Carbon dioxide emissions will rise to a record high in 2023 and continue rising afterward (FT) if countries implement their COVID-19 recovery plans as currently designed, a new International Energy Agency (IEA) report projects. The IEA found that only around 2 percent of the global fiscal response to the pandemic is devoted to clean energy, far short of the investment needed to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 and slow a rise in the global average temperature.
 
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol will present the findings (Guardian) to Group of Twenty (G20) energy ministers this week. The report comes as extreme weather events, such as flooding, wildfires, and heat waves, have pummeled countries around the world in recent weeks. At least twenty-five people died (Reuters) and hundreds of thousands were evacuated from their homes amid flooding in recent days in China’s central Henan Province, where the city of Zhengzhou received a year’s worth of rainfall (BBC) in three days.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman called for Pyongyang (Yonhap) to resume a denuclearization dialogue with Washington. She made the remarks after a meeting among the United States, Japan, and South Korea in Tokyo during which the three countries agreed to increase cooperation.
 
Australia: The International Olympic Committee officially announced that Brisbane will host (SMH) the 2032 Summer Olympics. The city was part of a reformed bidding process (ABC) meant to reduce the cost of hosting the games.
 
This Backgrounder examines the economics of hosting the Olympic Games.

Opposition lawmakers in India disrupted Parliament (Hindustan Times) multiple times to call for a probe into allegations that spyware made by an Israeli firm was used to target opposition politicians such as former Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi.
 
Pakistan: The government again blocked the video-sharing platform TikTok (Dawn) for failing to take down “inappropropriate content.” The app was first banned in October 2020.

Iranian authorities said a police officer was killed yesterday and two civilians were killed on Friday amid ongoing protests over water shortages (Al Jazeera) in Khuzestan, an oil-rich province in the country’s southwest. Sporadic internet blackouts have been reported across Khuzestan in recent days.
 
Tunisia: Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi removed the country’s health minister (AFP) as COVID-19 cases rise, overwhelming Tunisia’s health system.

The United States carried out a drone strike (NYT) against al-Shabab militants in Somalia, its first such strike in the country under the Biden administration, which in January announced new limits on drone strikes outside active war zones.
 
This Backgrounder looks at al-Shabab.
 
Tanzania: Opposition leader Freeman Mbowe and several other leaders of his Chadema party were arrested (Reuters), party officials said. Chadema had been holding meetings on proposals to reform the constitution in the wake of former President John Magufuli’s death in March.

Authorities in Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus said they will reopen part of a town (Reuters) abandoned since Cyprus was split after a Turkish invasion in 1974. The announcement drew rebukes from Greece, the European Union, and the United States. Turkey is the only country to recognize Northern Cyprus as an independent state.
 
UK: The government is expected to announce plans today to overhaul the Northern Ireland protocol (Bloomberg), an agreement that sought to avoid a so-called hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland in the wake of Brexit. A dispute over the protocol has led to tensions between the EU and the United Kingdom.
 
This Backgrounder looks at the future of peace in Northern Ireland.

Colombian President Ivan Duque presented a revised tax plan (AP) after an initial proposal sparked nationwide anti-government protests in April. The new proposal, which aims to fund pandemic-related spending, removes taxes on basic food items. Demonstrators at protests yesterday said the new plan does not do enough to increase spending on education and job creation.
 
Honduras: Former President Porfirio Lobo Sosa, his wife, and three of their children will be barred from entering (UPI) the United States, the U.S. State Department announced, saying the family was involved in “significant corruption” while in office between 2010 and 2014.

Thomas Barrack Jr., a fundraiser for former President Donald Trump, was arrested (NYT) and charged with failing to identify as a foreign lobbyist, lying to investigators, and obstructing justice. Barrack is accused of using his access to Trump to advance the foriegn policy goals of the United Arab Emirates.