South Asia
Nepalese President Bidya Devi Bhandari arrived in Bangladesh to attend the celebration of the country’s 50th independence day. The two sides also signed four memoranda of understanding on tourism, connectivity, sanitary and phytosanitary cooperation, and cultural exchanges. [Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nepal]
A major fire ravaged the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar, resulting in the death of several individuals and the destruction of thousands of homes. Bangladeshi emergency services continue to attempt to control the fire and prevent it from spreading. [Times of India]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
On Monday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan nominated Lieutenant General Artak Davtian as the new Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces. Pashinyan said that Davtian was appointed by “virtue of law”, as President Armen Sarkisian has not signed the appointment order. Earlier this month, previous army chief Onik Gasparian was dismissed after he and other officers demanded that Pashinyan resign over his handling of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. [RFE/RL]
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has called for an improvement in trade and economic ties between Russia and Kazakhstan, which took a back seat during the coronavirus pandemic. The Russian PM met with Kazakh PM Askar Mamin and stated that they are aiming for an “efficient expansion” of Russian-Kazakh cooperation. Both countries are part of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) single market. [TASS]
East and Southeast Asia
The foreign ministers of Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States issued a joint statement and sanctions on Chinese officials involved in human rights violations and abuses in Xinjiang. the statement said, that evidence from “the Chinese Government’s own documents, satellite imagery, and eyewitness testimony is overwhelming” that China is operating an “extensive program of repression includes severe restrictions on religious freedoms, the use of forced labour, mass detention in internment camps, forced sterilisations, and the concerted destruction of Uyghur heritage.” [Global Affairs Canada]
Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Monday that China is willing to work with North Korea to “preserve peace and stability” on the Korean Peninsula. Xi also added that his country was “willing to work with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and other related parties to uphold the political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue and preserve peace and stability on the peninsula”. [The Straits Times]
Shortly after the Council of the European Union announced on Monday that it was imposing restrictive measures on four Chinese nationals and one entity, China retaliated by sanctioning 10 individuals of the European Parliament and four entities that have spread “rumours and lies” about Xinjiang. [The Global Times]
Europe
In what comes as a sigh of relief for the Scottish independence movement, the country’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has been cleared of charges of ministerial misconduct. She had been accused of improperly handling accusations of sexual harassment against former First Minister and close ally Alex Salmond. [Reuters]
Bulgarian authorities have declared two Russian diplomats as “persona non grata” over their alleged involvement in espionage and gave them 72 hours to leave the country. On Friday, six individuals had been arrested for spying on Bulgaria for Russia. Following this, Bulgarian authorities said that the Russian nationals had engaged in activities “incompatible with diplomatic relations” between the two countries. [Al Jazeera]
Latin America and the Caribbean
All four of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's sons—Flávio, Carlos, Eduardo and Renan-are under separate investgiations. Flávio allegedly embezzled funds from his employees’ salaries in Rio’s legislative assembly, Carlos is suspected of having hired “ghost employees” in the City Council of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo is being investigated by the Attorney General’s Office for paying for two properties in Rio with cash, while the Federal Police is investigating Renan for abusing his position of power through his Events and Media company. [Folha de S.Paulo]
Despite boasting one of the lowest COVID-19 mortality rates in Latin America and the fact that roughly 10% of the country's 3.5 million citizens have been vaccinated, Uruguay still recorded 1,625 new cases on Sunday, bringing the active case total to above 13,000. This has left medical facilities fearing that they may soon be operating at close to full capacity. [Merco Press]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
The spokesperson for Iran’s Food and Drug Organization (IFDA), Kianoush Jahanpour, said that Iran would start manufacturing the indigenously developed Cov-Iran Barakat vaccine by late spring. Jahanpour suggested that Cov-Iran “seems to have entered phase 3” of human trials. He further stated that Iran and Cuba were jointly developing another vaccine and that 100,000 doses have already been imported. [FARS News]
On Monday, an Algerian court issued arrest warrants for several exiled activists, including former diplomat Mohamed Larbi Zeitout, who lives in Britain. Zeitout founded the outlawed political movement, Rachad, in 2007 and is accused of funding the “terrorist group” Islamic Salvation Front (FIS). The Algerian government and other activists have accused Rachad of using FIS fighters to turn the peaceful pro-democracy movement, Hirak, into a violent one. [Al Jazeera]
North America
Canadian Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade Mary Ng spoke with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai on keeping the two countries’ “deeply integrated” supply chains “open and resilient” in the face of the ongoing pandemic while continuing to adhere to "high standards for labour and environmental protection”. Ng also raised concerns about US tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber and solar products. [Global Affairs Canada]
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be in Brussels from March 22-25, where he will meet with fellow North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members’ foreign ministers. He will also meet with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Police Josep Borrell, and Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sophie Wilmès. During his visit, Blinken is expected to stress on the importance of the Transatlantic alliance and how to "repair [and] revitalise" US-EU relations. [US Department of State]
Oceania
A number of Australian members of parliament (MPs) from the Coalition, Labor, and the Greens supported a motion by Liberal MP Kevin Andrews that decries the “abhorrence” of “systematic” violations of human rights against ethnic minorities in China. This came on the same day that the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada issued multiple sanctions against Chinese officials involved in the persecution of Uighur and other Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region. [ABC News]
Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) confirmed that it has approved the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for production in Australia. This follows Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly’s comments last week that “there is no reason to pause the use” of the vaccine, despite several European countries’ decision to suspend their use of the vaccine. The TGA, too, has said that it “doesn’t see any link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clots”. [9 News]
Sub-Saharan Africa
Following a meeting between Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Vincent Biruta and Zimbabwean Minister of Local Government and Public Works July Moyo, the two countries signed five Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) to bolster cooperation in trade, media, information and publicity, correctional services, and “mutual legal assistance on criminal matters”. In particular, the agreement between the Rwanda Development Board and the Zimbabwe Trade Corporation seeks to increase cross-country investment and comes ahead of the Rwanda-Zimbabwe Investment and Trade Conference in Kigali in July. [The New Times]
Armed assailants killed at least 40 people on Niger’s border with Mali, a region that has become a hotbed for conflict and overrun with Islamic State and Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups. This latest incident follows the killing of 66 people on March 15 in the border region. [Africa News]
World News Monitor: 23 March, 2021
A quick look at events from around the globe.
March 23, 2021
SOURCE: RADIO FREE ASIA