South Asia
The United States (US) President Joe Biden has rejected an investigative report released earlier this week by the US Military that accused politicians and diplomats of hampering the military’s efforts to evacuate personnel from Afghanistan. [ANI News]
On Thursday, India and the European Union virtually participated in consultations on “disarmament and non-proliferation relating to nuclear, chemical and biological domains, outer space issues, conventional weapons and strategic export controls.” [MEA India]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
On Thursday, Armenia arrested 19 members of an alleged “espionage network” that recruited Armenians through a popular online dating app. Authorities said that Armenian servicemen who had access to classified data had joined the network. [Armenia]
Armenia and Russia signed a draft agreement on cooperation in cyber security on Thursday during inter-departmental consultations on information security, which was held in Yerevan. [Public Radio of Armenia]
East and Southeast Asia
China’s General Administration of Customs announced on Wednesday that it had suspended beef imports from Lithuania. While the Customs did not give an official reason for the suspension, it is believed that the decision was made over Beijing’s spat with Vilnius over Taiwan. [The Straits Times]
Indonesia on Thursday signed a deal with France to buy six Rafale warplanes as part of a total order of 42. According to their contract, the remaining 36 warplanes will be purchased subsequently. [The Straits Times]
Europe
During a press conference on Thursday, Denmark’s Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, said in addition to NATO troops, the country could host the United States soldiers and military equipment under the new bilateral agreement. “The United States has reached out to Denmark with an offer of bilateral defence cooperation,” Frederiksen said. He further called the new defence cooperation a breakthrough as Denmark, for decades, had followed a policy of not allowing foreign troops on Danish soil. [Euronews]
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday said Russian Navy’s live-fire exercises near the Ukrainian coast are “unprecedented,” complaining that Moscow’s hostile activity makes navigation in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov “virtually impossible.” Kyiv accused Moscow of hampering its economy by disrupting international shipping routes to Ukraine, adding that Russia’s actions violate international law. [Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ukraine]
On Thursday, Britain’s foreign minister, Liz Truss, urged Russia to remove troops massed on the Ukrainian border if Moscow is serious about using diplomacy to defuse tensions at the border. During a joint press conference with her Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, Truss said, “I can’t see any other reason for having 100,000 troops stationed on the Ukrainian border apart from to threaten Ukraine, and if Russia is serious about diplomacy they need to move those troops and desist from the threats.” [Reuters]
Latin America and the Caribbean
The United States (US) on Thursday slapped sanctions on two men from Mexico and Ecuador for smuggling tons of cocaine from South America to the US. Authorities said that both men work for the Sinaloa drug cartel. [Associated Press]
Environmental groups have raised serious concerns over an increase in fires in Colombia’s Amazon region, which is leading to drastic deforestation. Over 150 academics and activists from Brazil, Colombia, France and Spain have sent a letter to Colombian President Ivan Duque, urging him to take more aggressive actions against deforestation. [Associated Press]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Libya’s House of Representatives (HoR) — the country’s east-based parliament — appointed former Interior Minister Fathi Bashaga as the country’s new Prime Minister (PM) to replace incumbent PM Abdulhamid Dbeibah as the head of the interim government. The move could further Libya’s political stalemate and push the country into wider destabilisation as it would almost certainly produce two parallel governments. [Associated Press]
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held a phone conversation on Thursday to discuss joint security and intelligence cooperation in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) and other terrorist groups. Germany is a member of the ‘Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS’ and the German army has been training Iraqi forces and Kurdish Peshmerga units since 2014. [Rudaw]
North America
The United States (US) Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday spoke with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian to affirm America’s support for its European allies and Ukraine amid increasing Russian aggression. The two diplomats also discussed developments in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the Sahel region of Africa. [US Department of State]
Lawmakers in the lower chamber of the United States (US) Congress furthered legislation calling to impose sanctions on individuals in Ethiopia that continue to aggravate the ongoing conflict between the Ethiopian government and the ethnic Tigrayan people. The sanctions would reprimand individuals who violate human rights, block food aid delivery into the country and provide military and financial support to the parties involved in the conflict. [The Voice of America]
Oceania
On Thursday, the foreign ministers of Australia and Timor-Leste, Marise Payne and Adaljiza Magno, met in Canberra and reaffirmed their close partnership to advance cooperation on health security and economic recovery. Both leaders also signed the first Memorandum of Understanding under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme to address workforce shortages in Australia. Additionally, Payne announced aid worth $6 million over four years to strengthen Timor-Leste’s engagement in multilateral forums. [Minister for Foreign Affairs, Australia]
Foreign ministers of the Quad countries - Australia, India, Japan and the United States will meet in Melbourne today amid an escalating crisis between the West and Russia over Ukraine. The ministers are expected to discuss climate change, COVID-19 and China’s economic coercion in the Indo-Pacific region. Apart from these, the leaders are also likely to discuss the Ukraine crisis and North Korea. [Reuters]
Sub-Saharan Africa
The Democratic Republic of Congo gained membership to The East African Community Council of Ministers. [The East African]
In a record investment pledge, the European Union announced a $171 billion investment plan for Africa on Thursday. The announcement comes only a week ahead of the sixth European Union-African Union summit. [Africa News]