World & Politics
EU starts looking for new gas suppliers - 01/31/2022
European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson intends to discuss a possibility of increasing gas supplies to Europe with Azerbaijan in early February. This was reported by the Financial Times. The EU fears that Russia could cut gas supplies in response to Western sanctions if the conflict in Ukraine escalates, the FT reported. In this connection, according to the newspaper, the EU plans to send...
Europe and Qatar discuss energy cooperation - 01/28/2022
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani discussed intensifying the EU-Qatar partnership, including in the energy sector. "It is important to strengthen Europe's energy security with all reliable partners," the EC head wrote on Twitter. Earlier, a senior US administration official told reporters that the US was looking for alternative...
US Department of Commerce estimates the country's GDP in Q4 - 01/28/2022
US GDP in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to the first estimate, grew by 6.9% year-on-year (if GDP had grown at the same rate for four consecutive quarters), according to a press release from the US Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis. Analysts polled by DailyFX had expected the US economy to grow by 5.5% on a year-on-year basis. Real growth in US consumer spending rose 3.3%...
IMF expects growth of the world's major economies over next two years - 01/26/2022
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday lowered its forecast for US economic growth for 2022 to 4% from 5.2%, while raising it for 2023 to 2.6% from 2.2%, the fund's report showed. Meanwhile, for 2023, the US GDP growth forecast in the report is more positive at 2.6% compared to the 2.2% announced in October 2021. The fund also reported that it expects the eurozone economy to grow by...
WB sees serious threat in rising inequality and public debt in developing countries - 01/25/2022
The main long-term threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to World Bank (WB) analysts, is a systemic increase in educational, labor, and health inequalities in the developing world, rather than a brief spike in extreme poverty. School closures and drastic changes in educational forms, according to the WB experts, will make life considerably more difficult for the younger generation...
Iranian authorities call on residents to reduce gas consumption - 01/24/2022
The Iranian Oil Ministry has advised citizens to cut back on their gas usage, which has risen to 650-660 million cubic metres per day in recent days, with a high of 692 million cubic metres on Friday. As a result, Iranians currently consume almost 80% of the country's gas production. Gas usage has been at an all-time high of more than 600 cubic metres per day for more than two weeks, the...
Serbia refuses lithium mining with Rio Tinto - 01/21/2022
The Serbian government has officially abandoned a project with Australian-British Rio Tinto to mine lithium in the northwest of the country, plans for which have sparked massive environmental protests, Prime Minister Ana Brnabić said. Serbia's president said in late December that the project would not be withdrawn under the threat of more protests, but that it was not moving forward either....
UK abolishes vaccination passports and mandatory masks - 01/20/2022
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has lifted some of the previous coronavirus restrictions as of 25 January. The decision was taken amid a scandal involving parties at the government residence during the lockdown. These include vaccine passports, the requirement to wear masks in public places and the recommendation to work from home. "Mandatory certification will end, organisations can...
Thousands of hamsters to be killed in Hong Kong over suspected spread of COVID-19 - 01/19/2022
Hong Kong has decided to euthanize 2,000 hamsters, chinchillas and rabbits after a shop assistant was found to be infected with the Delta coronavirus strain. Authorities in Hong Kong have ordered pet shops and pet owners to hand over about 2,000 hamsters for euthanasia after finding evidence that the coronavirus appears to be able to be transmitted from animal to human. This was reported by the...
UN Secretary General Calls For Reform Of Global Financial System - 01/18/2022
UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos called for reform of the global financial system to make it work for the benefit of all countries. "We need to reform the global financial system to make it work for all countries. More than eight out of ten recovery dollars are spent in developed countries," Guterres said in a video message. Low-income countries...
