South Asia
During the final session of the Trade Policy Review, the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) policy watchdog, several members of the WTO applauded India’s recent policies that are aimed at improving the ease of doing business in its territory. Among the policies that were celebrated by the group were the Goods and Service Tax (GST) law and changes to India’s intellectual property regime. [Economic Times]
The World Health Organisation published a colour-coded map in which the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh regions are shown in a different colour to the rest of India. The body, however, has reiterated that the map is in compliance with the United Nations-set guidelines. [Deccan Herald]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
For the first time, Azerbaijan will organise a “Gender Equality: Hackathon,” an initiative implemented by the United Nations Agency for Women (UN Women) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), with the financial support of the European Union (EU). The programme will run on February 19-20 and aims to “encourage and educate young people to solve gender problems through technological means.” [Trend]
Sadyr Japarov appears to have won Kyrgyzstan’s presidential election as per the preliminary results. Speaking to reporters in Bishkek on January 10, Japarov said that the fight against deeply rooted corruption in Kyrgyzstan will be among his priorities as president. Previously, Japarov has served time in prison for taking a rival politician hostage. [RFE/RL]
East and Southeast Asia
According to the South Korean military, North Korea held a night-time military parade on Sunday at the Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang. However, it is unclear whether the parade, which followed the Workers Party congress last week, was a rehearsal. [Reuters]
On Saturday, Thailand police arrested 19 Rohingya Muslims and one Thai woman for illegally trafficking the ethnic minority into Thailand. Concerns regarding the illegal trafficking of the persecuted community have been growing in the region as Myanmar intensifies its crackdown on the Muslim community. [Strait Times]
Europe
Kremlin critic and opposition leader Alexei Navalny slammed Twitter’s decision to block US President Donald Trump from the platform, arguing that it was an “unacceptable act of censorship” that could be exploited by oppressive governments around the world. “Every time when they need to silence someone, they will say: ‘This is just common practice, even Trump got blocked on Twitter’,” he said, adding, “In my opinion, the decision to ban Trump was based on emotions and personal political preferences.” [RFE/RL]
The European Parliament has been witnessing a surging discontent amongst members over the bloc’s investment deal with China, specifically in light of the recent arrests of pro-democracy political leaders and activists in Hong Kong. Bern Lange, the head of the European Union parliament’s trade committee, said that China’s repeated attacks on “political freedoms and human rights” will continue to impact “debates on trade policy.” [SCMP]
Latin America and the Caribbean
Argentinan Economy Minister Martín Guzmán revealed a report published by the central bank that predicts that the country’s economy will grow by 5.5% in 2021, following a 12% contraction in 2020. However, the inflation rate is expected to hover around 50% and the unemployment rate is predicted to rise to 12%. [Merco Press]
US federal prosecutors filed motions with the Southern District of New York that allege that Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández accepted bribes from drug traffickers and directed the military to protect a cocaine laboratory and drug shipments to the US. In fact, his brother, Juan Antonio Hernández, was convicted by a New York court last year for accepting over $1 million from Mexican drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. [Associated Press]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
The United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) launched an airstrike in Somalia that killed five al-Shabaab militants. US Air Force Maj. Gen. Dagvin Anderson said, “This strike targeted known al-Shabaab leaders who facilitated finance, weapons, fighters, and explosives. One is suspected of being involved in a previous attack against US and Somali forces.” [Africa Times]
Thousands of people demonstrated against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the weekend, calling on the long-serving leader to resign over corruption charges against him and his mishandling of the coronavirus crisis, following the announcement of a third-lockdown. The 71-year-old leader denies the corruption charges and has described the campaign against him as a “witch-hunt.” [Middle East Eye]
The United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, has pushed a decision to label Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels as terrorists. Unless Congress bans the move, it will worsen the world’s worst humanitarian crisis as new sanctions are expected to be imposed once the bill is passed. [Al Jazeera]
North America
On Sunday, the US House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn said that the Democratic leadership was ready to vote this week on at least one article of impeachment against President Donald Trump, but said they may wait a few months before sending it to the Senate, in order to give President-elect Joe Biden time to tackle his agenda in Congress before the start of a time-consuming trial. [NPR]
The United States on Saturday lifted its decades-old self-imposed restrictions on contacts with Taiwan, in a move that will significantly change the relationship between Taipei and Washington and is sure to irk China. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has been at the forefront of the Trump administration’s hardline approach to Beijing, announced over the weekend that the internal regulations served only to appease the Communist regime in Beijing and that they would now be “null and void.” [CNN]
The foreign ministers of the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada issued a joint statement on Sunday expressing “serious concern” about the arrest of more than 50 pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong last week under the Beijing-imposed national security law. “It is clear that the National Security Law is being used to eliminate dissent and opposing political views,” the foreign ministers said. [Al Jazeera]
Oceania
After Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced last week that Australia had reduced the permitted number of international arrivals between January 15 and February 15 by 50%, over 5,000 Australians stranded abroad are worried about how long it will be before they can return home. [Sydney Morning Herald]
Following reports of racial abuse from members of the crowd at the Sydney Cricket Ground towards two Indian cricketers, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said that racism has “no place” in Australia and that such behaviour is “un-Australian”. She did, however, say that she doesn’t feel as though Australia has an “inherent problem with racism” and added that such incidents don’t “reflect the vast majority of Australians”. [Sky News]
Sub-Saharan Africa
Uganda’s Inspector General of Police, Martin Okoth Ochola, refused to apologise for any violence enacted upon journalists ahead of the January 14 election. He remarked that it is the journalists’ fault for ‘insisting’ on “going where danger is”. [Africa Feeds]
Following the Capitol riots in Washington DC, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa demanded that the US lift sanctions on the country, saying that the events “showed that the US has no moral right to punish another nation under the guise of upholding democracy”. [The Hill]
Following a recent surge in terrorism in Niger’s Tillaberi region, the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that roughly 10,600 people have been displaced. Two separate attacks last week killed 105 people. [Africa News]
World News Monitor: 11 January, 2021
A quick look at events from around the globe.
January 12, 2021
SOURCE: AMMAR AWAD/REUTERS via PRI