The Joe Biden administration formally ended (Dept. of Homeland Security) a policy enacted under the Donald Trump administration that forced around sixty-eight thousand asylum seekers to wait in Mexico until their court dates in the United States. Biden suspended the policy in January.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas wrote that the policy, formally called the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), failed in its stated goal of reducing asylum backlogs. Civil rights groups criticized the program (CNN) as illegal and inhumane because it forced applicants to wait in unsafe conditions. Over eleven thousand migrants were processed into the United States after the policy was suspended. In April, immigration officials encountered more than 178,000 migrants (CNN) at the U.S.-Mexico border, the highest one-month total in two decades; most were single adults who were quickly expelled.

The eleven member countries of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) agreed to begin negotiations (Kyodo) on the United Kingdom’s accession to the trade agreement. If admitted, the UK would be the first new member.
 
This Backgrounder explains the CPTPP.
 
China: The World Health Organization (WHO) approved Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine (CNN) for emergency use. The shot can now be used in the COVAX global vaccination drive. 

Myanmar’s military junta moved (Bloomberg) jailed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and former President Win Myint from their homes in the country’s capital to an “unknown location,” their political allies said.
 
Sri Lanka: A cargo ship carrying twenty-five tons of nitric acid as well as other chemicals and cosmetics is sinking (Al Jazeera) off Sri Lanka’s west coast, authorities said. It is one of the country’s worst marine disasters.

Lebanon’s financial crisis could rank among the world’s top three worst such crises since the mid-nineteenth century and has “no clear turning point in sight,” according to a new World Bank report. More than half the population is likely below the poverty line.
 
Israel: Isaac Herzog, an opposition leader who ran against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2013 and hails from a prominent political family, was elected Israel’s president (AP), a largely ceremonial role.

After suspending Mali over last week’s military coup, the African Union (AU) said (Reuters) it “will not hesitate to impose targeted sanctions” if a quick and transparent return to a civilian-led government does not occur. The AU previously suspended Mali after a coup last August but restored the country’s membership after a civilian-led government was announced.
 
Ethiopia: An Ethiopian aid worker in the conflict-torn Tigray region was killed Saturday (AP) by a “stray bullet,” his employer, an Italian charity, said. He was the ninth aid worker reportedly killed in Tigray since fighting between the federal government and regional forces began in November.

Seven European Union (EU) countries began accepting digital certificates (NYT) to allow free movement by travelers who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, have recovered from it, or have tested negative within seventy-two hours. All EU countries will use the system by July 1, the European Commission said.
 
This In Brief explains COVID-19 passports.
 
Belarus: Activist Stepan Latypov stabbed himself (BBC) in the neck with a pen during a court appearance after he reportedly said authorities threatened to physically punish him if he did not plead guilty. Latypov was arrested in September on charges of setting up opposition social media and resisting police.

Conservative President Sebastian Pinera said he will support the fast-tracking of a bill (Reuters) to allow same-sex marriage that has languished in Chile’s Congress since 2017.
 
This Backgrounder compares same-sex marriage policies around the world.
 
Costa Rica: On his first visit to Latin America (AFP), U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado Quesada and called on Central American countries to fight corruption and other “root causes” of undocumented migration to the United States.