President Jovenel Moïse of Haiticlaims he survived a coup attempt on Sunday. Leading opposition figures say there was no coup attempt — and that Moïse is no longer president.
Why it matters: Haiti’s prolonged political crisis is coming to a head over the question of whether Moïse’s term ended on Sunday or will end on Feb. 7, 2022. This is just the latest flashpoint in a cycle of delayed elections, public frustration and fraying political legitimacy in the impoverished Caribbean nation.
In her first interview since leaving the National Security Council, where she served from 2017 to 2021 as senior director for South and Central Asia, Lisa Curtis tells Axios that the Biden administration should put democracy promotion high on its agenda in the Indo-Pacific.
Why it matters: The Biden administration has made the Indo-Pacific a top focus of its newly formed National Security Council. That's a continuation from the Trump administration in terms of emphasis, if not necessarily in terms of strategy.
Colombia will provide temporary protective status to undocumented Venezuelan migrants, President Ivan Duque said Monday in a joint announcement with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.
Why it matters: For years, Colombia has seen an influx of people fleeing economic and political turmoil in Venezuela. More than half of the 1.7 million Venezuelans in Colombia are undocumented.
Germany, Sweden and Poland each expelled a member of Russian Embassy staff on Monday in retaliation for the Kremlin's expulsion of their own diplomats, which came after they were accused of attending "unlawful" rallies in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Why it matters: The tit-for-tat move represents an escalation in tensions between Russia and Europe. The EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, who was meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov when the expulsion of EU diplomats was announced last week, has called the Navalny case "a low point in our relations.”
Everything seems to be on the right track with the coronavirus in the U.S., finally. Vaccinations are going up and cases are going down. But variants could mess it all up.
Driving the news: South Africa hit the brakes yesterday on a planned rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine, after a clinical trial appeared to suggest that the shot didn't work against the South African variant — arguably the scariest of the variants.
Australian journalist Cheng Lei has been formally arrested in China after some six months in detention "on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas," Australia's government said.
The big picture: Already strained relations between China and Australia have deteriorated since Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison last year called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
South Africa stopped the distribution of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine on Sunday, after researchers found that the vaccine "provides minimal protection" against infection from the new strain first identified in the country, Reuters reports.
Why it matters: A halted vaccine rollout is a huge setback for South Africa as it struggles to curb the spread of the virus and its variant and the country approaches 50,000 deaths.
Israel intends to ask dozens of allies to convey a "discreet message" to Fatou Bensouda, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), tomorrow and urge her to not move forward with an investigation against Israel on alleged war crimes in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, two Israeli officials tell Axios.
Why it matters: Israel is very concerned any investigation could lead to international arrest warrants against Israel officials and military officers. The Israelis are also concerned such an investigation will boost BDS campaigns against Israel.
President Biden told "CBS Evening News" in an interview set to air Sunday that the U.S. will not lift sanctions against Iran unless the country first stops enriching uranium.
Driving the news: The comments were revealed hours after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised address that the U.S. must first lift all sanctions for Iran to comply with the commitments under the 2015 Iran nuclear accord, which President Trump withdrew the U.S. from in 2018.
Tens of thousands of protesters on Sunday rallied in cities across Myanmar for a second day of anti-coup demonstrations despite an internet shutdown, per Reuters.
Pope Francis has appointed 52-year-old French Sister Nathalie Becquart as an undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, the Vatican announced on Saturday.
Why it matters: She's the first woman to be appointed to the synod, which advises the pope and has voting rights. The pontiff has expressed support for women playing a more leading role in the Catholic Church, though he hasn't advocated to overturn the Vatican's female priesthood ban.
