UN refugee services cut. The UN refugee agency closed four offices and laid off 190 employees in Mexico following the U.S. foreign aid freeze. The agency has supported the work of Mexico’s refugee and asylum agency as it received nearly eighty thousand asylum applications last year—one of the highest levels in the world for 2024. Asylum applications rose in Mexico as the United States tightened its border.
Japan-Philippines security talks. The two countries will launch talks about cross-servicing military supplies and an agreement on security information, Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in Manila. Last year, they agreed to take steps toward mutual troop visits. Ishiba also said Japan would work to recognize the citizenship of people of Japanese descent who were left in the Philippines after World War II.
Vietnam marks war anniversary. Ceremonies in the country today observed the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the war with the United States. Although the Trump administration eased a previous plan to ban its senior diplomats from anniversary events, the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam did not attend the main event today. The administration did not give a reason for the ban. Vietnam’s top leader and the U.S. ambassador stressed the power of reconciliation in recently published essays.
A fridge-free vaccine. The human trial for a vaccine that does not require refrigeration has begun in the United Kingdom (UK). The National Institute for Health and Care Research called the trial a world first; the jab is designed to protect against tetanus and diphtheria. An estimated half of all vaccines are wasted worldwide due to lack of adequate cold temperature storage, according to the World Health Organization.
Iran-E3 nuclear meeting. Iran will hold talks with France, Germany, and the UK on Friday ahead of its next round of nuclear negotiations with the United States on Saturday, Iran’s foreign minister said. The three European countries, a diplomatic grouping known as E3, were also party to a nuclear deal from which the United States withdrew during Trump’s first administration. France’s foreign minister said yesterday that if current nuclear talks fail, France would support the reimposition of UN sanctions on Iran.
Restrictions on Kashmir tourism. India closed around half of the tourist sites in the portion of Kashmir it administers following militants’ killing of twenty-six tourists last week, saying that it is carrying out a security review in the area. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with his country’s security chiefs yesterday and told them they could decide how to respond to the attack, an unnamed source told Reuters. India’s government did not comment.
Clashes near Damascus. Violence between pro-government fighters and those belonging to the minority Druze sect killed at least ten people near Damascus yesterday, a war monitor and activist group said. An agreement with government representatives and local officials that evening committed to ending the fighting, the Associated Press reported. Syria’s interior ministry said it was investigating an audio clip—in which a man reportedly criticized the Prophet Muhammad—that circulated on social media and sparked the fighting.
Mali junta backs term extension. A forum organized by the country’s military government recommended that its leader Assimi Goïta remain in power until 2030 and that all political parties be dissolved. Goïta became the country’s interim leader in 2021 following a coup. The juntas in neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger also announced five-year extensions to their rule within the last year.
