La Soufrière, a volcano on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent, the largest island in St. Vincent & the Grenadines, erupted in a large explosion on April 9, sending an ash cloud 6½ miles into the air. Further explosive events have occurred, and the volcano continued to erupt ash at press time.

On St. Vincent, more than 20,000 people were evacuated from their homes. A thick layer of ash damaged buildings and crops and has caused shortages of clean drinking water. Nearby...

At press time, active COVID-19 infections had been confirmed in 192 countries and territories, with more than 131.5 million cases and, resulting from those, more than 2.9 million deaths.

On March 29, Mexico revised its count of deaths due to COVID-19, increasing its official number to more than 321,000, 60% higher than the previous estimate. The new number was the second-highest death count in the world, after that of the US.

In late March, even before the numbers were updated...

Protests against a military coup in Myanmar have been ongoing since Feb. 1. Though the protests were initially somewhat peaceful, soldiers began firing on protesters with live rounds after a ban on gatherings went unheeded. At press time, more than 300 people had been killed during protests, including multiple children under 10.

The US and EU announced sanctions on leading members of the Myanmar military in March, with the US freezing more than $1 billion being held for Myanmar’...