South Asia
Indian PM Narendra Modi on Monday met with Surinamese President Chandrikapersad Santokhi and discussed several issues, including defence, maritime security, and capacity building. Santokhi expressed gratitude for India’s decision to restructure Suriname’s debt, which has risen from the Lines of Credit. [Indian Ministry of External Affairs]
Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday hosted the Ambassador’s Roundtable Conference in New Delhi, which was attended by 80 foreign envoys, in the run-up to the Aero India 2023 conference in Bangalore. Singh celebrated the upcoming event as Asia’s largest aero show that will provide the Indian aviation-defence industry with an opportunity to publicise its technology and products. [Indian Defence Ministry]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
During a meeting between Armenian FM Ararat Mirzoyan and an EU delegation in Yerevan on Monday, EU representatives told the minister that the bloc is willing to send a civilian monitoring mission to Armenia. The suggestion was made amid rising tensions over Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin Corridor, which is the only road connecting Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. [Public Radio of Armenia]
Chechen forces on Monday reportedly abducted about 20 people from the village of Alkhan-Kala for unknown reasons. As per RFE/RL, the abducted were most likely taken to Chechnya’s capital, Grozny, and are being illegally detained. Under the leadership of Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechen security forces have abducted, tortured, and killed critics. [RFE/RL]
East and Southeast Asia
Myanmar authorities on Tuesday sentenced 112 Rohingya Muslims, including a dozen children, to prison for attempting to travel to Malaysia “without legal documents.” [AFP]
The Chinese foreign ministry’s most outspoken and anti-US spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, has assumed a new role as the deputy head of the ministry’s Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs. [Reuters]
Europe
Serbian authorities captured two Taliban terrorists, who were wanted on the suspicion of terrorism under an international arrest warrant by France, near the Hungarian border in a large-scale operation, wherein 100 people were arrested. Mer Hamza, a former general in the Afghan army, was fired for his extremist views and his partner, Abdul Bashir, is a sniper, who has been accused of killing American and French soldiers. France has already called for their extradition. [Hungary Today]
The right-wing Swiss People’s Party called for a referendum to vote on a new climate action law that aims to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The party believes that the law will further strain Swiss energy security, which has been negatively impacted by the Russia-Ukraine war. [Reuters]
Latin America and the Caribbean
The Peruvian government on Monday banned former Bolivian President Evo Morales from entering its territory for “stoking unrest.” The decision came against the backdrop of widespread civil unrest and protests in response to the ouster of former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo, who was removed from office on 7 December after attempting to dissolve Congress illegally. [Reuters]
US President Joe Biden and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, released a joint statement after their Monday afternoon phone call. In the statement, Biden “condemned the violence and the attack on democratic institutions and on the peaceful transfer of power.” The 46th US President also invited Lula to Washington in February “for in-depth consultations on a wide-ranging shared agenda.” [The White House]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Iran sentenced three anti-regime protesters to death on Monday for allegedly killing several members of the Basij paramilitary forces and “waging war against God.” Two days ago, authorities hanged to death two men on similar charges, taking the total number of people executed by the regime since December to four. [Arab News]
Rival Sudanese parties began negotiations on Monday to transition the country towards civilian rule over a year after the military ousted the government in a coup. Last month, the military leadership and civilian groups inked an agreement to start talks on leading the country towards elections, effectively ending the military rule. [Reuters]
North America
On Monday, Canada agreed to buy 88 F-35 fighter jets worth $19 billion from the US and Lockheed Martin with Pratt & Whitney for the Royal Canadian Air Force under its defence policy, Strong, Secure, Engaged. “This will help grow Canada’s aerospace and defence industries in cutting-edge technology for decades to come, with opportunities in both production and sustainment of the Canadian and global fleets,” Canadian Minister of Innovation François-Philippe Champagne noted. [Public Services and Procurement Canada]
During a meeting in Mexico City on Monday, US President Joe Biden and his Mexican counterpart Andrés Manuel López Obrador reaffirmed their commitment to “implement innovative approaches to address irregular migration” and “address the root causes of migration.” The pair also discussed “increased cooperation to prosecute drug traffickers and dismantle criminal networks, disrupt the supply of illicit precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl, shut down drug laboratories, and prevent trafficking of drugs, arms, and people across our shared border.” [The White House]
Oceania
Australia on Tuesday proposed the “safeguard mechanism” reform plan, which will force its biggest polluters to reduce their emissions by at least 30% over the next seven years. [Reuters]
Dennis Miralis, the lawyer for the former US Marine Corps pilot, Daniel Duggan, said he was “singled out” for extradition to the US on charges of training Chinese military pilots, even though “many Australian citizens” had “performed foreign services in other jurisdictions with foreign states of a military nature.” [Reuters]
Sub-Saharan Africa
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, announced on Monday that new FM Qin Gang will start his term by making a weeklong trip to five African countries, including Ethiopia, Gabon, Angola, Benin, and Egypt, from 9 January to 16 January. [Africanews]
Rwandan President Paul Kagame declared on Monday that his country would no longer accept refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Previously, Rwanda has denied the DRC’s allegations that it has supported Congolese rebel militias in their fight against the government. The UN High Commission for Refugees reported that Rwanda had around 72,000 Congolese refugees in November 2022. [Africanews]