South Asia
The Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association has launched a nationwide strike to protest against Prime Minister Imran Khan for his failure to increase profit margins. Members argue that it has become increasingly difficult to operate fuel stations due to rising petroleum prices and inflation. [Hindustan Times]
Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban’s ambassador-designate for the United Nations, welcomed Pakistan’s decision to allow Indian aid to transit through to the country to Afghanistan. He also urged countries worldwide to reopen their diplomatic missions in the country. [Times of India]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
Former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has decided to give up leadership of the ruling Nur Otan party, his spokesman said on Tuesday. Nazarbayev ruled Kazakhstan from 1990 to 2019, when he suddenly announced his retirement and chose Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as his successor. [RFE/RL]
Russian President Vladimir Putin and European Council President Charles Michel on Wednesday discussed steps taken to “implement the provisions of the trilateral agreements on Nagorno-Karabakh of November 9, 2020, and January 11, 2021” that ended the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Both leaders also talked about developments on the EU-Belarus border, the situation in Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Libya. [Kremlin]
East and Southeast Asia
Japanese Foreign Minister (FM) Yoshimasa Hayashi held a meeting with Danish FM Jeppe Kofod on Wednesday. The pair discussed the potential for cooperation in the fields of clean energy and digitalisation, and agreed to promote bilateral public-private cooperation. [MOFA.JP]
Taiwan’s foreign minister announced on Wednesday that a Lithuanian delegation, along with lawmakers from Latvia and Estonia, will visit the island from December 2 - 3. The upcoming meeting is sure to deepen the China-Lithuania spat over the newly-opened Taiwanese embassy in Vilnius. [The Straits Times]
Europe
The United Kingdom and Qatar launched a new Joint Hawk Squadron in Yorkshire that will enhance interoperability and coordination between the Royal Air Force and the Qatari Emiri Air Force. The squadron was jointly inaugurated by British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Qatari Minister of State for Defence Dr. Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah. [UK Government]
Days after taking a booster dose of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed on Wednesday that he had also received the experimental COVID-19 nasal spray vaccine. This forms part of Putin’s continued efforts to boost Russia’s vaccination rate, which currently stands at just 37%. He remains opposed to mandatory vaccination, however. [The Moscow Times]
On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron assured his Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki of the European Union’s support in its conflict with Belarus over migrants. Macron also voiced his concerns about rule of law in Poland and urged the country to abide by European Union laws. [Reuters]
Latin America and the Caribbean
The voter turnout in the first round of voting in Chile’s recent presidential election was just 47% according to the Electoral Registry. This has renewed debate in the country about whether or not voting should be mandatory, given that voting in presidential and parliamentary elections (both houses) was mandatory until 2012. Right-wing candidate and lawmaker José Antonio Kast and leftist former student protest leader Gabriel Boric emerged as the two top candidates, respectively winning 28% and 25% of the votes, and will now head to a run-off election on December 19. [MercoPress]
On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Cabrisas in Havana. The pair honoured the legacy of former revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and his “contribution to the strengthening” of the two countries’ “strategic alliance.” [Telesur]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ), met in Ankara on Wednesday. The visit was MBZ’s first to Turkey since 2012 and is seen as an attempt by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to mend ties with Turkey. Both countries signed a total of 10 agreements in the fields of energy, environment, finance, and trade and the UAE even set aside a $10 billion fund to invest in Turkey. [Hurriyet Daily News]
Ethiopian Prime Minister and Nobel laureate Abiy Ahmed has joined the frontlines of the war against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), state media reported on Wednesday. Former Olympic long-distance runner and gold medallist Haile Gebrselassie and silver medallist Feyisa Lelisa also took up arms to join Abiy as the TPLF continues to advance towards Addis Ababa. [Reuters]
North America
On Wednesday, an almost all-White jury found three white men guilty of killing 25-year-old Black man Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. The three men chased and shot Arbery as he ran through their neighbourhood last year. Arbery’s killing was brought to light during last year’s racial justice protests after the police failed to make any arrests in the first 74 days. The murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and particularly George Floyd spurred large protests across the world against racial injustice. [NPR]
On Wednesday, Democrat Senator Joe Manchin urged US President Joe Biden to restore the construction of the Keystone XL gas pipeline from Canada to increase domestic energy production and combat soaring gas prices. The pipeline has the capacity to deliver 900,000 barrels of oil per day from America’s closest ally. Manchin’s plea comes a day after Biden announced the release of 50 million barrels of oil from America’s strategic reserves. [The Hill]
Oceania
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison introduced a controversial Religious Discrimination Bill in the lower house of the Parliament. The bill claims to protect people who are coerced and marginalised by a select few for not sharing popular worldviews. However, some LGBTQIA+ groups claim that the bill enables schools to dismiss teachers who do not conform to religious tenets, including gender identity and homosexuality. [The Sydney Morning Herald]
Like the United States, Australia is considering a political boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics next year by not sending any government officials amid growing concern about the welfare of Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai and other human rights concerns. [Brisbane Times]
Sub-Saharan Africa
The United Nations Children’s Fund said that children in West and Central Africa are the most recruited by armed groups. These two regions also have the highest number of children who are victims of sexual violence and the second-highest number of children who are abducted. Over the last five years, over 21,000 children in the regions have been recruited by armed groups, more than 2,200 have been subjected to sexual violence, and at least 3,500 have been abducted. [Africa News]
Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has passed a new policy that will allow teen mothers to return to school. The policy to expel pregnant schoolgirls and bar teen mothers from returning to school was put into place four years ago by her predecessor, the now-deceased John Magufuli. [The East African]