The Leaders' Brief: Recent Episodes

egomonk

The Leaders' Brief by egomonk is a deep dive into the three most significant global developments impacting the world of business, politics, and technology. Available every weekday morning.

Today on The Leaders' Brief -

The UK signed a post-Brexit trade deal with the non-EU member European countries Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, last week. Secretary of State for International Trade - Liz Truss told reporters after announcing the agreement, that the deal would boost sectors such as digital and cut tariffs on UK farm products. Notably, the UK is Norway’s biggest trading partner outside the EU and with Iceland and Liechtenstein form the European Economic Area (EEA). Trade between the UK and the EEA was worth £22 Billion or approximately $31 Billion last year, of which £20 Biilion or $28.34 Billion was with Norway.
The Customs Authorities of China revealed this week that the year-on-year trade turnover between Beijing and Russia increased by 23.6% between January and May, amounting to $50.65 Billion. According to the Chinese customs officials, Russia’s exports climbed by 35.3% in January-May reaching $22.92 Billion, and imports increased by 15.4% in the first five months of the year amounting to $27.73 Billion. The announcement comes at a time Moscow and Beijing have seen bilateral ties reach their best in years, particularly caused by a push from western sanctions on Russian and China.
The Group of Seven comprising France, Canada, Germany, the UK, Italy, Japan, and the USA will kickstart their three-day summit today to discuss several issues pertaining to trade and foreign policy. While a change in US Presidency will certainly see several landmark proposals including a 15% global corporate tax, a large portion of the world would be keenly looking at what the countries decide about the equitable distribution of vaccines. After many rich powers hoarded COVID-19 vaccines, Boris Johnson wants the G7 to donate hundreds of millions of doses to poorer countries, many of which are far behind the West in vaccinating their populations.

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The World Bank has announced it had temporarily paused payments to operations in Mali after the military orchestrated the second coup in less than a year. The West African nation has been in a political crisis since August, last year. President Boubacar Keita was removed from power by the country’s military who received strong support from the country's civilians but drew international criticism, inviting several sanctions. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), for the second time, suspended Mali, freezing all aid passing through its borders.
US tech giant Google announced it would make a series of changes to its advertising technology after being fined 220 Million Euros ($268 million) in France for abusing its ‘dominant position in online advertising. An investigation by the French Competition Authority found that Google gave preferential treatment to its DFP advertising server, which allows publishers of sites and applications to sell their advertising space and its SSP AdX listing platform.
India, which till a few months ago had become the COVID epicentre in the world averaging over 400,000 daily cases, appears to have finally contained the Delta variant. While the country still recorded over 90,000 cases and 2,000 deaths yesterday, a rapid vaccination drive, one of the biggest in the world, is gradually allowing Indian cities to open up. It should be noted that since the end of April a second COVID wave had crippled the Indian economy as several states had to impose strict lockdown measures to cut the COVID chain. According to data released last month the lockdowns had seen India’s factory output fall significantly.

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According to Reuters, the G7 group would support the push for a tax by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and has a "high level of ambition" for its eventual rate. Mr Biden would seek a 15% global corporate tax. If applicable, this would see the EU collect additional revenues of over $60 Billion. It should be noted that the move comes at a time when most countries have registered record levels of public borrowing due to the COVID induced economic slowdown.
A month after violence rocked Israel, the country’s long-standing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come closer than ever to losing his office. Last week, the country’s opposition leader Yair Lapid announced a coalition deal that threatened to end Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year rule as the country’s Prime Minister. Lapid and far-right leader of the Yamina party Naftali Bennett will be sharing half terms as Prime Minister as part of the deal. The Prime Minister himself tweeted "All lawmakers who were elected with votes from the right must oppose this dangerous left-wing government."
Facebook-owned Instagram said that it is changing its algorithm after being accused of suppressing pro-Palestinian messages during last months Gaza conflict. The company said that it is changing the way it is showcasing content due to what it called was an unwanted side effect of its algorithm misrepresenting the company as having censored certain viewpoints. During the recent Gaza conflict, social media platforms were heavily used to spread messages of support on both sides. However, during the conflict, several Palestinians had complained that Instagram was discriminatory in deleting several posts that allegedly showed the ground reality of the situation.

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Britain’s health secretary Matt Hancock said last week that the country’s vaccine rollout was clearly working after the country reported zero COVID related deaths for the first time in almost a year. The UK is among the first European countries to gradually open up its economy and since last month has gradually allowed the easing of COVID restrictive measures which had followed a strong coronavirus wave.
US President Joe Biden’s administration is freezing all oil and gas leases in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge pending an environmental review on the impact of drilling in the region. The leases were given by the erstwhile Donald Trump administration during the final months of his presidency. The suspension follows a January executive order that identified “alleged legal deficiencies” in the original leasing program and put in place a temporary moratorium on any oil and gas-related activities in the refuge.
The Swiss bank and investment firm Credit Suisse is preparing litigation against Japan’s SoftBank after the collapse of Greensill Capital that could see clients lose as much as $3 Billion. The Japanese conglomerate was an important investor in Lex Greensill’s collapsed supply-chain finance empire. The Swiss bank had earlier announced that it would sever relations with Softbank as it was reviewing its risk and client relationships after being hit by the twin collapses of Greensill and Archegos Capital Management.

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India, which continues to see full to partial lockdowns in most parts, saw factory activity fall to 50.8 in May from 55.5 a month earlier according to the Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index, barely escaping contraction. However, on the good side, the country, which was recently averaging over 400,000 cases every day, saw an over 50% dip in numbers last week. Recent developments suggest that as states start easing COVID restrictive measures India may escape a devastating economic ruin.
In what can be called a major policy shift, Beijing increased its two-child limit to three to boost a rapidly decreasing birth rate. However, experts believe that the move will not be enough to counter the problem of a rapidly ageing population. Most Chinese living in urban areas have over the last few years, expressed that the higher cost of education through private facilities due to increased competitiveness makes them prefer having not more than one child.
Carmaker Daimler agreed to buy 3G and 4G licences directly from Nokia ending a years-long legal dispute that threatened production and sales of the company’s cars and trucks. Under the new agreement, Nokia would license mobile telecommunications technology to Daimler and receive payment in return. Nokia said in a statement, “The parties have agreed to settle all pending litigation between Daimler and Nokia, including the complaint by Daimler against Nokia to the European Commission. The terms of the agreement remain confidential as agreed between the parties.”

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Last week, the US Senate advanced legislation to boost the country's ability to compete with Chinese technology, as relations between Washington and Beijing continue to deteriorate. The $250 Billion US Innovation and Competition Act of 2021, or USICA saw the 68 US senators voting in favour with 30 against it. The Bill plans to spend $190 Billion to strengthen US technology in general and another $54 Billion to increase the production of semiconductors, microchips, and telecommunication equipment.
Tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia escalated over the last week after the former arrested six Armenian soldiers, accusing them of trying to cross into its territory in the Kelbajar region. Last week, months after a ceasefire treaty between the two nations, the Azerbaijani government said that the Armenian soldiers had “tried to mine supply routes leading to Azerbaijan army positions” and “were surrounded, neutralised and taken prisoner”.
Mali's military released the country’s interim president Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane, last week. The move came after months of international pressure calling for the country’s military government to restore civilian rule. Mali has been under political crisis since August last year, witnessing two coups in a span of nine months. Previously President Boubacar Keita was removed from power by the country’s military who received strong support from the country's civilians. However, global powers condemned the incident and placed the country under several sanctions.

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The $715 Billion budget that US President Joe Biden unveiled last week aims to address escalating tension due to alleged Chinese military aggression in the Indo-Pacific. Congress has been divided with one group made up of progressives calling for a 10% cut in military spending and another arguing for an increase in defence spending, particularly due to increasing threats from China and Russia. In sharp contrast to his predecessor, Mr Biden plans to increase the military budget by a mere 1.7% to $753 billion.
The United Nations Human Rights Council agreed last week, to launch an investigation probing whether Israel and Islamist group Hamas has conducted any crimes during the 11-day conflict last month. Violence erupted in Israel during Ramadan festivities after Palestine’s Hamas group launched rockets targeting Israel in retaliation to clashes at the Al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in Islam. Over 230 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes following the attack. At at least 60 of them were children.
Protests erupted in Idlib after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad secured a fourth term with an improbable 95.1% vote share. However, the country’s opposition in exile along with the international community have strongly contested the poll results. The foreign ministers of Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States put out a joint statement, saying that the polls were “neither free nor fair” as they were held without UN supervision.

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Days after the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) sent a notice to WhatsApp, calling its new privacy policy “discriminatory”, “unfair” and “irresponsible”, threatening the Facebook-owned messaging application with legal consequences, the social media company said that it will not restrict features if users decide to opt-out of its new privacy policy. After being served a notice by the Indian government, Facebook has promised to keep the privacy update optional, but it is unclear as to what step the social media giant would take once India’s Personal Data Protection Bill is turned into an act.
Iran has agreed to extend an agreement allowing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to keep surveillance cameras at its nuclear sites for another month. Iran has steadily increased its nuclear activity, including the enrichment of uranium to a purity of over 20%, a step towards developing nuclear weapons in the last two years, violating the UN-brokered Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, popularly called the Iran Nuclear Deal.
Samoa has been plunged into a political crisis after Prime Minister-elect Fiame Naomi Mata'afa was sworn in as the country's first female prime minister at a ceremony in a tent outside the parliament. The country’s first female Prime Minister was forced to take this extraordinary step as her challenger and current Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has refused to leave office. The Supreme Court has also involved itself in the matter, ordering the appointment of a new leader.

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A decision by the Alexander Lukashenko government to detain a journalist has sparked outrage in the USA and Europe. Belarusian authorities had sent a Mig-21 fighter jet to intercept a Ryanair plane flying from Athens to Lithuania and forced it to land in Minsk, flagging a false bomb alert. The 26-year-old journalist, who works for a Telegram channel called Belamova, is wanted in Belarus on extremism charges and is accused of organising mass riots.
Australia imposed COVID-19 lockdown measures in its second-largest city, Melbourne, after being unable to find the missing link leading to a fresh outbreak in the city. Under the restrictions, applicable for the next three days, home gatherings will be limited to five guests, public meetings would be limited to 30 people, and face masks will be mandatory in restaurants, pubs, and other indoor venues.
European Commission President Ursula Von Der Lyne told a news conference, last week, that problems between the EU and Britain do not stem out of the Northern Ireland Protocol but out of Brexit itself. In a report, The United Kingdom’s Office of National Statistics revealed that imports of goods from EU countries, excluding precious metals, fell by 21.7%, while exports fell 18.1%. In comparison, the UK’s trade with the rest of the world fell by only 0.4%.

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Described by the South China Morning Post as “President Xi Jinping’s most trusted foreign policy aide”, Yang Jiechi, the director of China’s Central Foreign Affairs Commission flew to Russia last week to discuss strategic ties between the long term allies. Of the two Chinese power plants built with Russian collaboration, the Tianwan plant, which has been operating since 2007, will see new units come up.
Indian police visited a Twitter office in the country to serve the company a notice after the social media company had labelled a tweet by the country’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Sambit Patra as “manipulative.” Additionally, Twitter along with Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp are also facing increasing pressure from the Indian government to comply with a set of new directives issued to govern the country’s IT space.
Israel announced the signing of a deal with Google and Amazon Web Services to set up regional data centres in the country as part of an over $1 Billion project. The two tech firms beat Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM to win the tender for the four-phase Nimbus project which intends to provide a comprehensive solution for the provision of cloud services to the government and increase economic efficiency.

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China's internet watchdog the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), said last week that it had found 105 applications, including ByteDance's Douyin, Microsoft’s Bing and LinkedIn, and Baidu, were engaged in the improper collection and use of data. According to the internet watchdog, the 105 apps had violated Chinese laws by excessively collecting and illegally accessing users' personal information. The announcement comes less than a month after Beijing put in place measures outlining how apps should collect personal information.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki, announced last week that the Democrats have cut down US President Joe Bien’s ambitious $2.25 trillion infrastructure spending plan by over $300 billion. The over $2 domestic trillion infrastructure spending plan proposed by the US President earlier this year had hoped to address several fronts, including competing with Chinese economic activity. On a domestic level, the plan addressed climate change, elder care, and affordable schooling.
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has approved the $44 Billion merger deal between Virgin Media and Telefonica-owned O2. The deal would create a 50:50 joint venture and would see a total of 46 million video, broadband and mobile subscribers along with $15.5 Billion in revenues. The CMA had launched an inquiry into the deal as it felt the merger had the possibility to threaten competitiveness in the country’s telecom industry.

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Last Friday, Japan extended its national emergency on Okinawa, hours after it approved two new vaccines for its vaccination drive. The move is a much-needed step for Japan as the country, scheduled to host the Olympics in a few months' time, continues to see one of the slowest vaccination drives in the developed world. Less than 5% of the country’s total population had been vaccinated last week.
The resolution to freeze the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment was passed with a 599-30 majority at the European Parliament last Thursday, suggesting the possible escalation of trade tensions between Beijing and Europe. Announcing the pause on ratifying the EU-China Investment agreement, the European Parliament called the sanctions placed on European individuals by Beijing back in March, baseless and arbitrary.
Anglo-Dutch company oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has said that it will offload the last of its Nigerian assets in line with its desire to transform into a clean energy giant and achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. CEO Ben van Beurden told investors last Tuesday that the balance of risks and rewards associated with the company’s onshore portfolio is no longer compatible with its strategic ambitions.

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Last week, the US withdrew sanctions on a company and an individual involved with the construction of the contentious US-Germany undersea gas pipeline project, Nord Stream 2. The US state department said that it was in the US National interest to lift sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG and its CEO Matthias Warnig, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The department, however, noted that the two remain engaged in sanctionable activity.
China’s announcement that it was increasing curbs on crypto trade in the country has escalated concerns of crypto owners worldwide. Between May 19th and 20th, the crypto market saw $460 billion in losses, a large portion of which is not expected to be recovered. China, which has launched and is experimenting with its own digital currency, had since 2017 brought in several regulations to discourage crypto trade in the country. At that time China accounted for almost 90% of all bitcoin mining.
Australian air carrier Qantas announced a new voluntary redundancy program for the international crew as part of additional cost-cutting measures after revealing that it estimates losses at about $2 billion this year. The announcement came days after Australia said that it has no intention of lifting international border restrictions before mid-2022.

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A recent decision by Ireland’s High Court, dismissing US tech giant Facebook’s complaint against Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, could severely impact Facebook’s data-based revenue model. Facebook had challenged the Preliminary Draft Decision (PDD) and the DPC inquiry leading to it by citing "devastating" and "irreversible" consequences for its business.
Recent reports by US media have stated that the Joe Biden administration has okayed the export of $735 million worth of precision-guided weapons to Israel, at a time the country is facing its worst violence in years. While Israel is known to have received US military and economic assistance since its formation, the timing of the deal threatens to dampen President Joe Biden’s image among Democrat voters.
Officials from Canberra said last week that they have no intention of lifting international border restrictions before mid-2022. The country had closed its borders to non-nationals and non-residents in March 2020 and has allowed only limited international arrivals since then. Australia’s decision to maintain strict border restrictions comes at a time its tourism industry is estimating losses of $5-7 Billion, threatening to jeopardise over 300,000 jobs.

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The number of active coronavirus cases in India fell by 165,000 at the start of last week, the biggest ever drop recorded by the country. Last Monday also saw the total number of daily cases drop below the 300,000 marks after almost two months. The death toll due to COVID, however, continued breaking records. Added to the country’s COVID situation, India's western coast, which includes the state of Maharashtra, was ravaged by Tauktae, a severe cyclonic storm, which killed over 20 people in the last week.
The ongoing clash between Palestine-backed militants and Israeli forces has placed the USA in a tricky spot in reviving the Iran nuclear deal. Weeks after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani voiced optimism saying that negotiations with the US and allies over rejoining the Iran Nuclear deal had made almost 70% progress, Israel witnessed its worst-ever violence in decades with the everyday conflict between Iran-supported Hamas group and Israeli forces.
The European Union and United States have started discussions to address metal tariffs imposed by US President Joe Biden’s predecessor, Donal Trump. Under former President Trump, the USA had in 2018 imposed a 25% tariff on European steel and 10% on aluminium on grounds of national security. Since then the issue has continued to strain the EU-US relationship.

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The USA, along with allies - UK and Canada, announced more sanctions against Myanmar's military government this week. The latest sanctions attempt to increase pressure by directly targeting the State Administrative Council, or SAC, the official name of the military government formed in February. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken underscored USA’s resolve and that of its partners to apply political and financial pressure on the regime as long as it fails to stop violence and take meaningful action to respect the will of the people.
Most parts of the United Kingdom saw a semblance of normalcy this week as the country continued the easing of lockdown measures. Last month, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had announced the country’s plans to reopen its economy, starting with the reopening of all shops, gyms, hairdressers, and outdoor hospitality areas in England. This week, most areas across Scotland, England, and Wales saw businesses such as pubs and restaurants, cinemas, and sports venues open for the first time in months.
China became the second country in the world to successfully land on Mars, after its Tianwen-1 spacecraft successfully deployed its rover - Zhu Rong, onto the red planet’s surface. Despite all of the economic and medical trouble the COVID pandemic has caused, the year 2020 saw several major landmarks in space research, including China’s Tianwen 1 probe. Among the three mars missions, China’s Tianwen-1 probe is the first space mission that sent a shuttle to Mars with a lander, a rover, and an orbiter.

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India is seeing over 400,000 Covid cases every day and over 1,000 deaths due to the coronavirus while facing a severe shortage of medical equipment despite the government cutting no corners in their procurement of the same. The country's opposition has called on the government to take immediate measures including the central procurement of vaccines from all available sources, global and domestic, a free and universal mass vaccination campaign, free distribution of foodgrain and allocating a sum of $82 per month to those unemployed.
The Philippines recently rejected an annual fishing ban imposed by China and encouraged its boats to keep fishing in the country’s territorial waters. The fishing moratorium imposed by China in 1999 runs from May 1 to August 16. The announcement came after Manila reported the latest incursions of Chinese vessels on its 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone. Relations have deteriorated between the longtime allies since the Philippines announced it would send diplomatic protests each day as long as China allowed almost 200 ships to remain stationed at a disputed area in the South China Sea.
Nationwide protests for a fourth straight week continue to cause economic turmoil in Colombia. The country’s third-largest city-Cali, which has emerged as the epicentre of the anti-government protests that started on April 28th against tax reforms, is running short of essential items, including petrol. The initial protests, called by the National Unemployment Committee were against a proposal to raise taxes on household products like milk and meat, slowly escalating to protesting against police brutality and increasing inequality.

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Several west African nations are being forced to limit industrial activity to less than 50% of their full capacity due to a power outage in Ivory Coast and Ghana. News agency Reuters quoted a spokesman from Mali's energy ministry saying that electricity imports from Ivory Coast had fallen 30%, leading to a 100 MW generation deficit. Most cocoa producers in the country have reportedly dropped operational capacity by 50-70% and are incurring additional production costs as they have to now depend on diesel-powered generators which increase power costs by almost 300%.
South Africa's Reserve Bank is expected to keep its repo rate at a record low of 3.5% in its meeting tomorrow despite the possibility of inflation increasing in the coming months. Statistics revealed by the country two weeks ago had shown manufacturing output rise by 4% year on year in March after falling by a revised 2.5% in February, and factory production was up 3.4% month on month in March. The decision was taken at a time consumer prices had increased 0.68% over the previous month in March with an inflation rate of 3.2%.
Venezuelan Electoral Council President Pedro Calzadilla announced last week that the country would hold regional and local elections on November 21. The country’s face of opposition, Juan Guaido, recognised by most western nations as the country’s legitimate president called for Presidential and parliamentary elections to be held as well. The South American country has been under political crisis for the last two years, with opposition members routinely boycotting elections, including one held in December last year.

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Up till a month ago, ousting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, presently undergoing trial for criminal charges, from his seat was a likely possibility. However, Naftali Bennett, whose ultranationalist Yamina party is key to forming a coalition before President Rueven Rivlin’s 28-day mandate ends, has decided to abandon coalition talks with Yesh Atid for a wider unity coalition government. The possibility of a rotation government with both Mr Bennett and Yair Lepid serving half terms as Prime Minister would need the support of Arab legislators.
The USA last week announced a strongly worded support for Australia in its ongoing trade tiff with Beijing. Welcoming the USA’s support, Australian foreign minister Marise Payne said it should embolden other countries to stand up to Beijing when the Chinese government threatens their national values and interests. Miss Payne revealed that the Australian government is pushing for a more thorough investigation into the origins of the coronavirus.
Greece’s Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis announced the country’s reopening for international tourists who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 from last Friday. The announcement is a much-needed development for a country that sees 16-20% of its GDP dependent on the tourism industry that has been crippled by the COVID pandemic. Estimated losses from the plunge in international tourism are about $2 trillion or roughly 2% of global GDP.

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Last week, all of the southeastern USA faced a severe fuel shortage, with three states, North Carolina, Virginia, and Florida declaring a state of emergency. The situation is largely being blamed on a cyberattack that forced the Colonial Pipeline Company, which transports about 45 per cent of all petrol and diesel on the USA’s east coast through its 8,850 km pipeline network, to shut down operations on May 7. Apart from threatening a fuel price surge, and exposing the vulnerability of the USA’s cyberinfrastructure, the attack has caused fresh friction between Washington and the Kremlin.
Taiwan is expected to raise its COVID-19 alert level this week, according to a statement made by the country’s Health Minister Chen Shih-Chung. The Taiwanese health minister’s comment in parliament describing the country’s COVID situation as being very serious came as Taipei reported 16 local COVID cases, its highest single-day surge since the beginning of the pandemic, last Wednesday. Mr Shih-chung urged people to be more vigilant and businesses to tighten their disease prevention measures. A day before his comment, the country had reported six new cases prompting the Taiwanese government to tighten rules on public gatherings.
The United Kingdom reported a stronger-than-expected economic growth of 2.1% in March from February, indicating the possibility of a sharp bounce-back post the COVID crisis. According to official figures, the country’s economy contracted by only 1.5% in the first quarter this year. The figure is extremely encouraging for the United Kingdom and its trade partners, particularly because the contraction was reported at a time Britain was, for a large part, under strict lockdown measures due to a second COVID wave. March’s 2.1% growth, however, comes from Britain starting to ease some restrictions in that month.

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The European Union launched a new lawsuit against AstraZeneca this week. The new case which will concern the merit of EU’s legal proceedings would allow the 27-member bloc to seek financial penalties from AstraZeneca for breach of the supply contract. AstraZeneca had cut short its promise of delivering 3000 million doses to the block by over 60% to less than 100 million doses, slashing hopes of member countries to immunize their citizens before a larger third wave hit.
A rail line between Chile and Bolivia that has remained defunct for 16 years is being reestablished in an attempt to boost regional trade. A test train was dispatched from the port of Arica in Chile last week, signalling the reactivation of freight traffic to Bolivia’s La Paz after and could boost Bolivian exports through Chilean ports while bettering bilateral trade ties between the two South American countries. The Arica-La Paz railway line had been functional since 1913 and was destroyed in a deluge in 2001.
The national statistical service of South Africa recently revealed that the country’s manufacturing output rose 4.6% year on year in March after falling by a revised 2.5% in February, even as calls for a stricter lockdown continue to increase. The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa has described the numbers as encouraging for the M&E industry as they signal a return to normal economic activity.

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The World Health Organisation classified four variants of the 2019 coronavirus, including one first reported from India, last year, as a “variant of global concern.” The other three variants include those reported from the UK, South Africa and Brazil. According to preliminary investigations, the B.1.617 mutation first reported from India spreads more easily and has already been reported from 30 other countries. India, itself, has become the epicentre for the 2019 coronavirus and is reporting anywhere between 300-400,000 cases every day.
Jerusalem, for the past one week, has been experiencing what is being termed its worst violence in years. Tensions flared up between Palestine’s Hamas group and Israeli forces this Monday after the former fired rockets towards Jerusalem in retaliation to clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces at a compound hosting Islam’s third holiest site, the al-Aqsa mosque. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent over 700 Palestinians were injured in clashes.
The 27-member European Union is readying a fourth round of sanctions against senior Belarus officials in response to last year’s controversial presidential elections that saw Alexander Lukashenka win a sixth term in office with over 80% of the vote share. Thousands of protestors have been arrested since last year, after the country’s first and only president Alexander Lukashenka won the August 9th Presidential polls with an improbable 80% vote share. The country’s opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who enjoys large popularity in the erstwhile Societ republic, continues to exile herself in Lithuania.

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The United States has begun the process of withdrawing all its troops from Afghanistan in line with President Joe Biden’s campaign promise of ending forever wars. Last week, the Pentagon deployed additional warplanes to bolster the protection of American and coalition troops during the withdrawal process. Earlier this year, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had called for urgent action in Afghanistan to prevent a "spring offensive by the Taliban" as the 14-month ceasefire window under the Doha agreement, signed in February, last year, headed towards completion.
German health minister Jens Spahn said last week that the country will allow the administration of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine to adults of all ages. The country is setting a target to start vaccinating those aged between 12 and 18 by the end of August. Legislation passed amidst protests last month allows Germany’s federal government to impose night-time curfews in areas where cases exceed 100 per 100,000 residents on three consecutive days and even stricter curbs where cases go above 165 per 100,000.
In a significant development for the space tourism industry, Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin announced last week that its space tourism rocket, New Shepard will leave for its first commercial sub-orbital journey on July 20th. The space shuttle is designed to carry six passengers and the company said that it has started accepting bids for the final seat, without revealing any price details. New Shepherd, named after Alan Shepard who was the first American in space will complete a 30-minute journey in its inaugural passenger flight.

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One of Asia’s largest economies, Japan is continuing to see a rise in the number of COVID cases. Till last week, the country had recorded over 600,000 cases and 10,000 deaths due to the 2019 coronavirus. To prevent any catastrophic pressure on its health infrastructure, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s cabinet took the decision to extend the emergency in four prefectures, adding Aichi and Fukuoka to the list. Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo have been under lockdown measures since April 17th. Depending on the extent of the measures imposed, Japan would see second-quarter GDP growth of 0.5% to 1%.
Last week, Somalia announced its decision to restore ties with Kenya. This comes six months after it had severed relations with Nairobi after the Kenyan government hosted the leadership of Somaliland, a breakaway state that Somalia doesn’t recognise. Last December, after Nairobi hosted Muse Bihi Abdi, the president of Somaliland, Mogadishu blocked Kenyan imports of khat, an important part of bilateral trade between the sub-Saharan nations. Somalia also accused Kenya of interfering in the electoral process of Jubbaland.
In another step to the rapidly deteriorating relationship between China and Australia, Beijing, last week, announced that it has indefinitely suspended key economic dialogue with Canberra for what it called Australia’s Cold War mindset and ideological discrimination. The announcement comes weeks after Australia decided to scrap two projects involving Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative. China had called the move another unreasonable provocation by Australia, and Beijing’s foreign ministry probing had said it was probing the possibility of taking further action.

