The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared on Thursday that Mpox is no longer a public health emergency of international concern. WHO head Tedros Adhamnom Ghebreyesus said that about 90 per cent fewer Mpox cases were reported in the last three months compared with the penultimate three months. The disease has been in circulation since 1970 and saw an outbreak in early 2022. The virus, originally known as Monkey Pox, caused 140 deaths globally, with over 87,000 cases in 111 different countries.
Indian External Affairs Minister (EAM) Dr S. Jaishankar started his nearly week-long international journey by arriving in Bangladesh on a two-day visit on Thursday and calling on Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina. Jaishankar is in Dhaka to participate in the 6th edition of the Indian Ocean Conference on Friday. Subsequently, the EAM will fly to Sweden for a two-day visit to participate in the EU-Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum. The Sweden visit will be followed by a two-day visit to Belgium from 15 to 16 May to participate in a ministerial meeting of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council along with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of Electronics and Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw.
UN human rights experts said on Thursday that the forms of punishment meted out to Afghans by the Taliban are “brutal and undignified” and violate international law. They noted that “women are more likely to be sentenced to death by stoning, due to deeply entrenched discrimination and stereotypes against them […] held by the exclusively male judiciary.” The group of experts urged the Taliban “to immediately establish a moratorium on the death penalty and all forms of corporal punishment, including flogging and amputation.”
China completed a 2018 four-warship deal after delivering two Type 054A frigates to Pakistan’s navy on Wednesday. The vessels will be used to safeguard the seas of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
China’s Ministry of Public Security took down a video depicting parodists wearing heavy brownface and Sikh turbans from its Weibo account after facing severe backlash from India, where netizens had accused it of cultural insensitivity and racism.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki stated Thursday that Japan would announce a proposal to mobilise $1 billion for aiding neighbouring countries in taking in refugees from the war-torn nation of Ukraine. The funding would originate from the state-owned Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), which usually provides support through loans, guarantees, and equity investments, depending on the projects’ financial requirements. Suzuki added that the new funds would facilitate Japanese business investment in other nations.
US Senators accused the Pentagon on Thursday of deliberately hindering war crimes investigations against Russia by preventing the transfer of military intelligence from the US to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague. During a Senate hearing, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin stated that the ICC’s head prosecutor, Karim Khan, informed him that the US State Department and Justice Department were cooperating. However, the Defence Department, led by Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, was resisting, he added.
On Thursday, many migrants hurriedly crossed the Mexico border, aiming to enter the US before the lifting of pandemic-related asylum restrictions. The impending termination of the regulations referred to as Title 42 has instilled apprehension among Mexican migrants, as they fear that the forthcoming changes will make it harder for them to remain in the US. According to a US official, the Border Patrol intercepted approximately 10,000 migrants on Tuesday. This number is nearly double the level observed in March and only slightly below the anticipated upper limit of 11,000 once Title 42 is no longer in effect.