Situation Reports

The new Fijian government led by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka suspended a security deal with China that allowed Chinese police to train Fijian police, Reuters reported Jan. 26.

Japanese lawmaker Shigeharu Aoyama of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party claimed on Jan. 26 that Tokyo's impending restrictions on semiconductor exports to China are "100 percent sure" to provoke Chinese retaliation, the South China Morning Post reported Jan. 27.

A gunman attacked the Azerbaijani Embassy in Tehran, Iran, killing the head of security and wounding two guards, Al Jazeera reported Jan. 27.

The U.S. Treasury Department designated the Russian private mercenary organization Wagner Group as a "significant transnational criminal organization" and imposed sanctions on multiple individuals and organizations part of a transnational network supporting its operations, The Wall Street Journal reported Jan. 26.

A Jan. 26 report released by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime found that opium cultivation in Myanmar increased by 33% in 2022, as the country's war-torn economy drives the junta, rebel groups and farmers to increasingly rely on the drug trade for income, the Straits Times has reported.

France will withdraw its troops from Burkina Faso in the next 30 days in accordance with Burkinabe demands, Reuters reported Jan. 25, citing an announcement made by the French Foreign Ministry.

According to a study conducted by the Global Development Policy Center at Boston Univerity, China has significantly reduced the scale of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) financing in recent years as part of a strategic shift that has seen Beijing focus on more "small [and] beautiful" projects (i.e. those that are lower value and higher quality) while avoiding projects on indigenous lands and at-risk habitats, the South China Morning Post reported Jan. 26.

The United States and the European Union are discussing a deal on minerals and critical raw materials that the United States would treat as a free trade area, Bloomberg reported on Jan. 25.

Lawmakers from the leftist parties Peru Libre, Cambio Democratico and Peru Democratico signed a motion seeking to impeach Peruvian President Dina Boluarte, who has just completed her first month in the position, on the basis of "permanent moral incapacity," La Republica reported Jan. 26. 

Iraq's Federal Supreme Court ruled that Baghdad's payment of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government's financial entitlements violated the 2021 budget law and ultimately the Iraqi constitution, Rudaw Media Network reported Jan. 25.