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India’s apex court said last week that the country needs to prepare for a stronger and more lethal covid wave as daily cases in the country topped 400,000 and deaths reported due to COVID crossed 4,000 in a single day. Added to the country’s troubles is a severe shortage of medical oxygen, vaccines, and the COVID treating drug Remdesevir. Last Thursday, a Supreme Court bench of justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah instructed the central government to not reduce oxygen supply to Delhi, which remains one of the worst affected regions in the country.
China reported a rapid acceleration in its export growth for the month of April as COVID induced a pause on factory production in countries across the world pushing demand for Chinese goods. According to data revealed by China's customs agency, U.S. dollar-denominated exports rose 32.3% in April from a year ago, beating estimates by over 5%. A Reuters poll had estimated a 24.1% growth for the country’s dollar-denominated exports. Imports, too, topped expectations, rising 43.1% in comparison to last year.
Norwegian Telecom operator Telenor registered an impairment loss of approximately $779 million for its Myanmar unit as the country continues to reel from political uncertainty after its military, the Tatmadaw, deposed Myanmar’s civilian government on February 1st. The year-long emergency declared by the Tatmadaw has seen over 700 deaths in clashes between civilians and government forces. The coup has also caused rebel groups to stir up in support of civilians demanding the restoration of the Aung San Suu Kyi led government with reported fighting between the Tatmadaw and Karen insurgents.

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Two weeks after US President Joe Biden’s administration took further steps in halting funds for former President Donald Trump’s signature border wall at the US-Mexico border, the US government reunited four migrant families in a small but firm step towards reversing Mr Trump’s hardline immigration policies. In the first month of his presidency, Mr Biden had formally terminated the erstwhile administration’s two-year-old declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border and halted the flow of government funds toward the construction of the border wall in line with one of his major campaign promises.
Nepal has urged foreign donors to supply COVID vaccines and critical care drugs as the landlocked Himalayan country is seeing an increase in the number of COVID infections. Last week, Nepal, which shares a porous border with India, recorded over seven thousand cases in a single day, its highest daily surge since the start of the pandemic, while its neighbour recorded over 300,000. But unlike India, which is one of the largest economies in the world, Nepal has a GDP of only $20 million and has been struggling to repair its economy for the last five years due to its political instability.
Lebanon and Israel have resumed US-brokered indirect talks over their disputed maritime border after a gap of nearly six months. After over three decades of dispute over a triangular area of the Mediterranean Sea constituting about 2% of Israel’s economic waters, the two Arab countries finally sat on the negotiating table to discuss a framework in October, last year, with talks ending inconclusively in November after four rounds. Israel and Lebanon share no diplomatic relations and each claim about 850 square kilometres of the Mediterranean Sea as being within their own exclusive economic zones.

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Chad’s military rulers named a new government after the demise of President Idriss Deby even as opposition leaders rejected the appointments. The landlocked African country had fallen into a political crisis after the battlefield death of its President, with the situation threatening the stability of the entire north-central African region. Tensions have remained high in the country, with over 650 people arrested for protests against the transitional government. At least six people were killed last week during demonstrations in the capital N'Djamena.
The Australian government has come under heavy criticism for its travel ban on India which came into effect this week. As per the federal order, any Australian arriving in the country from India faces fines and up to five years in prison. However, several critics such as Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi have labelled the government's response as extreme and racist. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has dismissed accusations of racism saying that there is no politics or ideology in a pandemic.
President of the Philippines Rodrigo Dutrete said last week that he will not withdraw navy and coastguard boats patrolling the region as the country's sovereignty over the waters is "not negotiable". Mr Duterte said that while the Philippines is indebted to its good friend China for several things, including free COVID vaccines, his country's claims to the 200 mile EEZ is not bargainable. China's foreign ministry said that the Philippines should "stop actions complicating the situation and escalating disputes".

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Months after gaming giant Epic games launched an all-out war against Apple for its app store policies the two companies started arguing the case in court this week. The tiff which began in August last year saw Apple remove Epic’s popular mobile game Fortnite from its stores after it implemented its own in-app payment, bypassing Apple's 30% charges. Epic had deliberately rolled out the update bypassing Apple’s store payment system as a sign of protest against what it believes is a monopoly by Apple in deciding what apps can appear on iPhones and demanding a cut as high as 30%.
Assembly poll results for four states are indicative of a dip in the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP government that had grabbed federal power with an overwhelming majority for a second term in the country. Among them, West Bengal, with a population of over 90 million people and 294 assembly seats was set for the toughest battle. Several of Mr Modi’s party workers, including the Prime Minister himself, had run their largest campaign in the state of Bengal since the beginning of this year and were hopeful of winning a large share of the seats if not a majority.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden’s government is facing increasing criticism from Western allies for not doing enough to criticise China’s alleged authoritarian policies. In what seemed like an attempt to counter such criticism, the Prime Minister said at the China Business Summit in Auckland that there are several differences between China and her nation, but such differences need not define their relationship. However, she mentioned that as days pass these differences are becoming difficult to reconcile.

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About a week ago,China had announced that blueprints for the improved protection for its intellectual property, had already been drafted and were pending review. In an annual report on intellectual property protections, titled special 301, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative acknowledged that China had amended its patent, copyright and criminal laws in 2020. However, the report alleged that these steps fell short of the full range of fundamental changes needed to improve the IP landscape in China.
French President Emmanuel Macronhas unveiled a four-stage plan to reopen the economy that came into effect yesterday. As per the plan, the country would start easing lockdown measures by allowing secondary-school and high-school students to start returning to in-person classes and end domestic travel restrictions this week. France had entered a third national lockdown early last month, as it battled a fresh COVID wave that threatened to strain the country’s health infrastructure.
The 27-member European Union is expected to announce a plan tomorrow to reduce dependency on foreign suppliers like China for goods in six key areas that include hydrogen, low-carbon industry, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, batteries, and cloud and edge technologies. The European Commission will conduct an in-depth review before deciding on appropriate measures that could include diversifying supply and demand. Not only relying on different trading partners whenever possible but also stockpiling and acting autonomously whenever necessary.

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In another record, India has begun registering over 300,000 cases every day, and last week registered 3,9948 deaths in a single day. Not only is the situation in India appalling, but it is also alarming for a country surrounded by adversaries such as China and Pakistan. According to a report published by renowned Indian media house India Today on April 30th, the Chinese army has reinforced its presence in eastern Ladakh with permanent accommodations and depots even as two Asian Neighbours continue to engage in talks.
The COVID situation in India was an important contributor to oil prices falling from six-week highs last Friday. India is the third-largest oil consumer in the world. The other contributor was a weak Japanese crude import. The country saw imports fall by 25% in March from a year earlier to 2.34 million barrels per day. India's fuel demand has declined sharply in the first half of April from a month earlier. Diesel use slipped to 1.38mn b/d during the period, from 1.42mn b/d a month earlier.
European Union regulators accused US tech giant Apple last Friday of distorting competition in the music streaming market. The accusation comes as support for Sweden-based music streaming platform Spotify that had, a few years ago, complained to the European Commission alleging that Apple had unfairly restricted rivals to its own music streaming service: Apple Music. Siding with Spotify, European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said that there were clear signs Apple's App Store rules were affecting music streaming rivals' business development and app developers more widely.

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The COVID situation for India remains dire, and Prime Minister Modi, known for maintaining excellent bilateral ties with countries across the world, has requested all allies for medical aid. The USA, under President Joe Biden, has agreed to lift restrictions for the supply of vaccine-making materials to India after initially refusing to do the same. Among other countries, France will send medical equipment, ventilators, liquid oxygen containers and oxygen generators to India. French President Emmanuel Macron announced in a tweet written in Hindi on Tuesday, that France and India have always remained united and the country is doing all it can to help.
Several residents continue to flee Somalia’s capital Mogadishu after a clash broke out between opposition forces and the government after a disagreement over elections. Fighting began last Sunday between pro-Government forces and opposition military units after the country’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed moved to extend his term, which had officially ended in February, for another two years. The clashes which began at the capital Mogadishu have spread to other parts, and the political instability created could see extremist groups like Al Shabaab exploit the situation.
The UK and Australia have agreed on "the vast majority" of a post-Brexit free trade deal after talks last week, according to a joint statement by the two countries. The two countries said that they aim to conclude a deal by June. Part of the joint statement read: "Both countries are confident the remaining issues will be resolved, and will now enter a sprint to agree on the outstanding details with the aim of reaching an agreement in principle." The development comes at a crucial time for Australia as it seeks to decrease trade dependency on China, with whom it shares the largest trade volume.

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The USA, which remains the worst affected country due to the 2019 coronavirus, but continues to lead one of the most effective vaccination programmes in the world, is seeing a slow but steady dip in the number of weekly infections. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention revealed last Monday that as of April 24, the seven-day average was 57,123 cases, a dip of almost 15% in comparison to the previous week. Most experts believe that, unlike previous dips, the slow down in the rate of infection will be permanent this time as the USA continues to immunise its population.
Myanmar witnessed its largest violence since February after the military clashed with the Karen National Union at its eastern border with Thailand days after Southeast Asian leaders said they had reached a consensus with the Junta on ending violence. Following reports of gunfire and smoke from a Tatmadaw camp at the Thailand-Myanmar border, the region’s ethnic army the KNA said that they had captured the outpost. According to local media, over 240,000 people have been displaced by the conflict and the region has witnessed military airstrikes.
Apple’s new software update is likely to hurt smaller firms dependent on digital advertising while providing its users with more privacy protection. The decision to allow iPhone and iPad users to choose how much information they wish to share with any third party application has reignited a tiff between Apple CEO Tim Cook and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The privacy option could lead companies like Facebook to lose billions of dollars if a majority of users block the company from tracking them on iPhones.

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Last week, Japan confirmed five cases of infection with a “double mutant” variant of the 2019 coronavirus. Revealing the development, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said that the country would take thorough measures to prevent the spread of infections by collecting, evaluating and analyzing information and strengthening border control and surveillance. Japan, which is scheduled to hold the Summer Olympics three months later, has declared emergency measures on several areas and is likely to see a slow down in economic activity at least for another three weeks.
Several political polls have suggested that Germany’s ruling CDU has lost popularity to the Green party after Armen Laschet was chosen to succeed Angela Merkel as the CDU’s chancellor candidate in this year’s polls. The other contender for the position - Friedrich Merz, the former chairman of BlackRock Germany, is known to be a conservative leader and has criticised chancellor Merkel on several occasions. Several trends since the beginning of this year have suggested that the Greens are edging towards being able to claim a stake in the German government in its September polls.
Chad has fallen into a political crisis that threatens the stability of the entire north-central African region. The landlocked country, bordering six countries, including Sudan, Nigeria and Niger, lost its President Idriss Deby in battle with rebels last week. His son, Mahamat Idriss Deby Itmo, was named interim President by a transitional council of military officers. The late president, who took power in a rebellion in 1990 was key in maintaining the country’s stability and an important ally for Western forces battling an insurgency in the region.

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In a move that would worsen the already deteriorating relationship between Australia and China, Canberra has cancelled two bilaterals between Beijing and the state of Victoria. The deals were among four projects the Australian federal government vetoed to cancel under legislation that gives the government power to overrule international agreements by lower-level administrations that violate national interest. Two deals were signed in 2018 and 2019 by the Victoria government and China’s National Development and Reform Commission. The other two deals vetoed were agreements signed by the Victoria Education Department with Syria and Iran in 1999 and 2004 respectively.
US President Joe Biden plans to almost double the capital gains tax rate for wealthy individuals to 39.6% to help pay for a series of social spending that addresses long-standing inequality, according to American media reports. Under the plan, applicable for those earning $1 million or more, wealthy individuals could find themselves paying federal taxes of over 40%. The plan, if rolled out, would be in line with Mr Biden’s desire to equalize the capital gains and income tax rates for wealthy individuals. Mr Biden, has on a few occasions, had called the present tax rates unfair.
After weeks of indirect talks with Iran that western powers labelled ‘constructive’, the United States of America has shared with Tehran details of sanctions it is prepared to lift under a return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action. The development comes at a time Iran has threatened to continue enriching weapons-grade uranium to a purity of over 60% after an explosion and power cut at its Natanz plant. Iran says Israel was responsible for the outage.

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India saw a new COVID record, registering a single-day rise of 314,835 cases last Thursday. The country’s capital, New Delhi, according to State Chief Minister - Arvind Kejriwal, required 700 tonnes of medical oxygen every day to sustain the demand. Other large cities like Mumbai, too, continue to face an acute shortage of both medical oxygen and the COVID treating drug Remdesivir. In such a situation, India has to mass order, medical oxygen from countries having a surplus. India, however, is facing transportation challenges.
The European Union is contemplating a legal case against AstraZeneca for failing to meet its supply commitments. After several media houses reported about the possibility of a lawsuit against the vaccine manufacturer, EU officials clarified that the decision has not been taken yet to file legal proceedings. AstraZeneca, too, said that it is not aware of any legal proceedings "and continues to hold regular discussions on supply with the commission and member states". The possibility of a legal case, however, remains open. According to several media reports, all EU member countries, barring France and Germany, were in favour of legal action against the company in a meeting held last Wednesday.
Leading chip manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company approved a $2.89 billion spending to increase capacity in response to the global chip shortage that continues to impact operations of several companies, particularly those in the carmaking sector. Aided by this growth in demand, TSMC had recorded 18% higher revenue in January-February compared to the same period last year. But despite operating at 100% capacity the chip maker remains short of meeting the growing demand.

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As the Myanmar coup heads towards completing two months, the European Union imposed sanctions on 10 of Myanmar’s military leaders, this week. Two giant military conglomerates were also blacklisted by the 27 member bloc. The decision, in line with sanctions imposed by the USA, and the UK, will include asset freezes and visa bans and is likely to impact the Tatmadaw’s treasury. The country’s military has arrested several elected leaders including President Win Myint and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, calling the last election results fraudulent.
Syria is preparing to hold its second presidential elections since a civil war broke out in the country in 2011. The previous election held in 2014 had seen president Bashar al-Assad win an overwhelming 92% of votes. However, the country’s opposition along with the USA and the EU had dismissed the elections as undemocratic and illegitimate. Since then, aided by Russian military interventions and declining western influence in the region, Mr Assad has been able to amass unparalleled power and is expected to win another term in May.
The Bank of England and the Treasury has announced a task force to explore the possibility of a central bank digital currency. The announcement comes a day after British finance minister Rishi Sunak told the Bank to look at the case for a new 'Britcoin', aimed at tackling some of the challenges posed by cryptocurrencies. The task force would be jointly led by the Bank's deputy governor for financial stability, Sir Jon Cunliffe, and the Treasury's director general of financial services, Katharine Braddick.

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The United Kingdom has asked its regulatory authorities to investigate the $40 Billion takeovers of Softbank-owned British chip manufacturer Arm Holdings by American tech firm NVIDIA, creating more complications for the deal. Last September, Japanese conglomerate SoftBank announced it was offloading the British chipmaker it had bought for a record amount of $31.4 Billion five years ago. Apart from in the United Kingdom, the deal saw increasing complications in China in the form of several lawsuits a week ago.
Tanzanian president Samia Suluhu, in her first foreign trip this month, signed a deal with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and French oil company Total’s chief executive Patrick Poyanne to develop the world’s longest heated crude oil export pipeline. The over $3.5 Billion East African Crude Oil Pipeline expects to be operational by 2025, carrying over 216,000 barrels of Ugandan crude oil every day. Tanzania will earn a little over $13 from each barrel passing through the pipeline, 80% of which falls under its borders.
The US House of Representatives passed legislation this week allowing banks to provide services to cannabis companies in states where it is legal. The development is an important landmark for the country’s cannabis industry which is still in its nascent stage, with the crop being legal for medical purposes in 36 states, and legal for recreational purposes in 18 states.

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India has been reporting over 200,000 daily cases since 15 April, and several parts, including its capital - Delhi have been placed under partial lockdown. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held meetings with executives and medical researchers for two consecutive days to discuss ways in which the new coronavirus variant could be restricted from spreading. Researchers are yet to determine whether the new variant spreads faster or is more lethal, but the rapidity at which the virus is infecting India’s population is alarming and Mr Modi hopes the use of 3Ts: tracking, testing, and tracing, to break the chain.
China reported positive growth after having effectively controlled the coronavirus according to Chinese authorities. The country’s economy grew at a record 18.3% in the first quarter this year, compared to the same quarter last year. However, growth in terms of GDP was relatively low as Beijing had seen a 6.8% contraction in the first quarter, last year. According to statistics released by Beijing, Industrial output for March rose 14.1% over a year ago, and retail sales grew 34.2%. The first quarter of 2020 had seen Beijing registering massive losses in its manufacturing sector as well as consumer spending due to a lockdown it had imposed to contain the 2019 coronavirus.
Last week, the US announced sanctions against the Kremlin for alleged cyber-attacks. Saying that Russia was responsible for last year's "SolarWinds" hack that targeted the US federal government leading to a series of data breaches, the White House called the sanctions a move to deter "Russia's harmful foreign activities". The US sanctions target 32 entities and officials accused of trying to influence the 2020 US presidential election and other acts of disinformation online and bars US financial institutions from purchasing Ruble-denominated bonds from June. The Kremlin has responded by saying that such acts would get a decisive response.

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Tod Wolters, a top US general posted in Europe said that there was a "low to medium" risk of Russia invading Ukraine as the UK - an NATO ally, ordered warships to sail to the Black Sea. The decision, which is yet to be officially confirmed, comes as Russian troops continue to build up along Ukraine’s border. Ukraine has been fighting Russian separatists in the eastern Donbas region for months now and is apprehensive of the Kremlin planning another invasion. Such concerns come after Russia placed more troops on Ukraine's eastern border than at any time since the Crimean annexation of 2014.
American banking group, Citigroup is planning to close consumer banking operations across 13 countries as it does not have the scale to compete in these markets. The bank would now only offer industry banking services, completely doing away with retail banking in the 13 markets that include Australia, Bahrain, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is expected that the banking group will now try and look for takeovers of its consumer banking services, possibly from local players.
USA’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA awarded SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract to build a moon lander as early as 2024, picking it over Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and defence contractor Dynetics Inc. Last year SpaceX completed its maiden taxi service carrying NASA astronauts. NASA plans to send a crew to the ISS aboard another SpaceX rocket on April 27th. “NASA rules,” the billionaire entrepreneur who leads several other companies such as Tesla and Neuralink wrote on Twitter after SpaceX won the contract.

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In his first face-to-face White House summit since assuming office in January this year, US President Joe Biden met Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. The development comes a month after US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met and their Japanese counterparts, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi for what they called “two plus two” security talks. After meeting on Friday, President Biden and Prime Minister Suga announced in a joint statement their decision to collaborate in ensuring peace and stability in and around Taiwan.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent tweet appealing to citizens to keep the Kumbh Mela symbolic is indicative of the dire situation India is facing due to a second COVID wave. India saw a single-day rise of over 200,000 cases last week, at a time the state of Uttarakhand is hosting lakhs of people in the country’s once-in-a-decade religious festival, and four important states are holding elections. Though the country has enough vaccine doses to immunize its citizens, according to health minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan, the situation for India remains alarming.
Researchers at the University of Oxford reported last Thursday that the risk of rare blood clotting post-COVID was about eight times higher than that after vaccination. The announcement comes as AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson’s shots are facing visible backlash from various countries over concerns of fatal blood clots as a side effect. Various health regulators have, however, advised the continued use of both vaccines saying that the benefits outweigh the risks.

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Anglo-Swedish vaccine maker AstraZeneca has seen its shares steadily decline since February reaching its lowest on March 3rd after several European countries reported that its coronavirus vaccine was causing rare blood clots in some recipients. Another COVID vaccine manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson faces questions over its single-shot vaccine for similar blood clots being reported in a few patients. The European Commission has decided not to renew vaccine contracts next year with both AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.
The USA has announced it will start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan from May 1st after almost two decades. The US announcement comes a month after Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for urgent action in Afghanistan to prevent a "spring offensive by the Taliban" as the 14-month ceasefire window under the Doha agreement, signed in February, last year, headed towards completion.
Swedish electric car maker Polestar recently raised $550 million in external funding. Announcing the investment, Polestar said that this was the first time external investors backed the company and Polestar is in talks with global investors about possible additional fundraising. The company is fast gaining popularity as an emerging rival of electric carmaker Tesla.

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In a decision that has alarmed environmentalists over the world, Japan announced that it will release over 1 million tonnes of contaminated water from the defunct Fukushima nuclear station into the sea. The decision has received a mixed response from world powers. Among those opposing the decision are Japan’s immediate neighbours- South Korea and China. Amongst supporters, both the IAEA and the United States have called the development an important step in decommissioning the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. According to the announcement made by the Japanese government the first release of water will take place in about two years time.
Despite stern warnings from western powers including USA, Russian troops continue to gather around the Crimean peninsula, raising concerns about the possibility of Moscow attacking Kyiv. After Russia sent troops near the Ukrainian border, the European Union and the USA promised unwavering support to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskiy in Ukraine's confrontation with Russia-backed separatists holding parts of the country's eastern Donbas region. A few weeks ago, Russia announced the start of mass military drills. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced, assuring that the military movements are a routine drill and pose no threat to Ukraine. Meanwhile, the UK and the USA have warned Russia of consequences if it does not deescalate troops from the Donbas region.
In an attempt to better its investments in developing health care based AI systems, Microsoft has announced that it would buy artificial-intelligence-based speech-recognition developers Nuance Communications, for about $16 billion. In acquiring Nuance, Microsoft is hoping to bolster its offerings for the fast-growing field of medical computing. Nuance has an established set of customers and a wide array of speech and text data related to health care and is responsible for creating production tools such as Dragon. Announcing its plans, Microsoft said that the acquisition would double the size of the healthcare market where it competed, to almost $500 billion.

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In a move that threatens to change global trade dynamics and increase tensions between European nations and China, the 27-member European Union has placed provisional duties on a set of Chinese aluminium products. The European Commission said on Monday that an investigation had revealed that Chinese exporters increased their share of the EU market by 5% between 2017 and 2020, at a time prices had declined by 9%. According to the investigation, the share of Chinese aluminium exports to the EU increased from 6.2% in 2017 to 11.2% in 2020, during which period EU producers started registering losses.
India recorded the highest number of coronavirus deaths in over 5 months. According to statistics released by the country’s health ministry, India reported 131,968 new infections and 780 deaths on Friday. Almost half of these infections were reported from the Western State of Maharashtra which houses the country’s financial capital Mumbai. The situation has forced Maharashtra’s state government to reimpose lockdown measures in all parts of the city, severely hurting trade and commerce. While India is the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world, it remains unclear whether New Delhi would be able to supply enough doses to meet the sharp increase in demand for COVID vaccines.
Pakistan is likely to source a majority of its LNG requirements from Russia to make up for its gas shortages in the near future. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow has offered Islamabad liquefied natural gas supplies after meeting his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmoud Kureishi. Mr Lavrov said that he discussed ways in which the two countries could better their bilateral ties, including in energy and trade. Russia and Pakistan are working on a 1,100km gas link project named the Pakistan Stream gas link. The project, agreed upon by the two countries in 2015, expects to deliver 12.4 billion cubic meters of gas annually.

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Four major states in India, with a combined population of over 200 million people are voting to elect their state legislators this month. Among them, Assam is ruled by the federal ruling party - BJP, Tamil Nadu’s incumbent AIADMK remains a BJP ally. Of the other two states, namely Kerala and West Bengal, the former saw a communist government for the last five years and the latter is ruled by a regional party, the Trinamool Congress. Both have become an important battleground for the country’s political future. But as everyday rallies, large gatherings and long queues outside polling booths have become the norm in these states, a fresh surge of coronavirus cases in the country, increasing by almost 100,000 every alternate day threaten a completely different crisis in the country; that of a new health emergency.
In a move that further damages the prospects of ending the ongoing US-China trade war, the US Department of Commerce blacklisted seven Chinese entities involved in the country’s next-generation supercomputer programme, last week. According to the DoC, technology being developed by these companies could serve military purposes, including the development of nuclear and hypersonic weapons. The entities or groups spearheading China's supercomputing development and plans for chip self-sufficiency will now need the approval to trade with American companies and would be denied American technology.
Nineteen people were sentenced to death in coup-hit Myanmar, last week, for allegedly killing an associate of an army captain, as announced by the Myawaddy TV station, a broadcasting service owned by the country’s military. Announcing the sentences, a first since the Tatmadaw took control of the country’s government on February 1st this year, Myawaddy TV said that the killing took place on March 27 in the North Okkalapa district of the country’s biggest city, Yangon. The area has been placed under martial law. Despite increasing protests even after the death of over 600 people by security forces and over 18 countries calling for the restoration of democracy and the release of political prisoners, the Tatmadaw remains undeterred.

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U.S. President Joe Biden’s proposed federal budget, released last Friday, could be called a polar shift from his predecessor Donald Trump’s fiscal approach. The Democrat President has earmarked a total of $769 billion for non-defence programs and focuses on several domestic issues such as public health programmes and aims to ramp up the fight against climate change. In fact, the proposed $1.5 trillion budget for 2022 increases funding for domestic programs by 16% at 3.3% of the country’s GDP while increasing the military budget by a mere 1.7%. The plan is expected to be strongly debated in Congress.
The United Kingdom’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has advised Britain to avoid using AstraZeneca shots for those aged below 30 over concerns of blood clotting at a time the country is preparing to ease lockdown restrictions. Wei Shen Lim, chair of the British health advisory board told a press briefing that based on available data and evidence, it was preferable for adults aged under 30 to be offered an alternative to the AstraZeneca jab. He, however, pointed out that “We are advising a preference for one vaccine over another vaccine for a particular age group, really out of the utmost caution, rather than because we have any serious safety concerns”.
In the highest ever antitrust fine in the country, Chinese regulators have fined Alibaba Group Holding a record $2.75 billion for violating anti-monopoly rules and abusing its dominant market position. The Jack Ma owned corporation has seen its businesses being targeted by Chinese authorities on several occasions since October, last year, including a decision to freeze the planned $37 Billion public listing of Alibaba’s fintech firm Ant Group, after the company had cleared almost every hurdle. China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) had launched an antitrust probe into Alibaba soon after the IPO was halted in December last year.

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced this week that the country plans to reopen its economy next week, starting with the reopening of all shops, gyms, hairdressers, and outdoor hospitality areas in England. International travel, however, would continue to be restricted, and invite hefty fines. While Europe is under attack from a fresh COVID wave prompting several countries including France to declare or extend new lockdown measures, a swift vaccination program by the UK has created room for the country to plan a road map for businesses to reopen. To help companies access finance, the United Kingdom plans to launch a government-backed loan scheme offering maximum loans of approximately $14 million.
Iran and western powers engaged in constructive talks last Tuesday. The USA, which withdrew from the Iran Nuclear Deal in 2018 under then-president Donald Trump, was, however, not present in the meeting. After agreeing on the 25-year deal, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani had said that cooperation with China was very important for the implementation of the JCPOA. China, which had seen its relationship with the US hit rock bottom under President Trump, had voiced strong support for Tehran, notifying the security council that it did not recognize the US move. Russia and the three European Nations had supported China in trying to uphold the failing agreement.
Australia and New Zealand will create a quarantine and COVID-testing free travel bubble from April 19 according to an announcement by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Jacinda Arden was elected to a second term as Prime Minister with an overwhelming majority last year due to her effective response to the coronavirus with New Zealand recording a little over 2,000 confirmed cases and a total of 26 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. Meanwhile, Australia has recorded about 29,000 cases and a little over 900 deaths.

