China on June 21 instated the death penalty for "particularly serious" cases involving supporters of Taiwanese independence. New judicial guidelines outline severe punishments for activities deemed as fragmenting the country or inciting secession. The new standards, entitled "Opinions on Punishing the Crimes of Splitting the Country & Inciting Splitting the Country by 'Taiwan Independence' Diehards," were jointly issued by the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of State Security and the Ministry of Justice. The document sets forth a legal framework with the goal of combatting "separatist" activities by proponents of Taiwan's independence.

The results are in from Mexico's June 2 presidential election and Claudia Sheinbaum of the ruling left-populist National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) has won by some 60%, handily defeating a rival backed by an alliance of the country's more traditional political parties. The former mayor of Mexico City as well as an environmental scientist with a PhD in energy engineering from UC Berkeley, Sheinbaum was a researcher with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) when it earned a Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. Despite this prestigious and somewhat technocratic background, her status as the chosen hier of incumbent populist Andrés Manuel López Obrador has caused her victory to be viewed with suspicion if not panic in elite quarters. Both the peso and Mexican stock exchange slided on the news.

The Karen National Union (KNU) said April 12 that it will establish its own administrative mechanism in territory recently captured from Burma's military in and around the critical trade hub of Myawaddy, on the border with Thailand. The KNU has several departments in its governance structure, including those for health, education, foreign affairs and defense, in territories it controls in seven districts across southeastern Burma, including in Karen (Kayin) and Mon states and Bago and Tanintharyi regions. The junta has lost control of several towns on the border with China to other rebel armies in recent months, but the loss of Myawaddy is a special blow, as it is the transfer point for most of Burma's overland trade with Thailand. (Myanmar Now)

The Russian Foreign Ministry has called for an investigation into a drone strike in Moldova's breakaway Transnistria region, condemning the attack as "yet another provocation" in the enclave. The "kamikaze" strike targeted a Transnistrian defense ministry installation April 5, resulting in damage to a radar station. The targeted facility lies six kilometers from the border of Ukraine. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova charged the attack was "aimed at aggravating the already tense situation around Transnistria." She stated that Russia expect "a thorough investigation into all the circumstances of what happened," adding: "We trust that those behind this reckless action will fully realize its dangerous consequence."

The insurgent Sunni Baluch group Jaish al-Adl on April 3 carried out simultaneous attacks on bases of the security forces in Iran's southeastern Sistan & Baluchestan province, leaving five troops dead. The attacks targeted a Border Guard post in Chabahar, and a Revolutionary Guards base in Rask. Troops gave pursuit, and skirmishes in the areas continue, with several more reported dead on both sides. Jaish al-Adl, or the Army of Justice, is largely made up of followers of the banned militant organization Jundullah (Soldiers of God), and claims that it "defends the rights of the Sunni Baluch people." (Iran International, TRT World, EFE)

Vietnam announced on March 7 that it has listed two pro-separatist Montagnard groups based in the US as "terrorist organizations." The term Montagnard refers to various highland ethnic minorities, also collectively known as the Dega, that are distinct from the country's majority Viet population. Under the "terrorist" designation, anyone found by Vietnamese authorities to have engaged with or aided the organizations may face criminal charges.

Months of Turkish air-strikes in northeast Syria have left more than a million people without power and double that number with no reliable access to water. Beyond the numbers, the cascading impacts have hit almost all parts of life, from homes and restaurants to petrol stations, buses, and bakeries.

Police in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Feb. 15 detained Aqylbek Muratbai, an activist who has been working to raise international awareness about the bloody crackdown on a mass protest in his native Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of western Uzbekistan, in July 2022. It is feared that Kazakh authorities intend to deport him to Uzbekistan, where he could face a severe prison sentence.