World roundup: January 27 2023

Stories from Israel-Palestine, the Marshall Islands, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and elsewhere

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

SYRIA

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons issued what I gather is its final report on the 2018 chemical weapons incident in the city of Douma on Friday. Unsurprisingly, because the OPCW has never really suggested any other possibility, it pointed its finger at the Syrian government. The Russian and Syrian governments have long claimed that the incident was staged by rebels with US support and documents leaked by a couple of former OPCW employees back in 2019 seemed to suggest that there were irregularities in the OPCW’s investigation. I don’t pretend to have any special insight into these questions and my main interest with this case has been whether or not there will be any significant repercussions over the incident. That seems highly unlikely, this latest report notwithstanding.