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After weeks of unheeded requests to remove over 200 Chinese vassals from the Whitsun Reef, the Philippines announced it would send diplomatic protests each day as long as China allows the ships to remain stationed at the disputed area that Manila claims is a part of its 200-mile exclusive economic zone. Last Tuesday the Japanese foreign ministry announced in a statement that the country’s foreign minister Toshimitsu Motegi had expressed strong concerns about the situation with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi over the telephone. The USA, which remains at loggerheads with China over several issues and accuses Beijing of trying to intimidate and provoke other nations by parking its vessels near the Reef, deployed aircraft careers into the East and South China Seas.
India started this week with a record rise in the number of coronavirus infections in the country. Last Monday, India become the second country after the United States to record over 100,000 new cases in a single day. With elections ongoing in four important states in the country, the situation is expected to worsen in the coming weeks. The state of Maharashtra, home to the country’s financial capital Mumbai accounted for over half of this number, registering 57,074 new cases overnight. The state capital Mumbai has announced additional lockdown curbs last Sunday creating alleged unrest among small traders.
NATO voiced concern over what it said was a big Russian military build-up near eastern Ukraine last week. Among the allies, the United States of America has asked the Kremlin to explain the "provocations", with its state department saying that the USA is ready to engage in the situation. The movements of the Russian military were suggestive of a likely invasion by Moscow on the erstwhile Soviet Republic. Both the European Union and USA have promised unwavering support to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskiy in Ukraine's confrontation with Russia-backed separatists holding parts of the country's eastern Donbas region.

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Two months after Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw, took control of the country's government, its most prominent civilian leader and Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has been charged under the official secrets act that could jail her for a 14-year period. According to the activist group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, the death toll due to a military crackdown has crossed 550 and thousands have been detained. The deteriorating situation in the country presently threatens billions of dollars worth of foreign investments from countries including Singapore, Japan, and the USA.
China recently convicted seven of Hong Kong's most prominent pro-democracy campaigners including media tycoon Jimmy Lai and veteran politician Martin Lee, for unlawful assembly. The activists, some of whom face additional charges could face jail terms of up to five years. China has been at loggerheads with Western nations over its Hong Kong policies after Beijing passed the controversial National Securities Law, last year. Last month, China passed a legislation to amend Hong Kong’s electoral process under which the Chinese Communist Party will have indirect authority to vet prospective MPs, undermining all possibilities of the existence of an effective opposition in the region.
Taiwan based chip maker, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., announced plans to invest $100 billion in the next three years towards expanding its manufacturing capacity. The $100 billion at approximately $33 billion over the next three years represents a roughly 43% increase over last year’s $20.7 billion expenditure on manufacturing and research. The investment appears to be critical in meeting rising demand that has accelerated over the past year as the pandemic substantially increased global demand for digitization.

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With its unemployment rate still hovering around the 6% mark and COVID positive cases continuing to climb by tens of thousands, US President Joe Biden hopes a $2 trillion stimulus for infrastructure development will boost the country’s economy. USA remains the worst affected country in the world and global and local lockdowns had seen its economy shrink by 3.5% last year. At the same time, its greatest trade and political rival China grew by a little over 2% and has been able the COVID pandemic to less than 50 weekly cases. Most economists predict an Asia-centric post-pandemic recovery for the world, and China appears to be in a position to make the most out of it.
Airplane manufacturer Boeing expressed concern last week about losing out to competitors due to Washington and Beijing’s trade spat. Addressing the US Chamber of Commerce Aviation Summit last Wednesday, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said he is hopeful that intellectual property, human rights, and other things can be separated from trade to encourage a free trade environment between the USA and China and ensure the American company does not lose out on the Chinese market. The company sells approximately 25% of its jetliners to China and has been under immense pressure from US authorities for the large share it holds in the Chinese domestic airline market share since the Trump era.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced the country’s third lockdown last week as France continued to see a sharp surge in daily COVID infections. France has registered over 4.6 million COVID positive cases and registered nearly 100,000 deaths. President Macron had initially decided to avoid lockdowns in the country, after suffering heavy economic losses due to its two previous lockdowns. According to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, the two coronavirus lockdowns in 2020 caused the French economy to suffer its worst economic marker since World War II with its GDP falling 8.3%.

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China has signed a 25-year cooperation agreement with Iran, as both countries continue to face US trade sanctions on several fronts. The decision comes at a time Beijing received almost 27 million barrels of cheap Iranian oil, passed off as crude from other origins. Both countries have found a common enemy in form of the USA and the partnership is likely to complicate US President Joe Biden’s desire to bring Iran to the table for talks over re-establishing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action popularly called the Iran Nuclear Deal.
Canada has decided to stop the use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for people aged below 55, due to concerns over reports of blood clots among recipients in Europe. Provincial health authorities in the country, including in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta, halted the AstraZeneca shots last week after Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization recommended the pause. The decision comes as a major setback both for Canada and the Anglo-Swedish firm responsible for manufacturing the easy-to-store cheaper vaccine.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire confirmed reports that Paris and the European Union are close to a bailout deal for Air France. ”It is a matter of days,” according to the French minister before the carrier that registered a net loss of over $8.4 billion last year could see a bailout package that may include major concessions. Among EU countries, France and the Netherlands, each of which owns a 14% stake in Air France-KLM, had previously provided the company with a combined bailout package of over $12.2 billion in loans and credit guarantees.

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Acknowledging that COVID has posed the biggest challenge since World War 2, with a casualty of over 2.7 million, 24 world leaders, including the heads of all G7 countries said that the world must now "be better prepared to predict, prevent, detect, assess and effectively respond to pandemics in a highly coordinated fashion". Given the developments over the past year, the call for action to put in place preventive measures against future pandemics undoubtedly holds the highest priority for every country.
The USA has threatened tariffs on six countries, including the United Kingdom and India over their digital tax policies. The other four countries include Austria, Italy, Spain, and Turkey. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a statement last week that the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) would initiate steps to impose potential tariffs, including filing public notices and collecting public comments as part of investigations launched by the erstwhile Trump administration into taxes aimed at American internet companies and e-commerce platforms. Under the provisions of Section 301 of the US Trade Act, the USA would hold rights to levy tariffs of up to 25% on goods being exported from the said countries. Brazilian.
President Jair Bolonaro announced Monday, a major cabinet reshuffle after several ministers resigned over the COVID crisis. The development comes days after the country’s former defence minister Fernando Azevedo e Silva and foreign minister Ernesto Araujo tendered their resignations. Former Attorney General Andre Levi also resigned immediately after. Notably, the new shuffle puts more military personnel in ranks closer to the Brazilian President as he prepares to fight federal elections next year.

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The Philippines ordered the deployment of more navy ships to the South China Sea last week as tensions escalated over the presence of a fleet of Chinese boats parked near the disputed reef. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has expressed “concern” over the threatening presence of 220 Chinese ships. The boats have been parked at the Whitsun Reef that falls under the jurisdiction of Manila’s 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The climax to Bangladesh’s golden jubilee celebrations of independence was marked with large scale clashes between security forces and a group of protestors who were against the welcoming of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as chief guest. Notably, India has remained a close ally of Bangladesh and had played a key role in its independence movement against Pakistan in 1971. Speaking at Dhaka's parade ground, Mr Modi said that the two countries should move together in progress and expressed satisfaction in being able to aid Dhaka in its COVID fight by supplying vaccines.
Ethiopia’s prime minister Abiy Ahmed said last week that Eritrea has agreed to withdraw troops from Ethiopian territory along their common border after a nearly five-month long war. Tensions flared up between the two countries last year after Tigray forces fired rockets into their long-standing rival Eritrea claiming that the Ethiopian government was trying to use the Eritrean airport to attack Tigray. In the November clash, which saw thousands dead and hundreds of thousands displaced, the Ethiopian government had maintained that there was no presence of Eritrean troops in the region. However, the Ethiopian Prime Minister confirmed for the first time last week that troops from Eritrea had entered Tigray.

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China sanctioned organizations and individuals in the United Kingdom last Friday in retaliation to Western sanctions imposed on Beijing for alleged human rights abuses on Uighur Muslims in the country’s cotton-producing Xinjiang region. The development comes at a time the United Kingdom called on Beijing to allow international access to Xinjiang to verify the truth about human rights abuses in the province, and western companies are facing large-scale repurcussions in China. Several companies who have expressed concern over cotton being sourced from the Xinjiang region, including Nike and H&M, risk facing large scale backlash in the country. British media reported last week that London based luxury fashion house Burberry had become the first victim.
A huge container ship blocking the Suez Canal is costing global trade millions of dollars every hour. The Ever Given, a 400 metre-long container ship, blocked the important passage while travelling towards the Mediterranean from the North Sea on March 23rd. The Suez Canal Authority said that the principal cause that placed the ship aground was a lack of visibility due to high winds and a sand storm. The Suez Canal Authority has suspended all navigation through the channel that sees almost 30 per cent of the global container traffic pass through it every year. It is being estimated that at least another week would be required to free the container ship, threatening a global price rise in essential commodities and oil.
India, which appears to be hit by a fresh COVID wave, is expected to soon expand its vaccination programme for the country’s younger population. The Indian health ministry said that all above the age of 45 are eligible for vaccination from April 1, and now the government is working to meet a demand by many states for the inclusion of all adults. The country’s new targets will decrease the country’s AstraZeneca exports, putting more pressure on several countries, particularly those in Europe.

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Last week, Yemen's Houthi rebels rejected a Saudi initiative to end a six-year-long war that has pushed the country towards economic ruin and a never-ending famine. Strategy experts believe that the Saudi coalition had underestimated Yemen’s Shiite political alliance, and instead of emerging victorious, has riled up civil conflict in the country causing immeasurable losses, including over 200,000 deaths and large-scale economic ruin in the next six years. Last month, in a phone call with Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz, US President Joe Biden revisited the Yemen crisis and sought a peace deal.
The USA and the UK announced sanctions against a military-owned conglomerate in coup-hit Myanmar last Thursday as the government’s brutal crackdowns against protestors continued. Thursday’s sanctions against Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. could put enormous economic pressure on the country’s military. The highly secretive company is an important source of cash-flow for the military and could drain the coup organisers of much needed resources. Announcing the sanctions, the UK’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, "Today's sanctions target the military's financial interests to help drain the sources of finance for their campaigns of repression against civilians".
North Korea is back in the news for provocative actions in the Korean peninsula. Last week, the country fired off a pair of cruise missiles during a US secretary of state Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's visit to Asia to discuss security issues. The South Korean Defense Ministry said last Wednesday that the two missiles were fired from South Pyongan province on Sunday which flew over the sea between the Korean peninsula and China into the Sea of Japan. The USA said that the launch was not in violation of US sanctions but the country’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will host his counterparts from Japan and South Korea this week to discuss and craft a coordinated strategy toward North Korea.

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In what could be a major setback for Anglo-Swedish firm, AstraZeneca, US health officials said last week that results from a US trial of company’s Covid-19 vaccine may have provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data. The US National Institute of Health has urged AstraZeneca to “review the efficacy data and ensure the most accurate, up-to-date efficacy data be made public as quickly as possible.” Several countries in Europe had temporarily paused the administration of its vaccines over concerns of blood clot formations as a side-effect. However, after assurance from the European Medical Agency, most of the countries resumed administering the AstraZeneca shots.
Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, recently stated that presently, the Kremlin does not have any relationship with the EU. The 27-member bloc has been at loggerheads with Russia since the arrest of kremlin critic Alexei Navalny leading to a flurry of sanctions against Russian officials. However, speaking at a press conference alongside his Chinese counterpart last week, Mr Lavrov said that Russia is still willing to resume cooperation with the EU if Brussels agrees. Notably, the development comes at a time the EU has found itself in a fresh conflict with Beijing, it’s largest trade partner for 2020, sanctioning several Chinese officials over the treatment of Uighur Muslims.
US social media giant is facing a lawsuit in France for failing to provide a safe environment for users. Media advocacy group, Reporters Without Borders has sued the company accusing it of engaging in "deceptive commercial practices" by allowing disinformation and threats to flourish despite promising users that it will "exercise professional diligence" to create "a safe, secure and error-free environment. Presently, the lawsuit has been filed in France with RWB considering similar lawsuits in other countries.

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The first month in Biden’s presidency made clear that the US president would make polar changes in the country’s immigration policies as had been adopted by his predecessor, Donald Trump. In the first week of February, Mr Biden signed several executive orders to reverse Trump-era immigration policies. Among those, a decision to increase annual refugee admissions to 125,000 in 2022 appears to be creating major roadblocks for the Biden administration and inviting harsh criticism from all political camps. According to several reports last week, the Biden administration has at least 15,000 unaccompanied minors in custody, of whom 5,000 were detained by US Customs and Border Patrol.
After months of military threats through increased army activity in the Taiwan strait, the newest conflict between the two Chinas has come in the form of pineapples. At the start of this month, Beijing imposed a ban on pineapple imports coming from Taiwan saying that “harmful creatures” could enter the country with the fruit. The ban targeted over 40,000 metric tonnes of pineapple imports into the country and threatens to decrease prices of the fruit within the country causing losses for Taiwanese farmers. According to Taiwan’s Council of Agriculture, last year Taiwan exported a little over 10% of the produce, of which over 90% went to the People’s Republic of China.
US-based Warner Music has decided to go ahead with a fresh licensing agreement with Tencent to stream its music in China. Warner Music, which has under its record labels a massive group of artists ranging from the legendary Bee Gees to rock bands like Alterbridge and pop stars such as Dua Lipa and Ed Sheeran, aims to capitalise on China’s fast-growing music market through the deal. In its fourth quarter, Tencent’s revenue rose by 14.3% in comparison to the previous quarter, aided by a 40.4% jump in paid subscribers to 56 million.

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The European Union and the United Kingdom joined Canada and USA in sanctioning several Chinese officials to send “a clear message about the human rights violations and abuses in Xinjiang”. The blacklisted officials include Zhu Hailun, Wang Junzheng, Wang Mingshan and Chen Mingguo, all having worked or presently working for the Chinese government in the Xinjiang region. The state-run Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps have also been targeted by the new sanctions.The situation in Xinjiang has united all Western forces to act against what they believe are systematic human rights abuses by Beijing.
The German government, after being heavily criticised for its slow vaccine rollout, has decided to extend lockdown measures for another four weeks, dampening Easter enthusiasm in the country. Germany has seen a steady rise in the number of COVID infections after it began relaxing lockdown measures before the beginning of this month. German authorities had planned to gradually allow businesses, including restaurants and gyms to reopen. The decision was presumably taken to counter growing resentment against the country's strict lockdown measures.
The United Kingdom is planning to introduce fines of up to $7,000 for people planning to travel outside the country before June. The earliest date by which the country would allow international travel is the 17th May, the country's health minister Matt Hannock told British Media. Travel for essential reasons such as work or education will be addressed by the Global Travel Taskforce.The development comes as a severe setback for the country’s airline industry which has suffered record losses due to last year’s pandemic.

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At least two more persons were shot dead by security forces in Myanmar over the weekend in Monywa and Mandalay. Several other protestors were wounded as the country’s military opened fire. The death toll due to the ongoing conflict, according to the activist group - the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, has crossed 250. The military, which saw a massive decline in support after elections last November, has labeled the elections fraudulent and vowed to restore democracy in a free and fair manner. However, major world powers and a majority of the country’ citizens continue to disbelieve the Tatmadaw’s version and the country has been slapped with sanctions.
Australia is facing a new challenge in the form of floods, the intensity of which is the highest in over 60 years. Till last Monday, Canberra had evacuated over 20,000 people from low-lying areas in New South Wales, as rains continue to wreak havoc. The timing of the natural disaster is a major setback for the Australian government that after a long delay started its COVID vaccination programme this week.
A $25 billion cash-and-stock deal between Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. and Kansas City Southern, will create the first railway spanning the United States of America, Mexico and Canada. Among major investors for the deal, the Bank of Montreal and Goldman Sachs Group have committed to an $8.6 billion bridge loan. Canadian Pacific has presently offered $275-per-share for Kansas City Southern. The merger would now need the approval of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB).

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Creating more discomfort for Germany’s ruling Christian Democratic Union after setbacks in two state polls, recent local media reports have revealed that a decision by the German health ministry to provide free face masks for everyone over the age of 60 last year has reportedly left taxpayers with a bill for $2.9 billion. While executing its campaign in December last year to supply the most vulnerable with free face masks, the Health Ministry vastly overcompensated pharmacies according to several media reports.
Last week, officials from the People’s Republic of China and the United States of America participated in the first high-level talks between the two countries since Joe Biden assumed office as US president earlier this year. The discussion, which turned into a full-fledged debate with both the countries sharply rebuking each other for their policies signaling that a change in the US administration is unlikely to better the country’s ties with Beijing. While officials representing USA brought into focus China’s alleged mistreatment of Uighur Muslims in the Xinjiang region. China, on the other hand, accused USA of inciting other countries to economically attack Beijing.
Tanzania’s former vice president Samia Suluhu Hasaan was sworn in as Tanzania’s first female president last week, after the death of John Magufuli. Hasaan, who began her political career in 2000, will now serve the remainder of Magufuli’s second five-year term slated to expire in 2025. The road, however, will not be easy for the 61-year old politician who had previously made history by being the country’s first elected female vice president. According to political analysts, Magufuli's sudden demise has created a power vacuum in the country’s cabinet and Hasaan will most likely face stiff opposition from former Magufuli allies.

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Several countries that had paused the administration of Astrazeneca COVID doses over concerns of blood clots as a side effect have resumed their immunisation drives following a report by the European Medicines Agency. Last week, Indonesia said that even though vaccination could lead to “adverse events” following immunisation, “the risk of death from COVID-19 is much higher.” Echoing the WHO and AstraZeneca, the EMA report observed that there were no indications of blood clots reported in various parts of Europe resulting from administering Astrazeneca shots. The EMA however did not completely dismiss the possibility of a link between the two. Scientific experts in Sweden, Norway and Denmark continue to express caution in allowing the administration of the shots.
British Prime minister Boris Johnson has suggested that the country would face a slight setback on its vaccine rollout programme partly due to a delay in the arrival of a separate Asrazeneca shipment from its manufacturing facility in India. Additionally, the UK is also testing the stability of 1.7 billion doses. Having administered over 25 million doses till last week, Britain has been leading a swift vaccination drive and aims to immunize 32 million people by 15th April. This would mean the country would need to administer at least another 37 million doses in the next five weeks.
Samsung has warned of a “serious imbalance” in the semiconductor industry if global shortages of chips continue. The remark came from the South Korean chip makers co-chief executive and mobile chief, Koh Dong-jin at a shareholders meeting last week. Earlier this month, media reports had suggested that Samsung, which itself is one of the largest chipmakers in the world, was in a severe shortage of supplies from American firm Qualcomm, and Qualcomm isn’t the only company that is failing to meet up to the increasing demand for chips. According to consulting firm AlixPartners, the shortage will cut $60.6 billion in revenue from the global automotive industry this year.

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India recorded its highest single-day spike of 26,291 cases this week, with a major uptick in cases from Maharashtra, housing the country’s financial capital, Mumbai. Since the steady dip till February this year, the country has seen the number of cases rise each day, threatening fresh lockdowns. Medical experts are concerned about the second wave of COVID infections. Apart from Maharashtra, neighbouring Karnataka is registering a rapid surge. Gujarat and Punjab, which share borders with Pakistan, have also reported an increase in cases over the last week.
Angela Merkel, who will complete four terms as German Chancellor this year, has seen her party’s popularity dip by a huge margin over the last couple of months owing to the country’s slow vaccine rollout. That, and a face mask procurement scandal were among recent events that led to the record defeats in the southwestern states of Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. Winning only 24.1% of the vote share in Baden-Wuerttemberg and 27.7% in Rhineland-Palatinate, the lowest for the party since World War II, the results come as a wake-up call for the CDU.
A US Federal court recently dismissed Google’s plea to dismiss a lawsuit accusing the tech giant of tracking users' data even while surfing on Chrome’s Incognito or private mode. The $5 billion lawsuits filed at the US District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of three Google users last year, claims that Google violates privacy and wiretapping laws by continuing to "intercept, track, and collect communications,” through a secret, separate message sent to Google's servers while browsing in incognito mode.

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Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte appears to be preparing for a fourth term as the country concluded voting for its House of Representatives, a month after its collapse. While the country’s ruling centre-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy or VVD is expected to win the highest majority, forming a coalition appears to be tricky for the incumbent. Since 2010, Mark Rutte has led a fairly divergent group as coalition partners and has seen his government collapse within a record 528 days. However, for his second term, the Dutch Prime Minister, for the first time in almost a decade, saw his government complete its full four-year term, winning re-election in 2017.
China’s industrial output grew exponentially to 35.1% in the first two months, compared to a 7.3% growth in December, according to data released by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics, this week. Based on statistics, China would be easily able to achieve its target of 6% growth this year. The country has seen a steady growth after a 6.8% slump in the first quarter of 2020, and economists peg its growth potential for 2021 at anywhere between 8 and 9%. China’s low growth target is indicative that the country may be contemplating a cut in monetary stimulus.
The European Union has decided to take legal action against the United Kingdom for a breach of international law over its decision to change the terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol. The decision comes at a time the NI Protocol is facing judicial review after a separate legal filing by Ireland’s Ultra Unionist Party. The UUP believes that the protocol cuts Northern Ireland off from the rest of the UK, by keeping it aligned with trade rules post-Brexit. The EU, on the other hand, has said that Britain was well aware of the nature of checks that goods crossing over to Northern Ireland from Great Britain would be subjected to while signing the agreement.

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Last week, The US State Department approved the sale of $1.77 billion worth of defence equipment to Germany, including five P-8A Poseidon planes. The Poseidon is one of the “most advanced” weapon systems in the world. Other equipment included engines, sensors, radars, and communications equipment. The approval is of key strategic importance since, under the erstwhile Trump administration, the USA had withdrawn troops from Germany citing Berlin's failure to raise its defence budget to 2% of its GDP, as agreed by NATO members. The decision was also aimed at pressuring Berlin to heed American sanctions on the Russia-funded Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project.
The QUAD Group made up of the United States, India, Australia, and Japan vowed to work towards restoring democracy in coup-hit Myanmar. The QUAD, a key strategic alliance in the Asia Pacific recently discussed Myanmar’s situation in their first meeting this year. However, barring the USA, the three QUAD countries have till now refrained from taking strong actions against Myanmar’s military. Myanmar, which remains under a military-induced year-long emergency for the past one and a half months, has turned a blind eye towards international concerns and increasing sanctions.
Trade between the EU and Britain in the first-month post Brexit decreased significantly. According to statistics released by the UK’s Office for National Statistics last week, British goods exports to the EU, excluding non-monetary gold and other precious metals, fell by a record 40.7% in January compared to December and imports fell by 28.8%. While the COVID pandemic which continues to force several European countries to extend lockdowns and restrict trade can be blamed for a major part of this decrease, Brexit, too, made a significant impact. Britain’s exit from the EU saw both the 27-member bloc and the UK stockpile essential goods, particularly in the pharmaceutical sector before the end of the Brexit transition period in December.

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At least four European countries have stopped using vaccine doses supplied by Anglo-Swedish firm AstraZeneca even as European Union members struggle to speed up their immunization programmes. Denmark became the latest amongst the EU countries to pause the administration of AstraZeneca doses last Thursday. The decision was based on the formation of blood clots in some people post-vaccination. To worsen matters, this pause on vaccine administration comes at a time when AstraZeneca cut its supply forecast of COVID-19 vaccine to EU countries in the first quarter by almost one-third from the 40 million doses it had promised last month. The firm will deliver 30 million doses by March and another 20 million by April.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in its Monthly Oil report for March cut down its oil demand estimate for the first quarter by 180,000 bpd, and for the second quarter by 310,000 bpd compared to the previous month’s outlook. The oil cartel, however, expects global oil demand to increase in the second half of this year as larger populations around the world are immunised against the COVID-19 virus and economic activity heads towards normalcy.
Last week, Brazil recorded over 2,000 Covid-related deaths in a single day for the first time, increasing concerns about the country’s handling of the pandemic and the threat it poses to neighbouring countries. The worsening situation has put fresh pressure on President Jair Bolsonaro's government as the president’s initial decision is being blamed for creating the health emergency. Brazil had recorded 1,597,789 new cases and 36,836 deaths in February alone and has over 11 million confirmed Covid cases and over 270,000 deaths.

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China’s National People’s Congress passed a proposal last Thursday to determine how the next set of Hong Kong legislators will be chosen. The proposal, backed by an overwhelming majority allows China’s communist party unparalleled influence in deciding candidature for Hong Kong’s legislative assembly and can gradually see the doing away of any opposition forces in the country’s specially administered region. Apart from the setting up of a vetting committee, other major changes would include the expansion of the country’s legislative body in a way that would decrease the number of elected candidates to 22% from the present 50%.
Last week the Kremlin exercised its recently formulated digital laws to slow down Twitter, accusing the social media site of failing to remove content banned in the country. The country’s internet watchdog, Roskomnadzor stated that centralized response measures have been taken against the company to protect Russian citizens and force Twitter to comply with Russian legislation. The decision comes at a time the Kremlin is facing severe criticism from opposition forces, with most gathering support using social media platforms.
British banking giant HSBC has announced tabling a shareholder vote to phase out coal financing within the next two decades. While the decision narrowly prevented rebellion in the company’s shareholder ranks from a group of 15 investors, the bank's decision will impact billions of dollars worth of investments. HSBC is one of the largest financiers of fossil fuels in Europe, and according to the Rainforest Action Network, has invested over $85 billion in fossil fuel since the signing of the Paris Accord.

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Amidst concerns and criticism by opposition leaders and a section of the American business community, the Biden administration's ambitious $1.9 trillion COVID stimulus bill was successfully passed in the Senate this week. While economists agree that the US requires a major economic package to kickstart its economy and have welcomed the Act's passage, inflation concerns arising out of the relief package have increased. A group of analysts has termed the Biden plan "a very risky move" that could slow down growth by starving the administration of capital.
Senegalese opposition MP Ousmane Sonko, detained on rape charges and later released on bail as the country flared up in violent protests, has balmed President Macky Sall for his arrest after denying the accusations. Opposition leaders in Senegal are concerned that President Sall, elected to power for a second term with an overwhelming 58% vote share in 2019, will exercise his authority to remain in power for a third term in 2024. A large section of the country's youth have decided to side with the 46-year old MP's version of events, and the ongoing protests have taken a larger range of issues under its umbrella.
Mexico has come one step closer to becoming the world's largest legal Cannabis market. Mexico's Congress is expected to pass a federal law legalising the cannabis trade in the country. The bill, passed by the Senate in November 2020, saw several revisions in the last two months and was approved by two special committees of Mexico's Lower House of Congress on Monday. The Bill also makes way for the creation of a license category for vertically integrated marijuana businesses.

