TAIWAN-CHINA
The video presented by Taiwanese minister Audrey Tang was cut from US President Joe Biden's Democracy Summit at the behest of the White House. The footage showed a map in which China and Taiwan had different colors and this "could be seen as a contradiction to the One China Policy" supported by Washington, U.S. officials said.
SOUTH KOREA-AUSTRALIA
Australia and South Korea have signed a defense agreement worth 630 million euros (corresponding to one billion Australian dollars). The South Korean company Hanwha will provide the Australian military with military vehicles and weapons and radar. It is the most expensive defense contract Australia has ever signed with an Asian nation.
NEPAL
Funding for a U.S. infrastructure project that is supposed to counter China's Belt and Road Initiative is dividing Nepal. The Millennium Challenge Corporation's project has yet to be ratified by Parliament. With a budget of nearly 560 million euros, it includes the construction of a power line and the resurfacing of a highway.
INDONESIA
Starting tomorrow, Indonesia will begin administering Sinovac's Covid-19 vaccine to children between the ages of 6 and 11. Coronavirus cases among 0- to 18-year-olds account for 13 percent of total infections in the country. The Ministry of Health said that from next year, children will only be given Sinovac.
PAKISTAN
Gunmen yesterday killed a Pakistani police officer guarding a polio vaccination center in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The Pakistani Taliban, known by its acronym Ttp, did not claim the attack but conducted a similar one two days earlier. The Ttp recently announced the end of a ceasefire agreement with the government.
AFGHANISTAN
The thousands of Afghans who gather daily to receive their passports must be patient, says the head of the passport office in Kabul. The office was closed a month ago after a breakdown in the equipment that issues the documents. Although it is unclear when the capital's office will resume operations, thousands of people continue to flock in hopes of receiving a document that will allow them to leave the country.
LEBANON
Three Hamas members were killed yesterday during the funeral of a Palestinian who died Friday following an explosion in a refugee camp in Tyre. The head of the pro-Iranian movement denounced the al-Fatah faction as responsible.
RUSSIA
Russia will not carry on the escalation over the control of Ukrainian territories. This is what Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyj assured on December 11, based on the details of his December 9 phone call with U.S. President Joe Biden, who in turn received assurances from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelenskyj has no intention of conducting direct negotiations with Putin, relying on American and European mediation.
