Key Storylines
- AFRICA: Tunisia’s Parliament is set to vote on Prime Minister-designate Hichem Mechichi’s proposed politically independent, technocratic cabinet.
- AMERICAS: Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro was diagnosed with a kidney stone and is set to undergo surgery to remove it.
- ASIA: Ethnic Mongolians in China’s north staged rare protests against government measures reducing the teaching of the Mongolian language in favor of Chinese.
- EUROPE: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is set to visit and meet with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, and is expected to be met with protests against China’s Hong Kong policy in capital Berlin.
- MIDDLE EAST: Saudi Arabia’s monarch King Salman fired Prince Fahd bin Turki bin Abdulaziz Al Said from his role as the Commander of Joint Forces in the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, as part of a corruption probe.
- TECH & COMMUNICATIONS: Chinese-born Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who has been openly critical of President Xi Jinping, was detained in China without any charges.
Top Story
- Hong Kong: City begins mass coronavirus testing amid criticism.
- The city’s government started a free universal Covid-19 testing program which was criticized for being ineffective by a health workers union and is facing a boycott after activists raised concern it could be misused for surveillance.
- The program is the first direct help from China’s health officials to the city, and will see a team of 60 workers from mainland China conducting the coronavirus tests.
- More than 500,000 people in the city of 7.5 million have currently signed-up for the program that has become another political flash point in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
- The number of coronavirus infections in Hong Kong remains comparatively low, with the city reporting just under 5,000 confirmed infections until now.
- Reporting: Reuters, AP, BBC
Africa
- Guinea: The country’s ruling party confirmed that President Alpha Conde will seek a controversial third term in office after months of speculation. (AFP)
- Namibia: The country’s flagship Hosea Kutako International Airport reopened and is making preparations for the resumption of international flights. (Xinhua)
- Tunisia: Parliament is set to vote on Prime Minister-designate Hichem Mechichi’s proposed politically independent, technocratic cabinet. (Reuters)
- South Africa: The country’s state-owned companies, the Post Office and broadcaster SABC, requested billions of rand in financial support citing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. (Reuters)
Americas
- Brazil: President Jair Bolsonaro was diagnosed with a kidney stone and is set to undergo surgery to remove it. (AFP)
- Canada: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government reached an agreement in principle with both Novavax and Johnson & Johnson for supplies of their experimental coronavirus vaccines. (Reuters)
- Venezuela: Embattled President Nicolas Maduro said he was pardoning more than 100 people including dozens of political opponents who are either in prison or in exile. (AP)
Asia
- China: Ethnic Mongolians in the country’s north staged rare protests against government measures reducing the teaching of the Mongolian language in favor of Chinese. (BBC)
- Philippines: President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesperson said the country will continue with its infrastructure projects involving Chinese firms blacklisted by the United States, as the country is “not a vassal state of any foreign power”. (Reuters)
- Taiwan: Visiting Czech Senate speaker Milos Vystrcil said “‘I am a Taiwanese’,” as he quoted former US President John F. Kennedy’s defiance of Communism in Berlin in 1963 in his speech to the country’s Parliament, in remarks likely to further anger China. (Reuters)
Europe
- Region: Turkey extended its Oruc Reis exploration vessel’s seismic survey mission into a disputed region of the Eastern Mediterranean to September 12, earning a rebuke from neighboring Greece. (Reuters)
- Belarus: Several election workers told the media that they saw ballot fraud or were pressured to falsify results in favor of President Alexander Lukashenko. (AP)
- Germany: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is set to visit and meet with Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, and is expected to be met with protests against China’s Hong Kong policy in capital Berlin. (DPA)
- Russia: The country is the fourth to have passed a million confirmed cases of Covid-19, as schools across the country reopened for the new academic year. (Bloomberg)
Middle East
- Region: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the UAE betrayed the Islamic world and Palestine by striking a deal toward normalizing relations with Israel. (Reuters)
- Region: Saudi Arabia’s monarch King Salman fired Prince Fahd bin Turki bin Abdulaziz Al Said from his role as the Commander of Joint Forces in the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, as part of a corruption probe. (Deutsche Welle)
- Region: Israel’s military reportedly fired missiles on areas south of Syria’s capital Damascus, killing two soldiers and wounding seven others. (AP)
- Lebanon: French President Emmanuel Macron warned the country’s politicians of sanctions if they do not make reforms in the next three months. (Reuters)
Tech & Communications
- Media: Chinese-born Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who has been openly critical of President Xi Jinping, was detained in China without any charges. (Deutsche Welle)
World
- Cyclones:
- Typhoon Maysak
- Location: 144 nautical miles South of Kadena Air Base, Japan
- Wind: 115 mph
- Movement: N-NW at 18 mph
- Map
- Typhoon Maysak
- Hurricanes: Nothing to report.
- Earthquakes:
- Chile
- Location: 78 km NW of Vallenar, Chile
- Magnitude: 6.8
- Depth: 23 km
- Map
- Chile
- Volcanoes: Nothing to report.
- Global Disease Outbreaks:
- COVID-19 Coronavirus Disease: Global
- Confirmed Cases as of 01SEP20: 25,500,870
- Total Recovered Cases as of 01SEP20: 16,833,727
- Deaths as of 01SEP20: 850,879
- Countries with Confirmed Cases: 188
- Sourcing: John Hopkins University
- Ebola Virus Disease: DR Congo (11th Ebola outbreak figures from Equateur Province)
- Confirmed Cases as of 23AUG20: 98
- Probable Cases as of 23AUG20: 4
- Deaths as of 23AUG20: 44
- Sourcing: WHO
- COVID-19 Coronavirus Disease: Global
Tomorrow’s Outlook (02SEP20)
- Global: The 75th anniversary of Japan’s WWII surrender.
- Global: Senior Chinese foreign affairs official Yang Jiechi will visit Myanmar, Spain and Greece. (to 04SEP)
- Middle East: Qatar will speak at the International Court of Justice on the case it brought forward to the court that the UAE’s measures against Qatar after the Gulf diplomatic crisis amounted to racial discrimination.
- Europe: Turkey to conduct military exercises in the Eastern Mediterranean.
- Europe: The European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs will hold an extraordinary meeting and meet with German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz.
- Brazil: The Supreme Court will examine the corruption case that led to the dismissal of Rio de Janeiro’s governor Wilson Witzel.
- Bulgaria: Protests expected as Parliament debates and votes on Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and party’s proposed constitutional changes.
- France: The trial of those accused of being accomplices to the 2015 attack on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper will begin.
- Germany: Germany’s Federal Bank Chairman Jens Weidmann is scheduled to deliver a speech.
- The Holy See: Pope Francis will resume his weekly general audiences with the public in-person, with coronavirus measures and restrictions.
- India: A parliamentary panel will question Facebook executives on hate speech rules.
- Iraq: French President Emmanuel Macron will visit.
- Japan: Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, who is being viewed as a top contender to succeed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, will hold a press conference.
- Mauritius: Japan will dispatch a third relief team to assist in the country’s clean-up efforts following an oil leak from a Japanese freighter that ran aground near the island country’s coast.
- Poland: The country will ban flights from 44 countries due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
- United States: President Donald Trump will visit North Carolina.
- Zimbabwe: The corruption trial of former Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko to be held. (to 04SEP)
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