Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis has wreaked havoc on the nation, and new reports suggest that the conflict will only continue to get worse in the coming months. BBC News says that fighting between government and Tigray forces has led to roadblocks on key transport routes, resulting in a humanitarian aid blockade and rendering aid distribution to the region nearly impossible.
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On April 25, the head of the European Union announced that American tourists who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will be permitted to visit the bloc’s countries over the summer, reports The New York Times.
Read MoreThe Russian Defense Ministry has announced the withdrawal of its troops from the Ukrainian border following a massive military buildup last week. According to Euronews, Moscow called for all troops to return to their permanent bases, signaling the potential end to a massive escalation of tensions with the West.
Read MoreOn April 22, the UK Parliament unanimously declared that China has been committing genocide and crimes against humanity in the Xinjiang region, CNN reports. Xinjiang is home to the Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic group, and other minorities.
Read MoreThe newly re-elected president of Chad, Idriss Déby, was pronounced dead on Tuesday, April 20, after being attacked by Front for Change and Concord rebels (otherwise known as FACT). Déby, who was 68 years old, was visiting the front lines when he was shot. The details of the events leading up to Déby’s death are uncertain, with the Chadian Military and FACT stating different timelines leading up to the incident. CNN reports that FACT troops had overrun a military garrison, and Déby was shot while fleeing. The Chadian government has denied these claims.
Read MoreA massive fire at a hospital in Baghdad injured 110 people and killed more than 80 as officials are still searching for missing people. An exploding oxygen cylinder started the fire at the Ibn al-Khatib Hospital, an institution dedicated to serving COVID-19 patients with severe symptoms, reports The Associated Press.
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President Joe Biden has foregone the precedent of his predecessors by becoming the first U.S. president to formally recognize the mass killings of over one million Armenians as genocide. The acknowledgement comes over a century after the Ottoman Turks perpetrated the mass killings, and in spite of possible complications for U.S.-Turkey relations.
Read MoreEvery four minutes, someone dies from COVID-19 in Delhi, India. Smoke from mass cremation sites covered the skies in a thick layer, as seen in CNN’s drone footage. On Friday, April 30, the country continued its streak of diagnosing over 300,000 new cases in a single day, the ninth consecutive day with over 200,000 total deaths. There is increasing evidence, however, that the death toll may be five to ten times higher than reported, partly due to the country’s large population of nearly 1.4 billion people. India faces a lack of vaccines, hospital beds, vaccines, and oxygen supplies; even crematoriums are struggling to keep up with the pandemic.
Read MoreThe Russia-Ukraine conflict continues to escalate, with a new buildup of Russian troops and military hardware on the shared border of the two countries. Strains began Russo-Ukrainian relations after President Vladimir Putin annexed and seized control of Crimea in 2014, increasing Russian military presence in the area. This, along with Putin’s support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, has caused a seven-year-long conflict between the Ukrainian army and Russian-backed separatists that has claimed at least 14,000 lives, according to CBS News.
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On April 11, 2021, the director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Gao Fu, acknowledged that China’s domestically produced vaccines offer little protection against COVID-19, reports The Associated Press.
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