South Asia
A senior leader from Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Taliban, Khalid Balti, was killed in eastern Afghanistan by an unidentified gunman. He previously served as the spokesperson of the group. [Al Jazeera]
Taking to Twitter, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan accused the Indian government of furthering hate speech against minorities in the country. He criticised the Indian authorities’ silence over the call for the genocide of minorities in the country made at an event in Haridwar in December 2021. [Deccan Herald]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
Armenia and Azerbaijan have accused each other of re-igniting tensions by violating the fragile ceasefire along their borders. According to military officials in both countries, an Azerbaijani soldier and two Armenian servicemen were killed in shootouts along the Kalbajar and Gegharkunik regions. [RFE/RL]
Israel’s foreign ministry announced on Tuesday that it has donated $500,000 to the United Nations for food, medical, and humanitarian assistance for Afghan refugees in Tajikistan. [Associated Press]
East and Southeast Asia
Thai authorities said on Tuesday that they had detected African swine fever in a surface swab sample collected at a slaughterhouse in the Nakhon Pathom province. This marks the country’s first official confirmation of the disease. [Channel News Asia]
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s special envoy, Cao Jianming, attended Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega’s inauguration ceremony in Managua on Monday. The envoy also met with Ortega prior to the ceremony to exchange views on deepening future cooperation. [Gobal Times]
Europe
German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck said the country is likely to miss climate targets for 2022 again after missing them last year, citing the inadequacy of climate protection measures taken so far across all sectors. While presenting Germany’s 2021 climate account in Berlin on Tuesday, Habeck said the country needs to triple the pace of emissions cuts to attain its 2030 targets. [Euractiv]
On Tuesday, Poland’s COVID-19 related death toll crossed the 100,000 mark amid a rise in infections. Health Minister Adam Niedzielski called it an “especially sad day.” Poland has a much higher COVID-19 death rate of over 57 per one million inhabitants compared to America’s 35 and Russia’s 37. Additionally, Poland has a comparatively lower rate of vaccinated population, with 55.8% of the population fully vaccinated compared to the European Union’s 68.7%. Officials suggest vaccine hesitancy and lack of willingness to follow COVID-19 restrictions is behind the recent surge in cases. [Reuters]
The United Kingdom and Oman signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen their economic ties and further commercial investments, specifically in sustainable energy and technology. This will effectively increase high-value investments in both countries. [UK Government]
Latin America and the Caribbean
Brazil’s annual inflation hit a rate of over 10% by the end of 2021, government statistics showed on Tuesday. This is the highest rate of annual inflation in the country since 2015. [Reuters]
Argentina protested the presence of a senior Iranian official in Managua on Tuesday for the swearing-in ceremony of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. Argentina accused Iranian official Mohsen Rezaei, a former leader of Iran’s paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, of planning the “terrorist” bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people in 1994. Rezaei is wanted in Argentina on an Interpol Red Notice for his role. [Associated Press]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
The United Nations (UN) on Tuesday extended the delivery of cross-border humanitarian aid for six months to the besieged rebel-held province of Idlib in Syria, via the Bab al-Hawa crossing along the Turkish border, without a new Security Council vote. Russia and China have been opposed to cross-border aid delivery to Syria, citing the violation of Syrian sovereignty, and have vetoed UNSC resolutions to extend aid through the corridor. [Daily Sabah]
17 civilians were killed in an Ethiopian drone strike in Tigray on Monday when United States President Joe Biden held a phone talk with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed about ending the war. [Associated Press]
North America
145,982 people were hospitalised in the United States (US) with COVID-19 on Tuesday, breaking the previous record of 142,000 hospitalisations set in January 2021. The massive surge in cases has been fuelled by the highly transmissible Omicron variant with unvaccinated people driving up hospitalisations. The US is averaging 70,000 cases per day with many of them being mild. But deaths are also going up with an average of 1,600 per day. [The Hill]
On Tuesday, the United States (US) Justice Department announced plans for establishing a new domestic terrorism unit as America faces an uptick in violent extremist cases. The head of the department’s National Security Division Matthew Olsen said, “the number of FBI investigations of suspected violent extremists has more than doubled since the spring of 2020,” during his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The new unit will alleviate work from the present department that works on international and domestic terrorism cases. [NPR]
Oceania
On Wednesday, Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned of the impending challenge to keep things moving amid the supply chain and workforce crisis. While speaking on the call with senior ministers and top department officials, Morrison stressed the need to keep the country and the vaccine programme moving to ensure supply chains remain intact. [News.com.au]
Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic’s saga continues as he faces new questions over inconsistencies in his positive COVID-19 result. In a social media post on Wednesday, Djokovic addressed the inconsistencies and said he made an “error of judgement” by participating in an interview despite testing positive for the virus. The discrepancies could add to Djokovic’s possible deportation as Australia’s Immigration Minister Alex Hawke mulls the use of his discretionary powers to cancel Djokovic’s visa for the second time on public safety grounds. [The Age]
Sub-Saharan Africa
Rwanda and Mozambique on Tuesday signed a security agreement that expands their respective security forces’ cooperation. The deal allows the extension of the Rwandan troops’ stay in the Cabo Delgado Province. Rwandan troops were deployed in Mozambique six months ago to fight insurgents. [The East African]
Nigeria is set to conduct its first Digital Census in May 2022. The digitalisation “will make it very easy for a reliable and credible census,” Nasir Isa Kwarra, Nigeria’s head of the National Population Commission, announced on Monday. [Africa News]