South Asia
Sri Lanka on Wednesday announced its first local government elections since the economic crisis, and consequent protests, caused former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country. The nationwide elections will be held before February, after being delayed by over a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [Al Jazeera]
Pakistani Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Wednesday that the government was willing to negotiate with the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan if the group decides to abide by the Constitution. The statement was made just days after Pakistani officials held a security meeting and decided to launch a clearance operation against the militant group. [Geo TV]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev reshuffled his government on Wednesday, replacing the justice, industry, geology, and culture ministers. Tokayev gave no reason for the abrupt changes. [RFE/RL]
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price on Wednesday warned that Azerbaijan’s continued blockade of the Lachin Corridor “sets back” regional peace efforts and “undermines” international confidence. “We call for the full restoration of free movement through the corridor,” he said. The corridor is the only road connecting Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh. [Armen Press]
East and Southeast Asia
Japanese PM Fumio Kishida vowed to strengthen relations with the US under his administration’s newly expanded defence policy. “We will show to the rest of the world an even stronger Japan-US alliance, which is a lynchpin of Japanese security and diplomacy,” he said. “We will also show our further cooperation toward achieving a ‘free and open Indo-Pacific,’” Kishida pledged on Wednesday. [Associated Press]
Taiwan detained three active-duty officers and a retired Air Force officer in the southern city of Kaohsiung on the suspicion of spying for China on Wednesday. Prosecutors suspect that the former officer had recruited six other officers and was paid a sum ranging from NT$200,000 ($6,516) to NT$700,000 ($22,807) by a shell company. [Bloomberg]
Europe
The International Air Transport Association chief, Willie Walsh, criticised recent EU travel restrictions against China, calling them “knee-jerk” measures that have proved to be ineffective in the past. He cited scientific research to highlight that the spread of the Omicron virus was not affected by travel barriers. [Al Jazeera]
On Wednesday, Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Urmas Reinsalu stated that Estonia has decided to create a separate mechanism to transfer frozen Russian assets in the country, valued at $18 billion, to Ukraine in a bid to help reconstruct the war-torn nation. [TASS]
Latin America and the Caribbean
Hoping to reduce the increasing inflow of illegal migrants from northern Cuba, the US embassy in Havana resumed full immigrant visa processing and consular services after five years on Wednesday. The embassy stopped said services in 2017 due to staff being afflicted by the mysterious ‘Havana Syndrome,’ which caused migraines and nausea, among other things. Reportedly, a majority of the 250,000 Cubans who crossed into the US last year, came through illegal and dangerous routes, such as the Straits of Florida, using makeshift rafts. [Reuters]
Ex-Bolivian Interior Minister Arturo Murillo was sentenced to 70 months in prison by a federal US court on Wednesday for conspiracy to commit money laundering. In October, Murillo pleaded guilty to taking at least $532,000 in bribes to help a Florida-based company secure a tear gas contract with the Bolivian Defence Ministry. [Reuters]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
On Wednesday, Iran summoned the French ambassador to condemn the publication of “insulting” cartoons of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian vowed a “firm and effective answer” to the publication of the cartoons. [Reuters, Iran Ministry of Foreign Affairs]
Israel’s newly appointed Justice Minister, Yariv Levin, on Wednesday announced a slew of measures aimed at overhauling the judiciary. The steps include giving the government control over judicial selection and curtailing the authority of government legal advisors. The Israeli opposition, including ex-PM Yair Lapid, condemned the move, calling it a “political coup.” [Times of Israel]
North America
On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden said that he intends to visit the US-Mexico border next week, marking it his first border visit since becoming president. The southern border has seen an influx of immigrants despite the Trump-era Title 42 asylum restrictions being in place. [Associated Press]
Hours after the WHO said that China is under-reporting COVID-19 deaths, US President Joe Biden on Wednesday raised concern about how Beijing is handling the current outbreak, saying, “They’re very sensitive […] when we suggest they haven’t been that forthcoming.” Though Chinese state-owned media Global Times reported that COVID-19 infections had significantly increased in various cities, including Beijing, China recorded only one new COVID-19 death on Wednesday, as compared with five on Tuesday, bringing the total official death toll to 5,259 since the pandemic began in 2020. [Reuters]
Oceania
Australia is set to spend $684 million to purchase the Naval Strike Missile and the mobile, long-range, surface-to-surface High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) to deal with the “current strategic environment,” Minister for Defence Richard Marles said on Thursday. [Reuters]
The US is planning on reopening the Solomon Islands’ embassy in the country as part of a strategy to counter China’s growing footprint in the Pacific. “Before (China) becomes strongly embedded in Solomon Islands, now is the opportunity to bolster Solomon Islands’ resilience and deepen cooperation on security, democratic governance, and a free and open economy,” said the State Department in a notice to the Congress dated 23 December. [Associated Press]
Sub-Saharan Africa
At least 35 people died in twin bomb blasts perpetrated by Al Shabaab terrorists in the town of Mahas, Hiran region, in central Somalia on Wednesday. Reportedly, the bombs targeted the homes of the Mahas District Commissioner and a member of the Federal Parliament, respectively. “Most of the dead are civilians. They are women and children,” said Deputy Police Commissioner Hassan-Kafi Mohamed Ibrahim. Al Shabaab has been conducting a brutally violent insurgency against the Somalian government for the past 15 years. [Arab News]
Ghanaian authorities will implement more stringent entry restrictions from 6 January for passengers arriving from China. Citing the rising COVID-19 cases in China and advising the Ghanian public to avoid unnecessary travel to the country, the Ghanian Foreign Ministry said in a press release on Wednesday that travellers coming from China will have to present a “48-hour negative PCR test and undergo mandatory antigen testing at the point of entry free of charge until further notice.” [Africanews]