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Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for urgent action in Afghanistan to prevent a "spring offensive by the Taliban" as the 14-month ceasefire window under the Doha agreement, signed in February 2020, heads towards completion. The matter could cause serious security concerns for neighbour India if the US chooses to completely move out of Afghanistan or if, like the US has proposed, according to a letter by Secretary Blinken to Afghan President Asharaf Ghani, the Taliban finds representation in a newly formed Afghan government.
The EU has decided to prevent future exports of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines unless the drugmaker significantly increases supply to the 27-member bloc. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said last Monday that AstraZeneca was delivering less than 10% of the EU's promised vaccine doses and questioned how the company managed to supply Australia instead.
PayPal has announced plans to acquire Tel Aviv based cryptocurrency startup Curv as the crypto craze continues to grow worldwide. According to a press statement issued by PayPal in October 2020, it is committed to helping shape the role that digital currencies will play in the future of financial services and commerce, and its investments in Curv, a company dedicated to cloud-based infrastructure for digital asset security, is a step in that direction. Notably, Paypal recently created a business unit focused on blockchain, crypto and digital currencies.

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A politically volatile Lebanon flared up in protests in the last two weeks as consensus to form a government and implement much needed economic reforms was not reached. The country has seen its currency lose almost 80% of its value, pushing over half of the country's population below the poverty line, and threatening a debt to GDP ratio of over 180% in the next three years. Protests have turned violent in the last seven days. However, even if Saad al-Hariri manages to come to an agreement with President Aoun, protests are not expected to stop completely as many citizens see Hariri as being responsible for the country's initial economic collapse.
The Quadrilateral Securities Dialogue or QUAD group made up of the USA, Japan, Australia and India is expected to convene their first meeting this year by the end of this week. The meeting would hold special significance as it will be the first under US President Joe Biden, who hopes to use this alliance as the country's focal point for trade in the Asia-Pacific and counter China's growing trade influence in the region. Apart from defence ties, the four leading world economies are expected to discuss ways to use their alliance to counter Chinese trade and possibly make India the next global manufacturing hub.
The internationally recognized Saudi-backed government of Yemen announced last week that it had restored diplomatic ties with Qatar after four years of boycott. The announcement corresponds with the USA's decision to end support for the Saudi-led offensive in Yemen and make room for talks with Houthi rebels. Lifting trade restrictions with Qatar would facilitate faster economic recovery for the country ravished by years-long famine.

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In a much needed positive development for the US economy, nonfarm payrolls surged by 379,000 jobs in February after rising 166,000 in January. However, it will be a while before the USA can make a full recovery of its job sectors after the COVID-induced devastation. According to the US Labor Department at least 4.1 million Americans have been out of work for more than six months, accounting for 41.5% of the unemployed population in February.
In a move that would further decrease Hong Kong's democratic functioning, China has introduced a law to allow the communist government veto powers over selecting Hong Kong's lawmakers. The move has invited international criticism and the EU has asked Beijing to carefully consider the political and economic implications of any decision to reform the electoral system of Hong Kong that would undermine fundamental freedoms, political pluralism, and democratic principles.
A temporary US ban on exports of critical raw materials through the recent invocation of the US Defence Production Act to preserve vaccine raw materials for its own companies could limit vaccine manufacturing by other companies, according to Serum Institute of India's chief executive Adar Poonawalla. As Mr. Poonawalla state there remain lots of "bags, filters and critical items" that manufacturers need from the US, restricting which could severely impact equitable distribution of vaccines.

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In a big relief for the liquor industry, the United States under President Joe Biden agreed to suspend retaliatory tariffs on British goods over an aircraft subsidy row, including Scotch whiskey for a period of four months. The UK and the USA will use this time for resolving the years old dispute. Under former US President Donald Trump, the USA had imposed tariffs worth $7.5 billion on several European products, including 25% levies on European exports, including French wine, Scotch whisky, and Spanish olives leading to heavy losses for European industries.
The Italian government has blocked the export of an Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine shipment to Australia that had started its immunization drive only on February 22nd. While the move makes Italy the first EU nation to stop exports in accordance with the 27-member bloc’s new policy, the move, affecting over 250,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine supply Canberra has approved for its 25 million citizens, would slow down the country's vaccination drive.
Last week the country saw tensions escalate after police opened fire on protesters, killing one man, inviting more condemnation from the international community. The incident led to the United States imposing trade sanctions against the military regime. USA had earlier imposed sanctions on high raking officials of the country and urged other UN member states to follow suit. The UN Security Council is expected to convene to discuss the same.

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Sri Lanka has decided to put on hold China-manufactured COVID-19 vaccines and use the India-manufactured Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine to immunise its citizens. Dr Ramesh Pathirana, the country’s cabinet co-spokesman was quoted by Sri Lankan media as saying that China’s Sinopharm has not yet completed phase 3 clinical trials and documentations pertaining to the registration of the Chinese vaccine is yet to be received. Dr Pathirana’s statement comes at a time Sri Lanka is finding itself in troubled waters on several international fronts, with India remaining wary of the possibility of Colombo tilting to Beijing’s favour.
India and China agreed last week to set up a hotline between their foreign ministers in an attempt to reduce tensions along a disputed border in Ladakh where troops of the two countries had engaged in a months-long standoff. The Indian Foreign Ministry in a statement quoted external affairs minister S. Jaishankar as saying that "once disengagement is completed at all friction points, the two sides could also look at broader de-escalation of troops in the area and work towards restoration of peace and tranquillity.”
Novatek Gas & Power Asia, a subsidiary of Russia’s independent gas producer Novatek, has signed a long-term contract with Chinese state run Shenergy Group Company to deliver over three million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to terminals in China over a 15-year duration. Novatek is fast emerging as a major competitor to Russia’s Gazprom in supplying LNG across the world, and between 2018 and 2020, its subsidiary Yamal LNG shipped 33.5 million tonnes of gas to Europe.

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Despite a January recommendation by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce urging USA to partner with like-minded governments and the tech industry to set global tech standards while reconsidering a Trump era rule aimed at banning technology-related business transactions, the Biden administration has decided to green light it by the end of this month. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a business-oriented American lobbying group and the largest such organisation in the world, had in January, raised several concerns about the proposed rule in a letter it sent to the country’s Commerce Department. The rule would require American businesses to get government clearance for purchases and deals involving sophisticated technology with a foreign adversary.
Four important states in India are scheduled to go to polls in the next two months in a contest that is being seen as a Litmus test for the Prime Minister Narendra Modi led right wing government. Mr Modi’s BJP government has come under increasing pressure from opposition parties in the last six months after his cabinet passed three contentious farm bills leading to large-scale protests that continue even now. While the state elections will not affect the central cabinet or its policies in India’s bicameral legislative structure, a loss for the BJP would come as a warning for the central ruling party which will face elections in 2024.
New Zealand, this week, imposed a 7-day lockdown on its biggest city Auckland, after a new local coronavirus case of unknown origin emerged. The country’s Prime Minister Jacinda Arden said that the lockdown with level 3 restrictions will allow people to leave home only for essential requirements and all public venues will remain closed. Miss Arden also announced that level 2 restrictions will be placed on other parts of the country.

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Last week, US President Joe Biden’s ambitious $1.9 trillion-dollar COVID relief plan crossed the important hurdle of being passed in the Democrat controlled lower house. After setting up a vote on the Bill that Republicans see as being too liberal on Friday, the "America Recue Plan" Act, as it has been labelled, was cleared, but with the possibility of being disallowed to be passed through simply majority. The Bill includes direct payments amounting to $1,400 each for individuals earning less than $75,000 annually, and phased out amounts for people with higher incomes. Married couples who file taxes jointly will receive two $1,400 cheques if their combined income is below $150,000.
USA has announced sanctions and a visa ban, targetting Saudi Arabian individuals over the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Last Friday, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions on a former deputy head of the Saudi intelligence services Gen. Ahmed al-Asiri and the Saudi Rapid Intervention Force for their role in the journalist’s killing. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, was however, excluded from being sanctioned. The US decision came after the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released the declassified report on Khashoggi's killing.
India’s largest oil refiner and fuel retailer- the Indian Oil Corporation has announced a $4.5 billion expansion plan in one of its processing facilities. IOC said that it plans to expand the processing capacity of its Panipat refinery by two-thirds to 500,000 bpd within three years. Additionally, the company is also planning to expand another refinery at Haldia, in the state of West Bengal. The move is in line with India’s aim of increasing its oil refining capacity by 100% in the next 10 years.

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Despite a military government threatening protestors thousands continued to flood streets in Myanmar, demanding the release of all civilian leaders including Ang San Suu Kyi, a month after she was detained. Myanmar has flared up in protests since February 1st after the country’s military or Tatmadaw detained all civilian leaders including President Win Myint and leader of the National League for Democracy Aung San Suu Kyi. Last week, the United States imposed sanctions on two members of the military junta. Lieutenant General Moe Myint Tun and General Maung Maung Kyaw, and warned of more action if the military leader failed to restore the country’s civilian government.
Despite increasing rivalry between Asian giants China and India, Beijing was New Delhi’s biggest trading partner for the year 2020, according to figures recently released by the Indian Commerce Ministry. Last year, the two Asian neighbours engaged in a tense military standoff at the Indo-China border in Ladakh for months with both sides suffering casualties. They countries agreed to disengage troops recently after at least nine rounds of talks. The military standoff also coincided with a decision by New Delhi to ban over 200 Chinese applications, including popular video-sharing app TikTok, and popular battle royale game PUBG mobile.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s meeting with US President Joe Biden last week set the tone for several key areas of partnership between the two countries, including climate change but no major discussions on the Keystone XL pipeline was recorded. The US President had earlier put a hold on cancelling the Keystone XL pipeline, a 1,179-mile long pipeline running from the oil sands of Alberta, Canada, to Steele City, Nebraska citing climate concerns. The decision has however sparked renewed interest in shipping Canadian oil-sands crude by rail to the USA, and bilateral partnerships between companies operating in the two countries can be expected in the near future leading to an increase in Canadian crude exports.

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After a week of banning news content on its social media platforms in Australia, Facebook finally promised to revive thousands of pages whose absence had cause a plummet for internet traffic for most media organisations in the country. The decision came after the Australian government offered four amendments to the new law, including a change to the mandatory arbitration mechanism to be used when digital platforms fail to reach a deal with publishers over fair payment for displaying content published on the latter’s websites, allowing a two-month mediation period before the government-appointed arbitrator intervenes, and a provision to take into account an internet company’s contribution to the “sustainability of the Australian news industry.”
Recent media reports about the two-month old Biden-administration’s stand on Nord Stream 2, a Russia-Germany gas pipeline project suggest that the democratic US government may soften its stand on disallowing the project. Construction of the Russian state-owned Gazprom led pipeline that plans to export 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe via the Baltic Sea had led to friction between NATO allies Germany and the USA last year with the latter, under former President Donald Trump sanctioning companies dealing with the project.
American luxury electric vehicle (EV) maker Lucid Motors announced last week that it would go public by merging with blank-cheque firm Churchill Capital IV Corp (CCIV) in a deal that valued the combined company at $11.75 billion. Lucid is the latest of electric vehicle firms to tap into the initial public offering market. Tesla’s rapid rise in the last three years, and a global shift towards more carbon efficient vehicles has pushed the electric vehicle industry to a position of immense profit.

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As China and the US continue to be locked in a trade war, one important bone of contention between China and Western nations remain Hong Kong, and Beijing is mulling over the possibility of making changes to the specially administered region’s electoral system.Chinese media recently reported Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office as saying that Beijing needs to close relevant legal loopholes within the framework of the Constitution and the Basic Law to ensure that Hong Kong’s governance is controlled by patriots. A step in that direction, which remains a possibility, could intensify protests in the erstwhile British colony and invite more Western sanctions on Beijing.
Australia finally started its COVID vaccination rollout this week even as anti-vaccination protests rocked several parts of the country. The country’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison became one of the first citizens to receive the jab in an event broadcasted live to assert confidence among Australians about the safety of the vaccines. About 60,000 are expected to be administered by the end of this week to frontline workers and residents of aged care homes.
On the day of the deadline, Iran announced that it has gotten into a temporary arrangement with the IAEA that would allow the global watchdog to retain the "necessary degree of monitoring and verification work." However, President Hassan Rouhani has faced severe criticism for the IAEA deal and the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has suggested Tehran may continue enriching uranium up to 60%.

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Bitcoin continued its record hitting spree last week, with the virtual currency hitting $52,932 last Friday, an almost 60% surge in the month of February. However, even as bitcoin edges towards a market capitalization of $1 trillion, economists remain wary of the digital currencies' future. American stock broker, financial commentator, and radio personality Peter Schiff's analysis that the speculative bubble that bitcoin is in could soon implode taking away millions from the wealth of owners is broadly based on the volatile decentralised nature of the cryptocurrency.
In the latest show of increased military activity, four Chinese J-16 aircrafts, four JH-7s and an electronic warfare aircraft flew near the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands, breaching the Republic of China’s air defence zone. The development comes a month after the USA ended its decades-old restrictions on official contacts with Taiwan. Defending the decision, the then US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo had said “The United States government took these actions unilaterally, in an attempt to appease the Communist regime in Beijing. Today I am announcing that I am lifting all of these self-imposed restrictions.”
Johnson & Johnson announced that it had submitted data to the World Health Organization (WHO) for emergency use listing of its COVID-19 vaccine. The lesser-known Johnson and Johnson vaccine will make its debut in South Africa which recently paused rollout of the Astrazeneca vaccine over concerns that it may not be as effective on a local variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The vaccine is also under review by the U.S. health regulator and can come under discussion for emergency use authorization in the USA as early as this week.

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A recent report by the Financial Times, later carried by all major media outlets had stated that Chinese government officials have reached out to industry executives to understand how restrictions on rare earth exports could hurt companies in the US and Europe, particularly those dealing with defence equipment such as Lockheed Martin. China controls over 80% of the world’s rare earth mineral supply chain. But this isn’t the only reason that Western countries including USA should be concerned about when it comes to the possibility of Beijing exploring options to limit the supplies of rare-earth minerals.
USA based videogame retailer GameStop saw its shares climb by over 1,600% in the past month before falling back to its base value, forcing losses on several investors specifically henge fund operators. Last week, companies allegedly responsible for orchestrating the American shop's value testified before a US Congress committee. The hearing was held to investigate whether the extreme swings in the retailers’ price exposed conflicts in the market's structure that can hurt unsophisticated investors.
A London court recently refused Chinese tech giant Huawei’s application seeking to force HSBC to hand over internal documents related to a meeting between Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou and a UK based bank. The Huawei executives’ plea came as an attempt to stop her extradition to the USA on charges of baking fraud. Miss Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhenfei was arrested by Canadian authorities from the Vancouver airport on December 2018 on request from the US administration who wants to question her on several charges, including misleading banks towards violating US sanctions.

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Facebook’s decision to block news content in Australia in retaliation to Canberra’s News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code that is soon expected to become law in the country, led to a 20% decline in website traffic of local media houses. Google, the other company affected by the code has instead adopted an alternate strategy to surpass penalties under the new legislation. Earlier this month, the company launched the News Showcase platform for Australia where it would show news items it has paid for. Such news stories would come from publishers with whom Google has signed individual content deals. Seven Australian media houses are part of the media network that Google will pay to use their content.
Japan, which started its vaccination drive last week, has reported a new variant of COVID-19. Japanese media quoted Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Katsunobu Kato as saying that the new COVID variant has been found in 91 cases in the country’s Kanto area. Mr Kato raised concerns that the mutated virus may prove more resistant towards vaccines and said that the Japanese government has ramped up surveillance against it. Among major world economies, Japan was the last to launch its vaccination programme, starting only last Wednesday with the Pfizer and BioNTech manufactured jab.
Days after the UAE and China sent back images from mars, the USA’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced that its $2.7 billion robotic explorer has landed on the Red Planet. Among the three Mars launches last yar, the NASA’s Perseverance rover is perhaps the most ambitious attempt mankind has undertaken to explore if life ever existed on the red planet. Dubbed the most advanced rover ever sent by NASA, Perseverance carries scientific tools that will bring advanced capabilities to the search for life beyond Earth.

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Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was recently quoted by local media as saying that he is willing to mend the country’s relationship with the European Union but accused the EU of unilaterally destroying beneficial diplomatic agreements between the two blocs. The already deteriorating relationship between the EU and Russia hit rock bottom this year after the Kremlin detained Russian activist Alexei Navalny. The EU has threatened fresh sanctions on Russia if it failed to free the jailed Kremlin critic who is presently undergoing trial for alleged libel against a WW-II veteran with EU foreign ministers scheduled to discuss Russia today.
Israel, which has successfully vaccinated a majority of its citizens from the novel coronavirus, has partially reopened its international airport. Israel’s borders have remined closed since January 25th as a preventive measure to stop further spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus or freshly mutated strains of it. On Sunday, ministers had voted on a proposal to reopen Ben-Gurion Airport on February 20, limiting the number of people permitted to enter the country to 2,000 per day, in a first step towards returning normalcy on travel to and from the country.
In a positive development for virtual currencies, international payment system Visa may be moving towards allowing its cardholders to buy and sell cryptocurrencies in countries where virtual currencies are not banned by legislation. Visa CEO Alfred Kelly was quoted by media houses as saying that his company is in a position to make cryptocurrencies more “safe, useful and applicable” and may add them to the company’s payments network.

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India could become the world’s second largest Covid vaccine manufacturer, according to consulting firm Deloitte after the USA. Deloitte India's partner PS Easwaran recently told media houses that India may produce around 3.5 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses this year, less compared only to the USA which is expect to produce over 4 billion doses. Since in its vaccines were approved in the country, India has rolled out over 23 million doses to 20 countries around the world, both as grants and commercial supplies. More batches are expected to be sent to poorer economies in Africa and Latin America. Developed economies are also turning towards India for their vaccine supplies.
Japan is facing a new obstacle in the form of a syringe shortage in administering COVID vaccines to its citizens. Japan has signed contracts to procure about 314 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer and BioNTech for its 126 million population. As two doses of the vaccines are required for it to be effective, Japan would have secured enough doses and have 62 million extra doses left. However, the country’s vaccination drive is facing a new challenge in the form of a shortage of special syringes used to extract the vaccines jabs from vials.
Iran recently announced that it would stop access of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to visit the nuclear sites from February 21 if USA refuses to lift sanctions imposed under the previous Trump administration. Iran’s new legislation that’ll allow Tehran to accelerate nuclear enrichment activities and end its commitments under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) came as the USA announced it had sold 1.116 million barrels of Iranian fuel seized under its sanctions programme last year.

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After landing at China on January 14th, where the 2019 coronavirus is said to have originated, the World Health Organisation’s 13-member team spent two weeks in quarantine before beginning their search for the origins of the coronavirus. First reported in Wuhan, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has changed the dynamics of the world in an unprecedented manner, and understanding its origins would give scientists the ability to prepare for a similar outbreak in the future. However, despite being purely scientific in nature, the WHO’s Wuhan mission could not escape its political position, and the recent rhetoric by the Chinese and US governments attest to that.
China’s possible role in Myanmar’s military coup has opened up several conspiracy theories, and Beijing’s neutral position is acting against any amicable relations it holds with western forces, despite the profound effect the 2019 coronavirus has had on the world economy which calls for major forces to join hands for a speedy post pandemic recovery. But putting aside conspiracy theories and allegations, though China has refused to opt out of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution condemning the military takeover of Myanmar’s government, the situation in Myanmar is a matter of concern for Beijing as well.
The USA has decide to revoke designations of Yemen’s Houthi movement as a terrorist group. The development is in line with President Joe Biden’s campaign promise of ending forever wars in West Asia. Yemen, has been plagued with famine since 2016, two years after a civil war between the internationally recognised Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi-government and the Iran backed Houthi rebels. The classification of Houthi rebels as terrorists would prevent any aid from reaching the area controlled by the Iran-backed group, including capital Sanaa.

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The American senate has judged former president Donald Trump not guilty of inciting insurrection, a charge that saw him impeached in the House of Representatives for the second time in a span of two years. Mr Trump’s acquittal means that the 74-year-old will most likely get a second shot at running for president. The former president will be allowed to keep his benefits at the expense of the taxpayer, including his $200,000 yearly pension.
The UAE recently released images of the Red Planet that was captured by its Hope Probe, launched on 19th July last year. It should be mentioned here that the UAE’s Mars Mission says a significant role was played by ISRO, which had set up a joint working group with the UAE Space Agency last year. A day after the UAE’s Hope Probe took its first image of Mars, China’s Tianwen-1 orbiter arrived at the red planet. Tianwen-1 is China’s candidate in the 2020 race to Mars and is the first mission that aims to reach the plant with a lander, a rover, and an orbiter. China expects the Tainwen-1’s rover to be dispatched on Mars’ surface by June.
After months of a military standoff between neighbours China and India, at a contested region in the Indian territory of Ladakh, the two Asian giants have finally decided to withdraw troops from the point of conflict. The move comes as a positive development for both the Indian government and the Chinese communist party. According to Beijing’s defence ministry spokesperson Wu Qian, “The frontline units of the Chinese and Indian armed forces began to disengage on the southern and northern shores of Pangong Lake on February 10,” after the ninth round of the commander-level talks between China and New Delhi.

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A week after British media regulator Ofcom revoked Chinese public broadcaster CGTN’s license to broadcast in the United Kingdom, Chinese regulators have barred British public broadcaster BBC from broadcasting in the country. China and the UK’s relations have steadily deteriorated in the past one year, particularly after reports of China’s alleged human rights abuses on Uighur Muslims surfaced last year and after China tightened its grip on autonomous Hong Kong which had remained a British colony till 1997.
Weeks after HSBC was accused by the UK Foreign Affairs Committee of aiding China in its crackdown on pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, the bank's role in China-UK relations continue to take centerstage. China has accused HSBC of handing information to US authorities leading to the arrest of Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou. Canadian authorities had arrested Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhenfei from the Vancouver airport on December 2018 on request from the US administration who wants to question her on several charges, including misleading banks towards violating US sanctions.
Microblogging site Twitter has come under fire from India’s federal government after refusing to block certain accounts that the government deemed dangerous. The Indian government had, on February 4th, asked Twitter to shut down 1,178 accounts for allegedly spreading misinformation and provocative content on the ongoing farmers' protest in the country. The notice was served two days after hashtags related to one of the largest protests faced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government raged a storm on Twitter. This was the second such notice to the company.

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Last month Tesla announced that it has bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoins after having updated its investment policy to allow investments in digital assets. The move allowed Bitcoin to reach a record high of $45,000 dollars for the first time. Till last week Bitcoin stood at $45,164. A high risk of inflation to tackle plunging economies caused by long pandemic induced lockdowns was one of several important factors that boosted investments in cryptocurrencies, and the trend appears to have caught in favour of Bitcoin which makes up for almost 69% of $1 trillion market-value of cryptocurrencies.
The World health Organisation has recommended the Astrazeneca and Oxford University developed vaccines for usage even among those aged above 65. In interim recommendations on the Astrazeneca jab, the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation (SAGE) panel said despite concerns about the vaccine being ineffective against the South African variant, there is no reason to not recommend the jab, even in the 41 countries the new variant has been reported from.
USA under President Joe Biden has pushed back Oracle and Walmart’s plan to buy TikTok’s US operations indefinitely. The development comes as part of Joe Biden’s approach to review the Trump administration’s policies towards China, and assess the threats posed by Beijing. The newly elected president has made it clear that the USA will keep a firm grip on its policies against China in light of allegations of human rights abuses against Beijing.

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South Korea’s jobless rates hit a 21-year high this week as the country continues to grapple in controlling COVID-induced business losses. However, compared to other countries Seoul has done fairly well in checking the spread of the coronavirus, and ensured the least possible losses to its economy during the pandemic. Till Wednesday, the country had recorded a total of 81,930 cases with a little over 1,400 deaths. The country is now banking on a quick and efficient vaccination programme to revive sectors dependant on crowds and a sharp recovery in tech exports could create room for jobs in the manufacturing sector.
The European Union has said it is considering sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government to pressurize the release of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. The development comes after Navalny allies Leonid Volkov and Vladimir Ashurov spoke to top diplomats from the EU, the UK, the USA, Ukraine and Canada over video call and requested them to take more punitive measures against politicians and influencers linked to the Russian President.
Iran’s Intelligence minister Mahmoud Alavi hinted that Tehran may go back on its promise to not develop Nuclear weapons. Mr Alavi’s veiled threat came two days after the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged the USA to lift all sanctions placed by the erstwhile Trump administration if it wanted Iran to live up to commitments under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The threats come as a matter of major concern for the Biden administration’s foreign policy team working towards maintaining stability in the Arab world.

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On Tuesday the 100 member American senate voted 56-44 to begin impeachment proceedings against former President Donald Trump. The senate had acquitted the former president in his 2020 impeachment trial for obstruction of Congress and abuse of power, and despite the Democrats having increased their number in the 100-member upper house, it is widely being expected that Mr Tump will be acquitted of charges of inciting insurrection.
Protests against Tatmadaw, Myanmar’s military unit continues to escalate despite a violent crackdown by security forces. The Tatmadaw’s decision to use rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse protestors have not stopped thousands from hitting the streets in all major cities across the country. On Tuesday, the country saw one of the most violent crackdowns by the military led junta, shooting rubber bullets at protestors in Naypyitaw, and injuring hundreds in all major cities including Yangon and Mandaley. Calling for the world to strongly condemn the developments in Myanmar, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden announced the suspension of high-level military and political contacts with Myanmar last Tuesday.
The International Energy Agency said in its India Energy Outlook 2021, released last Tuesday that India’s energy expansion would make it the world’s third largest energy consumer after China and the USA by 2030, making it accountable for 25% of global growth in demand for energy. The IEA report observes that India, which is expected to grow into a $8.6 Trillion economy by 2040 under its present fiscal approach, will also see a sharp increase in oil requirements as the rapidly expanding economy looks to cater to its rapidly increasing energy requirements.

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Over 106 million people were tested COVID positive and 2.31 million people lost their lives to the 2019 coronavirus as of Monday, and daily global cases continue to number in thousands. Among European countries, France which saw a rapid spike between October and November last year, and another since the beginning of January, this year, reported a decline in daily infections for four consecutive days last week. France, which has the second highest count in terms of the number of COVID infections in Europe, is banking on its evening curfews and stricter regulations and monitoring to keep its COVID numbers in check.
South Africa has decided to pause its vaccine roll out programme saying that the AstraZeneca developed dose is ineffective against mild to moderate cases of the new strain of the virus. The decision could raise concerns among several countries who are administering, the easier to store AstraZeneca developed dose, including the United Kingdom and India. South Africa has received a total of one million doses of the Astrazeneca shot being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, and expects a half a million more.
South Korean carmaker Hyundai saw its market value slip by 4.2% or $2.1 billion dollars after announcing that the company was not in talks with Apple over developing autonomous electric cars. Hyundai’s subsidiary Kia which was expected to partner with Apple lost 12% or $4.3 billion. The American phone-maker has been investing heavily on Project Titan, the company’s electric car manufacturing initiative that was first conceptualised in 2014 but saw firm rooting in 2019, a year after Dough Field started overseeing the project.

