South Asia
A former Afghan legislator, Mursal Nabizada, was shot dead at her house in Kabul on Sunday. She was one of the only lawmakers from the former West-backed government who remained in Afghanistan after the Taliban’s takeover in August. [Al Jazeera]
Sri Lankan Defence Minister Premitha Bandara Thennakoon on Friday announced the government’s decision to cut military expenditure by reducing military personnel to 100,000 by 2030. This decision is part of cost-saving measures adopted by the government to mitigate the economic and foreign reserve crisis. [The Print]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
On Friday, Kyrgyzstan dropped all corruption charges against former President Askar Akaev, who fled to Russia in 2005 after thousands protested against his corrupt government and called for his removal. However, Akaev returned to his country in 2021 to provide details against Canadian mining company Centerra, which was in dispute with the Kyrgyz government over control of the Kumtor gold mine. [RFE/RL]
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met with his Emirati counterpart Mohammed bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. Aliyev thanked the UAE for supporting Azerbaijan in the Lachin Corridor dispute at the UN Security Council. They emphasised working jointly to ensure “peace, stability, and security” in the South Caucasus. [Azerbaijan President]
East and Southeast Asia
Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government has raised more than $100 million to fund its democracy effort and topple the military regime. Funds were raised from the sales of the Spring Revolution Special Treasury Bonds and the auction of military-linked properties. Buyers will gain access to their properties only after the democracy effort is successful. [Bloomberg]
China reported on Saturday that nearly 60,000 COVID-19 patients had died in hospitals since it relaxed its zero-COVID policy in December. [Reuters]
Europe
A Lithuanian-Latvian gas pipeline exploded on Friday, but no “malign cause” has been reported. Lithuania’s gas transmission operator Amber Grid had revealed that the explosion impacted one of the two parallel-running pipelines, and gas supply to Latvia would be restored “in comparable amounts” in a few hours. [Reuters]
Over 30,000 Spanish healthcare workers launched a protest on Sunday over the Madrid regional government’s “destruction” of the public health system. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, public healthcare workers have criticised the local government for cutting staffing and funding government health services and instead favouring private players. [Reuters]
Latin America and the Caribbean
In a letter sent to Colombia’s chief prosecutor on 11 January, Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s peace commissioner requested the suspension of arrest orders against eight members of a drug trafficking organisation called the Gulf Clan. Among them, Jobanis Villadiego was indicted in a Brooklyn federal court in the US in 2015 along with then Gulf Clan leader Dairo Antonio Úsuga. This move is part of an ambitious plan of dismantling large armed groups in the South American country. [Associated Press]
Peru has re-extended the state of emergency, begun in mid-December, for another month in the capital, Lima, and a couple southern regions where protests of former President Pedro Castillo’s ousting are turning increasingly violent. President Dina Boluarte signed the extended measures on Saturday, limiting freedoms like the right to assembly and granting police special powers. More than 40 people, including civilians and security officials, have died since the protests began in early December. [Reuters]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
On Saturday, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad called on Turkey to end its “occupation” of northeast Syria (Rojava) before Damascus normalises ties with Ankara. The Syrian government is opposed to Turkish military operations against Kurdish militants in Rojava and deems them violations of Syria’s sovereignty. [Reuters]
Iranian authorities on Saturday executed dual British-Iranian citizen Alireza Akbari for allegedly spying against Iran on behalf of the UK’s foreign intelligence agency, MI6. British PM Rishi Sunak called Akbari’s hanging “a callous and cowardly act by a barbaric regime.” The Foreign Ministry also summoned Iran’s chargé d’affaires and withdrew its ambassador from Tehran. Akbari served as Iranian Defence Minister from 2000 to 2005 and was arrested in 2009 for allegedly passing sensitive information to the UK. [Associated Press]
North America
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) on Sunday demanded all visitor logs from US President Joe Biden’s Delaware home, from his inauguration till the present day, and all documents connected with the search of Biden’s homes “and other locations by Biden aides for classified documents” by 30 January. Comer said that Biden’s mishandling of sensitive materials “raises the issue of whether he has jeopardised [the US’] national security.” [ABC News]
Canadian Joint Operations Command Commander Vice-Admiral Bob Auchterlonie raised “significant” concerns about Canada not being party to the US, the UK, and Australia’s security pact, AUKUS, to counter China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific. Although Auchterlonie acknowledged that the treaty providing nuclear submarine technology to Canberra is “not a big deal,” he remarked, “The issue is when you start talking about advanced technology in terms of the artificial-intelligence domain, machine learning, quantum [...] Those are conversations we need to be in on.” [CBC News]
Oceania
Australian start-up Recharge Industries Pty is planning to set up a $210 million factory to produce lithium-ion batteries that do not require materials from China. Production will begin by late 2024 and the operation will have an initial annual capacity of 2 gigawatt-hours. [South China Morning Post]
Liberal MP Dan Tehan said that Australian PM Anthony Albanese’s government should scrap its failed policy of capping gas prices at $12/gigajoule for a year and instead focus on “getting more gas into the market.” “We know the issue is supply. That is the one thing that will drive prices down,” he added. [Sky News Australia]
Sub-Saharan Africa
At least 10 people were killed, and more than 36 wounded, due to a bomb explosion at a Protestant church in Kasindi, North Kivu province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Sunday. The military suspects that an Islamist extremist group has perpetrated the attack. For decades, DRC has been ripped apart by a violent struggle for land and power between various armed groups. [Associated Press]
The Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) on Thursday released a statement confirming that forces from the Amhara region had withdrawn from certain areas in Tigray as part of the 2 November peace deal between the government and Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). However, an anonymous humanitarian worker has claimed that the Amharan forces have remained in the city of Shire in “significant numbers.” The Amharan fighters had captured a part of a western Tigrayan territory in November 2020, claiming it to be historically theirs. This territorial dispute could cause setbacks in the peace process with TPLF. [Reuters]