On January 30, North Korea launched what is thought to be the country’s longest-range missile tested since 2017, according to BBC News. states that the missile launched at a high trajectory with the apparent goal to avoid their neighbor’s territorial space, reaching a maximum altitude of 2,000 kilometers and traveling 800 kilometers.
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Concerns regarding the impact on Afghanistan’s opium trade have been largely elusive from global conversations since the Taliban reclaimed control of Afghanistan last August, despite its prominence as a multi-billion dollar industry. Reuters reports the United States government has spent more than $8 billion in an unsuccessful effort to eradicate it.
Read MoreThe Biden administration ‘reluctantly’ reactivated the controversial “Remain in Mexico” policy on December 6, despite efforts taken by United States President Joe Biden to permanently end it on his first day in office, NPR reports. The policy, which was initially implemented under the Trump administration in 2019, targets single men, women, and family units, but will not affect unaccompanied minors.
Read MoreOn Monday, December 6, Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to India to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discuss the maintenance and growth of relations between the two states. In just his second international trip since the global emergence of COVID-19, Putin’s arrival comes amid complex geopolitical developments throughout Asia.
Read MoreSeveral African nations are pushing back against what they call a discriminatory imposition of travel bans on countries in Southern Africa following the emergence of the Omicron COVID-19 variant. The protests come amidst the fact that despite cases of the new variant being discovered in several countries, including Israel, Hong Kong, The United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and The Czech Republic, travel bans have only been placed against countries in Africa, reports CNN.
Read MoreOn November 26, 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) distinguished the COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529, or Omicron. Although South Africa was the first nation to report the Omicron variant to WHO on November 24, scientists are unsure of where and when it originated. According to The Washington Post, the variant has been detected all over the world, including in the United States, UK, EU, Israel, Hong Kong, and Botswana.
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New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced at the beginning of the month that Auckland, the largest city in the country, is scheduled to ease COVID-19 restrictions promptly, according to Reuters.
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Early results from the Nicaraguan general election on November 7 indicate that incumbent President Daniel Ortega has won by a landslide, BBC News reports. The result was unsurprising to many onlookers across the globe, as President Ortega secured nearly 76 percent of the vote, winning his fourth consecutive term in office.
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Belarus has come under fire from the European community for what is seen as an orchestrated attempt to destabilize Poland and Lithuania and pressure the EU to relax sanctions on President Aleksandr Lukashenko’s regime in Belarus. These tensions stem from an ongoing border crisis, in which migrants are being systematically pressured, in part by Belarusian officials, to enter Europe through Belarus’s border with Poland and Lithuania.
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The government of Turkmenistan continues to claim it is free of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite growing backlash from opposition groups abroad and a visit from the World Health Organization (WHO). The Central Asian former Soviet Republic is one of nine nations that has yet to report a single COVID-19 case, according to ABC News.
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