20JUL22 Global Overnight Overwatch Report

Key Storylines

• AFRICA: Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga says no-one will be spared in an anti-corruption campaign he promises to implement if elected president in next month’s poll.
• AMERICAS: Former Trump aide Steve Bannon believed he was “above the law” when he defied a subpoena to testify before lawmakers investigating the 2021 Capitol assault.
• ASIA: China slammed Washington as “a destroyer of peace” in the Taiwan Strait, following the latest in a series of passages by US warships through the waterway.
• EUROPE: Ukrainian forces struck and seriously damaged a bridge that is key for supplying Russian troops in the occupied south.
• MIDDLE EAST: Syria is formally breaking diplomatic ties with Ukraine in response to a similar move by Kyiv.
• TECH & COMMUNICATIONS: Google was among the last remaining tech platforms yet to comply with Indonesia’s new licensing rules, as a deadline loomed which may see their services temporarily blocked in the country.

Top Story

• Sri Lanka: Six-Time Prime Minister Wickremsinghe wins Presidency.
  • Sri Lankan lawmakers voted in acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe as the new president, hoping his extensive experience in government would help pull the country out of a crippling economic and political crisis.
  • Official results showed Wickremesinghe polled 134 votes in a parliamentary vote, with his main opponent Dullas Alahapperuma getting 82 and leftist Anura Dissanayake just three giving him an absolute majority.
  • In his acceptance speech to parliament, the new president said, “our divisions are now over.”
  • Speaker Mahinda Abeywardana said the attention of the world was focused on the Sri Lankan legislature as it elected a leader to serve the balance period of Rajapaksa’s term ending November 2024.
  • The current cabinet automatically stands dissolved, and President Wickremsinghe will choose a prime minister to form a new cabinet.
  • Sri Lankans have taken to the street to demand their president and his prime minister step down as the country spiraled into economic chaos that left its 22 million people short of food, fuel, and medicine.
  • Reuters, The Guardian, AFP, BBC, AP, Indian Express

Africa

• Kenya: Opposition leader Raila Odinga says no-one will be spared in an anti-corruption campaign he promises to implement if elected president in next month’s poll. (BBC)
• Mozambique: A court sentenced a woman to 30 years in prison for kidnapping two minors for ransom in the central city of Beira. (BBC)
• Nigeria: President Muhammadu Buhari has given the country’s education and labor ministers two weeks to end the prolonged lecturer’s strike. (BBC)
• South Africa: The acting public protector will issue a subpoena for President Cyril Ramaphosa to answer questions about the robbery at his game farm in 2020, in which $4m (£3.3m) is alleged to have been stolen. (BBC)
• Togo: Foreign Minister Robert Dussey met Ivorian officials in Abidjan for talks on 49 Ivorian soldiers who were arrested in Mali earlier this month. (BBC)

Americas   

• Argentina: The peso surpassed the psychological barrier of 300 pesos per US dollar in the black market, hitting a record low as it traded down 3% from the previous day. (Reuters)
• Mexico: Three migrants and two citizens are dead and a dozen migrants are recovering from injuries following a highway accident in the north. (AP)
• Panama: Protests paralyze the capital city of Panama City following the breakdown of an agreement between the government and an alliance of unions and associations to freeze the price of fuel. (EFE)
• United States: Former Trump aide Steve Bannon believed he was “above the law” when he defied a subpoena to testify before lawmakers investigating the 2021 Capitol assault. (AFP)
• United States: The Respect for Marriage Act was approved by the US House of Representatives in an effort to provide federal protection for same-sex marriage amid fears the Supreme Court may roll back recognition of such unions. (AFP)

Asia 

• Region: China slammed Washington as “a destroyer of peace” in the Taiwan Strait, following the latest in a series of passages by US warships through the waterway. (AFP)
• China: One person died in a gas explosion that injured 12 others at a six-story residential building in the port city of Tianjin. (AP)
• Indonesia: The Constitutional Court rejected a judicial review of the country’s narcotics law that would have paved the way for legalizing marijuana for medicinal use. (Reuters)
• Myanmar: Amnesty International said the military laid landmines that have killed and injured people in and around villages in Kayah, a conflict-affected region near the border with Thailand. (AP)
• New Zealand: The government launched a new investor migrant visa to attract experienced, high-value investors to invest in domestic businesses. (Reuters)

Europe

• Region: The World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday that coronavirus cases have tripled across Europe in the past six weeks, accounting for nearly half of all infections globally. (AP)
• Greece: Hundreds of people were evacuated as firefighters deployed planes and helicopters to fight a surging wildfire in mountainside suburbs north of Athens for a second day. (AFP)
• Italy: Prime Minister Mario Draghi said that the only way out of a debilitating political crisis was for a new ‘pact’ between bickering parties. (AFP)
• Türkiye: The country will resume drilling operations next month near the island of Cyprus, threatening to spark a new diplomatic row with the EU. (AFP)
• Ukraine: Forces struck and seriously damaged a bridge that is key for supplying Russian troops in the occupied south. (AP)

Middle East

• Afghanistan: The UN said in a new report that despite an improved security situation in the country, at least 700 people have been killed since the Taliban took over last year. (AP)
• Iran: Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Tehran on Tuesday for a summit with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts on Syria. (AFP)
• Iraq: Six police officers were killed and seven wounded in an attack by jihadists on their position in a remote area north of Baghdad. (AFP)
• Israel: The Israeli army said it launched strikes Tuesday on a position belonging to the Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip, after gunfire from the Palestinian enclave. (AFP)
• Syria: Damascus is formally breaking diplomatic ties with Ukraine in response to a similar move by Kyiv. (AP)

Tech & Communications

• Technology: Google was among the last remaining tech platforms yet to comply with Indonesia’s new licensing rules, as a deadline loomed which may see their services temporarily blocked in the country. (Reuters)

World

• Cyclones: Nothing to Report.
• Hurricanes:
  • Tropical Storm Estelle
    • Location: 20.6 N, 119.4 W
    • Wind: 60 mph
    • Movement: W 14 mph
    • Map
• Earthquakes: Nothing to Report.
• Volcanoes: Nothing to Report.
• Global Disease Outbreaks:
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus Disease: Global (as of 20JUL22)
    • Confirmed cases: 565,270,923
    • Deaths: 6,374,571
    • Countries with confirmed cases: 192
    • Sourcing: John Hopkins University

Tomorrow’s Outlook (21JUL22)

• Event: The World Health Organization (WHO) to hold its second International Health Regulations Emergency Committee meeting on monkeypox and consider whether the multi-country outbreak presents a global health threat.
• Asia: The Asian Development Bank to launch the Asian Development Outlook Supplement, which analyzes economies in Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific.
• Belgium: National Day.
• Europe: Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline scheduled to reopen following annual maintenance.
• France: European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to notify in writing 59 judgments and/or decisions concerning Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, and Slovakia.
• Japan: UN global climate change conference begins its final day. (to 21JUL)
• Pakistan: Baloch activists in Pakistan may block entrance of Gwadar port to protest government underinvestment.
• Paraguay: Mercosur Meeting of Economy Ministers.
• Russia: Cosmonauts perform spacewalk from International Space Station.
• Taiwan: Former U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper leads an Atlantic Council delegation during a four-day visit to the island to meet with Taiwanese officials. (to 21JUL)
• United States: The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol holds a hearing.
• United States: The House Committee on Foreign Affairs to hold a virtual event on “US Leadership on A Multilateral Approach to Africa.”
• Vanuatu: The President to be elected by Parliament.

END