South Asia
Amidst ongoing tensions between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, Lieutenant General Bilal Akbar has been selected by Pakistan as the country’s envoy to Saudi Arabia. This shows that the Pakistani military will now be taking over the task to reconcile and revive bilateral ties with the Arab power. [Hindustan Times]
Indian and French air forces have kick-started their five-day joint exercise in Rajasthan. This is the sixth such edition of the “Garuda” exercise, with the previous one conducted in 2019 at the Air Force Base Mont-de-Marsan, France. [Hindustan Times]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
Akram Rahmonqulov, the deputy governor of Jizzax, a city in the eastern region of Uzbekistan, faces fresh charges that include “embezzlement and the violation of construction regulations”. These are in addition to the ones already imposed on the official by President Shavkat Mirziyoev last week over “suspicion of neglecting his duties”. If convicted, the governor may face up to 20 years in jail. [RFE/RL]
East and Southeast Asia
British lawyer David Perry has resigned from his role in Hong Kong after facing intense criticism from the United Kingdom over his involvement in the persecution of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activists. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is also a human rights lawyer, called Perry a “mercenary”. The Hong Kong Department of Justice has “has instructed another lawyer to prosecute the trial on time.” [Eminetra]
China has sanctioned 28 officials who were part of the outgoing Trump administration. The list includes top diplomats like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser Robert C. O’Brien. The officials were sanctioned for having “seriously violated China’s sovereignty” and are deemed “mainly responsible for such US moves on China-related issues”. [The Hindu]
Europe
On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced his decision to make operational changes and withdraw its troops from the Sahel region in Africa. He said that this decision has been the result of the success of the Barkhane force in pressuring terrorist groups, who he believes have found themselves “cornered and reduced to cowardly acts.” [France 24]
Hungary has approved the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccines, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff Gergely Gulyas confirmed on Thursday. He added that Hungarian foreign minister Peter Szijjarto would be travelling to Russia later in the day to discuss the matter with Russian officials. If Hungary secures a shipment deal with Russia, Hungary would be the first European Union member to receive the Sputnik V shot. [Al Jazeera]
Latin America and the Caribbean
Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo expressed hope that the Biden administration would “perceive our government for what it really is” and “make an effort for mutual understanding”. President Jair Bolsonaro has been an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump and even said that he had hoped Trump would win the US election. In fact, Bolsonaro has warned of events similar to the Capitol riots in Brazil's 2022 election, alleging that there is “a lot of fraud” in the country and that he was elected in 2018 in spite of this. [Merco Press]
Twitter has suspended the account of Venezuela's legislative assembly, which President Nicolas Maduro recently regained control of after last month’s parliamentary elections, after being under opposition control since 2015. Many countries, including the US, claim that the elections were fraudulent and thus do not recognise the new legislature as a legitimate entity. [Latin American Herald Tribune]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has urged the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), which controls the capital and western Libya, and rebel commander Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA), which controls the east and the south of the country, to honour the October 23 ceasefire. He also urged all foreign fighters to leave the country by Saturday, as agreed upon in the ceasefire document. [Ashraq Al-Awsat]
Tunisia’s Ambassador to Libya, Assaad Ajili, held a meeting with the Chairman of the Libyan National Oil Corporation, Mustafa Sanalla, during which the pair expressed interest in expanding bilateral cooperation in the oil sector. Ajili said that Tunisian companies are “seeking to enter the Libyan market”, which he said is “promising and presents enormous opportunities”. [Middle East Monitor]
North America
US President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that he would end the Trump-initiated process to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO). Later in the day, Biden’s chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci told the WHO board that the US will also join the COVAX vaccine project that aims to deliver vaccines to poor countries. Dr. Fauci is set to lead the US delegation at the UN agency. [Al Jazeera]
Oceania
Over 300 Australian academics and scientists, many from government research institutions, have been “recruited” by the Chinese Communist Party. Alex Joske, an expert on the Chinese government, says this could lead to “Chinese infiltration and tech fraud”. [news.com.au]
Concerns keep mounting over Australia’s Attack Class initiative, which seeks to build a fleet of 12 new submarines. Not only has the cost risen from an initial estimate of $50 billion to $89 billion, there are also issues with the delivery schedule and indeed the value of these submarines. [ABC News]
Sub-Saharan Africa
Zimbabwean Foreign Affairs Minister Sibusiso Moyo has died from the coronavirus. President Emmerson Mnangagwa hailed him as a “devoted public servant and a true hero”. In fact, he is the third Zimbabwean Cabinet minister to die over the last six months. Coronavirus cases in the country have almost doubled since November from 8374 to 14084. [Africa Feeds]
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi met with a number of Rwandan government officials in Kinshasa, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, the Secretary-General of Intelligence, and Rwanda’s Ambassador to the DRC. It is not clear at this stage what the officials discussed during their meeting, but the United Nations alleges that Rwandan military forces are conducting an operation in the DRC; however, this has been denied by both countries. [The East African]
World News Monitor: 21 January, 2021
A quick look at events from around the globe.
January 22, 2021
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. SOURCE: ALEX EDELMAN/AP