South Asia
Addressing the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s national advisors’ meeting, Pakistani National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf accused India of acting as a “spoiler” in the Afghan peace process. Furthermore, he condemned “state terrorism against people under illegal occupation”, which was a veiled reference to the conflict in Kashmir. [Al Jazeera]
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa pardoned 16 LTTE terror suspects who had been held without charges under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. This comes about a month following a resolution adopted by the European Parliament urging Sri Lankan authorities to repeal the act. [The Hindu]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
The Azerbaijani Defence Ministry has claimed that Armenian soldiers opened several rounds of gunfire on “positions of the Azerbaijani Army” in the Tovuz region in Azerbaijan. The Ministry reported that soldiers “did not suffer any casualties.” Armenia, on the other hand, has denied all claims made by Azerbaijan. [Anadolu Agency, Armen Press]
Dozens of protestors have rallied in front of a district police station in Almaty, Kazakhstan demanding the immediate release of Baibolat Kunbolat, who was detained on charges of conducting an “unsanctioned rally” in front of the Chinese Consulate. Kunbolat was arrested for demanding the release of his relatives in China’s Xinjiang province. Kazakhs are the second largest Turkic-speaking ethnic community in Xinjiang after Uyghurs. [RFE/RL]
East and Southeast Asia
The Philippines on Thursday grounded operations of its entire fleet of Black Hawk helicopters until investigations are complete, after one of the new aircraft crashed during a night-time training flight, killing all six on board. The Philippines purchased most of the helicopters from the United States. [The Defense Post]
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Thursday that fighting and violence in Myanmar has displaced almost 230,000 people this year. [Channel News Asia]
Europe
The European Union (EU) at the Council meeting on Thursday approved the fourth package of sanctions against Belarus, which includes a ban on the sale of communication equipment to Belarus and restricts the import of potash, oil, and tobacco. Earlier sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes, and prohibit the use of EU airspace and airports. The sanctions come against the backdrop of electoral fraud and an enduring crackdown on human rights. [EU Reporter]
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with his Libyan counterpart Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh at Downing Street. During the meeting, Johnson reaffirmed the UK’s support to Libya to secure peace in the country and vowed to help the war-torn country’s transition to democracy. [UK Government]
Russia has warned that it is prepared to fire at or bomb intruding warships to protect its borders, in a move that threatens to further escalate growing tensions between Moscow and the West. This comes hours after its claim that it had fired at a British naval ship that sailed near Crimea, which Russia claims as part of its territorial waters. [Forbes]
Latin America and the Caribbean
On Wednesday, Brazilian Environment Minister Ricardo Salles resigned over an ongoing criminal probe into whether he obstructed a police investigation of illegal logging in the Amazon rainforest. Earlier in the pandemic, he suggested that the pandemic could be used as cover to introduce changes to environmental regulations, saying, “Now that the media’s only talking about CCOVID, we need to use this moment of calm to ‘bring the whole herd of cattle through’ and change all the regulations.” President Jair Bolsonaro has nominated Joaquim Alvaro Pereira Leite to replace Salles. [Al Jazeera]
Colombian NGO Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement released a report claiming that at least 1,933 Venezuelan migrants have been killed in Colombia between 2015 and 2020, while a further 836 are missing. The report says that these statistics demonstrate the “discrimination, xenophobia, [and] stigmatisation” faced by the migrants. [Buenos Aires Times]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Honduras became the fourth country to open its embassy in Israel in Jerusalem since the United States (US) shifted its diplomatic mission from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018. Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández met with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Jerusalem on Thursday to officially inaugurate the opening of the embassy. Along with the US and Honduras, Guatemala and Kosovo also have their embassies in Jerusalem. [Associated Press]
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is set to receive the first dose of the Iran-made COV-Iran Barekat coronavirus vaccine. The indigenous vaccine was approved for emergency use by Iran’s health ministry earlier this month. [Fars News]
North America
At least 750 unmarked graves have been found on the grounds of the former Marieval Indian Residential School in Canada. The discovery was made days after Indigenous leaders began radar searching the school grounds on June 1, Cowessess Chief Cadmus Delorme told reporters on Thursday in a news conference. [CNN]
U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday called the closure of Hong Kong’s Apple Daily tabloid a “sad day for media freedom” and said it signalled “intensifying repression” by China, while vowing to maintain support for the people of the Chinese-ruled territory. [Reuters]
Oceania
The government of New Zealand has decided to make hate speech a criminal offence under the Crimes Act with harsher penalties. The proposed law comes against the backdrop of the Christchurch terror attack. Anyone who’s found inciting violence against a protected group would be prosecuted under the law. [RNZ]
At a business forum in Canberra, Japanese Ambassador to Australia Shingo Yamagami conveyed Japan’s support to Australia amid rising tensions in the Asia Pacific. The Ambassador also stressed the importance of the rule of law. [The Canberra Times]
Sub-Saharan Africa
The United States’ 2021 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report by the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs has singled out Tanzania as a hub for drug trafficking throughout the region, saying, “Traffickers transport heroin via small vessels to Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania and over Tanzania’s land borders with Kenya and Mozambique to destinations in Europe and North America.” [The East African]
World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley has said that amid Madagascar’s “worst drought in four decades,” several families are travelling hours to reach WFP food distribution locations. He declared, “This is not because of war or conflict, this is because of climate change.” Over 1.14 million people in the country are “food insecure” and the Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) level among children under the age of five in the country has doubled over the last four months to 16.5%. [UN News]
World News Monitor: 25 June, 2021
A quick look at events from around the globe.
June 25, 2021
Pakistani National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf SOURCE: USIP