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Hong Kong’s education department recently ordered all schools in the autonomous region to adopt a new curriculum that promotes Chinese patriotism in children as young as six-year-old through “story-telling, role-playing, drawing, singing, dancing and other activities.” The Hong Kong government also advised its teachers to report any breaches of the city’s national security law. Since last year, Beijing has faced large scale global criticism for its security policies in Hong Kong.
A 35% drop in exports of Scotch Whiskey to the USA has led to losses of over $600 million, according to a report by the Scotch Whisky Association. The SWA report showed that a 25% tariff on single malt Scotch introduced in the U.S. in October 2019 due to an ongoing trade war with European nations on subsidies being given to aircraft maker Airbus, led to 35% dip in exports last year causing the over $600 million loss. Before the introduction of the 2019 tariff, the USA was Scotch Whiskey’s biggest market with sales worth more than a billion dollars.
In a major development last week, communist Cuba with its state-controlled economy announced that it will allow private businesses to operate in most industries. The announcement came from the country's Labour minister Marta Elena Feito Cabrera at a council of ministers meeting. The council okayed the resolution that will now see private investors being allowed to participate in over 2,000 different fields, an increase from the previous 127.

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After US President Joe Biden expressed his strong support, former Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is all set to lead the World Trade Organisation as director-general. She would be the first woman and African to ever the hold the post. Her candidacy had been previously opposed by the USA under former President Donald Trump, whose administration had instead backed South Korea's Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee to replace Brazil's Roberto Azevedo as WTO head. Mr Azevedo had quit in August last year creating a leadership void in the trade body.
Internet services were suspended in coup hit Myanmar as protests against the arrests of prominent civilian leaders escalated. Since elections last November, the Tatmadaw has contended the results leading to the January coup. However, even as the Tatmadaw has suspended nearly all communication channels in the country, thousands of protestors, donning red flags, the symbol of the NLD, and chanting slogans against military dictatorship continue to flock the streets of all major cities. Last week hundreds of medical staff, including doctors had halted the country’s infrastructure in a strike they called to protests against the coup.
European Commission President responded to weeks of criticism against the EU’s slow vaccine roll out by comparing the block to a tanker. "I am aware that alone, a country can be a speedboat, the EU is more like a tanker," she said referring to the UK which was one of the first countries to approve COVID vaccination. The delay in starting their vaccination programmes was also a result of the EU's decision to order vaccine supplies as a bloc instead of doing the same as individual countries.

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The last two days saw social media explode with posts on the ongoing farmers protests in India. The sensitivity of the demonstration that has been disturbing India’s political landscape for over three months came to light as the Indian External Affairs Ministry issued a statement against a tweet by Grammy winning American pop star Rihanna. After having clarified that the reformist legislations were passed after a full debate and discussion at the Indian Parliament, India’s External Affairs Ministry said in its statement that government has offered to keep the laws on hold in respect of the sentiment of protestors, who according to the Indian government is made up of “a very small section of farmers.”
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni whose decision to shut down communication channels in the country after his presidential win last month had invited global criticism, has now ordered his finance minister to shut down the Democratic Governance Facility, a $100 million fund backed by European nations. Museveni, one of the longest serving heads of states had sought an explanation from the country’s finance minister Matia Kasaija on how and why Permanent Secretary Keith Muhakanizi authorized DGF operations without the involvement of cabinet.
The USA’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced last Wednesday that it is restarting an environmental review of the Vineyard Wind project, the first major U.S offshore wind farm. The bureau’s director Amanda Lefton said in the statement “BOEM is committed to conducting a robust and timely review of the proposed project”. The project if cleared, would be an important step towards the Biden administration’s goal of doubling renewable energy production at sea by 2030.

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Masazumi Wakatabe, deputy governor at the Bank of Japan said at a press conference that while Japan’s economy is expected to improve moderately, downside risks remain high making it clear that monetary stimulus will not be withdrawn and the country’s central bank will continue to sustain or even ramp up its fiscal support for a post-COVID economic recovery. Mr Wakatabe also reiterated BoJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda's statement, that the bank’s yield curve control will see no overhaul in next month's review.
China’s refusal to support the United Nations Security Council in condemning the military coup in Myanmar, prevented the 15-member bloc from issuing a joint statement. The coup has raised international concerns because aside from stifling democracy in the country, Myanmar’s location gives it immense geopolitical and military advantage, making it a precious ally for major economies including China, and India.
Microsoft, in a statement issued this week, supported Australia’s proposed media law that seeks to force Google and Facebook to share ad revenues with local media outlet for using their content. After speaking to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that Microsoft was willing to expand its search engine Bing in Australia if Google decides to pull out.

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Hours after Senator Rodrigo Pacheco, an ally of President Jair Bolsonaro, was appointed a two-year leadership at the upper house of the National Congress of Brazil, another Bolsonaro ally Congressman Arthur Lira was elected speaker of the lower house, giving the right-wing leader a base in Brazil’s legislative body where he was fast losing popularity.
Ethiopia and Sudan continue to engage in a cross-border conflict that threatens the stability of the entire East African region. Military personnel of both countries continue to patrol Al-Fashaqa, a 259 sq km of contested farmlands, along the joint border of Ethiopia’s northwestern frontier and eastern Sudan. The conflict, being termed as being one of the worst in recent years by African media, brough in fresh concerns of escalated conflict last Saturday when three Sudanese merchants were kidnapped by Ethiopian gunmen.
Iran recently completed the test launch of a satellite-carrying rocket below orbit, as announced by the country’s Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics. While Iran claims that its satellite programmes are being developed for peaceful applications, international forces continue to express concerns that such experiments can be used to better missile developments.

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Moments before Mynamar resumed its parliament session yesterday for the first time since its elections in November last year, president Win Myint and state councillor and de facto leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi was detained by state military officials, who later declared a year-long emergency in the country. Myanmar has been battling autocracy ever since it formally gained independence in 1948.
Almost 5,000 people have been arrested in various parts of Russia for protesting against the arrest of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who was detained by state police after landing in Moscow on January 17th. Navalny’s wife Yulia has, however, been released after briefly being detained. More violence is expected in the country today as a large section of Russian citizens heed to calls from Navalny’s team.
The United Arab Emirates has decided to amend its citizenship policies to allow citizenship benefits to select group of foreigners. The move is in variation with the UAE’s citizenship policies that seldom allow naturalizations due to the number of benefits the country provides for its citizens. Interestingly, a majority of workers in the UAE are foreign nationals and do not enjoy citizenship benefits that include low taxes and reserved jobs among several other welfare benefits.

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Despite a year marked with lockdowns, unprecedented losses caused by the near absence of global trade, and massive pressure on the world’s health infrastructure, India is expected to grow by 11.5% this year, according to International Monetary Fund projections. The IMF also revised its contraction rate for the country to 8% for 2020. In the present scenario, a boost in expenditure is highly being expected in India’s federal budget which is to be announced this week. India is expected to make significant investments this year, on the country’s digital infrastructure, after a record FDI in the field in 2020.
Newly elected US President Joe Biden has decided to halt a number of defence sales signed with the previous Trump administration with Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The move is indicative of the Democrat politician's desire to end support for the Saudi-led offensive in Yemen, which is facing one of its worst humanitarian crisis in decades. Last year, a $29 billion US-UAE arms deal raised concerns among several human rights organizations.
After months of negotiations with Chinese authorities, World Health Organisation scientists have finally started their investigations on the origin of the 2019 coronavirus that brought the world to a stand-still, causing unmeasurable losses in 2020. WHO’s search for the origins of the virus began in Wuhan, from where the virus was first reported. The WHO team now plans to trace the path the virus took across various Chinese cities to better understand the way in which the virus spread, in an attempt to prevent future viral spill overs.

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The European Union has threatened to restrict the export of vaccines. EU’s concerns about vaccine shortages, however, became slightly higher than the rest of the developed world, after both AstraZeneca and Pfizer and BioNTech announced reductions in the volume of manufactured doses. Both vaccine developers have manufacturing facilities in Europe.
Despite an extended lockdown and vaccination rollouts, the UK’s COVID troubles are far from over. This week the country crossed 100,000 mark in terms of the number of deaths caused by COVID-19. A new strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that has mutated to spread with more rapidity continues to pressurize the Boris Johnson government to restrict movement, large scale gatherings and crowd-based businesses. The country’s recent mortality numbers has sparked concerns about the new variant being deadlier.
Banking giant HSBC has been accused by the UK Foreign Affairs Committee of aiding China in its crackdown on pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong. Accusations of HSBC warming up to Chinese authorities picked some steam last year after the bank was among a few other business organisations that welcomed Beijing’s new security policy in Hong Kong that effectively stripped the region of its autonomy.

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Amidst Nepal’s political turmoil that started after Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli dissolved the country’s parliament last year, Mr Oli was expelled from the ruling Nepali Communist Party for making unconstitutional decisions. The tiny Himalayan nation was plunge into political chaos after President Bidya Devi Bhandari okayed the dissolution of parliament on recommendation of Prime Minister Oli on December 20th last year.
India continues to face large scale protests from farmers against three contentious laws it had passed last September. The latest spurt of violence happened on January 26th, the Indian Republic Day, when police baton charged violent protestors and used tear gas hells to disperse them in several parts of the country’s capital, New Delhi.
The USA, which was recently rocked by violence during a Presidential inauguration, saw Janet Yellen become the first woman to lead the country’s treasury department under the Joe Biden administration. Ms Yellen has urged Congress to approve trillions of dollars in coronavirus aid. However, despite her strong stand on increasing COVID relief expenditure, Mr Biden’s $1.9 trillion plan may not see fruition till March.

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Germany has been praised for its efficient COVID management and the country is seeing a steady decline in COVID numbers, however, the same cannot be said about the country’s death toll. The number of people, who died of the 2019 coronavirus in Germany, rose by 859 to 50,642 last Friday according to the Robert Koch Institute. In the same period of time, the number of confirmed cases in Germany increased by 17,862 to 2,106,262.
US President Biden, on his inaugural day addressed several of the country’s climate policies introduced by the previous Trump administration. Apart from rejoining the Paris climate agreement, Joe Biden is also revoking the Keystone XL oil pipeline’s federal permit.
Google said last week that it would block its search engine in Australia if the government proceeds with a new legislation that would force Google and Facebook to pay local media companies for the right to use their content. The legislation, in review by the senate committee, came after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission revealed through an investigation that for every A$100 of online advertising spend, A$53 goes to Google, A$28 to Facebook and A$19 to other media companies.

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After assuming office, Joe Biden’s foremost task remains the revival of a pandemic hit economy, and the former vice president has wasted no time in signing 10 executive orders as part of his wartime COVID plan. Mr Biden’s focus remains on accelerating vaccination programmes in a country that saw over 400,000 people die due to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. President Biden also made clear that the pandemic is far from over, and said he expects the death toll to reach half a million.
French-Israeli businessman Beny Steinmetz’s trial on bribery charges commenced at a Geneva court last week. Steinmetz and two others are accused of paying a $8.5 million bribe to secure concession rights to the vast Simandou iron ore project in Guinea. The bribe was allegedly given to Mamadie Touré, wife of deceased Guinea President Lansana Conte. With over two billion tonnes of reserves, the Simandou mines, located in the south-eastern part of the West African country are estimated to be the most valuable untapped iron ore deposit in the world, and the controversy of BSG resources gaining rights to mine date back to 2006.
Germany has come under international pressure to halt its ambitious Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project with Russia after Moscow arrested lawyer and anti-corruption activist Alexander Navalny. The undersea pipeline plans to export 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe via the Baltic Sea, and the Angela Merkel-led government plans to source a majority of its gas from Russia as it gradually phases out its dependency on thermal and nuclear energy.

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China saw its highest single day COVID spike last week with 144 new cases. Though, the outbreak is seemingly under control in comparison to what the country saw at the peak of the pandemic last year, a fresh outbreak this time of the year as Beijing prepares for its Lunar New Year festivities has raised concerns among Chinese authorities. Beijing has managed to contain the COVID pandemic in an efficient manner and the country also managed to see its 2020 exports increase.
One of two vaccines approved by the USA has reported possible allergic reactions among patients. Top epidemiologist from California, Erica Pan recently recommended providers pause the administration of shots from one batch of American Firm Moderna’s vaccine out of “an extreme abundance of caution.” The recommendation follows several reports received by the state of California about people experiencing serious allergic reactions following immunisation from the same batch in a higher-than-usual number.
The Indian government has asked Facebook to withdraw its new privacy policy update for its messaging application WhatsApp over largescale privacy concerns. WhatsApp new approach of sharing users data with Facebook and other third party applications has “the potential to infringe on core values of data privacy, user choice and autonomy of Indian users,” the Indian IT ministry wrote in a letter sent to Will Cathcart, the global CEO for WhatsApp.

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Uganda gradually began restoring internet connectivity to the country last week after President Yoweri Museveni’s victory for a sixth term as president led to a five-day communication blackout. The country’s opposition party the National Unity Platform led by Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known by his stage name Bobi Wine plans to challenge the election results. Wine, however, has been placed under house arrest. In the run-up to the Ugandan Presidential elections, at least 50 people lost their lives in protests against the arrest of Wine, who was later released for a $270 bail, along with several other opposition leaders and sympathizers.
Russian leader and Kremlin critic Alexander Navalny was detained by state police after landing in Moscow on January 17th, an incident that has invited large scale criticism for Moscow. After being poisoned in August last year, the Kremlin critic, who has become the strongest face of opposition against the Vladimir Putin government, remained in Germany. Russian authorities had warned Navalny, a lawyer turned anti-corruption activist that he would be arrested upon arrival in Russia for failing to meet probation conditions in Germany.
The US government has asked Australia to scrap a proposed legislation aimed at charging Facebook and Google to pay for news sourced from local Austrlaian outlets. The legislation, presently in review by the senate committee, came after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission revealed through an investigation that for every A$100 of online advertising spend, A$53 goes to Google, A$28 to Facebook and A$19 to other media companies

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Turkey imposed advertising bans on Twitter, its live-streaming app Periscope, and image sharing app Pinterest under a new social media law, after they failed to appoint a local representative to take down contentious posts. The country’s Internet law and its amendments introduced late last year require social networks with over a million users to appoint an envoy to remove offending content within 48 hours, localize their data, and speed up the removal of content on-demand from the government.
India and Japan signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) on Specified Skilled Workers (SSW) to allow 14 categories of Indian "skilled workers" to work in Japan. The SSW is a new status of residence created by Japan in 2019 to accept foreign nationals who have a certain level of expertise and skill to fill vacancies arising in specific sectors because of the country’s declining population and aging society. In another development in bettering Japan-India ties, Tokyo has agreed to loan India a sum of 30 billion yen or approximately $288 million to fight the socio-economic impact of COVID-19.
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, popularly called Geely, signed an agreement with Tencent Holdings Ltd to develop a smart vehicle cockpit and autonomous driving. The development comes days after the Chinese giant had signed a separate deal with search engine Baidu to manufacture smart electric vehicles. The deal with Tencent is Geely’s third partnership with companies involved in the tech sector in recent times.

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US President-elect Joe Biden has proposed a humungous $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package bill that includes a $160 million towards bolstering vaccination efforts. The USA remains the worst affected county in terms of both number of deaths and infections and despite the availability of two reportedly efficient vaccines, Joe Biden faces a really tough time ahead with an over 10 million strong employment gap to bridge and weekly unemployment claims averaging over 900,000.
American giant Google has invited rebuke from Australian authorities after it removed certain Australian news sites from its search results. Google’s move, which it claims to be experimental, comes at a time the Australian Senate committee is reviewing a legislation aimed at making big tech companies pay for displaying content from local media houses.
Electric carmaker Tesla’s plans to open its unit in India has caused some buzz in the past week. The company has registered its India subsidiary and a corporate office in the country’s tech capital, Bengaluru in the state of Karnataka. The Indian federal government’s push towards the manufacture of electric vehicles would also act to benefit Tesla. However, it is too early to tell which would be the company’s first unit to be manufactured in India.

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WhatsApp recently updated its privacy policy where in all users barring those living in countries under the European Union,will have to permit the messaging application to share their meta data with Facebook and other third-party applications. Since last Monday, the decision had cost Facebook about $36 billion. As hashtags and online campaigns flooded social media, several continue to question what exactly does a WhatsApp user metadata consist of, and is the company’s new policy a threat to a person’s privacy or not.
President Donald Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives a week before his scheduled departure. Mr Trump, who created history by becoming the first US President to face two impeachments in his tenure, was formally charged by the Congress as having incited an insurrection by addressing thousands of his supporters before the Capitol Hill violence unfolded. Mr Trump will now have to defend himself in the Senate trial to begin after January 19th a day before the US President makes way for Democrat Joe Biden to take office.
North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un has announced fresh plans of strengthening Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal at a time the country remains devastated by the COVID pandemic, UN and US imposed sanctions and a series of dangerous storms. The timing of the statement and a subsequent military drill would undoubtedly put pressure on the Biden-cabinet to help ally South Korea counter the possibility of any threat posed by Kim Jong-un.

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The King of Malaysia, Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah has given his assent to the Malaysian government headed by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, to impose an emergency in the southeast Asian country. The proposed duration of the emergency is till August of 2021 and is one of the longest globally. Even though the move has been widely supported, critics say this was a politically motivated step to keep PM Muhyiddin in power. The government was already unstable and near collapse since the United Malays National Organisation, which is the largest party in the ruling coalition, threatened to withdraw support which would force an early election.
Turkey’s foreign ministry has confirmed a round of exploratory talks which are to take place between Turkey and Greece in two weeks, on 25th January 2021. This would be the 61st round of talks between the two nations who have been in conflict since the Aegean dispute in the 1970s. High priority topics on the agenda include the clear delimination of territorial waters, national airspace, exclusive economic zones, and use of continental shelves.
Turkey’s biggest delivery app Getir is now ready to enter the UK markets and also close a deal worth $100 million since their company hit a valuation of $800 million. According to a Bloomberg's report, the company plans to sell a minority stake worth $100 million and intents to put the amount towards further investments.

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Last Monday, Japan reported 4,800 new coronavirus infections. On Sunday this number was 6,000. In light of the situation the country’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced a state of emergency in major Japanese cities, including Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo. After attending an executive meeting of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, the Japanese Prime Minister said the three prefectures are in a critical situation. Capital Tokyo has been under lockdown since last Friday.
The USA has decided to add Cuba to the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, a move that would make it difficult for a Joe Biden government to ease relations with Havana. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Cuba of harbouring U.S. fugitives and Colombian rebel leaders thereby providing support for acts of international terrorism.
Retail giant Walmart recently announced that it is collaborating with Ribbit Capital to develop and launch a new fintech platform. The US based retail giant has been slowly and tactically expanding its financial service offerings to its customers. Last year the company was able to escape the wrath of the COVID pandemic and registered a 5% year on year increase in sales.

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The latest round of talks between the irrigation and foreign affairs ministers of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia over sharing of Nile waters, chaired by the African Union failed to come to any resolution, increasing concerns. Both Sudan and Egypt have been voicing protests about Ethiopia’s Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam built over the Blue Nile river.
US Secretary of State- Mike Pompeo, said last week, that the State Department had to do away with decades-old complex internal restrictions on interactions with Taiwanese counterparts by American officials. In a press statement, he said, “The United States government took these actions unilaterally, in an attempt to appease the Communist regime in Beijing. Today I am announcing that I am lifting all of these self-imposed restrictions.” Mr Pompeo was probably referring to the three China-US communique that was signed when the US had cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan to recognize the People's Republic of China in August 1982. The two China’s have remained separated since the Chinese civil war of 1949, forced the Kuomintang government under Chiang Kai-Shek to exile in Taiwan.
Chinese search engine Baidu recently partnered with one of the country’s largest carmakers Zhejiang Geely Holding Group popularly known as Geely to manufacture smart electric vehicles. Baidu CEO Rabin Li said, that the company has over the past decade invested heavily in AI to build a portfolio of world-class self-driving services, and with the new partnership expects to successfully tap into China’s rapidly growing electric car market.

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According to statistics released by USA’s Bureau of Labour Statistics last week, the number of jobs declined by 140,000 in December, the first dip in employment since April. Compared to the colossal 20.8 million jobs that were lost in April, the number seems lesser than a fraction. However, over 50% of the 20 million jobs that were lost are still to be recovered.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry has issued an order that includes the adoption of necessary countermeasures against unjustified extraterritorial application of foreign legislation. The move is being seen as Beijing’s attempts to increase its legal defence against the USA in its ongoing trade war, escalated under President Donald Trump.
India is all set to launch the first phase of its massive vaccination drive. India had, earlier this month, approved two separate vaccines for emergency administration. Of them, one developed by the Oxford University and AstraZeneca is being locally manufactured by the Pune based Serum Institute of India and has over 70% proven efficacy after phase 3 trials.

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Last Thursday, India’s National Statistical Office released advance estimates pegging a decline of 7.7% to India’s GDP, weeks before the country’s federal government passes its budget for 2021 in the first week of February. This is the first time in decades that the world’s sixth largest economy will see such a contraction.
The U.S. Trade Representative’s office said last week that digital services taxes adopted by India, Italy and Turkey are discriminatory towards U.S. companies and inconsistent with international tax principles and unnecessarily burdens US companies. The revelation has opened avenues for the Trump administration to impose retaliatory tariffs against the countries, including India, with the possibility of fresh trade wars. Previously, the Trump administration had been targeting China through the USTR’s Section 301 investigations.
A recent South Korean ruling asking Japan to compensate 12 women has irked Tokyo. The Seoul Central District Court, last week ordered Japan to pay each of 12 women 100 million won ($91,000), who were forced to work in Japan’s wartime brothels. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Tokyo could not accept the court ruling and the lawsuit should be dropped.

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Before Congress met on Wednesday, January 6th, to formally certify the electoral victory of Democrat candidate Joseph Biden in last year’s November 3rd Presidential elections, thousands of Trump supporters stormed the U.S Capitol building , with the belief that Donald Trump was cheated into losing his presidency. The incident was a portrayal of a sentiment thar Mr Biden will undoubtedly face as a major challenge in the early months of his presidency.
Chinese billionaire and entrepreneur Jack Ma’s going incommunicado with the world has stirred several speculations and controversies about the possibility of Beijing having a role in his disappearance. Speculations about the Chinese government being involved with Mr. Ma’s disappearance increased earlier this year after the Communist Party’s mouthpiece People’s Daily published a report stating the Alibaba founder is embracing supervision at an undisclosed location.
Britain’s tax authority has slapped a record $32.4 million fine on UK based money-transfer company MT Global Ltd for significant breaches of anti-money laundering regulations last Thursday. MT Global, based out of Lutan, offers financial services across 97 countries. According to the HMR, the firm breached several regulations between July 2017 and December 2019.

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US President Donald Trump signed an executive order last Wednesday, banning eight Chinese applications, including popular payment platforms Alipay, QQ Wallet, and WeChat Pay. The other applications included in the order, slated to come into effect weeks after President-Elect Joe Biden has replaced Mr. Trump at the White House, include CamScanner, ShareIt, VMate, and WPS Office.
China continues to invite the world’s ire by blocking teams from investigating the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Recently, Beijing blocked the entry of two scientists commissioned by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Last month the WHO had announced that it would be sending a team of 10 scientists to Wuhan to study the origins of the COVID pandemic.
Nepal’s Supreme Court on Wednesday, began hearings on petitions challenging Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli’s sudden decision to dissolve parliament. The Prime Minister had, after losing the support of a majority of his parliamentarians, decided to dissolve the Nepal Parliament in a move that came as shock to China.

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The Indian government has refused to roll back three contentious farm laws it passed in September last year, prompting over 40 farmers unions to continue their protests. Millions of farmers have been gathereing in various parts of the country since the laws were passed on September 27th and for the last 40 days, tens of thousands of farmers have been camping on the streets of capital- New Delhi demanding the government repeal the new laws.
Kuwait’s foreign ministry has announced this week that Saudi Arabia will open its air and land borders with Qatar in the first steps toward ending a diplomatic crisis that has forced a boycott upon Qatar since 2017. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Egypt had imposed a boycott on Qatar, severing diplomatic and transport ties, accusing the country of supporting terrorism through its ties with Iran - an allegation that Qatar denies.
A London court has blocked the USA’s extradition plea of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who is wanted in the country on charges of espionage. Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled last Monday that the 49-year-old was clearly “a depressed and sometimes despairing man, genuinely fearful about his future,” and that his extradition would be oppressive.

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Though the Indian government greenlighted vaccines developed by AstraZeneca with Oxford University and the local Covaxin dose developed by Bharat Biotech. The Drugs Controller General of India said both manufacturers had submitted data showing their vaccines were safe to use. However, despite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assurance, the country’s opposition parties and a section of medical experts have expressed concern about the vaccine roll out saying that more testing should be conducted.
The Central Bank of Libya has introduced a new unified exchange rate after years of division between rival branches in an attempt to tackle corruption and encourage much needed reforms. The Libyan central bank said in a statement, “The Board of Directors of the Bank held the first meeting of the year 2020 to discuss a report made about options of changing the dinar’s exchange rate. The new exchange rate is 4.48 dinar against 1 U.S. dollar.”
The United Kingdom was forced to impose fresh lockdowns on Monday. In a televised address to the country, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the country’s hospitals are under more pressure from COVID-19 than any time and the country must go into a national lockdown to contain the new variant.

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Despite its Least Developed Country status, and a mere $20 billion GDP, Nepal is an extremely important country for both India and China. Nepal is the buffer separating India from China controlled Tibet and is an extremely important defence buffer for the Asian giants who continue to have significant border differences and have in the recent past engaged in cross border conflict. Apart from its strategic importance, Nepal is also a river rich country, and its mountainous terrain give the rivers tremendous potential to generate energy, an aspect that India wants to tap into for its requirements.
Scheduled to be established in July last year, the African Continental Free Trade Area framework agreement was delayed due to COVID pandemic and is now expected to be an important factor towards the continent’s post-COVID recovery. However, despite African nations celebrating the formation of the Free Trade Area, there is a long way to go before the trade pact could actually benefit the 1.3 billion people residing inside its circumference.
Bitcoin created history again by almost touching the $29,000 mark as 2020 ended. The digital currency jumped to a fresh record high of $28,933, almost quadrupling its value in the year. In December, Bitcoin, which had controversial beginnings on trade beat gold and corporate bonds. The first half of 2021 Bitcoin’s value is expected to dip a little as countries gradually return to normalcy after the COVID pandemic.

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After months of negotiations and several failed attempts, the United Kingdom has finally sealed an exit agreement with the European Union. The agreement was reached on Christmas Eve and passed by British Parliament last Wednesday.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci stressed that the USA will see “some semblance of normality” by autumn 2021, but expressed disappointment over the country’s vaccine rollout programme. The USA remains one of the worst affected countries in the world with the coronavirus killing over 345,000 people.
China has approved its first COVID-19 vaccine for general public use. The vaccine developed by state-backed pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm has proven 79.34% effective according to the company’s affiliate Beijing Biological Products Institute. However, no public data on efficacy has been released.

