President Joe Biden issued an executive order (White House) aimed at beefing up the United States’ cyber defenses days after a cyberattack forced a major fuel pipeline to shut down.

The order will require software sold to the federal government to meet a slate of new cybersecurity standards (NYT), create a review board akin to those that investigate airline accidents, and demand that all federal agencies encrypt data, among other provisions. Analysts said the new federal guidelines will likely trickle down to the private sector (WaPo).  The order has reportedly been in the works for months (NPR) and follows a string of major cyberattacks, including the so-called SolarWinds hack by suspected Russian agents and the recent ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline. The latter forced the closure of one of the largest U.S. pipelines, leading to long lines at gas stations in some states. Colonial announced yesterday that it is resuming operations.

The U.S. State Department lambasted China’s repression of Uyghur Muslims (SCMP) and other religious groups in its annual report on religious freedom around the world. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that a former Chinese Communist Party official, Yu Hui, will be denied entry to the United States for his involvement in the detention of Falun Gong practitioners.

This Backgrounder looks at religion in China.

Taiwan: A power plant outage triggered widespread rolling blackouts (WaPo) on the island. A drought has sharply curtailed the supply of hydroelectricity as demand soars due to a heat wave.

India reported more than four thousand deaths (Reuters) from COVID-19 for the second day in a row. New cases remained below four hundred thousand, but cases and deaths are likely being undercounted. There is growing concern about the transmissibility of a virus variant first detected in India that has now spread to other countries in the region.

This In Brief explains the problem of underreporting COVID-19 cases and deaths.

Kazakhstan: President Qasym-Jomart Toqayev signed into law a much-debated bill banning the sale of agricultural land (RFE/RL) to foreigners. The law was passed in response to mass protests over the government’s plans to attract foreign investment.

The U.S. deputy assistant secretary for Israeli-Palestinian affairs, Hady Amr, will meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials today in an effort to end the fighting in Gaza (TOI). At least eighty-three people in Gaza and seven in Israel have been killed in the recent violence (Haaretz), the worst since 2014.

Yemen: The UN Security Council called for an immediate cease-fire (AP) in the country, singling out an offensive by Houthi rebels in the governorate of Marib.

Somalia rejected the African Union’s (AU) appointment (Nation) of former Ghanaian President John Mahama as a mediator for Somalia’s tensions with Kenya. Somalia argued that Mahama has close ties with Kenya and therefore cannot be a neutral arbiter.

Sudan: Two people were killed and more than a dozen were wounded in a shooting outside the country’s military headquarters, where people had gathered to mark the anniversary (Nation) of a 2019 protest. The army said it is investigating the incident.

Anticorruption prosecutors are investigating Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (Politico) for allegedly lying to a parliamentary commission conducting a probe into the so-called Ibiza scandal that ended his coalition in 2019. Kurz has denied any wrongdoing.

Bulgaria: Stefan Yanev took over as the country’s caretaker prime minister, pledging to uphold the rule of law and hold fair elections in July. Yanev was appointed by the president (RFE/RL) after elections last month failed to produce a government.

More than sixty environmental groups called on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a group of mostly wealthy countries, to reject Brazil’s application (MercoPress) for membership, citing deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest and other violations of international climate accords.

Haiti: The United States urged the Organization of American States to quickly assemble a mission (Miami Herald) to Haiti to help resolve the political and insecurity crises in the country.

This photo essay looks at Haiti’s latest power struggle.

The COVID-19 pandemic was a “preventable disaster” (NPR) that exposed the weaknesses of national and international preparedness, an independent panel set up by the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a report. The panel said the WHO took too long to declare a public health emergency and faulted governments for wasting time, calling February 2020 a “lost month.”