South Asia
The 15th India-Nepal joint military exercise, Surya Kiran, will begin today in the border town of Pithoragarh, India. The 48-hour exercise will also include academic discussions on subjects ranging from humanitarian disaster relief to high altitude and jungle warfare. [Foreign Brief]
A series of three explosions in Afghanistan’s Jalalabad on Saturday killed at least three people, including Taliban officials, and left 20 injured. [Hindustan Times]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
In a joint conference with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon in Dushanbe on Saturday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi called for greater cooperation between Dushanbe and Tehran in the political, economic, commercial, and cultural fields. He added, “A new chapter in the relations between the two countries is taking place and I hope this visit will be a turning point in Tehran-Dushanbe relations and cooperation.” [Presidency of the Islamic Republic of Iran]
Armenia has challenged Azerbaijan at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing Baku of decades of rights abuses against Armenian citizens, including during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war. Armenia has blamed Azerbaijan for subjecting Armenians to “racial discrimination, […] mass killings, torture, and other abuse.” [International Court of Justice]
East and Southeast Asia
Hundreds of activists drove through Bangkok’s streets on Sunday to mark the 15th anniversary of the military coup that ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. They also called on Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to step down. [The Straits Times]
The North Korean foreign ministry said on Monday that the United States’ recent submarine contract with Australia could trigger a “nuclear arms race” in the region. [Channel News Asia]
Europe
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will on Monday call for the “immediate and permanent release of all arbitrarily detained British nationals in Iran,” including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been detained for almost 2,000 days. Truss is expected to raise the matter during her upcoming meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian in New York. [The Guardian]
A new centrist political party has emerged in Bulgaria ahead of its November 14 parliamentary elections to be held for the third time after unsuccessful rounds in April and July. The new party, led by former finance ministers Kiril Petkov and Assen Vassilev, pledges to eliminate widespread corruption and disparate wealth distribution within the nation. “We are continuing the change. In the past four months we have started the change with clear goals—to stop the corruption and the theft,” said Petkov on Sunday. [Reuters]
On Sunday, Spanish authorities accelerated the evacuation of over 1,000 people after the eruption of a volcano on the island of La Palma. El Paso Mayor Sergio Rodríguez said, “300 people in immediate danger had been evacuated and sent to the El Paso football field. Roads were closed due to the explosion, and authorities urged the curious not to approach the area.” [Euronews]
Latin America and the Caribbean
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will meet with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly summit on Monday. Bolsonaro is set to deliver the opening speech at the Assembly. [MercoPress]
On Saturday, a number of high ranking regional officials met for a summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. The members signed a joint declaration backing a call for the United States to end its economic blockade against Cuba and also supporting Argentina's claim to the Malvinas, which the United Kingdom also claims sovereignty over and calls the Falkland Islands. [Telesur]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Former Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who fought for Algeria’s independence from France, has died aged 84, state television announced on Friday. Bouteflika became President in 1999 and was forced to resign by the military in April 2019 after months of mass protests that erupted over his decision to run as President for a fifth term. [Associated Press]
Iran was officially granted full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at the end of the 21st SCO Summit in Dushanbe on Friday, becoming the ninth member of the grouping. [Iran Ministry of Foreign Affairs]
North America
Chief Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci defended President Joe Biden’s call for countrywide booster shots on Sunday. While Biden has received significant criticism against setting this week as the “artificial deadline” for rolling out the booster shots without full approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Fauci believes that the FDA will back the booster campaign in due time. [USA Today]
The United States’ (US) Department of Defense on Friday admitted to killing ten innocent Afghan civilians, including seven children, in a drone strike carried out on August 29, two days prior to the final withdrawal of their forces from Kabul. The strike was intended to attack suspected terrorists. “Our investigation now concludes the strike was a tragic mistake,” said Frank McKenzie, the Chief of US Central Command. [USA Today]
Oceania
Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism, and Investment Dan Tehan welcomed Peru’s decision to join Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam as a party to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. The Minister said that Peru’s decision to join the partnership will open up opportunities for Australian farmers and businesses. [Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Australia]
On Monday, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison left for Washington to hold talks with the United States (US) President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The trip comes after the US, the United Kingdom, and Australia announced a landmark trilateral security partnership that would allow Australia to build nuclear-powered submarines. [news.com.au]
Sub-Saharan Africa
The presidents of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, Nana Akufo-Addo and Alassane Ouattara, travelled to Conakry on Sunday to meet with the military junta that took control of the country in a coup on 5 September that led to the arrest of the now-former President Alpha Condé. Akufo-Addo and Ouattara’s meeting with Lt. Col. Mamady Doumbouya follows the imposition of sanctions by the Economic Community of West African States, which has also suspended Guinea’s membership. [Nation]
Kenya received a donation of 795,000 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine from the United States over the weekend. It expects a further 1.24 million doses of the vaccine to be delivered in the weeks to come. [The East African]
World News Monitor: 20 September, 2021
A quick look at events from around the globe.
September 20, 2021
Former Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika SOURCE: ERIC FEFERBERG / AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES