South Asia
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus in Jamnagar to inaugurate the Global Centre for Traditional Medicine. Modi stressed on the need to introduce “testing and certification” for traditional medicine. [Indian Express]
Sri Lankan opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa rejected Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s plan of increasing the powers of the parliament and reducing those of the president. He said the measures are insufficient to address the political crisis and called for the complete abrogation of the executive presidency system. [Colombo Page]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
Uzbekistan has rejected claims by the Islamic State’s affiliate in Afghanistan that the group carried out a rocket attack on the Central Asian country. Islamic State-Khorasan said on Monday that it fired 10 rockets at an Uzbek military base in the border town of Termiz. [Voice of America]
Armenian President Nikol Pashinyan met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday to discuss recent tensions with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. The pair agreed to continue their meetings with Azerbaijan and respect the ceasefire agreements reached after the 2020 war. Putin also said that Russia is keen on working with Armenia on restoration projects, including railway restoration, and the construction of bridges in Armenian areas of Nagorno-Karabakh. [Public Radio of Armenia]
East and Southeast Asia
The Philippines’ Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday dismissed the last disqualification case pending against frontrunner Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who is predicted to win the presidential race on May 9 in a landslide victory. In its ruling, the Comelec said that the disqualification case based on Marcos Jr’s failure to file income tax returns lacked merit. [The Straits Times]
Early results from the final round of Timor-Leste’s presidential race showed on Wednesday that independence leader, former president, Nobel laureate José Ramos-Horta has taken a decisive lead. Timorese voters headed to the polls on Tuesday, choosing between Ramos-Horta and ex-guerrilla fighter President Francisco “Lu Olo” Guterres. [The Straits Times]
Europe
According to an Ipsos poll, French President Emmanuel Macron’s lead over right-wing challenger Marine Le Pen has widened. The poll projects that Macron will win the run-off election on April 24 with 56.5% of the votes. [Reuters]
On Tuesday, lawmakers in Lithuania imposed a ban on publicly displaying various symbols of support for the Russian military. The ban applies to the display of the letter “Z,” which has been widely used on social media, and the black and orange ribbon of St George which carries historical significance to Russian-speaking separatists. Offenders will be hit with a fine of $973. Latvia, Moldova, and Germany are also working on imposing similar bans. [Reuters]
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologised “unreservedly” before the House of Commons for violating COVID-19 lockdown restrictions during a series of parties in 2020 and 2021. However, he reiterated that he did not believe that he was violating any lockdown rules, which the Opposition rubbished as an “insulting” and “absurd” excuse. [BBC]
Latin America and the Caribbean
Officials in Texas are bracing for a “logistical nightmare” come May 23, when the Biden administration will remove all coronavirus-induced border restrictions. In March alone, United States (US) border authorities reportedly arrested 210,000 migrants attempting to enter the country through the southern border with Mexico, marking the highest monthly total in two decades and a 24% increase from the same month last year. Around 170,000 migrants are currently waiting in camps in Mexico. Officials in bordering states in the US have said that current federal funding is insufficient to deal with such a huge influx. [NBC News]
Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Josefina Vidal described the United States’ immigration policy as “incoherent” and “differentiated” ahead of migration talks on Thursday following a four-year hiatus. The discussions have likely been resumed because the US plans to remove all coronavirus-induced border restrictions on May 23, which is expected to cause a huge influx of migrants from its southern border with Mexico. In this respect, the Cuban official appeared to suggest that migration from Cuba wouldn’t be such an issue if the US did not apply “maximum pressure to the economic order and through coercive measures,” referring to the economic embargo that has been in place since 1962. Vidal also claimed that the US has been arbitrarily rejecting visa applications from Cuba, despite signing a bilateral agreement for the approval of at least 20,000 visas per year. [Associated Press]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday summoned Israel’s ambassador to Abu Dhabi, Amir Hayek, to protest Israeli security forces’ actions against Palestinian protesters in Jerusalem. Hayek met with Reem bint Ebrahim Al Hashimy, the UAE’s Minister of State for International Cooperation, who said that full protection must be accorded to worshippers at the Al Aqsa Mosque. [Jerusalem Post]
The newly formed Yemeni Presidential Council was sworn in on Tuesday in the port city of Aden in the presence of representatives from the United Nations, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and European countries. The Council was formed earlier this month after the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition agreed to a two-month truce and replaced President Abdurabbuh Mansour Hadi. [Saudi Gazette]
North America
As a part of his climate action strategy, the United States (US) President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a $6 billion bailout plan for nuclear power plants that are on the verge of closure. The US Department of Energy said 12 reactors have been shut down in the last 10 years, reducing the US’ nuclear energy capacity by 10.5 gigawatts. Nuclear power plants generate half of the country’s carbon-free electricity. [The Hill]
On Tuesday, the United States’ Department of Justice (DOJ) said it will contest the recent ruling by a Florida judge that put an end to the mandatory mask requirement on all public transport, including aeroplanes. In a statement, the DOJ underscored that it will follow through with its appeal as long as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) determines a mask mandate to be necessary. Last week, the CDC extended the federal masking mandate to May 3 citing the emergence of the highly transmissible BA.2 variant of COVD-19. Canada, for its part, plans to continue its masking policy. [ABC News, Reuters]
Oceania
Australia’s Labor party reprimanded the coalition government in the wake of the newly signed security deal between China and the Solomon Islands, calling it “the worst Australian foreign policy blunder in the Pacific” in decades. Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne and Minister for International Development and the Pacific Zed Seselja have said they are “deeply disappointed” by the deal and that they would “seek further clarity on the terms of the agreement, and its consequences for the Pacific region.” [The Guardian]
New Zealand on Tuesday introduced new sanctions against Russia that target its largest banks and financial institutions. “We are deeply concerned at the reports of brutality from Russian forces,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta said in a statement after the measures were announced. [Reuters]
Sub-Saharan Africa
The South African subsidiary of global steel giant ArcelorMittal, whose owner and founder is India’s Lakshmi Mittal, has outlined plans to build two renewable energy plans in the Gauteng and Western Cape provinces by 2025. The plants are expected to have a total capacity of 100MW. [Afrik 21]
Ivory Coast’s Patrick Achi has been reappointed to his post of prime minister (PM) just one week after resigning, announced Senate President Jeannot Ahoussou-Kouadio in a joint session of parliament on Tuesday. His reappointment was somewhat of a foregone conclusion, given that it formed part of a wider plan for a Cabinet reshuffle by President Alassane Ouattara. Achi is the country’s third PM in three years, as his predecessors, Amadou Gon Coulibaly and Hamed Bakayoko, died within eight months of one another between 2020 and 2021. [Reuters, Al Jazeera]