The News Roundup — International

WAMU 88.5

Published February 25, 2021 at 5:10 PM CST

A Covax tag is displayed on a shipment of Covid-19 vaccines from the Covax global vaccination program, at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra. Ghana received the first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines from Covax, a global scheme to procure and distribute inoculations for free, as the world races to contain the pandemic.

The Biden administration conducted its first known military offensive operation this week. The U.S. launched airstrikes in Syria aimed at militia groups backed by Iran. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least 22 militiamen were killed.

The Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Luca Attanasio, was killed in an attack on a United Nations convoy earlier this week. His driver, Mustapha Milambo, and another Italian official, Vittorio Iacovacci, also died. They were attacked near the city of Goma while they were traveling to a World Food Program site.

The government in Hong Kong says that candidates for local office will now be required to swear loyalty to Beijing and the Communist Party.

From The Guardian’s reporting:

Government critics and western leaders have accused Beijing of going back on its word and effectively ending the “one country, two systems” framework for governing the financial hub.

The bill allows for the rules to be applied retrospectively and extends oath-taking requirements to district councillors – local politicians who, since elections in late 2019, are overwhelmingly pro-democratic. Under the amendments they must pledge allegiance to Hong Kong as a special administrative region of China, and the city’s mini-constitution, the basic law.

In a historic case, a Syrian agent was convicted in Germany for complicity in crimes against humanity. The BBC reports Eyad al-Gharib, 44, was charged with bringing at least 30 protesters to a prison in Damascus to be tortured in 2011. The case is the first of its kind.

And the push to distribute vaccines for COVID-19 continues around the world. We get to those stories, get the latest on the airstrikes and more on this global edition of the News Roundup.