South Asia
Maldivian opposition leader and former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayyoom has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for money laundering and corruption. He was the People’s Progressive Party’s leading candidate for the upcoming presidential election scheduled for 2023. [The Maldives Journal]
Pakistani currency is facing irreversible harm due to the political unrest and illegal smuggling of US dollars to Afghanistan. A group of foreign exchange companies said that over $2 billion had been sent to Afghanistan through official and unofficial trade, severely straining Pakistan’s foreign reserves. [Geo TV]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
In an interview given to TASS on Monday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said the escalation around the Lachin corridor is complicating peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan. “We believe that in this case, the timing of the agreement on the document is not so important. The main thing is that Baku and Yerevan can reach a mutually acceptable solution that would guarantee a stable and fair peace in the region,” he added. Galuzin also expressed Russia’s readiness to assist the negotiation process in accordance with the peace pledges and results of the Sochi summit on October 31. [TASS]
Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Alexander Novak revealed Moscow’s plans to increase gas supplies for the domestic markets of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. This comes after Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plans to create a tripartite gas union between the three countries last month. Novak further stated that, in the long-term, this gas could be exported to Afghanistan and Pakistan through Central Asian infrastructure or in a swap from the territory of Iran. [Fergana News]
East and Southeast Asia
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Monday convened the Sixth Enlarged Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), during which he is expected to announce major policy decisions for the next year. [Korean Central News Agency]
During their meeting as part of the “Central Asia + Japan” Dialogue, Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa and his Kazakh counterpart Mukhtar Tileuberdi exchanged views on developments in Ukraine and East Asia, and pledged to work closely together toward a “world free from nuclear weapons,” as Japan is “the only country to have suffered from atomic bombings in war” and Kazakhstan has experienced nuclear exposure during the Soviet Union’s nuclear tests that began in 1949. [Foreign Ministry of Japan]
Europe
On Monday, Turkey summoned France’s ambassador in Ankara, Herve Magro, over the “anti-Turkey propaganda” prevalent in protests in Paris following the death of three Kurds in a shooting on Friday. The Turkish representatives highlighted that the protestors were carrying Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) flags, which Turkey and several Western countries have designated a terrorist organisation. [France 24]
Four German states—Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, and Berlin—have registered a protest with the Polish government over the construction of Poland’s first nuclear power station in Pomerania, citing environmental concerns and safety issues. “Against the backdrop of the devastating nuclear accidents at Chernobyl and Fukushima, plans for further use of nuclear energy in the interest of the population and environment of all the Baltic countries should be abandoned,” Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s Ministry of Consumer Protection told the Polish government. [The Warsaw Voice]
Latin America and the Caribbean
A Peruvian anti-corruption unit on Monday arrested six military officials, saying that ousted former President Pedro Castillo “illegally” promoted them during his tenure. Police said they found evidence in the form of “documents and devices” confiscated during a raid on Castillo’s Defence Minister, Walter Ayala. Castillo was arrested earlier this month after lawmakers voted to impeach him for trying to dissolve Congress illegally. [Reuters]
Brazilian authorities on Monday vowed to increase security for the inauguration ceremony of President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on 1 January after the police arrested a man for allegedly planning to bomb the ceremony. Authorities said the attacker aimed to sow “chaos” in Brazil, warning that they would not allow “political terrorism.” Police also noted that the suspect is a supporter of outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro. [Al Jazeera]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
An Islamic State suicide bombing in Syria’s Raqqa led to the deaths of six Kurdish-led security force members on Monday. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) confirmed that one suicide bomber had been killed and another detained. [Reuters]
An Ethiopian government delegation, including ministers and heads of public enterprises, visited the war-torn Tigray region on Monday to discuss implementing the peace agreement. Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) spokesperson Getachew Reda called the visit “a milestone in the peace agreement.” The visit came after the Ethiopian government and the TPLF signed a peace deal last month to end the two-year-long Tigray war. The team is the first high-level federal delegation to travel to Tigray in two years. [Reuters]
North America
On Monday, about 28 people died in Buffalo, New York in one of the “worst storms,” and another 24 died in the rest of the country. New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who visited Buffalo, called it “one for the ages,” saying that almost every fire truck in the area was stranded. According to the National Weather Service, the area could receive another 9 inches of snow on Tuesday. President Joe Biden offered the “full force” of federal support for New York. [Associated Press, White House]
Members of Parliament and animal welfare groups have accused the Trudeau administration of not keeping its 2021 promise to ban the export of live horses to Japan for slaughter to make horse meat products like basashi, after the number of horses rose to 2,302 between January and October this year. [The Globe and Mail]
Oceania
John Lander, Australia’s former Deputy Ambassador to China, recently said that current Foreign Minister Penny Wong is facing a “Herculean” task trying to improve strained ties between Canberra and Beijing. Wong recently visited Beijing and met with her counterpart Wang Yi, becoming the first Australian minister to travel to China in three years. [Global Times]
The Fijian parliament voted 28-27 to install a three-way coalition government led by the People’s Alliance Party of ex-Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka. [WSWS]
Sub-Saharan Africa
On Monday, Nobel Peace Prize winner Denis Mukwege and two of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s presidential candidates—Martin Fayulu and Augustin Matata Ponyo—signed a joint statement accusing President Felix Tshikedi’s regime of “outsourcing” the country’s security to “foreign forces” as clashes between the military and the M-23 rebels intensify in the DR Congo’s east. The statement did not mention who the foreign forces were. [Africanews]
Two people were shot dead in Kenya’s Lamu county on Monday by Al Shabaab militants, who also torched several houses in the area. Kenyan security forces have been operating in Lamu and nearby areas since 2015 against Al Shabaab terrorists present in the region. [Associated Press]