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Afghanistan fighting
Afghanistan says government forces plan a counteroffensive against the Taliban militant group in the northern provinces of the country. National security adviser Hamdullah Mohib said the military did not expect the Taliban offensive, but would absolutely counterattack. This comes as more than 1,000 Afghan troops have fled into neighboring Tajikistan after clashes with Taliban militants. That is according to a statement by Tajikistan’s national security committee. The statement also said the Taliban had taken full control of six districts in the Badakhshan province bordering Tajikistan and Afghanistan’s northeast. Taliban militants have launched several major offensives in northern Afghanistan in recent weeks.
COVAX Venezuela failure
Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro, has strongly criticized the COVAX system for failing to deliver his country's share of coronavirus vaccines. Maduro said he gave precise instructions to his vice president to give an ultimatum to the global vaccine-sharing scheme this week. COVAX officials say Venezuela's payments have been blocked by International financial services, including the UBS. The Latin American country needs to make payments to COVAX in foreign currency using its domestic banks. That is because the United States’ economic sanctions have hampered the country’s ability to make bank transfers necessary to pay for COVAX vaccines. Venezuela has recorded more than 277,000 cases of coronavirus, and its vaccination rollout has been very slow.
Zuma defiance
Former South African President Jacob Zuma says he will not surrender to police by a court-set deadline to start a jail term for contempt. Zuma said sending him to prison would be "the same as sentencing him to death." He noted that constitutional democracy should mean no one is above the law. A South African court has agreed to hear Zuma’s challenges to a jail term given to him for failing to appear before a commission investigating a graft scandal. The former leader asked the court to annul his sentence on the grounds that it is excessive and could expose him to COVID-19. The former president is beset by multiple sleaze and graft scandals during his tenure between 2009 and 2018.
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