Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked federal emergency powers (CBC) to quell ongoing protests in and around the capital, Ottawa, against COVID-19 vaccine mandates. In the first use of such powers since 1970, the government gave police new authority to levy fines and jail people and ordered banks to halt the flow of funds to protesters.

Hours before Trudeau’s announcement, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said they seized a truck full of arms (Guardian) at a blockade near the U.S. border. The Canadian military is not being called in, Trudeau specified. Meanwhile, a data leak revealed that more than half of the donors to a crowdfunding site in support of the protests were from the United States (CBC).

Asian countries’ military spending rose 2.8 percent (Nikkei) despite an inflation-adjusted decline of 1.8 percent globally, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. China accounted for 43 percent of Asia’s spending growth.
 
For Foreign Affairs, Thomas Sugart and Van Jackson debate who is to blame for Asia’s arms race.
 
South Korea: The official campaign period for the country’s presidential election began today (SCMP). A poll published yesterday showed the liberal ruling party’s Lee Jae-myung slightly trailing (Yonhap) Yoon Suk-yeol, of the conservative People Power Party.
 
For the Asia Unbound blog, Jennifer Ahn explains why housing prices have become a central issue in South Korea’s election.

The countries’ interior ministries set up the forum (Al Jazeera) to monitor security, trade, and travel on their shared border. Islamabad and Tehran are seeking to increase economic engagement, Iran’s interior minister said.
 
India: A dispute over whether women and girls can wear Islamic headscarves in schools has spread from the state of Karnataka (Reuters) to India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, where a group of young men petitioned a college to ban the attire.

Naftali Bennett yesterday became the first Israeli prime minister (Haaretz) to visit Bahrain, where he is expected to meet with the king and other top officials. Last year, Bahrain became the first Arab state to normalize ties with Israel in decades, signaling the countries’ unified opposition against Iran.
 
Afghanistan/Doha: During a meeting with Taliban envoys yesterday, diplomats from Gulf Cooperation Council countries called for a national reconciliation plan (Al Jazeera) in Afghanistan that respects women’s right to work and go to school.

Lawmakers voted to end a six-month state of emergency (AP) after only three months amid a continued effort to end the war in the country’s north.
 
France/Mali: Conditions are no longer in place (Reuters) for France to continue its antiterrorism activities in Mali, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said. France plans to redeploy its troops to other Sahel countries.

Russia’s military announced that some troops will return to their bases (WaPo) after completing drills near Ukraine, even as more than thirty ships carry out a live-fire exercise in the Black Sea. Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met with Russian President Vladimir Putin today.
 
This In Brief compares the Russian and Ukrainian militaries.
 
Russia: Jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s fraud trial began today (BBC). Navalny could have his sentence extended by more than a decade.

The request will be assigned to a Honduran judge (Univision) today. Former President Juan Orlando Hernandez left office last month, and it is a U.S. Department of Justice policy not to indict sitting heads of state. 

The efforts include nearly $10 billion in funding (CNN) for “clean hydrogen” manufacturing and the creation of a task force to promote the use of low-carbon and carbon-neutral materials in manufacturing supply chains.