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Among approved vaccines, a two dose mRNA shot developed by American and German firms Pfizer and BioNtech appears to have bagged the first set of approved orders. After releasing full phase-III trial data on November 8th, the Pfizer and BioNtech vaccine got its first Approval by the United Kingdom on December 3rd. Since then, other countries including Canada, Saudi Arabia, and the USA approved the Pfizer candidate.
The COVID pandemic pushed firms to experiment with alternate ways to increase productivity with remote employees and hence, downloads of video-sharing applications and streaming software such as Zoom have skyrocketed since March Giving digitisation a boost, the COVID pandemic has also accelerated innovation towards adapting 5G technology albeit the US-China trade war.
The year 2020 remained a successful year for space tech and research. The U.S.A, China and the United Arab Emirates launched three separate missions to Mars in a span of few weeks. Among them China’s Tianwen-1 probe remained particularly interesting because this is the first time that a space mission aims to reach Mars with a lander, a rover, and an orbiter.

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China recently launched an antitrust investigation into the Jack Ma owned Alibaba Group for monopolistic practices.T he Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation’s announcement comes three months after Beijing introduced new regulatory rules for Financial Holding Companies that brought Alibaba’s Ant Group affiliate under the Chinese regulatory authority’s scanner.
Moldova’s Ion Chicu resigned as Prime Minister to ensure “normalcy” to the country. The pro-Russian Prime Minister’s resignation comes a day before pro-EU candidate Maia Sandu, who defeated Igor Dodon, was to take office as Moldovian President.
India has reportedly challenged a verdict by The Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague over a $2 billion tax claim involving Vodafone. The international court had held that that the retrospective legislation was in breach of the guarantee of fair and equitable treatment guaranteed under the Bilateral Investment Treaty. The tribunal had also asked the government to cease such breaches of the international treaty.

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On Wednesday Israel’s unity parliament was dissolved, bringing an end to the turbulent coalition of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and rival Benny Gantz. Mr.Netanyahu and defence minister Benny Gantz had established a unity government in May after three inconclusive elections since April 2019. As part of the 3-year coalition deal, the Israeli Prime Minister had to make way for Benny Gantz to take over after a period of 18 months.
Greece and Turkey seem to be having the most disagreeable year since 1974. Athens is currently sealing a deal with France which involves the sale of 18 Rafale jets. The $3 billion deal is set to be finalised in January when French defence minister Florence Parly visits Athens to sign the papers.
The Government of India and the World Bank have signed a deal worth $500 million to be utilised towards building safe and green national highway corridors. The corridors would be developed in the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh. According to the ministry of road transport and highways, the funding will help the ministry increase its capacity to mainstream safe and green technologies.

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A blogpost by the International Monetary Fund discussing the growing potential of fintech, recently proposed that upcoming fintech firms could go through an individual’s browsing history, purchase history, evaluate their search patterns as soft data to rate their credit scores. For fintech companies, this could prove to be a more accurate basis on which the credit scores are decided.
Toronto based cybersecurity watchdog Citizen’s Lab published a report last week where they outlined how the NSO group’s Pegasus software was responsible for infecting mobile phones of over 36 journalists at Al Jazeera’s Qatar headquarters. The “major espionage campaign”, as put by the Guardian, was discovered after one of the phones used to phone call a Saudi Arabia ministry for comments, received a return call with death threats.
The Institute of Policy Reforms, a think tank based out of Pakistan and run by the country’s ruling party- Pakistan Tehreek e-Insaf released a report claiming that “Pakistan has slipped into a debt trap due to the government’s failure to bring reforms and weak fiscal management, which has also raised national security concerns.” However, the south Asian country recently managed to secure a $1.7 billion debt relief which would help against the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic.

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The US Congress has decided to release $900 billion as aid to combat losses incurred by COVID. This is a much awaited relief package and would be the second-largest economic stimulus in America’s history. The largest stimulus from the US government remains the $2.3 trillion aid bill that was passed in March this year to combat the pandemic. The USA continues to average over 200,000 daily cases, and the 5.51 million Americans were actively collecting state jobless aid in the first week of December.
Nepal saw protests in several of its cities, including capital, Kathmandu after the country’s prime minister KP Sharma Oli recommended dissolution of the Nepali Parliament, and President Bidhya Devi Bhandari approved it. The move could lead Nepal to its worst constitutional crisis since 2015, and the future of the country’s political set up now lies in the hands of the Nepali Supreme Court which is considering three petitions challenging the decision as a “constitutional coup.” A decision to register any of those decisions for hearing could delay the dissolution by to weeks.
New Delhi’s ban on several applications developed by Chinese firms have allowed Indian developer to gather some presence in a fat growing market. Among them TikTok rival Josh recently received an $100 million investment from companies that include US giants Google and Microsoft. Among other investor are Goldman Sachs and AlphaWave.

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A novel coronavirus strain first reported from the United Kingdom has forced countries to reimpose several travel restrictions limiting Christmas celebrations and threatening further COVID-induced trade losses. The United Kingdom, which appears to be the worst affected due to the new strain, and continues to be the worst affected country across Europe, has reimposed a stricter lockdown in London and cities in southeast England till the end of this year.
US President elect Joe Biden recently increased confidence on vaccines that have been approved by taking a shot of the Pfizer candidate this week. A complete vaccination of countries is expected to be completed only around March, next year, during which period most lockdown restrictions are expected to stay in place in badly affected countries.
Yemen has announced a new power-sharing cabinet including southern separatists as part of a deal to end a power struggle between the nominal allies in line with last year’s Riyadh Agreement.

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Saudi Arabia believes its plans to invest in India are on track. The two countries have shared strong trade ties historically, with India-Saudi trade amounting to over $33 billion. According to Saudi Arabia’s Indian embassy, Riyadh is India’s 4th largest trade partner, after China, the USA, and Japan, importing around 18% of its crude oil requirement and 30% of its LPG requirement from the country.
Several countries have restricted travel from the UK due to a new strain of the 2019 coronavirus that has been reported from the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Denmark, South Africa, and Australia. The new strain is reportedly 70% more infectious than other 2019 coronavirus strains and has been spreading rapidly through the United Kingdom.
US President elect Joe Biden, who had made tackling climate change and other environmental concerns an important part of his winning campaign, recently named a diverse team of experts to tackle the crisis. Joe Biden has also unveiled plans to install 500,000 new electric vehicle charging stations, construct 1.5 million new energy-efficient homes and public housing units, and create a “civilian climate corps” to carry out climate and conservation projects.

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The Taiwanese government has revealed that the Republic of China, or Taiwan will submit its application to join the CPTPP an 11-member trade agreement that succeeded the Trans Pacific Partnership a year after the United States withdrew from it in 2018. However, the possibility of Taiwan’s bid remains challenged by China which expressed is willingness to join the 11-member group after formalizing the World’s largest free trade agreement, and continues to refute Taiwan’s independence.
One of Apple’s largest iPhone suppliers, Taiwan based Winstron, recently saw its office in India ransacked by angry employees over violation of labour rights. Wistron was part of 16 companies that were initially approved by the Indian government to be a part of its ambitious Production Link Incentive, aiming for the target of manufacturing $140 billion worth of mobile and mobile components in the next five years.
Turkey has said it will not reverse its purchase of Russian made S-400 anti-aircraft missiles despite US sanctions. The USA believes, as put by the state department’s Principle Deputy Spokesperson Cale Brown, that “Turkey’s purchase of the S-400 system endangers the security of US personnel and military technology and allows Russian access to the Turkish armed forces and defence industry.”

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The Indian health ministry has said that it aims to vaccinate 300 million frontline workers by August next year. Given that most COVID vaccines require two doses, India will have to acquire, store, and administer 600 million doses to achieve the target. The country is expected to authorize one or more vaccines before January.
A recent ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union brought back memories of Volkswagen’s infamous diesel gate scandal from five years ago. In 2015, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act to German carmaker Volkswagen, costing the company $33 billion in vehicle refits and regulatory fines.
US tech giant Google has added another antitrust lawsuit its name. Last Thursday, a bipartisan group of 38 state attorneys general sued Google parent Alphabet Inc., accusing it of antitrust violations, in line with the US Department of Justices’ case against the tech giant and a separate case filed by 10 Republican states.

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Ethiopia faces a near civil war like situation. Tigray forces have fired rockets into their long-standing rival Eritrea claiming that the Ethiopian govt was trying to use the Eritrean airport to attack Tigray. The regional government of Tigray has been in conflict with the federal govt, based in Addis Ababa, since Nov 04.
Japan’s demographic is the oldest in the world with the highest number of people above 100 years of age. For a nation to maintain its population size, the fertility rate should be about 2.1%, however the lack of marriages in the current social context, along with a low fertility rate has led to the IMF citing the threat of depopulation as a serious concern for Japan’s economy. Even though Japan has been more welcoming of immigration to tackle this issue, there has also been a shift towards attempting to use technology as a viable solution.
China is inching closer to its targets of becoming a carbon neutral city by 2060 and recently successfully powered its “artificial sun” i.e., a nuclear reactor which uses a powerful magnetic field to fuse hot plasma and hence generating massive amounts of energy. It has the capability, as reported by the People’s Daily, to reach temperatures above 150-million-degree Celsius, which is approximately ten times hotter than the core of the sun.

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The European Union’s new law, the Digital Services and Digital Markets Acts announced last Tuesday focuses on increasing the responsibility of big tech companies, such as Facebook and Twitter. Spearheaded by commissioners Margrethe Vestager and Thierry Breton the two new laws also address the dominance of big tech companies such as Google and Facebook.
The United Kingdom, which is all set to exit the now 27-member European Union, has threatened Facebook, Twitter and TikTok with fines of up to 10% of turnover if they fail to remove and limit the spread of illegal content under laws proposed by Britain. Britain plans to introduce its new legislations next year, after the completion of Brexit, which would separate the country from EU laws.
California based gaming giant Electronic Arts has proposed to acquire British video-game-maker Codemasters, in a $1.2bn deal. However, the deal which could see completion by March next year, is not yet completely sealed as the British gaming company had earlier said that it would recommend its shareholders accept an earlier offer, by one of EA's main rivals, Take-Two Interactive.

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Reliance Jio has reportedly sent a letter to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India or TRAI alleging rivals Bharati Airtel and Vodafone Idea are tarnishing its image through false propaganda. Bharati Airtel recently saw a healthy increase to its user base. Figures released by TRAI earlier this month, added 3.8 million mobile users for Airtel, outpacing Reliance Jio’s 0.7 million additions. Vodafone Idea lost a 3.4 million customers in the same period.
President elect Joe Biden recently said, “In this battle for the soul of America, democracy prevailed.” Mr. Biden was speaking after winning the state-by-state Electoral College vote that officially determines the U.S. presidency. Last Monday’s electoral college vote was a hard hit for Donald Trump who had said that he would concede if the electoral college voted against him.
An iPhone manufacturing facility on the outskirts of the country’s IT and tech capital Bangalore was ransacked by employees. According to the facility’s Taiwan-based operator Wistron Corp, losses at the facility due to the incident is approximately $7.12 million.

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Indian has been mired by large scale protests after the government passed three farm laws on September 27th this year, which allows multiple marketing channels for farmers and provides for a legal framework for farmers to enter into pre-arranged contract with corporates. Behind the glitter of bettering livelihoods, and the Modi-cabinet’s strong assurance, the laws lack some aspects to their structure potentially creating large pricing disparities that threaten about 48% percent of the country’s population, or 80% of all its farmers.
French ministers have approved the highly controversial separatism bill for debate in Parliament in January next year. The Reinforcing Republican Principles Bill, unveiled by French President Emmanuel Macron last Wednesday plans to tackle “Islamist radicalism” and “separatists”. It has raised concerns that it could be discriminating against French Muslim citizens.
Britain recently inked a trade agreement with Singapore as it prepares to finalise its exit from the European Union. The 17 million pounds or approximately $22 billion trade deal is similar to Singapore’s free trade pact with the EU and places a 2024 timeline to remove allowed duties, and immediately exempts 84% of tariffs that apply to Singapore exports to the UK.

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The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be discussing Moderna’s request for emergency use authorisation of its vaccine on December 17. The FDA has authorised Pfizer and BioNTech’s two-dose COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, making the United States the sixth country to allow administration of vaccines after Russia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Google’s cookies have cost them over $121 million in France. French data privacy watchdog CNIL has issued fines of 100 million Euros or approximately 121 million dollars on Google, and 35 million Euros or approximately $42 million on Amazon for breach of its cookie policies.
The Indian Environment Ministry has said that India is contributing only 6.8 per cent of global emissions at a per capita emission of 1.9 tonnes. In comparision, the USA’S per capita emission is 13.5 per cent of the global emissions which is at 15.52 tonnes, and China contributes 30 per cent to global emissions. The European Union and the UK contribute 8.7 per cent, the ministry said.

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After several failed attempts, and missing a mid-November deadline, the United Kingdom is making a last-ditch attempt to come to a post-Brexit agreement and avert an economic catastrophe. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula Von Der Lyne said in a joint statement that a deal would not be feasible till issues related to fishing rights and competition rules are resolved. Talks were paused last week after the EU and UK could not agree over “critical issues”.
According to unconfirmed reports, South Africa is looking at $400 million disinvestment of its airlines, that remains crippled by losses. Notably, South African Airways hasn’t made a single flight since March, this year as the COVID pandemic paralysed air travel globally and crippled world economies. The aviation and the hospitality industries remain the worst hit due to preventive lockdown measures, estimating losses over $80 billion.
France has decided to go ahead with its digital services tax, a move that could spark off a trade war between Paris and Washington, with the US threatening sanctions on France. Under the new digital services tax that was introduced by the French parliament last year, big tech companies with a global revenue of more than $894 million will be required to pay a 3% tax on their revenues.

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Britain, the worst hit European nation in terms of COVID numbers and death, become the first western country to administer vaccines manufactured by American and German firms Pfizer and BioNTech this week. The country’s economy was predicted to shrink by 11% next year. In such a time, the government’s decision to ship in 40 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine – enough to vaccinate 20 million people or about 30% of its population- is by far the best Christmas gift the country could have hoped for.
The Kremlin became the first in the world to start a mass vaccination programme in Moscow, last week. Russian media reported that the Sputnik V vaccine will be distributed at 70 clinics around Moscow, and it has been made available first to frontline workers, including medical staff, teachers and social workers.
The Trump administration is pushing hard to end a 2017 rift between Qatar and a Saudi Arabia led quartet, which includes Bahrain, Egypt, and the UAE. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Egypt had, in 2017, imposed a boycott on Qatar, severing diplomatic and transport ties, and accusing the country of supporting terrorism through its ties with Iran - an allegation that Qatar denies.

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India’s decision to stay out of the RCEP has experts divided. The Indian government has maintained that the multilateral trade agreement between all ASEAN members, China, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea is biased and does not resolve the core issues which India wants to address. Instead, as part of its intent to increase bilateral economic relationships, India’s next potential target is Africa, an untapped market for Indian exports.
IT giant IBM has raised alarms on potential hackers targeting the COVID-19 vaccine cold chain supply process. According to the US-based company, firms which are critical to distributing the vaccines are becoming increasingly vulnerable to digital spies.
Scientists from the UK’s royal society recently conducted a research showing how streaming HD videos contribute to climate change. The report states “HD video streaming on a platform generates about eight times more emissions than streaming in standard definition”. The total contribution of digital technology to carbon emissions ranges between 1.4% to 5.9%.

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The Chinese government recently introduced tighter restrictions on sensitive technology under its export control law, a move that, apart from providing Beijing leverage to impose sanctions and fines on companies that function in a manner against its liking. On the other hand, the USA under outgoing president Donald Trump reportedly plans to add Chinese chipmaker SMIC and oil giant CNOOC to a blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies.
A $29 billion US-UAE arms deal has raised concerns among several human rights organizations. Last month, the Trump administration had approved the sale of more than $23 billion in advanced weapons systems, including 50 F-35 Lightning II aircraft, up to 18 MQ-9B Unmanned Aerial Systems, and a package of air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions - to the UAE.
Communications firm Zoom reported its Q3 earnings to have jumped by 367% year-on-year, exceeding all previous expectations. Zoom's fortunes saw a massive rise after the COVID pandemic forced people to work indoors, relying on video conferencing tools. Zoom's gross margin declined to 66.7% from 67.3% in the previous quarter.

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As absurd as it may sound, an anti-vaccination campaign is gaining support globally, and protests against government restrictions to tackle the coronavirus pandemic have traveled the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Canada, France, and the US.
After months of unrest marked by violent protests and a brutal government crackdown, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has hinted that he may finally step down to make way for a new government. The president made the announcement after a visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The British auto industry has escalated concerns with the possibility of a no Brexit deal once Britain exits the European Union on December 31st. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has predicted in a report that British car production could drop below one million cars a year, and with increased tariffs, the British auto industry may be looking at losses of up to 55 billion pounds.

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At the culmination of Turkey's most critical mass trials, hundreds linked to a failed coup in 2016 have now been sentenced. 337 senior military officers and other high-profile people received life imprisonment, some receiving even multiple sentences after being convicted of trying to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was in a resort on vacation at that time.
Australia has termed the imposition of anti-dumping tariffs by China on its wine a "seriously concerning development." Last week, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said that there would be a temporary tariff of 107.1% to 212.1% on imported wine starting from November 28, after it began an anti-dumping probe at the alleged request of the Chinese Alcoholic Drinks Association.
Indian startup Cars 24 has become a unicorn after its latest investment round. Cars 24, a used car marketplace, saw its sales skyrocket since the pandemic broke out in March. Although public transportation services are gradually resuming in India, consumers are preferring to invest in private transportation options because of hygiene and safety concerns.

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The UK's has decided to impose a new competition regime next year taking into account a recommendation towards making regulatory changes for Google and Facebook. The new code will be enforced by the Digital Markets Unit, a newly created division under the CMA, and is expected to come into effect in April next year.
The European Parliament has urged the European Union to impose sanctions on Turkey for violating Cyprus's territorial integrity. After a visit by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to the disputed Turkish Cypriot, the parliament that voted on the matter has asked Ankara to reverse its decision to re-open part of Maras and resume negotiations aimed at resolving the Cyprus issue based on a bi-communal and bi-zonal federation.
Britain based electrical appliance company Dyson told media houses that it plans to invest $3.6 billion in new technology in the next five years to double its product portfolio. The company, founded in the early 90s, presently manufactures hand dryers, air purifiers, and vacuums. While Dyson is yet to reveal the exact products it plans to invest in, it has indicated that it would focus on solid-state battery technology for its ongoing electric car project.

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According to a report published by the UK's Office for Budget responsibility or OBR, the world's sixth-largest economy is looking at an almost $37 billion spending gap by 2024. While OBR chairman Richard Hughes has said that extra measures have been announced since July totalling £86B or approximately a 114 billion dollars this year and £40B or approximately $53 billion next year that has prevented further deterioration of the country's economy, the UK would need to take strong economic measures to avert a catastrophe.
The WHO is co-leading an initiative to distribute about 2 billion vaccine doses in a 'fair and equitable' manner next year. The COVAX initiative being co-developed with Gavi and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is expected to provide large scale infrastructural support in distributing COVID-19 vaccines globally.
Fintech startup Chipper Cash has secured $30 million in Series B funding from Ribbit Capital and Amazon CEO JEFF Bezos's venture capital fund Bezos Expeditions. With a three million-strong user base in Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa, and Kenya, the platform registers an average of 80,000 transactions daily.

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Hong Kong continues to be rocked by protests in 2019 after the Hong Kong government proposed a law allowing extradition to Mainland China. Thought the law has now been withdrawn, over the past year more than 10,000 protesters have been arrested on charges of rioting and unauthorized assembly. Many activists have been trying to escape arrests by hiding or illegally traveling to countries like Taiwan by boat. Recently 12 activists were intercepted while trying to escape on a ship to Taiwan and are currently being detained in mainland China.
Indian security forces killed four suspected Pakistan-based Jaish e Mohammed terrorists on November 19. They were hiding in a truck during the three-hour encounter near the Ban Toll Plaza in Nagrota, on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway. 11 AK-47 rifles, 3 pistols, 29 grenades, along with 7.5kg of RDX explosives had also been recovered post the encounter.
The Wuzhen Summit or the 7th World Internet conference kicked off in Zheijang province in China this week. However, this year has seen a muted response with just 130 companies attending compared to the 600 in 2019. Apprehensive feelings regarding China's role in the onset of the pandemic and the global economic downturn resulted in low attendance. However the conference did see senior leaders like Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf and Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins deliver their addresses via video.

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Britain's Competition and Markets Authority is mulling whether a complaint from Marketers for an Open Web, a coalition of technology and publishing companies, against Google requires a formal investigation, British media reported last week.
British chemical company Ineos is collaborating with South Korean carmaker Hyundai on hydrogen fuel cells to eventually power Ineo's new off-road vehicles, the Grenadier. This could become a landmark deal in creating a mainstream market for hydrogen-fuelled vehicles, in which China seems to have a leading edge.
Guatemala's new budget bill increased lawmakers' stipends for meals and other expenses while cutting funding for relief work, human rights programs, and the judiciary. The Guatemala Congress had also initially scrapped a $25 million fund to combat malnutrition. The Bill was met with large scale resentment and anger. Despite Congress later amending the Bill to keep the malnutrition fund, people came out in large numbers to demonstrate against the government.

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Of about 150 vaccines that are under trials in initial phases, several are not expected to make it to the final phases of testing. But while several experts continues to express scepticism about the safety and efficacy of vaccines being developed in such little time, at least three vaccine candidates look promising for use by next year.
President Donald Trump has finally asked his administration to cooperate for a government change, next year, while refusing to concede his presidency to former vice president and Democrat Joe Biden who won the November 3rd elections. Meanwhile, President-elect Joe Biden has started appointing his cabinet, naming a group of people with expertise on foreign relations suggesting that he hopes to create a liberal foreign policy team.
China launched a moon probe last week to bring back samples of lunar rocks, a first in over four decades. State owned Xinhua agency reported that the probe, named Chang’e-5, after a Chinese moon goddess, was launched from the Wenchang Space Center in Hainan.

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The Government of India is selling its entire stake of 52.95% in India's second-largest fuel retailer- Bharat Petroleum. UK-based mining conglomerate Vedanta has submitted a preliminary Expression of Interest (EoI) to buy the stake, along with two foreign companies, identities of which have not yet been revealed.
Buzzfeed is now acquiring its digital rival and online news outlet HuffPost in a deal with Verizon Media. Verizon Media and BuzzFeed have agreed to jointly explore advertising opportunities and share and utilize content on each other's platforms. Reportedly, Verizon Media will also get a minority stake in BuzzFeed.
In a blow to Australia's national pride, 25 members of a special Australian military unit face prosecution for war crimes committed on innocent civilians while posted in Afghanistan. Credible resources have recorded at least 29 such incidents between 2009 to 2013. Some incidents included new patrol members being ordered to kill civilians to achieve their "first kill" and then planting false evidence.

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Joe Biden's recent presidential victory in the USA has increased Huawei's hope that the Five Eyes Intelligence group made up of Australia, New Zealand, the UKA, the USA and Canada may reconsider their decision to boycott the Chinese company’s equipment. Huawei saw multiple bans following the Trump administration's Clean Network Initiative that categorized the use of tech equipment from Chinese companies as a threat to national security.
China has decided to shift focus from being the world's largest exporter of goods to create a more socialist economy. At the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation event last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping said China is set to change its development model to rely more on domestic consumption from next year. China has called the decision a strategic move to cope with the changing dynamics of global economic cooperation
At least 35 people have died during protests in Uganda, which is heading towards a presidential election early next year. The demonstrations escalated after the arrest of presidential candidate and former pop star Robert Kyagulanyi a.k.a Bobi Wine, and mark a violent beginning to Uganda's election season, which ends on January 14, 2021.

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Two Indian frozen butterfish packages, one Russian frozen salmon packaging sample, and two Argentinian frozen beef samples tested positive for COVID-19 in China, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Although several medical experts have ruled out the possibility of contamination through cold storage items, Chinese state-run Xinhua Agency had reported in October that investigations revealed the COVID-19 could spread through contaminated packages.
India's law ministry recently decided to link all forms of property registration with the national judicial data grid. The move is expected to increase transparency in all commercial property related matters and may allow for easier fast-tracking of commercial cases. The Indian government has been banking on commercial courts, which came into existence via the Commercial Court Act of 2015, to be an important pillar towards ease of doing business.
Pakistan has reportedly revised a major bilateral gas pipeline project it had signed in 2015 with Russia. The 1122-km high-pressure LNG pipeline from Karachi's Port Qasim to Kasur in Pakistan's Punjab province was initially being developed under the 'build, own, operate and transfer' or BOOT model, with Russia spending 85% toward developing the pipeline.

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The US Senate has summoned Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to defend their handling of misinformation on the recently conducted US Presidential election, which has led to some violence in various parts of the country. Both Twitter and Facebook have flagged posts by the US President that suggest voting fraud and rigged elections.
China-based vehicle for hire company Didi Chuxing is all set to start rolling out an electric vehicle developed with BYD, China's largest EV manufacturer, for its ride-sharing services in what it claims to be a first in the world. Didi, which is set to make its multibillion-dollar initial public offering (IPO) at the Hong Kong exchange next year, said it plans to increase ride-sharing from 3% of total mobility services today to 30% by 2030.
San Francisco-based hospitality giant Airbnb has filed papers to become a publicly listed company. Airbnb's decision to go public has received mixed reactions, with some pitching for it to be one of the most anticipated launches of the year.

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Fifteen countries from the Asia Pacific have signed what is being termed the world's largest free trade agreement- the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership or RCEP. The pact aims to progressively lower tariffs and decrease red tape for trade between member countries allowing for easier access and better investment opportunities across the Asia-Pacific region.
At least another 1,000 people have been arrested over the last week in Belarus for protesting against the Lukashenko government. Backed by the Kremlin, the Lukashenko government has arrested and deported over 17,000 protesters. The latest round of large-scale violence was seen last week, when hundreds of thousands of protesters marched for the 11th straight Sunday.
The British government has recently decided to pool in $52.8 million as part of a natural environment funding to preserve England's flora and fauna, aiding its climate goals and generating thousands of jobs. The announcement comes days after Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled his ten-point plan, including sustainable energy adaptation, green financing, and natural environment investments.

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At least one stabbing, and over a dozen arrests marked the weekend in Washington DC as supporters of Donald Trump, blaring cries of "Stop the Steal" and "Count Every Vote" faced some resistance from counterdemonstrators. With Donald Trump adamant about staying in power to rule the world's largest democracy, his supporters continue to protest in various parts across the country.
Peru also saw violent protests with at least two deaths after President Martin Vizcarra was impeached over corruption allegations. After initially denying the protests as being against him, Manuel Merino tendered his resignation on Sunday and vacated the presidential seat. Peru is grappling with one of the worst COVID outbreaks globally and saw its economic output shrink by 30.2% in the second quarter this year.
Elon Musk owned SpaceX completed its second crew launch to the International Space Station last week. The Falcon Rocket was launched from the Kennedy Space Center with three Americans and a Japanese astronaut. It is a step in the company's space taxi program for which it is partnering with NASA.

