In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Union (EU) plans to cut its reliance on Russian gas by as much as 80 percent this year, Bloomberg reported. EU officials plan to seek new gas supplies, boost energy efficiency, and introduce a massive bond-buying program (Bloomberg) to fund increased energy and defense spending. British oil giant Shell said it will stop new purchases of oil and gas (BBC) from Russia.
 
Meanwhile, Ukraine began evacuating civilians (RFE/RL) from the eastern city of Sumy using a humanitarian corridor. Ukraine’s defense ministry said Russia’s forces attacked a humanitarian corridor that the countries agreed upon for the southern city of Mariupol. 

In May, Michelle Bachelet will become the first UN high commissioner for human rights to visit China since 2005, her office said. She will visit the Xinjiang region (Reuters), where tens of thousands of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities have been arbitrarily detained in so-called reeducation camps.
 
This Backgrounder explains China’s repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
 
Australia: At least twenty people have died (AFP) and tens of thousands evacuated their homes over the past week as floods inundate Australia’s east coast.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is expected to triumph (Nikkei) in Uttar Pradesh’s state elections, which are seen as a bellwether for the 2024 national elections.
 
Sri Lanka: The central bank said it plans to allow the country’s currency to devalue (Bloomberg) amid an ongoing economic crisis.

Iranian state media reported that the country launched its second reconnaissance satellite (Al Jazeera) into space. The news comes days after satellite imagery suggested a launch had failed.
 
U.S./Bahrain: The countries held their second strategic dialogue (State Dept.) as Bahrain’s prime minister, Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, visited Washington. Bahrain joined the Artemis Accords, a U.S.-led framework for the responsible exploration of space.

Kenya’s government will partner (AP) with vaccine maker Moderna to construct an mRNA vaccine factory, which Moderna hopes will produce up to five hundred million doses of a variety of vaccines per year for African countries.
 
This Backgrounder looks at global COVID-19 vaccine efforts.
 
Ethiopia: The UN human rights office reported that air strikes “apparently carried out by the Ethiopian Air Force” have killed 304 people since November (Reuters).

The doubling of nickel prices is the latest fluctuation in commodity markets (FT) due to supply chain uncertainties prompted by the war in Ukraine.
 
CFR provides a suite of resources with everything to know on the war in Ukraine.

Opposition parties plan to present an impeachment bid (Bloomberg) against President Pedro Castillo today. It will come in the wake of corruption probes against Castillo’s allies.
 
For Foreign Affairs, Michael Shifter looks at the bad Peruvian politics that led to Castillo’s election.
 
Brazil: Former Sao Paulo Governor Geraldo Alckmin formalized his move (Reuters) from the center-right Brazilian Social Democratic Party to the Brazilian Socialist Party in order to be former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s running mate in October’s presidential election.

President Joe Biden proposed a rule that would tighten limits (NYT) on pollution from buses, delivery vans, and other heavy trucks for the first time in more than twenty years.