Axios

Félix Tshisekedi has been on a good run.

Driving the news: The president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo took over the chairmanship of the African Union this week. Days earlier, he won a major victory in an ongoing power struggle with his predecessor, Joseph Kabila, by convincing a large swath of parliament to leave Kabila's camp and vote out the speaker, a Kabila ally.

One hundred days into a military campaign in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is attempting to soothe international concerns about alleged war crimes and the grave humanitarian toll.

The state of play: Abiy’s offensive quickly succeeded in removing the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) from power in the regional capital, Mekelle. Federal troops are now attempting to hunt down the leaders who fled and stave off an insurgency.

Chinese regulators banned BBC World News on Thursday, accusing the British broadcaster of a "slew of falsified reporting" on Beijing's coronavirus response and oppression of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, according to Chinese state media.

Why it matters: The move was widely seen as retaliation against the U.K. after Britain's own broadcasting regulator withdrew the operating license for China Global Television Network, citing its control by the Chinese Communist Party.

President Biden told reporters on Thursday that his call Wednesday evening with China's Xi Jinping lasted two hours.

Why it matters: Biden summed up his view on China during the brief remarks from the Oval Office on Wednesday, saying, "If we don't get moving, they're going to eat our lunch."

The board of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) is set to approve a new policy on Sunday that will allow the organization to officially purchase land in the West Bank for the potential expansion of Israeli settlements there, according to a draft resolution I obtained.

Why it matters: A non-governmental organization founded in 1901 to purchase land for Jews to settle in Ottoman Palestine, JNF today owns 15% of all the land in Israel. This major policy shift could funnel hundreds of millions of dollars into the expansion of West Bank settlements, which are considered illegal under international law.

Prices for Chinese consumers in January declined by 0.3% from last year, while prices for producers, or businesses, rose by 0.3%, data showed.

Why it matters: Rising prices for producers in China, the world's No. 1 trading nation, are often the result of increasing commodity costs and typically mean prices will rise for the rest of the world.

A long-held New Zealand requirement for male Members of Parliament to wear ties has been changed after an indigenous leader was ejected from the chamber for refusing to wear one.

Why it matters: Māori Party Co-leader Rawiri Waititi said after Tuesday's incident that wearing a tie, which he likened to a "colonial noose," breached indigenous people's rights. Parliament Speaker Trevor Mallard said Wednesday most of the standing orders committee voted to remove the rule.

Emissions of ozone-depleting CFC chemicals are back on the decline, five years on from a major spike, an international team of researchers has found.

Why it matters: The surprising findings indicate "we should see recovery of the ozone layer back to levels that we saw in 1980" later this century, said Luke Western, lead author of one of two papers published on the matter in the journal Nature Wednesday, per the BBC.

President Biden on Wednesday evening held his first call with Chinese President Xi Jinping since taking office, raising thorny issues including human rights in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.

The big picture: Ahead of the call, senior administration officials offered reporters the most detailed portrait to date of Biden’s policies toward China, and how they will build on — and diverge from — Donald Trump’s approach.

President Biden used a visit to the Pentagon on Wednesday to announce a new department-wide task force to "chart a strong path forward on China-related matters."

Why it matters: Biden is emphasizing early in his tenure that China will be a top priority.

Netanyahu and his allies are publicly pressuring the judges in his corruption trial to postpone the presentation of evidence and witnesses until after Israel's elections on March 23.

What he's saying: “Everybody knows the cases against me are rigged," Netanyahu claimed on Monday. "This is why I don’t think the hearing of witnesses in my trial should begin before the elections because even if it is not the intention, it would look like a flagrant interference in the elections."

President Biden on Wednesday announced a series of steps in response to last week's military coup in Myanmar, including withholding "$1 billion in Burmese government funds" held in the U.S. and imposing sanctions against the military leaders behind the coup.

The big picture: These are the first sanctions announced by the Biden administration and are part of the president's efforts to re-emphasize democracy and human rights in American foreign policy.

The Saudi government is sending signals that it's ready to cooperate on Yemen and make improvements on human rights in an effort to avoid a crisis with President Biden.

Driving the news: Two events on Wednesday underscored those efforts: prominent women's rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul, who led the fight to allow Saudi women to drive, was released from prison; and Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan met in Riyadh with the new U.S. envoy for Yemen, Tim Lenderking.

Ankara — The appointment of a political figure with links to Turkey's ruling party as the rector of a prominent Istanbul university has sparked protests and raised concerns about deepening political intervention in higher education.

The big picture: Turkey ranks 135th of 144 countries on the Academic Freedom Index, and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was in 2016 given the authority to appoint university staff by decree. That was one of numerous steps taken to strengthen his power after a failed coup.

Researchers have discovered new “highly malleable, highly sophisticated” malware from a state-backed Chinese hacker group, according to Palo Alto Network’s Unit 42 threat intelligence team.

Why it matters: The malware “stands in a class of its own in terms of being one of the most sophisticated, well-engineered and difficult-to-detect samples of shellcode employed by an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT),” according to Unit 42.

An Iranian cyber spying group nicknamed Domestic Kitten has “targeted over 1,200 individuals with more than 600 successful infections” since 2017, according to new research by Check Point, an Israeli-U.S. security firm.

Why it matters: Repressive regimes around the world, including Iran, devote significant resources to targeting individuals and organizations they view as potential challengers to their rule or internal stability. Revelations about campaigns like these can help show who precisely these regimes believe are their greatest threats.

A group of Arab and European countries nicknamed “The Munich Group” is lobbying Israeli and Palestinian leaders to commit to a package of confidence-building measures, Israeli and European diplomats tell me.

Why it matters: The initiative from France, Germany, Egypt and Jordan is the only active effort to create some movement in the frozen Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

The decision of an International Criminal Court panel to clear the way for a potential war crimes investigation of Israel is forcing the Biden administration to wade into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict much earlier than anticipated.

Why it matters: The ICC ruling infuriated the Israeli government — and it also underscored their reliance on the Biden administration, senior Israeli officials tell me. After the decision was announced on Friday, Israel immediately opened urgent consultations with U.S. officials.

Two new studies offer a rough one-two punch on climate change — showing the lagging efforts to meet the Paris Agreement's targets and the health effects of the world's current fossil-heavy energy system.

Driving the news: An analysis in the journal Communications Earth & Environment sheds light on what it would take to hold global temperature rise under 2°C above preindustrial levels.

China's first homegrown Mars mission has successfully made it into orbit around the Red Planet, state-run media confirms.

Why it matters: China is now the sixth nation or space agency to operate a spacecraft in orbit around Mars.

The youth wings of Norway's main political parties have signed a letter calling for the country to rescind its normalization agreement with China and stop free trade negotiations due to China's human rights violations.

The big picture: Amid growing global awareness that close economic ties with China can have a chilling effect on free speech, opposition to China's Uyghur genocide is gaining momentum in Norway, where some politicians are fearful of jeopardizing ties with Beijing.

The United Nations on Tuesday stressed the organization's concern over "the use of disproportionate force" against anti-coup demonstrators in Myanmar.

Why it matters: Hours after the UN statement, a woman was critically wounded after being shot in the head as police fired live rounds, rubber bullets and water cannon during another massive anti-coup rally in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw, per the BBC.