Labour leader Chris Hipkins was sworn in as New Zealand’s new PM on Wednesday, following the resignation of outgoing PM Jacinda Ardern last week. Hipkins, who has refused to comment on his policies until now, will hold his first cabinet meeting later on Wednesday.
China has offered Sri Lanka debt service relief for 2022-2023 after the state-owned Export-Import Bank of China informed the IMF about a two-year moratorium on Colombo’s debt. However, it is unclear whether these assurances will be enough for the IMF to release the $2.9 billion loan.
On Tuesday, Pakistan’s Minister for Energy Khurram Dastgir said that electricity had been fully restored across the country after major cities, including Karachi and Lahore, faced blackouts for over 24 hours. The minister further claimed that the government suspects “external interference into [Pakistan’s] system through hacking.”
North Korea has ordered a five-day lockdown in its capital, Pyongyang, due to rising cases of an unspecified respiratory disease. While the government notice did not mention COVID-19, it instructed residents to stay indoors and submit multiple temperature checks daily.
Former US Vice President Mike Pence’s lawyer, Matt Morgan, reportedly found a “small number of documents bearing classified markings” at his Indiana home and handed it over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) last week. Pence’s lawyers turned over the remaining material in the four boxes to National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) on Monday, claiming that Pence “was unaware of the existence of sensitive or classified documents at his personal residence,” and would fully cooperate with NARA or any other inquiry.
The US is planning to increase its artillery shells production by 500% within two years for the Ukraine war, as part of “the most aggressive modernisation effort in nearly 40 years.” Prior to the war, the US Army produced 14,400 unguided shells a month, but Ukrainian forces’ need for more artillery caused the Pentagon to triple production goals in September, and then double them again in January, eventually making over 90,000 shells a month.
During a meeting in Amman on Tuesday, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly assured Jordanian King Abdullah II that Israel would preserve the status quo of the holy sites in Jerusalem. Currently, Jordan holds the custodianship of the sacred sites, and King Abdullah II has condemned alleged Israeli attempts to change the status quo.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned the Netherlands’ ambassador to protest a demonstration near the Dutch Parliament in the Hague, wherein the Quran was desecrated. Calling the act “despicable,” the ministry stated, “Islamophobia, discrimination and xenophobia know no bounds in Europe.” The incident occurred days after Turkey protested a similar act in Sweden.
The Rwandan government said on Tuesday that its forces fired a projectile at a fighter jet from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for allegedly violating its airspace. The Congolese government responded by denying the accusation, claiming that the jet was flying in Congolese territory, and deeming Rwanda’s move as a “deliberate act of aggression that amounts to an act of war.” Both countries’ relations have been strained due to the violent struggle waged by M23 rebels in DRC. UN experts, Western countries, and DRC have accused Rwanda of backing these rebels in eastern Congo — which Rwanda continues to deny.