Law enforcement agencies in more than a dozen countries arrested at least eight hundred people in a global anti-crime operation (WaPo) that tricked suspects into using ANoM, an encrypted messaging app developed by the FBI. An Australian federal police official called the sting (AP) “a watershed moment in global law enforcement history.”  

For nearly three years, law enforcement authorities have watched messages be exchanged on the app in real time, allowing investigations into South American drug cartels, Asian crime groups, and Middle East– and Europe-based crime networks, officials said. In recent days, authorities seized over eight tons of cocaine and more than $48 million in cash and cryptocurrencies. Australian police said they also foiled a planned mass shooting (CNN). Authorities said further investigations based on the operation, named Trojan Shield in the United States, are still underway.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced that Beijing will upgrade its relationship (SCMP) with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to the country’s highest level of diplomatic recognition for regional groups, the same level as its relationship with the European Union. During a meeting of foreign ministers in China, Wang also said Beijing will boost pandemic-related cooperation with ASEAN.
 
This Backgrounder explains ASEAN.
 
China: A new study for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation contests China’s 2020 claim (FT) that it eradicated extreme poverty, saying that Beijing’s definition of poverty was too limited.

After months of conflict between states and the federal government over COVID-19 vaccine procurement, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the federal government will make free vaccines available (Hindu) to all Indians over the age of eighteen by June 21.
 
For Think Global Health, the Population Foundation of India’s Poonam Muttreja looks at lessons from the country’s coronavirus crisis.
 
Maldives: Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid was elected president (AP) of the UN General Assembly. He pledged to address vaccine equity, a green economic recovery, and climate change.

The organizers of a march through Jerusalem set for Thursday canceled the event (Haaretz) after Israeli police told them they would not be allowed to pass through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. The march, in which right-wing Jewish groups would have celebrated the 1967 reunification of Jerusalem, was originally scheduled for last month but was postponed due to increased Israeli-Palestinian tensions.
 
United Arab Emirates: Abu Dhabi plans to invest (FT) $6 billion in museums and other creative-sector projects over the next five years as part of efforts to diversify its economy away from oil, the emirate’s top culture and tourism official said.

The leader of a militant group rivaling Boko Haram was reportedly recorded saying that Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau killed himself (AFP). Shekau’s possible death was first reported two weeks ago. Shekau’s fighters led the kidnapping of 276 Nigerian schoolgirls in 2014.
 
Cameroon: The United States announced it would impose visa sanctions (Reuters) on anyone complicit in the crisis in English-speaking regions of Cameroon, where government forces have clashed with armed separatists since 2017.

The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, also known as Frontex, is unable to carry out its core duties (EU Observer), according to a new audit. The findings showed that the agency expanded based on political rather than technical decisions and that its full costs are unknown.
 
Bosnia: Judges at a UN court in The Hague are due to rule (AP) today on the appeal of former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic on charges related to Bosnia’s 1992–1995 war, including one for genocide. Mladic led the Srebrenica massacre in which more than eight thousand Muslim men and boys were killed and was sentenced in 2017 to life in prison.

During her visit to Guatemala, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced a suite of aid and cooperation measures (White House), including regional task forces on anticorruption and human smuggling, and told prospective migrants not to come (NBC) to the United States. She is in Mexico today and will meet with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
 
This Backgrounder looks at why migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras leave for the United States.
 
Haiti: The country postponed a constitutional referendum (AFP) originally scheduled for June 27, citing concerns over staffing the vote during the pandemic. International observers including the Organization of American States have criticized the referendum (Rio Times) for lacking transparency and being insufficiently participatory.

The websites of some major media organizations and the British government were inaccessible (Guardian) in parts of the world this morning due to an error that was traced to the content delivery network Fastly.