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A recent order by the Indian government, has placed all online news, social media, and video streaming platforms like Netflix, Hotstar, and Amazon Prime under state regulation and scrutiny with immediate effect. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, responsible for censoring print mediums, televisions, films, and theaters, will also have jurisdiction over digital and OTT platforms.
Indian capital Delhi is in a dire situation with winters' onset and increasing pollution levels, resulting in a spike in COVID infections. Delhi saw its highest count last week, with 104 deaths and 7503 infections just over 24 hours.
The return of restrictions in the face of the unwavering spread of the coronavirus has irked many in Europe, with several participating in radical protests. In London, Scotland Yard officers arrested over 100 demonstrators as a second strict lockdown was imposed in England.

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Nepal saw a little over 2,500 cases and 26 deaths reported in a single day, taking the total number of COVID infections to over 200,000 and making it one of the worst affected countries in South Asia. The only other country that has reported more cases than Nepal is its populated neighbor India.
Indian finance ministry says the country is seeing a strong recovery after the long and strict lockdown while announcing a series of new COVID relief measures. The Reserve Bank of India has published in a bulletin that "there is a grave risk of generalization of price pressures, unanchoring of inflation expectations feeding into a loss of credibility in policy interventions."
UAE owned airlines, Emirates is looking to Dubai to help it recover record losses at nearly $3.4 billion. Notably, this is the first time the state-owned airlines registered a half-yearly loss in over three decades. Last year Emirates had reported a $235 million half-year profit.

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The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) placed Iran's enriched uranium stockpile at 2,442.9 kilos, over 10 times the amount it is permitted to have under an international treaty. US President-Elect Joe Biden has offered Iran "a credible path back to diplomacy," suggesting a willingness to strike a new pact with Tehran. However, Saudi Arabia, which has cozied up to the US over the past 4 years and is one of Washington's most crucial weapon's buyers, continues to threaten force to check Shi'ite majority Iran's nuclear ambitions.
The Chinese government recently condemned the mass resignation of 15 opposition members in Hong Kong. The resignation was done in solidarity with four other parliamentarians who have been dismissed for allegedly posing a threat to national security is termed by Beijing as an open challenge to its authority.
The Serum Institute of India announced last week that it has made 40 million doses of AstraZeneca's upcoming COVID-19 vaccine and would soon begin making Novavax's vaccine. The India-based company said it is presently awaiting regulatory approval to run late-stage trials for the Novavax vaccine.

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The race for vaccines might soon find a winner. Pfizer has recently reported more than 90% effectiveness in late-stage trials for their vaccine BNT162b21. The vaccine, being co-developed by Pfizer and German biotech firm BioNtech is slated to undergo a review by the US Food and Drug Administration later this month.
Peru's Congress has successfully managed to impeach President Martin Vizcarra. This was the Congress's second attempt after an initial failed attempt in September, which saw a mere 32 votes in favor of impeachment, compared to 105 votes this time. Vizcarra's presidential term, which was due to end in July 2021, will now be completed by the Head of Congress and Speaker, Manuel Merino, who also happens to be an opposition leader.
Deutsche Bank has agreed to sell off its IT service unit - Postbank Systems, to Asia's largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services. Reports estimate the deal would exact a loss of about 140 million euros for Deutsche Bank and allow TCS to expand its growth outlook in Germany.

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Germany has decided to hold talks with other EU member countries about the European Union's decision to impose tariffs on USA goods worth $4 billion in retaliation against subsidies for American plane-maker Boeing. The move is being seen as a retaliatory measure against the USA imposing 15% tariffs on Airbus aircraft and 25% levies on European exports, including French wine, Scotch whisky, and Spanish olives last year.
Japan continues to increase its dependency on hydrogen as an alternate form of fuel to create a more sustainable energy plan. Experts believe that hydrogen energy will reach the $11 trillion market cap very soon. Tokyo plans to source grey type liquid hydrogen imported from Australia raising concerns that the Tokyo-Canberra partnership may prove environmentally disastrous.
The UAE's Hope Probe, a project complementing the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM), has completed 60% of its journey. The EMM recently announced that the Emirati shuttle completed its third and last major trajectory correction maneuver successfully, traveling over 290 million kilometers, and is expected to enter Mars' orbit on February 9, next year.

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While President Donald Trump and his campaign are preparing to find ways to declare the electoral counting fraudulent in an attempt to extend office, Joe Biden is creating a task force to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. President-Elect Biden is also expected to make significant changes to America's climate change policies and its withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord, along with the Trump administration's immigration policies and tax cuts.
The National Payments Corporation of India is limiting the volume of Unified Payments Interface transactions from third-party apps to 30%, a move that has seen heavy criticism from companies including Walmart-owned PhonePe and Google. The move came simultaneously with the Indian government allowing WhatsApp to allow registered users in India to use its payment service.
Researchers from the Univesity of Rwanda have developed an algorithm that can significantly bring down COVID testing costs. In a study published in the October 21 edition of the journal 'Nature', researchers suggested a mathematical approach for pool testing of COVD-19, wherein a single test of a group of samples could determine whether any of those are positive.

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The Chinese government suspended Ant Group's $37 billion IPO after a meeting between Alibaba chief Jack Ma and top Chinese financial executives. The IPO was expected to be the world's biggest stock market debut, with Ant expecting to sell 11% of its shares for approximately $34.4 billion, valuing the Ant Group at about $313 billion.
Norway's Supreme Court is hearing a landmark case that could determine the future of Arctic oil drilling in the region. Environmental groups including Greenpeace Nordic and Young Friends of the Earth Norway, with the backing of 500,000 petitioners that include Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg and the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment David Boyd, have pleaded Oslo's highest court to block oil and gas drilling in the Arctic.
The USA has approved a $1.8 billion missile deal with Taiwan that incudes 135-ground to air missiles, six MS-110 air reconnaissance pods, and 11 M142 mobile light rocket launchers. The move has irked China, with Beijing threatening to sanction several US companies like Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

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In the race for a COVID-19 vaccine, developments from India show positive momentum. Bharat Biotech, responsible for developing the Covaxin vaccine in partnership with the Indian Council of Medical Research, has stated they can launch the vaccine as early as February.
Denmark, Europe's largest producer and exporter of mink furs, has decided to take the extreme step of culling all minks in the country after a mutation of the coronavirus was found in the animal and later spread to humans. The mutation also showed reduced sensitivity to the antibodies making it more threatening and less susceptible to current vaccines.
The US Department of Justice said they had successfully obtained 70,000 bitcoins, which amounts to nearly a billion dollars. The crypto seizure is said to be the largest in the agency's history. The bitcoins had been generated as revenue by selling illicit drugs and goods on the website Silk Road, the infamous underground drug website on the dark web.

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Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy, saw its real GDP plunge 3.49% in the third quarter of this year ending September, compared to the same period last year. Jakarta had seen a 5.32% plunge in the second quarter this year, and the latest figures have pushed Indonesia into recession, threatening at least 3 million jobs in the country. The country had grown by a mere 2.9% in the quarter ending March.
The British parliament recently approved a month-long lockdown across the country with stricter measures in place. Under the new lockdown rules, people have been asked to stay indoors, and households have been banned from mixing indoors or in private gardens unless in a support bubble. All non-essential shops, including pubs and gyms, have been ordered to remain shut through the period.
UK based luxury carmaker Bentley has unveiled a plan to completely replace its internal combustion engines with electric ones. Bentley is owned by the world's largest carmaker, Volkswagen, which plans to raise investment in electric technology, build up battery production capacity and transform entire plants to churn out electric cars, according to a statement by CEO Herbert Deiss.

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Thailand has been rocked by protests by young students and pro-democracy activists demanding constitutional reforms that give lesser powers to the monarch and the resignation of Prime Minister Prayuth, who had led the military coup in 2014. The protests are now calling for the freedom of political opposition, a demand which gained momentum after a new party called The Future Forward was dissolved by the constitutional court in February.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Reliance chief Mukesh Ambani are in a dispute over assets of the debt-laden retailer - Future Group. In August, Reliance had struck a $3.4 billion deal with the Future Group to acquire its assets. Amazon had moved Singapore's International Arbitration Centre (a preferred neutral ground for international disputes in Asia) to block the deal, citing a contractual breach.
German automaker Volkswagen has taken on Elon Musk's Tesla in the world's biggest auto market - China. Volkswagen recently launched two ID electric sport-utility models in China and established its presence in the electrical vehicle market, competing against power players like Tesla, Xpeng Motors, and Nio. Volkswagen plans to release 8 ID electric models by 2023 and had previously announced plans to invest approximately $17.44 billion for electric vehicles in the Asian country.

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As schools across France held a moment's silence for the late high school teacher Samuel Patty, who has been hailed as a hero of French principles by President Macron, several Muslim majority countries continue to protest the French president’s comments on Islam with some calling for a ban on all French products.
Despite the deployment of massive military forces in India's only Muslim majority state and several preventive arrests of political leaders after the Indian government decided to scrap article 370 of the Indian constitution that allowed for autonomy and preferential treatment for Jammu and Kashmir, the region continues to see sporadic incidents of violence, explicitly targeting India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Three political leaders from the BJP became the latest victims of a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir last week.
Despite stiff US resistance, Nigerians remain hopeful of seeing the country's former Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala being appointed to lead the World Trade Organisation. If Okonjo-Iweala is appointed to the post of WTO Director-General, she will create history by becoming both the first African and the first woman to hold the position. While several member countries continue to back the 66-year-old Nigerian's bid to replace Brazil's Roberto Azevedo as WTO chief, the USA has put its weight behind South Korea's Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee.

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Super typhoon Goni recently wreaked havoc in the Philippines archipelago. While the country is used to typhoons, ranging between 15 to 20 a year, Goni's intensity and a grappling pandemic have complicated matters for the Philippines. Goni is the strongest storm to hit the country since the destruction caused by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.
After a few setbacks to its new nuclear target in compliance with the UK's aim of low-carbon electricity production, the British government is set to greenlight the Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk. Sizewell contractor EDF has stated that the project, which may cost up to $25 billion, will provide at least 70,000 jobs directly or indirectly to UK citizens.
The newly elected Jacinda Arden government saw New Zealanders vote to decide the fate of euthanasia and recreational marijuana. While early poll results indicated that New Zealanders have opted against legalizing the use of cannabis for recreational purposes, New Zealand is expected to soon join a handful of countries that permit euthanasia for terminally ill patients

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Trump's four-year presidency has been mired with several controversies that ranged from foreign espionage to sexual harassment and racism. But of all of Trump's promises, one that really kicked off his protectionist rhetoric was the great wall bordering Mexico.
While President Trump continues to claim credit for bringing in what he believes were much-needed immigration policies, his track record on drugs has seen a severe setback with over 72,000 people dying from drug overdoses in 2019.
Since being elected President, Donald Trump has passed over 400 executive orders on policies pertaining to immigration. This included a strong attempt to do away with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA and the DREAMS Act, for which he found himself in a tiff with the country's judicial system.
According to the latest exit polls, Joe Biden is leading, and the Democrats look set to rule the next four years, with their first significant challenge being a post-COVID recovery.

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Starting April, Bangladesh’s government started relocating hundreds of Rohingya refugees to the remote island of Bhasan Char. Currently, about 306 refugees live on the island, and according to a report by Amnesty International the area lacks basic facilities, such as access to communication devices, food, and healthcare.
Despite increasing scrutiny over TikTok and the Indian government's decision to ban the app in India, Tiktok is going ahead with its expansion plans in the US. The Beijing-based company was amidst a stalled negotiation with Walmart over the sale of a 7.5% stake in the app.
Japan’s multinational mega-conglomerate Sony is reportedly in final rounds of discussions to acquire US animation streaming service Crunchyroll for approximately $957 million. AT&T, which currently owns Crunchyroll, reportedly reduced its asking price from $1.5 billion to the current price. It has been looking out for buyers for the streaming service to reduce its $150 billion debt pile for quite some time.

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South and central Asia Public policy director of Facebook Ankhi Das who had come under fire after Wall Street Journal published a report accusing her of allowing political bias in the social media platform tended her resignation. Ajit Mohan, Facebook India’s Managing director and Vice president credited Ankhi Das as instrumental for the growth of the company for the past 9 years.
The Indian Parliament recently amended and introduced new laws allowing all Indian citizens to buy land in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Before August last year, the state enjoyed autonomy under article 370 of the Indian constitution, a provision under which banned sale of land rights to non-Kashmiri citizens. Veteran Kashmiri leaders, including former chief ministers Omar Abdullah, and Mehbooba mufti, have expressed their disdain via tweets, saying that the decision would harm small landowners in the state.
Australia is joining the USA and Japan in their undersea fibre optic cable project for the Micronesian archipelago, Palau. The three strategic partners are financing close to $30 million as part of their new Trilateral Partnership which oversees infrastructural investment to the cable project.

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US and India have agreed on a Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement on Geospatial Cooperation at this year’s US-India strategic dialogue. India will gain access to a range of topographical, nautical and aeronautical data that is considered vital for targeting of missiles and armed drones as a result of the military cooperation pact.
Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia have decided to hold talks, brokered by the African Union over sharing the waters of the Blue Nile river, in which the construction of Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam has raised concerns globally. Ethiopia which had earlier rejected a UN proposition to intervene in the matter, recently took a dig at US President Donald Trump, accusing him of inciting a war over the GERD.
Jack Ma owned fintech giant Ant Group is finally set to make its stock market debut on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock markets on November 5th. Media reports expect it to be the world’s largest stock market debut with Ant expecting to sell 11% of its shares at an approximate worth of $34.4 billion.

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Nigerian citizens, a majority of whom are under the age of thirty, have been protesting against the police unit's brutalities for the last 4 weeks. The movement, which began as an online campaign with the EndSARS hashtag, reached the streets in early October. The latest wave of violence struck last week when shooters opened fire at a thousand-strong crowd killing and injuring people.
French President Emmanuel Macron had recently announced a six-week lockdown in eight cities, including Paris and Marseille. The lockdown, which was imposed overnight, has been criticized by business owners who have already suffered unprecedented losses due to previous curfews. Last Friday, France extended the six-week curfew to 38 more administrative divisions after recording 162 more COVID related deaths in 24 hours.
Unlike the first US presidential debate that was akin to a verbal wrestling match, the second debate saw both Joe Biden and Donald Trump maintain their calm, making coherent arguments about issues and critical policy implementations rolled out by the Trump-administration. Discussions around the COVID-19 pandemic took center stage.

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Eleven states have backed the US government’s complaint that Alphabet-owned Google has acted unlawfully to maintain its dominance as a search advertising platform on the internet. Google is also undergoing a separate antitrust inquiry by State Attorney Generals into its advertising technology and web search. The company is seeing trouble in Europe and Asia, with the EU investigating its data collection, although Google has coughed up $10 billion in three fines since 2017
US President Donald Trump recently tweeted that he has “officially nominated Poland for entry into the Visa Waiver Program.” While experts opine that the Polish government has in the past and continues to ignore the American Democrats, they believe that the possibility of a Joe Biden victory will not have a substantial effect on American-Polish relationships.
Several Arab trade bodies have announced the boycott of French products following President Emmanuel Macron’s comment about fighting “Islamic Separatism.” The Dahiyat al-Thuhr association, Qatar-based Wajhah Dairy and Meera Good Company, and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have decided to boycott French goods.

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Turkey's deep-sea drillship is ready to start a new round of operations next month, despite warnings from the European Union. President Erdogan announced the discovery of 320 billion cubic meters of natural gas, its biggest natural gas discovery to date, followed by another 85 billion cubic meters last week.
Although India has decided to reopen its borders with Nepal, there are reports that there has been a heavy deployment of paramilitary forces on Nepal's side to discourage cross-border attempts by Nepalese citizens. Nepal, caught in the trilateral junction with India and China, has much to lose on both sides.
India, which has 13 air bubbles in place, has extended its travel bubble invitation to Singapore, with which it enjoys close investment relations. Simon Wong, the High commissioner of Singapore to India, stressed the importance of robust air connectivity for both countries before the lockdown, saying that the Singaporean government highly values its investments in India.

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Teachers in France often have to face backlash, death threats, and violence, and an extreme example is the most recent victim Samuel Paty. The Macron government has recently been asked to propose measures to increase security for teachers who otherwise have to balance religious and national values.
The Indian government has actively decided not to curb economic activity in the country, leaving the citizens free to determine if they want to step out and shop for the festivals and partake in the celebrations. The months of October and November in India are crucial for retailers and other commercial activities. India also experiences a severe spike in air pollution, which often reaches hazardous levels after Diwali, making it worse for COVID-19 patients already suffering from respiratory issues.
There has been a 44% spike in the use of Polkadot. It is known to provide advantages like allowing each app developer to create their own blockchain, which can communicate with other ledgers. This allows the developer to have much more control over transaction fees and the rate of confirmation of transaction blocks across digital ledgers.

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A joint American-Israeli delegation, including US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's National Security Adviser, Meir Ben-Shabbat, will be signing a slew of agreements with Bahrain. Bahrain is the fourth Arab state, after Egypt, Jordan, and the UAE, to see embassies being built in Israel and vice versa.
Iran recently saw the lifting of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a UN arms embargo that, aside from placing a slew of sanctions on Iran, prevented the country from buying weapons. Despite the UN agreeing to lift the arms embargo, the USA, an erstwhile signatory of the deal, continues to vehemently oppose the decision.
Facebook-owned Instagram has come under the scanner of Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner or DPC, the lead European Union regulator, over its handling of children's personal data. Instagram allows people aged 13 and above to use its platforms. According to several media reports, the DPC investigation stems from David Stier, a US-based data scientist’s findings that revealed that 60 million users aged under 18 had their private information displayed for public view.

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has blamed corruption for the devastation the COVID pandemic is causing globally. "Corruption in the time of COVID-19 has the potential to seriously undermine good governance around the world, and to send us even farther off-track in our work to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals," the UN Secretary-General said at a time when the world registered a record 400,000 COVID-19 cases in a single day.
Jacinda Arden's landslide victory relied heavily on her handling of the COVID-outbreak in New Zealand. It has reported less than 2,000 cases, with only 25 deaths. However, the re-elected Prime Minister can expect a tumultuous next three years, as the world settles on the aftermath of the pandemic and New Zealand heads towards a recession.
According to local media reports, Brazil has decided to temporarily eliminate tariffs on corn and soy imports from countries outside the Mercosur trade bloc until next year. Presently corn and soy imports from the Mercosur are taxed at 8%.

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The COVID pandemic has thwarted the EU’s plans to renegotiate trade relations with Africa, intending to change the trade narrative from donor to equal partner. Brussels aims to revisit the plan in December as the world continues to hope for a coronavirus vaccine before mid-2021. Intending to create 10 million jobs by 2023, the European Union had guaranteed $5.3 billion for public and private partnership projects in Africa.
President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Amy Barrett's appointment to the Supreme Court has sparked some controversy ahead of the US presidential elections in November. The primary concern raised by the Democrats is that the US President should have waited till after elections to nominate a successor for the late Ruth Badger Ginsburg as it otherwise undermines a democratic selection to the country's judiciary.
China, which is being brutally hit by a US-launched trade war and warming up to countries in West Asia and Africa, recently decided to put monitoring laws on technological content it exports. China's new export control law aims to protect its national security by regulating the export of what it considers "sensitive materials."

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Environmentalists worldwide have raised alarms over the Yoshihide government's decision to release radioactive water into the nearby Pacific ocean. The Tokyo Electric Power Company responsible for cycling the water used for the cooling down process has designated about $200 million towards the clean-up of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Protests in Thailand intensify after the government declares a "severe" state of emergency, arresting about 20 protest leaders, including human rights lawyer Anon Nampa and activist Prasit Krutharote. The protesting demographic is mainly the youth and students, with leadings groups like the Free Youth Movement, United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration, and the Bad Student Movement
The Philippines government has lifted a ban on oil and gas explorations in disputed areas of the South China Sea. The ban had been imposed because of escalating territorial disputes with China. Philippines' partnership with China for energy resources may help China gain a strong foothold in the region while accelerating the Philippines' economy.

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People held in the custody of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad or SARS, a federal police force under the Nigerian government, have been subjected to "mock execution, beating, punching and kicking…and sexual violence.” Despite police using force to quell protests, Nigerian youth continue to hit the streets demanding a reform of the country’s police force as the #EndSARS campaign gains momentum.
India has found itself in the news over the Uttar Pradesh state police's handling of an alleged rape incident that has raised several fundamental questions about the right-wing nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party's rule in the country. The Allahabad High Court, who took up the case suo moto, has said, "the victim was at least entitled to decent cremation in accordance with her religious customs and rituals," and held the district administration responsible for the violation of certain fundamental rights enshrined in the Indian Constitution.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass asked Turkey to refrain from sending gas exploration missions and causing provocation in the Mediterranean Sea. The comment came a day after Ankara sent a ship to carry out seismic surveys in the region.

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a three-tier lockdown plan that would place measures under categories of “medium” (Tier-I), “high” (Tier-II), or “very high” (Tier-III). However, Mayors from the northern districts, which are expected to face the strictest of lockdowns, continue to pressure the government for urgent financial aid before winter sets in.
Russia recently mediated a ceasefire agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but despite that, heavy shelling continues on both sides. The situation is spiraling towards a major humanitarian crisis that may push large-scale migration when the world continues to battle the deadly COVID pandemic.
Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) has said it would resume production on Sharara – the country’s largest oilfield – this week. The announcement came after the NOC reached “an honor agreement” with Haftar forces to end all obstructions in the field.

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Jack Ma owned Ant Group is rushing to launch its initial public offering before the US election on November 3rd to avoid market volatility. Ant Group is set to raise about $30 billion within October.
Saudi Arabia's largest lender bank, the National Commercial Bank, has reached a merger agreement with another national heavyweight, Samba Financial group. The deal is worth a whopping $32 billion, with NCB valuing Samba shares at $14.85 billion.
African countries like Algeria and Niger are struggling with their migrant and refugee crisis. According to Human Rights Watch, authorities in Algeria have been arresting thousands of migrants and refugees, and then been expelling them across the border to Niger by packing them in trucks and buses.

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A recently passed new law in Indonesia has resulted in tens of thousands of protestors taking to the roads demanding its removal. The 'Omnibus' Job Creation Bill amended 79 existing laws and was passed after receiving broad support from 7 out of 9 parties. The government and industry bodies like the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry believe the bill could create up to three million new jobs.
Australians had mixed reactions to the new budget passed by their government. Last week, the Morrison government approved a new budget that included personal tax cuts worth $12.78 billion, which is expected to provide much-needed relief to almost 1 million businesses and more than 11 million Australians.
North Korea recently held its largest military parade to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Worker's Party, which currently has absolute power in the country. Statements made by Seoul's Joint Chief of Staff said that "Signs of a military parade - involving equipment and people on a large scale - were detected at Kim Il Sung Square."

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US President Donald Trump hopes to reach an agreement of $1.8 trillion with the Democrats, but the amount would still fall short of the $2.2 trillion relief plan the Democrats had proposed. A recent statement by the US President has also suggested that he may be open to a larger package, but given that he had earlier refused to come up with a better number indicates that the US president is trying to politicize COVID relief before the November presidential election.
A recent report by the World Bank has stated that sub-Saharan Africa's real per capita GDP may have regressed to 2007 levels, suggesting that the region's growth of over a decade has been destroyed. However, the World Bank's economic forecast for sub-Saharan Africa remains better than eastern and southern Africa, and it expects the region to see a GDP rebound in 2021.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has reportedly told employees that the electric car maker may produce 500,000 cars by the end of this year. In a recent report, news agency Reuters cited an internal email Musk sent to his employees, stating that the company will comfortably exceed 500,000 units.

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The Quadrilateral Initiative, or informally called the QUAD meeting, took place amidst worsening relations with China this past Tuesday. Along with the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the foreign ministers, Jaishankar Prasad, Marise Payne, and Toshimitsu Motegi of India, Australia, and Japan, respectively, participated in a rare in-person meeting in Tokyo to strengthen international strategic and diplomatic ties between the four countries.
Droughts in Thailand and lower crop production in Vietnam due to falling Mekong Delta water levels have boosted India's non-basmati rice exports for 2020. India's rice exports can reportedly reach up to 14 million tons from 2019's 9.9 million tons, an almost 42% rise.
A federal court recently rejected US President Donald Trump's attempts to block a subpoena by the Manhattan District Attorney to obtain federal tax and corporate returns for the past 8 years. The US President reportedly is now going to appeal to the Supreme Court, accusing the DA of acting out of malicious intent or for political harassment.

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Russian ambassador to Mali, Igor Gromyko, was one of the first officials to be received by the Mali Junta after a coup overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. Local media houses have reported that the military leaders of the coup had spent a year training in Russia. The report was suggestive that Moscow was planning to increase its security presence in Africa.
China’s coronavirus vaccine being developed by the Institute of Medical Biology under the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences was shown to be safe, according to researchers who published their findings in a paper posted on the medRxiv preprint server.
On Tuesday, the Indian government said it had approved incentives for 16 companies, including Apple suppliers Foxconn, Wistron, and Pegatron, to manufacture smartphones in the country. India's Production Link Incentive aims at producing mobile phones and phone components worth over $140 billion in the next five years.

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After several discussions, the Malian junta has finally formed a government under the presidentship of Bah Ndaw, a former foreign minister and retired colonel who was sworn in last month. Members of Tuareg groups that led the 2012 rebellion in the north were also awarded posts in the newly formed government. They have been given charge of the agriculture, fisheries department as well as youth and sports ministries.
South Korean retail investors have proposed a $50 billion bid for shares in Big Hit Entertainment, the management label of pop sensation BTS. The amount is over 600 times the value of shares on offer. BTS, which has a massive global fan base, was recently No.1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with their song "Dynamite."
Britain's Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel of Germany, and U.S. scientist Andrea Ghez won the 2020 Nobel Prize for Physics for their discoveries about black holes.

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Belarus saw its latest wave of unrest this Sunday after police fired water cannons at a group of protestors who numbered 100,000, according to opposition news channel Nexta. The protesters were rallying through the streets of Minsk, waving white flags striped with red, that has become the symbol of the opposition movement, demanding the Lukashenko government free prisoners as they beat drums and marched toward detention centers.
Google has said that it will strictly enforce its global policy and charge a 30% commission fee for in-app purchases from Indian developers from March 31, 2022. The move comes after a group of Indian CEOs and organizations, led by Paytm, said that they are working to create an alternate app store for Android applications in an attempt to decrease dependency on Google, whose mobile operating system dominates over 90% of the Indian smartphone market.
US researchers Harvey J Alter and Charles M Rice and Britain’s Michael Houghton won the 2020 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for work in identifying the Hepatitis C virus, which causes cirrhosis and liver cancer.

