South Asia
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed “deep concern” over the “unprofessional remarks” made by Pakistani Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed regarding the kidnapping of the Afghan ambassador’s daughter in Pakistan. The statement urged the minister to refrain from making “unprofessional prejudgements” before the completion of the investigation. Ahmed claimed that the Afghan envoy’s daughter was not kidnapped. [MFA Afghanistan]
On Wednesday, celebrating Eid-ul-Adha, the Indian Border Security Force and the Pakistani Rangers exchanged sweets for the first time since 2019. This has been a custom for years, until the Pakistani side refused to participate following the abrogation of the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir. [NDTV]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
Russia is ready to welcome the European Union’s mediation on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday. “If mediation efforts bring stability and predictability, and facilitate the implementation of the existing agreements, they should be welcome,” Peskov said. [TASS]
Russian tanks have been deployed to the Tajik-Afghan border ahead of next month’s military drills between Russian, Tajik, and Uzbek forces. The joint exercises will take place from August 5-10 at the Harb-Maidon training ground in Tajikistan, 20 kilometres away from the Afghan border. [RFE/RL]
East and Southeast Asia
Hong Kong police charged four former senior staff members of the now shut down Apple Daily newspaper late on Wednesday night. The former staff members were charged with breaching the national security law for “colluding with foreign forces.” [CNA]
Japan will increase its use of renewable energy in the country’s electricity mix for 2030. The country’s revised energy strategy leaves its nuclear power targets unchanged but reduces its dependence on coal to 19% from 26%. [The Straits Times]
Europe
The European Commission decided to launch a formal investigation on the Pegasus report released over the weekend. On Tuesday, Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders said, “We are starting to collect information to see what are the possible uses of such a kind of application in one of those member states. We have seen the comments in the press about that.” The Pegasus report revealed the use of military spyware to set up surveillance on EU journalists, lawyers, and members of civil society. [EURACTIV]
British Home Secretary Priti Patel announced a “new strategy” to reduce violence against women and girls in the United Kingdom. StreetSafe, a new online tool, will allow individuals to tag places that are considered to be unsafe. [Reuters]
Latin America and the Caribbean
Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was in office from 2003 to 2011 and was recently cleared of all corruption charges, has predicted that incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro will not secure re-election in October 2022. He also called on Bolsonaro to stop being “stupid,” given that the leader has repeatedly threatened not to hand over power if he is defeated at the polls. [MercoPress]
Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada took aim at the United States and the European Union for “destabilising” Latin American and Caribbean nations by “creating a world of false, distorted information [that is] aimed at discrediting states [and] governments, and [that] create conditions for a change of regime.” [Telesur]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Israel has set up an inter-ministerial task force to look into allegations that the Pegasus surveillance software sold by Israeli cybersecurity company NSO Group was used on a global scale to spy on politicians, activists, and journalists. A source told Reuters that the team is headed by Israel’s National Security Council, which oversees exports of the Pegasus software. [Reuters]
Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, has directed the allocation of $100 million to the United Nations World Food Programme to support food security in Yemen. The move is also meant to assist UN efforts to alleviate Yemen’s humanitarian crisis. [Qatar News Agency]
North America
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be visiting the White House on August 30 to meet with US President Joe Biden. A statement by Psaki said: “The visit will affirm the United States’ unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression in the Donbas and Crimea.” [The White House]
Despite Canada announcing that fully vaccinated American travellers can enter Canada starting on August 9, the United States has maintained that it has no plans to open its border to Canadians for non-essential travel any earlier than August 21. [CBC News]
Oceania
China’s Embassy in New Zealand called for a meeting with the host country’s foreign ministry after New Zealand accused China of conducting cyberattacks. The Chinese embassy said in a statement: “We urge the New Zealand side to abandon the Cold War mentality, adopt a professional and responsible attitude when dealing with cyber incidents, and work with others to jointly tackle the challenge through dialogue and cooperation, rather than manipulating political issues under the pretext of cybersecurity and mudslinging at others.” [RNZ]
The government of New Zealand has decided to extend an additional aid of NZ $1.5 million and medical equipment to help Indonesia deal with a surge in COVID-19 cases. New Zealand has already contributed aid worth NZ$11.2 million to Indonesia, which includes support for vaccine roll-out, personal and medical supplies, and support for prevention and risk communication. [Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand]
Sub-Saharan Africa
Freeman Mbowe, the leader of Tanzania’s principal opposition party, Chadema, has been arrested alongside several other party members. It is believed that they were arrested to thwart their plan to hold a conference to demand constitutional reform. The party said that Mbowe’s arrest shows that the dictatorial elements that were evident under President John Magufuli have continued under his replacement, Samia Suluhu Hassan. [Africa Feeds]
COVID-19 vaccine producers BioNTech and Pfizer have reached an agreement with South African pharmaceutical company Biovac to produce the jab locally. The deal would make Biovac the first African producer of the Pfizer vaccine. It is expected that the project will begin at some point next year. [The East African]
World News Monitor: 22 July, 2021
A quick look at events from around the globe.
July 22, 2021
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov SOURCE: EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA / REUTERS