World roundup: April 13 2022

Stories from the Solomon Islands, Mali, Ukraine, and more

INTERNATIONAL

In today’s global news:

• Worldometer is tracking COVID-19 cases and fatalities.

• The New York Times is tracking global vaccine distribution.

MIDDLE EAST

YEMEN

The US Navy announced on Wednesday that it’s forming a new task force under the umbrella of the Combined Maritime Forces organization to patrol the Red Sea ostensibly in order to protect commercial traffic. The CMF is a 34 state organization led by whichever vice admiral happens to be commanding the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, headquartered in Bahrain, at any given time. This technically makes this task force “multi-national,” though I’m unclear from the reporting whether any nation other than the US is actually contributing assets to it. The task force will likely start by monitoring for weapons shipments into northern Yemen and/or potential attacks by Yemeni rebels in the Red Sea region, but its remit will likely go beyond just Yemen and could include issues related to the Horn of Africa. Mostly its job will be to show Saudi Arabia and the UAE that America Cares, in hopes that they start pumping more oil or at least stop flirting with China so much.