled an Italian navy captain and a Russian embassy staff member, after the police caught the Italian official handing over critical documents to a Russian military official in exchange for money. They have been accused of “serious crimes tied to spying and state security.” [Reuters]
Russian opposition leader and Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny went on a hunger strike on Wednesday to pressure prison authorities to grant him access to proper medical care for severe pain in his back and legs. Navalny alleged that instead of medical assistance, he was being tortured with sleep deprivation. [Reuters]
Latin America and the Caribbean
Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández, the brother of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, was sentenced in a Manhattan federal court by United States (US) District Judge P. Kevin Castel to life in prison for his leading role in “state-sponsored drug trafficking” and ordered him to hand over $138 million in illicit funds. The Honduran president has also been implicated in the trial, with former gang members testifying that they had bribed him with millions of dollars to protect drug traffickers from extradition to the US. [Associated Press]
Chilean President Sebastián Piñera has suggested delaying an election in April that will determine the commission to rewrite the country’s constitution, following citizens’ decision to vote in favour of drafting a new constitution in a referendum last October. This comes at a time when COVID-19 cases are surging and 80% of the country is under lockdown. The election will determine the 155 members of the Constitution Assembly who will redraft the constitution that was written during the dictatorship era of Augusto Pinochet. [Telesur]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken has confirmed American support for talks between Morocco and the Polisario Front over the disputed Western Sahara region. In December, last year, former US President Donald Trump, recognised Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara, which is home to the indigenous Sahrawi people. In 1976, the Polisario Front declared the establishment of a Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and insisted that it holds sovereignty over the region. [Middle East Monitor]
On Wednesday, UNICEF said that Yemen had received its first batch of COVID-19 vaccines, a week after the country’s coronavirus committee warned of an impending health crisis. The arrival of the vaccines are expected to provide much relief to the war-torn country’s health infrastructure, which has crumbled under the pressure of increasing COVID-19 cases. Yemen has endured a brutal war for more than six years and is home to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. [Al Jazeera]
North America
The Pentagon on Wednesday announced the reversal of several Trump-era policies that prohibited transgender people from serving in the military. The new regulations offer them wider access to medical care as well as assistance with gender transition and go into effect on April 30. [US Department of Defence]
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday confirmed the receipt of $335 million from Sudan as compensation for victims of the 1998 bombings of the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the USS Cole in 2000, as well as the 2008 killing of USAID employee John Granville. The multi-million-dollar settlement was a key pre-requisite for lifting Sudan’s state sponsor of terrorism designation, which imposed several sanctions on the country, including restrictions on US foreign aid assistance as well as a ban on defence sales. “With this challenging process behind us, US-Sudan relations can start a new chapter,” Blinken said in a statement. [US Department of State]
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday unveiled an ambitious $2 trillion infrastructure plan, that aims to revamp the country’s ageing transport network, create millions of jobs, and tackle climate change. “I'm proposing a plan for the nation that rewards work, not just rewards wealth. It builds a fair economy that gives everybody a chance to succeed. It’s going to create the strongest, most resilient, innovative economy in the world,” Biden said, adding that this would be a “once-in-a-generation” investment that will help America beat China on the global economic stage [The White House]
Oceania
Although over 500,000 Australians have been vaccinated against COVID-19, this is still 3.5 million doses, or 85%, under the original March target of 4 million set by the Department of Health. Australia has thus far registered 29,300 cases and 909 deaths from the coronavirus. [Business Insider]
Amid a rapidly growing outbreak of COVID-19 cases in the country, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape warned, “Facebook is not a place where you source accurate information. Look into established literature and data available on what vaccines can do, on what is being done globally.” In fact, Marape had just received a jab of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine prior to making this statement. PNG has thus far recorded 5,9991 cases and 60 deaths, though the true number is thought to be much higher due to low testing rates. [RNZ]
Sub-Saharan Africa
The ‘Global Electricity Review 2021’ by US-based think tank Ember revealed that South Africa continues to source 86% of its electricity from coal, well ahead of any other G20 country, with India in 2nd place with 71%. In fact, fossil fuels as a whole accounted for 89% of South Africa's electricity generation in 2020, and while this is down from 93% in 2015, the numbers are still alarming due to the environmental damage caused by over-reliance on fossil fuels. [Mining Weekly]
On Wednesday, the International Criminal Court’s appeal judges upheld the acquittal of former Ivory Coast President Lauren Gbagbo and former minister Charles Blé Goudé over their alleged involvement in post-electoral violence in 2010 that resulted in murder, rape, and persecution. Both officials were acquitted in 2019 after judges ruled that the prosecution had failed to present sufficient evidence, meaning that the defence lawyers did not even have to present their case. [Africa News]
World News Monitor: 1 April, 2021
A quick look at events from around the globe.
April 1, 2021
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev SOURCE: ANVAR ILYASOV / REUTERS