South Asia
Sri Lanka on Monday banned the import of palm oil and new palm plantations due to environmental concerns. In addition, it has also ordered existing plantations to be uprooted in a phased manner. Sri Lanka, which is a major coconut oil producer, said in a statement from the president’s office, “Those companies and entities which have done such (palm oil) cultivations shall be required to remove them in a phased manner with 10% uprooting at a time and replacing it with the cultivation of rubber or environmental friendly crops each year.” [Reuters]
On Monday, India recorded its highest jump in daily coronavirus cases and now joins countries like Brazil and the United States in having recorded over 100,000 new infections in a single day. Following a meeting with his advisers on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office announced a “special campaign for COVID-appropriate behaviour with an emphasis on 100% mask usage, personal hygiene and sanitation at public places/workplaces and health facilities.” [NPR]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
Georgia’s National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) chief, Amiran Gamkrelidze, has said that Beijing will gift 100,000 doses of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine to Tbilisi. In fact, Georgia received 100,000 doses of the Chinese vaccine only last week, demonstrating China’s vaccine diplomacy efforts. Georgian health minister Ekaterine Tikaradze said that the Chinese vaccines are safe and effective, as around “40 million individuals” around the globe have already received it. [Agenda]
In an interview with Israel Hayom, Azeri Foreign Minister Jeyhun Beyramov said that Baku’s partnership with Tel Aviv is solid and that both countries enjoy strong bilateral relations, as “Israel was one of the first countries that recognised Azerbaijan’s independence.” Beyramov also appreciated Israel’s role in the Nagorno-Karabakh war of 2020, which included the provision of humanitarian aid to the victims of the “missile attacks by Armenia on the city of Ganja.” Israeli weapons, especially drones, played a crucial role in Azerbaijan’s victory over Armenia in last year’s war between the two countries. [Israel Hayom]
East and Southeast Asia
North Korea’s sports ministry said today that the country will not be taking part in the Tokyo Olympics, which are scheduled to be held later this year, due to concerns about COVID-19. “The committee decided not to join the 32nd Olympics Games to protect athletes from the global health crisis caused by the coronavirus,” the ministry said on its website. [The Straits Times]
Brunei, the chair of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), has asked members to prepare for a meeting at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia to discuss the events unfolding in Myanmar. So far, Indonesia has led efforts within ASEAN to find a resolution to the crisis in Myanmar, despite ASEAN’s policy of non-interference in countries’ internal affairs. There is no indication yet of when this meeting will be held. [Channel News Asia]
Europe
The UK is offering all its citizens access to two rapid COVID-19 tests a week starting Friday, in an effort to help contain any outbreaks amid easing lockdown restrictions. The testing kits, which can provide results in around 30 minutes, will be available for free at testing sites, pharmacies, and through the mail. [BBC]
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has reportedly been moved to a sick ward after developing signs of a respiratory illness and has been tested for COVID-19. The leader has been on a hunger strike since last week, alleging torture and the denial of proper medical attention by prison officials. [Reuters]
Latin America and the Caribbean
Beijing’s Ambassador to San Salvador, Ou Jianhong, announced on Sunday that China would deliver 150,000 doses of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine to El Salvador on Tuesday. In fact, El Salvador has already purchased 2 million Sinovac vaccines from China. The country has sought to contain the pandemic through the use of the AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Sinovac vaccines. Until now, El Salvador has recorded 64,431 cases and 2,025 deaths from the virus. [Telesur]
Argentina’s economy minister, Martín Guzmán, warned that the country’s economy would not be able to withstand the impact of another coronavirus-induced lockdown. He said that the loosening of restrictions has allowed the government to revise its growth forecasts upwards but warned that stricter lockdown measures could adversely impact the labour force and undermine the government’s ability to meet the targets of its “macroeconomic programme”, which focuses on reducing inflation and the country’s external debt burden. [Merco Press]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Iran’s Intelligence Ministry said that “an Israeli spy and several others tied to different countries’ security services have been arrested” in the East Azerbaijan province. The Iranian state-backed Fars news outlet claimed that foreign intelligence forces were “seeking to spy on Iran’s nuclear, political, economic, military and infrastructural projects” and aimed to sabotage them. Iran and Israel have been waging a proxy war against each other in the region and beyond for a long time. [Fars News]
Libyan authorities discovered two new mass graves in the city of Tarhuna, where at least 300 dead bodies in mass graves have been found since June last year. Tarhuna was a stronghold of warlord Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA), which is accused of committing war crimes and acts of genocide between 2019 and 2020. [Anadolu Agency]
North America
Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo on Monday testified at the trial of Derek Chauvin, who is charged with the murder of George Floyd. Arradondo criticized Chauvin’s use of force and said that his actions that day were a clear violation of department policy. “Certainly, once he was in distress and trying to verbalize that, [Chauvin] should have stopped,” he added. [CBS News]
The US State Department on Monday said that it expected indirect talks with Iran about the 2015 nuclear deal to be very difficult, adding that it didn’t expect any “early or immediate breakthrough.” The discussions will start on Tuesday in Vienna but will not involve any bilateral meetings between American and Iranian officials. [US Department of State]
Oceania
Australia has thus far vaccinated roughly 842,000 people and has recently begun to scale up operations, administering 79,000 vaccines last Thursday. However, immunology experts have said that this still lags behind countries like the United States (which administers around 1.5 million vaccines per day), even after accounting for differences in capacity. Australian immunisation expert Professor Robert Booy said, “At least we could emulate them and copy [the US] at our level, which would be 100,000 doses a day and then we could build up from there.” In fact, the government’s Department of Health had originally targeted vaccinating 4 million people by the end of March. [ABC News]
A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck the east coast of New Zealand’s north island at 7:37 pm on Monday, just two hours after a 3.2 magnitude earthquake struck the southern island city of Christchurch. Luckily, no major structural damage was reported and there have been no recorded deaths or injuries. New Zealand has upgraded its earthquake preparedness following a 6.2 magnitude earthquake in Christchurch in 2011, which caused widespread damage to buildings and infrastructure, and killed 185 people. [Newshub]
Sub-Saharan Africa
A spokesperson for the Mozambican army said that the army had launched a “counter-offensive” against Islamist militants in the town of Palma in the Cabo Delgado province and had now regained “full control” of the coastal town after killing a “significant” number of insurgents. Roughly two weeks ago, Islamic State-affiliated assailants took control of the town, killing dozens and forcing roughly 11,000 people to flee. French energy giant Total also suspended its operations and evacuated its staff from the region. [Africa News]
Tanzania’s top hospital, Muhimbili, said that it would continue following government advice to treat coronavirus patients using steam therapy, even in the face of no known or proven benefits or effect. Despite the death of President John Magufuli, who for months led a government campaign to deny the presence of the coronavirus in the country and urged against the use of vaccines, Tanzania evidently continues to be plagued by public health mismanagement under the interim presidency of Samia Suluhu Hassan. [Africa Feeds]