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After testing positive for COVID-19, it will be a while until US President Donald Trump can actively get involved with his election campaign. His health scare has created panic among the Republican ranks. At Trump's age of 74, the coronavirus is lethal, and the President will need to remain under constant care and may just be able to resume full working capacity before November 3rd.
CEOs of 56 Indian companies, including Paytm, Razorpay, and GOQii, participated in a Zoom meeting to decide how to create an alternate app store for India, which they believe will also provide a strategic advantage for locally developed applications. The group is working to create an alternate app store for Android applications in an attempt to decrease dependency on Google, whose mobile operating system dominates over 90% of the Indian smartphone market.
The CEOs of Google, Facebook, and Twitter were recently subpoenaed by the US Senate Commerce Committee, in the run-up to the US Presidential elections. The hearing will examine Section 230 of the US's Communications Decency Act, a law that protects online platforms from legal liability for content produced by users on their platforms. It essentially distances online platforms from the responsibility attached to any user-generated content.

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The international community seeks to end the cross-border conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia that has killed at least 95 people, including civilians. However, neither of the two countries appear very keen on ending a dispute over the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region that has been going on for the last three decades now.
India is set to start reopening educational institutes and movie theatres despite rapidly rising coronavirus cases. India is also grappling under huge economic pressure with a federal fiscal deficit for the five months through August at $117.98 billion. According to economists, the deficit is predicted to exceed 8% of the country’s GDP in the 2020-21 fiscal year.
According to a Reuters report, Chinese authorities are preparing to launch an antitrust investigation against Google. Big tech companies, including Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook, are already facing similar probes over their anti-trust policies in the US.

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Amnesty International said that it is halting work in India due to continuing crackdown and constant harassment by the government of right-wing populist leader Narendra Modi. However, the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs has clarified that "Amnesty International has been denied approval for foreign contribution by successive governments…(and)… the glossy statements about humanitarian work and speaking truth to power are a ploy to divert attention from activities which were in clear contravention to Indian laws."
The situation in the Caucasus remains tense as Azerbaijan fights a war with neighboring Armenia, and Turkey's potential role in it has raised global concerns about the possibility of Ankara trying to infiltrate anti-social elements in the region to increase influence and create a stronghold.
Japanese firm NTT is considering taking full control of its wireless carrier business NTT DoCoMo in a deal that could be worth approximately $38 billion. The move comes at a time when Japan's new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is trying to push the country's three biggest mobile carriers into cutting fees.

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A tally by John Hopkins University stated that the coronavirus pandemic has so far claimed nearly a million lives globally, with several countries still seeing a rapid surge of coronavirus cases, as efforts to develop a vaccine continue in full swing. Presently there are 240 vaccine candidates globally, with 40 undergoing clinical trials.
US President Donald Trump has faced severe criticism after the New York Times published a story stating that he avoided paying income tax for almost two decades and paid a total of only $750 in the first two years since being elected President. President Trump has denied the accusation.
The UN Conference on Trade and Development's annual report on economic development in Africa estimates that illegal outflows from Africa totaled over $830 billion in the last 15 years, with much of it linked to movements of high-value commodities such as gold, diamonds, and platinum.

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Opinion poll suggests that Jacinda Arden's Labour Party, which was looking at a comfortable victory to be elected for a second term, may not be able to do it alone. But, with the Green Party as coalition partners, Jacinda Arden is expected to see a second term as Prime Minister. Presently, the Green Party has its support base at 7%.
The European Union's Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy wrote an open letter to change the listing of six Taiwan member cites as belonging to China on its website. The listing had sparked some protest from Taiwan, which saw it as being in line with Beijing's belief that Taiwan is a part of China.
Australian miner Piedmont Lithium announced that it had signed a five-year deal with electric automaker Tesla to supply high-purity lithium ore mineral. Piedmont believes the deal is the beginning of its first US domestic lithium supply chain.

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Sudanese government waits for a promised $400 million financial package from donors. But the process may complicate Khartoum's economic problems as the US Department of State continues to list Sudan as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, placing several sanctions on Sudan's options of seeking aid.
American private equity firm KKR will invest $755 million in the retail unit of Reliance Industries, taking the total funding in Reliance Retail to $1.78 billion in a month. The funding comes weeks after Silver Lake had announced a $1.02 billion investment in Reliance Retail.
Electric carmaker Tesla saw a $50 billion drop in its value after CEO Elon Musk failed to impress investors with plans of radically decreasing the cost of electric vehicles to bring it at par with gasoline-powered cars. Investors had expected Musk to announce a 'million-mile' battery that could run for a good ten years that would eventually lead to an affordable electric vehicle.

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After US President Donald Trump expressed his desire to hold China accountable for the COVID pandemic during a UN speech, China's UN Ambassador Zhang Jun said China "resolutely rejects the baseless accusations."
General Motors recently announced its plans to build a vertically integrated electric car business. According to a press release by the Detroit company, the automaker plans to produce their own five interchangeable drive units and three motors, and call it the Ultium drive system.
Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed recently appointed political newcomer Mohamed Hussein Rouble as the country's Prime Minister. Rouble, a civil engineer by qualification, has previously worked for the International Labour Organisation. However, the agreement reached between the President, five regional leaders, and the mayor of Mogadishu has delayed the implementation of the one-person, one-vote model.

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Nvidia's acquisition of Arm Holdings for up to $40 billion is potentially the biggest semiconductor deal in history. However, the deal needs approval from the US, UK, and China, and Beijing may make the acquisition a tad bit difficult.
After Epic Games, music streaming application Spotify is now picking a fight with Apple over its antitrust policies. Spotify has raised concerns over Apple's new subscription bundle - Apple One - which gives consumers the option to try out multiple Apple services at a flat price.
General Motors has announced its intent to explore the possibility of flying cars. GM spokesperson Stuart Fowle said that when they think about Ultium and all of its potential, aerial is an area the company is exploring. Ultium is GM's battery cell technology being developed in partnership with LG Chem.

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US President Donald Trump approves a deal allowing ByteDance owned video sharing platform TikTok to stay operational in the United States. The deal will lead to the creation of TikTok Global, with ByteDance holding 80% and Walmart and Oracle holding minority stakes of 7.5% and 12.5%, respectively.
China recently conducted military exercises near the Taiwan strait to "protect its sovereignty" after US Undersecretary for Economic affairs Keith Krach, the highest-level official from the US State Department to visit the island in decades, was visiting to attend a memorial service for late President Lee Teng-hui.
Walmart unit Flipkart is preparing itself for an initial public offering as early as 2021 at a valuation of $50 billion. Flipkart had raised $1.2 billion in fresh funding in July with Walmart as the lead investor. Flipkart is also in talks with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as the first step towards its listing goal.

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After the signing of the Abraham Accord between Bahrain, UAE, and Israel, over a million people have reportedly signed an online charter, called the Palestine Charter, against normalization with Israel.
Hundreds of women were detained a few days ago in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, during a protest march demanding an end to President Alexander Lukashenko’s rule. Opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya praised the brave women of Belarus and said the women are “marching despite being constantly menaced and put under pressure.”
The United Kingdom Space Agency is giving over $1.3 million to 7 firms to advance novel sensor technologies and smart algorithms to improve surveillance on objects moving overhead. The initiative will radically improve the UK's ability to interpret data focused on tracking satellites and space debris.

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While India’s ban on Chinese applications was welcomed by some who saw it as a stern message to Beijing, the popularity of some of these apps has created inroads for new security threats. Apar Gupta, Executive Director of the Internet Freedom Foundation, explains why.
Chinese companies, including Alibaba and TikTok owner ByteDance, are gradually looking towards Singapore to ease their business troubles from obstacles being created by the Trump administration's Clean Network Initiative.
The Australian government recently announced a $3.7 million grant to the national news agency, Australian Associated Press, as part of its pandemic-related assistance to regional journalism. The investment comes as part of Canberra's Public Interest News Gathering Program, which began in May, and brings the total amount invested towards supporting media organizations and public interest journalism to $40 million.

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Lebanon, already seeking a $10 billion financial bailout from the International Monetary Fund, is having trouble forming a cabinet due to differences over the Finance Minister nominee.
Cross-border aggression has manifested into a growing tech trade war between India and China. The Indian Defense Ministry has held that Chinese actions reflect a disregard of various bilateral agreements, and the amassing of Chinese troops goes against the 1993 and 1996 Agreements.
Nikola, which saw a 53% surge in its shares after General Motors announced an 11% stake in the electric truck maker on 8th September, fell by 40% since short-seller Hindenburg published a report accusing the electric auto manufacturer of intricate fraud. Nikola rubbished the allegations calling the report "false and misleading."

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Among immigration polices, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA and the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors or DREAM Act will see extremely divergent outcomes based on who is elected US President on November 3rd.
Pune-based Serum Institute gets ICMR nod for conducting the Phase III vaccine trials on 1,500 volunteers across 14 locations in India. ICMR director Dr. Balram Bhargava said two other vaccine candidates are at different clinical trial stages in India.
US giant Amazon recently announced that it plans to hire 100,000 additional employees in the USA and Canada, continuing a rapid expansion that began with the pandemic induced internet boom.

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71-year-old Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga is set to be elected as Japan’s Prime Minister. Often referred to as Shinzo Abe’s right-hand man, Yoshihide Suga has several challenges ahead of him as he rolls out 'Abenomics.'
US Congress and the Trump administration continue to lock horns over excessive spending on coronavirus relief stimulus. The $3.4 trillion stimulus bill, dubbed the HEROES Act passed by the Democrats in May, has been called a big set of pet priorities by the GOP.
The Benjamin Netanyahu-government announced a three-week national lockdown starting September 18th from 2 pm, hours before the start of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. The government decision has been heavily criticized by opposition members, particularly the ultra-orthodox United Torah Judaism Party, who have blamed the spike in COVID cases on bad governance.

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Mali’s opposition coalition M5-RFP rejected a military-government backed charter for an 18-month transition government on Saturday. The charter has been accused of allowing the military to monopolize and confiscate power.
Oracle likely to be announced as “TikTok’s trusted tech partner in the United States.” Microsoft has said that its bid for the US operations of TikTok has been rejected by the app’s parent company ByteDance.
Nvidia confirmed that it intends to buy chip design giant Arm Holdings for up to $40 billion from Japanese telecom and investment firm SoftBank. SoftBank will receive $2 billion immediately for signing the deal, and it will receive another $10 billion in cash and $21.5 billion of stock in Nvidia on closing.

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Tech giants are ramping up their policies to prevent the spread of political propaganda through their platforms. While Facebook announced that it would restrict new political advertisements in the week before the election and remove posts that convey misinformation about COVID-19 and voting, Google is working on changing its autocomplete policy to omit all election-related predictions.
Epic Game’s CEO Tim Sweeny believes that “Apple is preventing an entire category of applications and businesses from being dropped in their ecosystem,” as the two companies decide to take each other to court. Epic is suing Apple for wielding monopolistic power over the App Store, and Apple is countersuing Epic Games’ for breach of contract. The two companies are next set to appear in court together on September 28.
COVID-19 vaccine development sees a setback with AstraZeneca and Oxford pausing their phase-III trials after a subject complained of an unexplained illness. However, both the Serum Institute and AstraZeneca have expressed confidence that they will identify the issue and resume trials at the earliest.

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US health experts warn that Americans may refuse to take the vaccine if they believe it to be rushed to gain favor before the November 3rd presidential elections. Democratic candidate Joe Biden has expressed concern that the FDA is being pressured by the Trump administration for an early vaccine release.
The USA plans to block imports of cotton and tomato products from western Xinjian in China over allegations that they are produced with forced labor. China, which continues to face global isolation on several fronts, is seeing increasing allegations of atrocities being committed against Uighur minorities.
Thailand, which has seen one of the worst economic contractions due to COVID-19, is preparing a plan to open up its borders for international tourists. However, over 37 million local jobs in Thailand remain jeopardized, as new cases in its tourism hotspot Phuket are most likely to further delay its reopening of international tourism.

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India, one of the fastest-growing internet markets globally, has banned 118 Chinese applications, months after imposing a similar ban on 59 mobile apps with ties to Beijing. While PUBG Mobile, the most popular among those, is likely to find a way out into the Indian market, the fate of other apps remains uncertain.
Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry allocated 23.5 billion yen or $221 million in the 2020 supplemental budget as a subsidy to encourage companies to disperse their manufacturing sites across the ASEAN region.
China has launched an initiative to counter the US's Clean Network Initiative by reaching out to governments and requesting them to handle data security in a "comprehensive, objective, and evidence-based manner." China hopes to set a global standard for data security through the initiative.

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the latest high-profile name targeted by an unknown group of hackers who call themselves John Wick. While Mr. Modi’s personal account, with 61.8 million followers, remained unaffected, the Twitter account of his official website, which has about 2.5 million followers, was hacked.
Italy’s Competition Authority (AGCM) said that it had started six investigations on Google Drive, Apple iCloud, and the Dropbox cloud storage service over complaints of unfair practices related to the collection of user data for commercial purposes.
Latvian startup Lokalise, which provides a software-as-a-service product to help businesses improve workflow and processes when there is a need to update text in different languages, raises $6 million in funding.

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After declining Vodafone Idea's request for a 20-year window to pay statutory dues, the Indian Supreme Court stated that the National Company Law Tribunal would decide whether spectrum can be sold during insolvency proceedings. In some respite for telecom operators, the Supreme Court has asked carriers to pay 10% of pending dues by March 31, 2021.
American Chemistry Council suggests that Africa’s largest economy, Kenya, "could serve in the future as a hub for supplying US-made chemicals and plastics to other markets in Africa through this trade agreement."
The Africa Regional Certification Commission certified the WHO African Region as wild polio-free on August 25th after four years without a case. Nigeria, which accounted for over 50% of global polio cases a few years ago, was the last African nation to declare that the virus has been completely eradicated.

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Sudan's government put an end to 17 years of conflict by signing a peace treaty with the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), a coalition of rebel groups from Darfur, South Kordofan, and the Blue Nile.
Over 36,000 people had gathered in solidarity against Germany’s COVID preventive measures, all of whom hit the streets without wearing masks. Later a group of protestors reportedly tried to storm the Reichstag, forcing police intervention.
LG’s new product, PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier, aims to resolve the dilemma of homemade masks being of inconsistent quality and disposal masks being in short supply.

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Russia, which has found itself in a difficult position to maintain influence over Belarus due to escalating protests over the re-election of Alexander Lukashenko as President, has decided to provide military support to Minsk to quell the uprising.
Australian PM Scott Morrison has decided to enforce the government's new Foreign Relations Bill that will give the federal government the power to do away with international agreements against Australia's interests. On the list of 42 agreements that would come under review, 27 are related to China.
General Motors is moving the engineering team responsible for the mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette to its electric and autonomous vehicle programs.

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India’s economy has shrunk by 23.9% in the first quarter of the financial year 2020-21, making it the second-worst performer after the USA, which saw its GDP shrink by 32.9%.
China recently updated its export control categories to cover artificial intelligence technologies. The updated rules could apply to ByteDance owned Tiktok, which relies heavily on AI to make personalized content recommendations.
Walmart confirms interest in teaming up with Microsoft to make a bid for acquiring TikTok's US holdings. Oracle, too, has placed an approximately $20 billion bid for the company.

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Lebanon's ambassador to Germany, Mustapha Adib, is the favorite to become Lebanon's next Prime Minister as western countries pressure Beirut to form a government that can implement long-demanded reforms to unlock foreign financial assistance.
Elon Musk demonstrates Neuralink's technology using pigs with surgically implanted brain monitoring devices. Musk hopes the device with both read and write capabilities will address neurological issues that range from memory loss and brain damage to anxiety and depression.
Reliance Retail announces a $3.4 billion deal to acquire the Future Group's retail, wholesale, and logistics and warehousing business, gaining a significant advantage in India's retail market, estimated to balloon to $1.3 trillion by 2025.

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After ending Hong Kong's preferential trade and diplomatic status with the USA, Washington halts extradition treaty with the Chinese city, creating trade obstacles for local companies.
Google’s Kormo Jobs likely to give stiff competition to Microsoft’s LinkedIn in India’s job-seeking market.
COVID-19 accelerates sales of cannabis products with a US company setting up weed vending machines.

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European privacy campaign group, NOYB, files complaints against 101 websites with regional operators for sending data to the US via Google Analytics or Facebook Connect integrations.
The inclination of West Asian countries towards space exploration has created room for Asian giants such as India and China to develop partnerships in new areas. While China is reportedly trying to secure a uranium extraction deal with Saudi Arabia, India leads the space-technology front.
Scotland edges closer to launching satellites from the UK’s first spaceport as the Highland Council North Planning Applications Committee gives final approval for the construction of a “Space Hub” in Sutherland.

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The use of the dollar in Russia-China trade falls below 50%.
Microsoft issues legal brief against Apple banning Epic Games’ Fortnite on its app store.
Google warns Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code may cause more harm than good.

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US accuses Germany of delinquency towards NATO as it orders reposting of American troops to Poland.
Research on the use of wearable technology to locate COVID symptoms shows initial success.
Concept drift caused by COVID-19 may have a significant impact on AI-powered predictive tools.

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Facebook faces legal trouble as Indian journalist files complaint alleging bias on the part of the social media platform in allowing inflammatory posts.
The USA withdraws from the Open Skies Treaty but keeps options open for future talks.
Despite initiating the listing process, Airbnb may not go public this year.

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USA says it will enforce snapback sanctions on Iran after the UN Security Council’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action expires in October.
Europe extends full support to Belarus protestors calling President Lukashenko’s re-election botched up.
Thailand says China is ready to share data of Chinese dams on the Mekong River.

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Malian citizens welcome coup against President Ibrahim Keita as world powers express concern over Mali’s stability.
US President Donald Trump threatens tariff on companies failing to bring back foreign jobs to America if re-elected.
US Senate Intelligence Committee's final report on Russian meddling finds Moscow guilty of exerting influence in the 2016 presidential elections.

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NTA warns Buy America order on medical supplies and drugs could make treatment more expensive.
USA okays oil drilling on the Arctic as Canada loses its last intact ice-shelf.
Facebook forms internal teams to examine AI racism concerns.

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MPesa has become Africa's largest mobile payment platform, with $14.7 billion in monthly transactions.
Goldman Sachs will roll out Gemini, an application to ease business mergers and acquisitions by using big data for its clients.
Foreign investors keen on exploring Japan's $136 billion power market.

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USA's Clean Network Initiative may deny Chinese phone-makers access to key applications such as Gmail.
As the US presidential election nears, Google deletes 2,600 Chinese spamming accounts on YouTube as a move to curb the spread of political propaganda.
Despite serving over 80 million consumers, Russia-led EAEU may fall short of Moscow's ambitions of a Greater Eurasia trade bloc.

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Japan is expected to conclude a trade deal with the United Kingdom, scheduled to come into effect post-Britain's exit from the European Union on December 31st this year.
Iran decides to continue with Chabahar development plans without Indian assistance.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo praises New Delhi over its hard policies being implemented against China.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

Joe Biden’s campaign to re-join the Paris Accord and end forever wars may fall short of influencing voter sentiment.
Hong Kong continues to see trade troubles as protests continue against Beijing’s security policy on the autonomous region.
Singapore hopes to recover from economic shocks due to COVID-19 as it plans to resume construction activity.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

Google's $10 billion investment plan in India likely to boost digital infrastructure and aid the growth of smaller firms by giving them access to better technology.
African Development Bank-funded Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation program sets the target to add 120 million metric tons of additional food, valued between $1.5 billion to $2.8 billion.
Offset Market Exchange (OMX), a Toronto-based firm, estimates that the full impact of the F-35 program could add $16.9 billion to Canada's GDP as Lockheed Martin readies pitch.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

Crypto-venture capital firm Electric Capital secures $110 million in funding from multiple university endowments and non-profit organizations.
Interpol warns of increasing cybercrime in its August report with increasing attacks on larger businesses.
China is likely to invest in Iran's infrastructure in exchange for oil.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg attends a US Congressional hearing after taking down a post by US President Donald Trump.
Turkey sends a surveillance ship to contested waters in the Mediterranean after Greece-Egypt deal.
India celebrates the laying of a foundation stone for the construction of a Ram temple on contested land in Ayodhya.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

US executive order banning TikTok indicative of Washington’s growing protectionism and decreasing free trade potentials.
WHO launches a mission to Wuhan in China to discover the origins of SARS-CoV-2.
Russia announces a COVID vaccine for commercial use.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

Lebanese government arrests 16 people, including port head over ammonium nitrate explosion as anti-government protests intensify.
Media reports suggest Saudi Arabia is taking Chinese help to extract uranium from the country's northeast.
Mahinda Rajapaksa's prime ministerial victory is suggestive of increasing majoritarianism in Sri Lanka.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

EU launches investigation on potential market advantage US tech giant Google may gain out of its $2.1 billion Fitbit acquisition.
A few months after Twitter confessed that it had exploited user data to send targeted ads, the US tech giant has implied it might face a $250 million fine from the US Federal Trade Commission.
Despite US sanctions, Huawei records a 13.1% increase in year-on-year revenue.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

The US government has given Microsoft a 45-day window to finalize a deal with ByteDance over operating TikTok in the country.
Amidst growing global isolation, China's Belt and Road project in Sri Lanka is likely to become a major trade hub benefitting both Beijing and Colombo.
India unveils a new policy to woo mobile phone and component makers to manufacture in the country; plans to export 60% in the next five years.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

India's new education policy makes way for several progressive changes, including allowing foreign universities to open campuses in the country.
Two Indian states, along with Bangladesh, remain devastated by monsoon floods, with over 4 million people rendered homeless.
The political crisis in Mali is creating a problematic situation for ensuring stability in the entire West African region and threatening insurgency.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

Satellite images have suggested that Saudi Arabia is nearing completion of its first-ever nuclear reactor at the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology.
While developing countries are seeing significant investments in EdTech due to the COVID pandemic, developed countries are employing various other online tools to reach students.
In a first of its kind attempt, China’s Mars Mission hopes to accomplish three firsts: landing a rover, an orbiter and a lander in a single mission.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

Poland decides to leave the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence; foreign minister says convention promotes gay ideology.
Ethiopia starts filling the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile despite resistance from Egypt and Sudan. It gives the go-ahead for the project irrespective of whether an agreement is signed or not.
New Zealand becomes the first country in the world to set standards for the use of algorithms by government agencies in an attempt to increase transparency.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

As the UN security council and Iran’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action heads towards completion, the USA is amplifying its campaign against lifting the arms embargo on Tehran.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo officiates the USA’s stand against China's expansion policies in the South China Sea and extends support to ASEAN leaders contesting Beijing’s claims.
Kenya and USA continue official discussions on a Free Trade Agreement designed to give Washington free access to the Kenyan market, boosting employment and trade opportunities for the African nation.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

The USA remains confident that Europe will accept its decision to sanction Russia and Germany’s Nord Stream 2 gas supplying project, calling it a geopolitical ploy by Moscow to increase Europe’s Russian dependency.
Mozambique's hopes of generating employment and revenues touching $50 billion by 2025 remain intact even during a pandemic as it moves ahead with its Cabo Delgado natural gas project.
ABP Corp’s polymer-battery developed for a Kawasaki submarine claims to reduce mass production costs by 90%, creating massive potential for the electric vehicle industry.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

The USA contemplates a $19.5 price for a COVID-19 vaccine dose, expected to be the global benchmark.
International commercial flights resume under an air bubble framework as a first step towards reviving global air travel.
German scientists plan to organize a pop music concert for a 4000-strong audience to examine ways of preventing the novel coronavirus from spreading in crowded indoor spaces.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

In the face of unprecedented losses, cab aggregators like Ola and Uber look for alternate revenue streams.
The tourism industry is banking on AI for its post-COVID revival.
With the pandemic accelerating tech innovation and development, the potential for large-scale internet penetration in African countries makes them the next global hub for tech startups.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

Chinese aggression at Ladakh and in the Pacific is likely to fuel better Indo-Austria trade relations.
Yemen’s health crisis may slow down post-COVID recovery for West Asian Countries.
Dubai reopens tourism with the hope to make up for a 3.5% economic decline.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

Several companies such as Twitter are turning the work from home model permanent, as technology and innovation make significant progress during the COVID-19 pandemic.
US sanctions on Huawei and growing global distrust against the Communist Party of China are creating room for newer companies to enter the race to develop 5G hardware.
Andrzej Duda's re-election is likely to increase EU-Poland friction.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

Air travel likely to become more expensive as social distancing regulations may decrease passenger load by over 50%.
European carmakers are banking on electric and hybrid vehicles to make up for losses. Companies such as Volkswagen are ramping up EV production targets as the market continues to show strong resistance to the pandemic.
While Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's PAP won 63 of 83 parliamentary seats, their falling vote share is likely to make way for more protectionist employment policies.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

Indian policies being formulated to decrease dependency on Chinese investments in the country will aid several tech startups and open borders for varied sources.
Lebanon's protests on currency devaluation, flawed economic policies, and corruption make room for Chinese influence in West Asia.
The Black Lives Matter movement increases economic prospects for black-owned businesses.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

Bharti Airtel’s joint acquisition of OneWeb satellite broadband may open up new technology avenues in India with a major focus on IoT.
Artificial Intelligence is doing more than providing data entry and navigation support. In recent months the healthcare industry has seen significant technology integration, but others have warned of severe flaws in applications designed to monitor patient records.
China’s domination of the rare earth mineral market and its influence in tech innovation across the world is becoming a serious concern for the USA.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

Apart from shuttering several media houses, COVID-19 induced losses in the advertisement industry are forcing innovative methods of brand campaigning.
An increasing interest in e-commerce to avoid social contact is leading companies to come up with new ways to better consumer experience and increasing demand for warehouses.
While mobile tracing applications are becoming an important part of precautionary measures against COVID-19, it is raising security concerns across countries.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

Over 60% of the SARC-CoV-2 virus has undergone mutation to become more contagious, but this will not impact the effects of a vaccine.
India is likely to bring in new e-commerce policies for increased transparency and market opportunities.
Italy attempts to revive its auto industry through financial aid within the ambit of Europe's strict green pledge.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

India aims to launch its COVID-19 vaccine by August 15, with the USA and China targeting for a potential vaccine to be made available by the end of 2020.
A decrease in demand for Chinese products in India is likely to aid local manufacturing but will also lead to losses for retailers hitherto dependent on Beijing for their supplies.
Despite an ecstatic Donald Trump, a four million increase in US employment numbers for June may not be enough to make up for job losses caused due to the COVID pandemic.

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Today on The Leaders' Brief -

The USMCA, signed between Canada, Mexico, and the US will boost digital trade but is likely to hamper car manufacturing in North America.
China's new security law being imposed on Hong Kong will bring down the autonomous region's trade potential while providing opportunities to countries like Singapore to bring in more foreign investments.
Trouble continues for Facebook as more companies join in boycotting advertisements on the social media platform over its hate speech policies.

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egomonk is a global intelligence platform delivering asymmetric outcomes by bringing organizations closer to the communities they want to serve and the leaders they wish to influence. If you wish to collaborate with us then email us at contact@egomonk.com.