South Asia
On Thursday, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced his decision to appoint a special investigator to assess the prospective prosecution of members of the country’s military for allegations of crimes in Afghanistan. Since 2002, Australia has deployed a significant number of troops to further the US-led peace-building process. [Reuters]
Anurag Srivastava, the spokesperson for the Indian External Affairs Ministry, said Pakistan’s Federal Investigative Agency’s report on the “most wanted / high profile terrorists” failed to mention several masterminds of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks that led to the death of hundreds. While the list mentioned a few members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the main orchestrators of the attack, including Hafiz Saeed, did not feature in the list. [Times of India]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
Shortly after a peace deal over Nagorno-Karabakh was reached, Turkey warned Armenia that it will have to bear consequences if it violates the ceasefire which allowed concessions to Azerbaijan. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in the Azeri capital Baku on Thursday: “If they [Armenia] violate the ceasefire, then they will pay the price for it.” [Al Jazeera]
Kyrgyz Prime Minister Sadyr Japarov said on Thursday he would step down as acting president of the Central Asian nation in the coming days in order to run in the January 10 presidential election. Parliamentary speaker Talant Mamytov, a close ally of the prime minister, will take over as acting head of state in line with the constitution. [WION]
East and Southeast Asia
Vietnam's information minister accused foreign streaming companies like Netflix and Apple of skirting their tax responsibilities, saying it would create unfair competition for domestic firms. According to the information and communications ministry, the foreign streaming firms, which have combined revenues of nearly one trillion dong ($43.15 million) from one million subscribers, have never paid tax in Vietnam. [The Hindu]
Flight services between Singapore and Hong Kong will resume from November 22 under the 'air bubble' arrangement, with the number of people allowed to move each direction initially limited to 200 per day. This will increase to two flights a day into each city from December 7. [Business Standard]
Europe
Russia said on Thursday that it will soon impose retaliatory sanctions on Germany and France, after alleging that Moscow had “reason to believe” that opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned whilst in Germany. [The Moscow Times]
On Thursday, Federal prosecutors in Germany said that they were proceeding with charges against 12 “far-right conspirators” that they believed to be involved in orchestrating attacks on political leaders, asylum seekers, and Muslims in the country. [Al Jazeera]
Latin America and the Caribbean
Mexico is set to unveil a new law that would prevent border authorities from holding migrant children in immigration detention centers, and instead place this responsibility in the hands of the nation's family development agency. The move has been welcomed by the United Nations, and comes just one year after Mexico detained its highest number of migrant children. [NBC News]
The European Union has extended sanctions on Venezuela, whereby the bloc has placed a weapons and equipment blockade on the Latin American country. At the same time, the EU has also prohibited 36 high-ranking government officials—including the Vice President, the Attorney General, and the Supreme Court President—from entering Europe, alongside freezing their assets in the continent. [Telesur]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
The United Kingdom released a report urging leaders across the globe to boycott the G20 summit, which is being hosted by Saudi Arabia, over several allegations of women’s rights violations. While presenting the report, Baroness Helena Kennedy, a Scottish lawyer, called upon the world’s leaders to only attend the summit after the release of several women’s rights activists who had been imprisoned by Saudi authorities. [Al Jazeera]
Over 74 migrants, who were on board a ship that was attempting to cross the Mediterranean from Libya, died in a “devastating shipwreck.” Around 47 survivors were rescued in an operation conducted by the United Nations International Organisation for Migration. [NDTV]
North America
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order banning US investments in Chinese companies that Washington claims have ties to the Chinese military. The order will go into effect on January 11, nine days before Trump is expected to leave office. [Al Jazeera]
With President Donald Trump still challenging the election results, the Trump administration has blocked classified intelligence briefings for President-elect Joe Biden. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have called on the government to begin the briefings for Biden, arguing that it was crucial, from a national security standpoint, for him to be fully prepared from day one. [ABC News]
Oceania
After a special investigator was appointed to oversee the prosecution of Australian war crimes in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that the process would uncover “honest and brutal truths where expectations and standards may not have been met”. Morrison also announced that a separate panel will be in charge of overseeing a transformation of the culture within the Australian armed forces. [ABC News]
Sub-Saharan Africa
Former Ghanaian President Jerry John Rawlings has died at the age 73. Although he led two separate military coups, both in 1979 and 1981, he is largely celebrated for orchestrating the country’s transition to a multi-party democracy. In fact, he won the popular election in 1992 and 1996, before eventually stepping down from his post in 2001. His contributions were lauded by current President Nana Akufo-Addo, who said, “A great tree has fallen, and Ghana is poorer for this loss.” [Reuters]
Following post-electoral violence that has seen at least 85 people killed, President Alassane Ouattara, who secured re-election in the recently concluded election, met with opposition leader Henry Konan Bédié, wherein both leaders committed to “dialogue” and “peace”. [Africa Feeds]
World News Monitor: 13 November, 2020
A quick look at events from around the globe.
November 14, 2020
SOURCE: TV6