South Asia
At a hearing on Monday, the High Court of Madras accused the Indian Election Commission of failing to take action against political parties that conducted election rallies and failed to abide by COVID-19 protocols. This was a reference to five Indian states, namely West Bengal, Assam, Puducherry, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, across which several political parties conducted extravagant large-scale rallies in a bid to win the election for the states’ legislative assemblies. [Times of India]
Amid an unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases in India, China suspended Sichuan Airlines, a cargo flight that was responsible for transporting oxygen concentrators and other critical medical equipment from China to India. This is in stark contradiction to the statement by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, who said that China would offer India all possible assistance to help overcome the current wave. [NDTV]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Tajik ambassador and protested the detention of two Kyrgyz men near the disputed border with Tajikistan. The Kyrgyz ministry urged Tajikistan to take immediate measures to hold to find out the circumstances of the incident and “hold all individuals responsible for the situation accountable.” Both countries along with Uzbekistan have border disputes with each other and violent confrontations along the border are frequent. [RFE/RL]
Azerbaijan has called on the international community to strengthen efforts to advocate for the suspension of Armenia’s Metsamor nuclear power plant, in light of the danger it poses. The Foreign Ministry released a statement on the International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day on Monday, stressing that the Metsamor nuclear plant bears resemblance to the Chernobyl plant. The Ministry also added that Metsamor was built in 1976 using the same outdated technology as Chernobyl and is located on an active seismic zone. [Azer News]
East and Southeast Asia
On Monday, the Indonesian Navy assessed its options of salvaging the submarine that sunk to a depth of 850 metres and killed all 53 crew members, with aid from local and foreign specialised vessels. “We will analyse the underwater pictures and video, the current etc to decide the technology that will be used,” First Admiral Julius Widjojono was quoted as saying. [The Straits Times]
Earlier today, heavy fighting was reported to have erupted at a Myanmar army outpost near the eastern border with Thailand in an area largely controlled by forces of a Karen ethnic army. The Karen National Union (KNU) said it had captured the army position after intense violence, days after ASEAN leaders announced that they had reached a consensus with the junta on ending violence. [Channel News Asia]
Europe
The US on Monday reaffirmed its commitment to countries in the Western Balkans and said that “unwarranted speculation about changing borders in the Balkans along ethnic lines risks fostering instability in the region and evokes memories of past tensions.” It was referring to a recently leaked memo advocating for the redrawing of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s borders that has spiked concerns about renewed conflict in the region. “A stable, prosperous future for the Western Balkans must be based on good governance, rule of law, multi-ethnic democracy, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms,” the State Department said. [US Department of State]
Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone call with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Monday. The leaders discussed the situation in Ukraine, Libya, and the developments around Nagorno-Karabakh. They also addressed the issue around Alexei Navalny and exchanged views on coronavirus response efforts. [The Kremlin]
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven denied allegations about the country’s policymakers’ strategy to achieve “herd immunity” by allowing the virus to spread across the population. This was in response to a questioning by the Swedish Committee of the Constitution about the leader’s handling of the country’s COVID-19 outbreak. [The Local]
Latin America and the Caribbean
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro reached a deal with the United Nations’ World Food Programme that allows for the delivery of food aid to 1.5 million children in the country. Maduro has previously refused to allow vaccines from the World Health Organization’s COVAX initiative into the country, as the deal to secure 12 million doses was made by opposition leader Juan Guaidó, whom many Western countries see as the legitimate leader of Venezuela. In fact, before the latest deal with the WFP, the Maduro administration signed its own deal with the UN to allow for the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, illustrating how his administration is working to sign aid deals without any involvement of Guaidó. [Associated Press]
Protests across 50 cities in the United States—including New York, Washington, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco, Tampa, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Seattle, and Indianapolis—demanded that the Joe Biden administration remove sanctions against Cuba. In fact, demonstrations were reportedly also seen in Canada and China. The US has placed an economic blockade on Cuba since the Fidel Castro-led revolution in 1959. [Telesur]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Egypt’s parliament introduced tougher penalties on the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) on Sunday, as part of its efforts to eliminate the medieval practice. The legislation includes a five-year prison sentence for anyone involved in the practice of FGM as well as for anyone who requests it. According to a 2016 United Nations survey, nearly 90% of Egyptian women and girls aged 15 and 49 have undergone FGM. [Middle East Eye]
In the biggest Israel-United Arab Emirates (UAE) deal since the signing of last year’s Abraham Accords, Israeli energy company Delek signed an MoU with the Abu Dhabi government’s Mubadala Petroleum to sell its entire stake of 22% in the Tamar offshore gas field for more than $1 billion. According to Delek, the field is estimated to have 10.7 trillion cubic feet (302 billion cubic metres) of natural gas reserves. [Times of Israel, Reuters]
British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was sentenced to another year in prison by an Iranian court for propaganda against the Islamic Republic, weeks after completing a five-year sentence. Britain condemned the move and Foreign Secretary Dominic-Raab said that the decision to sentence Ratcliffe is “totally inhumane and wholly unjustified.” She was also handed a one-year ban from leaving Iran. The move comes after Iran was elected to the United Nations Commission on Women’s Rights last week. [Reuters, IRNA]
North America
The White House on Monday said that the US is looking at options to share American-made AstraZeneca vaccine shots with the rest of the world. Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that the US had enough vaccines for its people and therefore did not need AstraZeneca in its fight against COVID over the next few months. However, she noted that the administration will first wait for the FDA to review all the doses before shipping them abroad. [The White House]
Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government on Monday survived its third and final confidence vote on its massive federal budget, with help from the left-leaning New Democracy Party (NDP). This was in accordance with NDP leader Jagmeet Singh’s vow to not trigger an election in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. The vote in the House of Commons was 178 to 157 in favour. [Bloomberg]
Oceania
Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt said that the Morrison administration is considering sending oxygen and ventilators to India to help the country deal with a disastrous second wave of COVID-19. Hunt said, “While we can assist with the national medical stockpile, their particular request is for assistance with regards to the physical supply of oxygen,” adding, “We are in a strong position on that front because we don’t need them at this point in time.” [ABC News]
Dr William A Stoltz, an Australian national security expert, called for a “reset” in Australia-New Zealand relations following Kiwi Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta’s recent statement saying that the Ardern administration is uncomfortable with using the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance to put pressure on China. Stolz said, “The sheer scale of New Zealand’s economic dependence on China has also generated a wilful blindness to China’s increasingly bellicose behaviour,” adding, “Australia urgently needs to move to reset the relationship with a concerted diplomatic campaign to help New Zealand diversify its markets away from China and strengthen its resilience to foreign interference.” [Sydney Morning Herald]
Sub-Saharan Africa
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold separate talks with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama as well as Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. A statement released by the US Department of State said that Blinken will also speak with clean energy company leaders, healthcare professionals, and attend the Young African Leaders Initiative conference. [US Department of State]
French energy giant Total announced that it has suspended its $20 billion investment in a liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique due to continued violence and instability from an Islamist insurgency in the Cabo Delgado province. In March, Total evacuated its staff from the region after Islamic State-affiliated assailants took control of the town of Palma, which is very close to the company’s gas project. [Africa News]