15NOV21 Global Overnight Overwatch Report

Key Storylines

• AFRICA: The United Nations released $40 million in emergency funds to help provide life-saving humanitarian assistance and protection to civilians caught up in Ethiopia’s conflict.
• AMERICAS: Argentina’s Peronist party is reeling after a midterm vote saw its center-left coalition lose a majority in Congress for the first time in almost 40 years.
• ASIA: US President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping will speak at a virtual summit aimed at defusing some of the tensions that have built up over Taiwan and other flashpoint issues.
• EUROPE: France told Britain to stop “giving lessons” on migrants in a bitter row between London and Paris over the numbers crossing the Channel.
• MIDDLE EAST: Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and UAE de facto ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan will visit Turkey for the first time in years as the regional rivals work to repair strained ties
• TECH & COMMUNICATIONS: Telenor and Google Cloud have teamed up to digitalize the Norwegian telecom company’s global operations and explore ways to jointly offer services to customers.

Top Story

• Myanmar: American journalist Danny Fenster has been released from prison in the country after 11 years.
  • Former US Ambassador to the UN Bill Richardson said American journalist Danny Fenster has been released from prison.
  • A government source said Danny Fenster was being taken to the capital Naypyidaw from Yangon where he was jailed and will be deported.
  • Frontier’s editor-in-chief, Thomas Kean, said in a statement: “We are relieved that Danny is finally out of prison – somewhere he never should have been in the first place.”
  • Fenster was sentenced to 11 years in prison by a military court on charges of incitement, unlawful association, and immigration. He was also facing five charges of incitement, unlawful association, immigration, terrorism, and sedition in Myanmar junta’s court.
  • The release was a positive development in Myanmar after the country’s violent February coup.
  • AP, AFP, Reuters, DPA, NYT

Africa

• Ethiopia: The United Nations released $40 million in emergency funds to help provide life-saving humanitarian assistance and protection to civilians caught up in the country’s conflict. (AFP)
• Kenya: US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is travelling to the country for talks about the war in Ethiopia, as well as the security situation in Sudan and Somalia. (BBC)
• Libya: The country’s military prosecutor Mohamed Gharouda asked the electoral body to halt processing the paperwork for the presidential candidacy of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi. (BBC)
• Sudan: The death toll from the anti-coup protests over the weekend has risen to eight, bringing the total number killed since last month’s military takeover to 23. (AFP)

Americas

• Argentina: The Peronist party is reeling after a midterm vote saw its center-left coalition lose a majority in Congress for the first time in almost 40 years. (Reuters)
• Brazil: President Jair Bolsonaro postponed an event to launch his re-election bid in affiliation with the Liberal Party after talks with the party’s leader. (Reuters)
• Cuba: The government withdrew press credentials from five journalists from the Spanish news agency EFE but later reinstated two of them ahead of a banned protest march by opposition groups. (Reuters)
• United States: Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon is due in court to face criminal charges amid a congressional probe of the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol for refusing to cooperate with the investigation. (Reuters)

Asia

• Region: US President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping will speak at a virtual summit aimed at defusing some of the tensions that have built up over Taiwan and other flashpoint issues. (AFP)
• China: Authorities have sent several thousand students into quarantine in the northeastern city of Dalian. (DPA)
• India: The government allowed fully vaccinated foreign tourists to enter the country on regular flights, in the latest easing of coronavirus restrictions as infections fall and vaccinations rise. (AP)
• Japan: Police said a man attacked an elderly woman with a knife in front of Fukushima station. (AFP)
• Philippines: President Rodrigo Duterte filed his candidacy for a senate seat in next year’s elections, walking back on his vow that he would retire from politics when his term ends. (AP)

Europe

• Belarus: President Alexander Lukashenko said that the country is working to repatriate migrants that have amassed on its border with Poland ahead of an EU meeting over new sanctions on Minsk. (AFP)
• France: The country told Britain to stop “giving lessons” on migrants in a bitter row between London and Paris over the numbers crossing the Channel. (AFP)
• Germany: Berlin urged Moscow to exercise “restraint” at the Ukrainian border amid growing concern about Russian troop movements in the area. (AFP)
• Sweden: Crown Princess Victoria is canceling a trip to the Netherlands because of the three-week partial lockdown in the country. (AP)
• United Kingdom: Police said an explosion in a taxi outside a hospital that killed a man in Liverpool is being treated as a terrorist incident, but the motive remains unclear. (AP)

Middle East

• Iran: Tehran has invited the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency for talks after the UN official expressed concern over a lack of contact with authorities. (AFP)
• Kuwait: The country temporarily handed its crown prince some of the ruling emir’s constitutional duties. (AP)
• Saudi Arabia: The kingdom granted citizenship to a group of expatriates including doctors, clerics, and academics, becoming the second Gulf Arab state to introduce a formal naturalization program for foreigners this year. (Reuters)
• United Arab Emirates: Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and de facto ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan will visit Turkey for the first time in years as the regional rivals work to repair strained ties. (Reuters)

Tech & Communications

• Technology: Telenor and Google Cloud have teamed up to digitalize the Norwegian telecom company’s global operations and explore ways to jointly offer services to customers. (Reuters)

World

• Cyclones: Nothing to report
• Hurricanes: Nothing to report
• Earthquakes: Nothing to report
• Volcanoes:
  • La Palma, Spain
    • Explosive activity continues
    • Erupting
    • Source
  • Global Disease Outbreaks:
    • COVID-19 Coronavirus Disease: Global (as of 15NOV21)
      • Confirmed cases: 253,442,315
      • Deaths: 5,103,223
      • Countries with confirmed cases: 192
      • Sourcing: John Hopkins University

Tomorrow’s Outlook (16NOV21)

• Global: WTO World Trade Report launch.
• Global: UN Security Council to hold open debate on international peace and security, focusing on Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Somalia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the broader Middle East.
• Denmark: Local and Regional Elections.
• Europe: EU reveals latest growth figures.
• Europe: ECB President Christine Lagarde gives an on-stage interview at the Financi’Elles 10th anniversary event.
• France: Indian and French joint counterterrorism military exercise to begin in the French town of Frejus.
• Malaysia: UNWTO Regional Conference on the Empowerment of Women in Tourism in Asia and the Pacific. (to 17NOV)
• Mexico: Revolution Day.
• North Korea: Mother’s Day.
• Singapore: Bloomberg New Economy Forum. (to 19NOV)
• United Kingdom: Prince Charles to visit Jordan and Egypt.
• United States: Commerce Secretary Raimondo continues first official visit to Asia in Singapore. (to 18NOV)
• United States: Secretary of State Blinken continues Africa trip. (to 20NOV)
• United States: House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on administration policy priorities for Latin America and the Caribbean.
• United States: House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on national security implications of climate change in the Arctic.

END