Japanese Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai, a key figure from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), said that the July Tokyo Summer Olympics “should be canceled” if proceeding with them becomes too difficult or risky amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Japan Times reported April 15.
Venezuela will restrict its initial COVID-19 vaccine rollout to citizens with a state loyalty card, excluding approximately eight million people (largely opposition members or supporters) from the first stage of the country’s inoculation campaign, Bloomberg reported April 14.
The Chinese military began a six-day exercise of live-fire drills southwest of Taiwan on April 15, the same day that an unofficial U.S. delegation met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei at the request of U.S. President Joe Biden, the South China Morning Post has reported.
Haitian President Jovenel Moise has appointed Foreign Minister Claude Joseph to replace Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe, who unexpectedly announced his resignation via Twitter on April 14 without giving an explanation, Reuters has reported.
The United States is reportedly pressuring Japan to issue a joint statement on Taiwan, which would be the first such top-level statement since 1969, ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s upcoming meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, according to leaks cited by the Financial Times on April 13.
U.S. President Joseph Biden sent an unofficial delegation of three former senior officials to Taiwan on April 13, calling the visit a “personal signal” of the strong U.S. commitment to Taiwan, the South China Morning Post has reported.
The Paris Club of Western creditor countries agreed to a final extension of the Group of 20 (G-20)’s Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) through end-2021, according to an April 13 Paris Club statement.
The United States reportedly considers President Joe Biden’s upcoming Climate Leaders Summit as the last chance for Brazil to restore confidence in its rainforest protection efforts and expand its relations with the White House, Folha de Sao Paulo reported April 13, citing a statement made by the U.S. ambassador to Brazil.
Eurostat, the EU’s statistics agency, announced on April 14 that the eurozone’s industrial output contracted by 1% in February compared with January, and by 1.6% compared with a year ago.
The candidates from Bolivia’s Movement for Socialism (MAS) party lost all four gubernatorial races in La Paz, Tarija, Pando and Chuquisaca during the second round of elections, Deutsche Welle reported April 11, citing preliminary results.
