South Asia
On Thursday, the spokesperson of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, Anurag Srtivastava, welcomed “the normalisation of ties between Morocco and Israel.” However, he said that India remained committed to providing “traditional support” to Palestine, and reiterated its commitment to the expedition of negotiations between Israel and Palestine to find a mutually agreeable two-state solution. [Hindustan Times]
India has slipped one position in the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index ranking, bringing it to 131 out of 189 countries. [Times of India]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev has ordered his government to cut natural gas exports to ensure the availability of gas in the country during this winter. The president said that there was currently a domestic shortfall of 20 million cubic metres of gas a day, which was termed as a “failure to properly prepare for” what has been an unusually cold winter in Uzbekistan. Power outages have been reported across the country. [RFE/RL]
East and Southeast Asia
Hong Kong has now made it mandatory for nationally-listed companies and financial institutions to disclose the financial impact of climate change on their businesses by 2025. This move is supposed to “enable investors to be able to discriminate and compare”. Additionally, a separate set of sustainability standards will also be put in place. [Hindustan Times]
Vietnam began human testing for its coronavirus vaccine yesterday. Three volunteers received the first dose of the Nanocovax vaccine at the Military Medical University in Hanoi. They will be monitored for 72 hours before they can go home, and for 56 days after. The vaccine was developed in Ho Chi Minh City by Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC. [Strait Times]
Europe
With the European Medicines Agency set to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by December 21, the European Union is preparing to begin administering the vaccines by December 27. This comes almost three weeks after the vaccine candidate was approved by the United Kingdom. [Reuters]
On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron’s office announced that he had tested positive for COVID-19 and will continue to exercise his duties remotely. This has led to several French and European leaders going into self-isolation, as Macron had recently attended several high-profile events, including the European Union summit and a meeting of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). European Council Chief Charles Michel, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria, and the premiers of Portugal, Spain, Belgium, and Luxembourg have all announced their decision to self-isolate. [NDTV]
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday dismissed reports about state security officials poisoning Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, saying that Navalny was not important enough to be a target. Putin also said that the reports were part of a smear campaign backed by the US to try and discredit him. [Reuters]
Latin America and the Caribbean
Mexico plans to increase its minimum wage by 15% in January to roughly $7 a day in order to account for the 3.3% inflation rate. Nevertheless, the country’s minimum wage is still the lowest among all countries in the Americas, with the exception of Haiti. [Al Jazeera]
Colombia’s Senate passed a bill to reform its Electoral Code that will require parties’ lists of candidates for public office to be made of up a minimum of 50% women. [Telesur]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, Seyyed Abbas Araghchi, rejected claims that he had met an envoy of US President-elect Joe Biden during his recent visit to Oman, when he participated in the Iran-Oman Committee of Strategic Consultations. That being said, President Hassan Rouhani has indicated that he is willing to negotiate with the incoming Biden administration and implement the JCPOA, provided Washington removes the sanctions it has placed on Tehran. [Middle East Monitor]
On Thursday, a draft of Iraq’s state budget, which expressed the government’s desire to introduce salary cuts and devalue the national currency, was leaked and circulated on social media. Following an outpouring of public anger, the Finance Ministry expressed its frustration with the “unauthorised publication”, as the public’s reaction could impact the neutrality of the legislators. [Al Jazeera]
North America
US federal officials have warned that the scale of a sophisticated cyber attack on the US government which was reported this week is much bigger than first anticipated. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Thursday said that the scope of the hacking extended beyond nuclear laboratories and the Defence, Treasury and Commerce Department systems, and that it included “state, local, tribal, and territorial governments as well as critical infrastructure entities and other private sector organizations.” Following CISA’s statement, US President-elect vowed to make cybersecurity a key area of focus of his administration. [CNBC]
US President-elect Joe Biden has picked Rep. Deb Haaland to lead the Department of the Interior. If confirmed, Haaland would be America’s first-ever Native American Cabinet secretary. [Reuters]
Oceania
New Zealand’s Remuneration Authority announced that the Prime Minister and members of parliament will not receive a salary hike for next three years due to the prolonged economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. [NZ Herald]
Sub-Saharan Africa
Tanzania’s Health Ministry spokesperson, Gerald Chami, said that the government has suspicions over the “safety and efficacy” of the coronavirus vaccines, and said that the country would instead rely on “local herbs”. Tanzania stopped recording new cases of the virus in April, after President John Magufuli erroneously claimed that the country was ‘virus-free’. [Africa Feeds]
After its decision to suspend diplomatic ties with Kenya, Somalia has now deployed troops to its shared border with the country in order to demonstrate its resolve. [Africa News]