World & Politics
Saudi Arabia closes borders due to new COVID-19 strain - 12/21/2020
Saudi Arabia has closed its borders for a week, the country's interior ministry said. A statement from the ministry was published by SPA. It indicates that the decision to close the borders was made on the basis of the Ministry of Health’s data on the spread of a new strain of coronavirus. The authorities have halted international air links and closed land borders and seaports for a week. Flights...
Former Japanese Prime Minister Abe suspected of embezzlement - 12/18/2020
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has made a proposal to summon former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Parliament. According to Kyodo news agency, citing sources, the former prime minister is suspected of illegally using money to pay for dinner parties. The agency explains that the aim of the party's move is to try to avoid public outrage that could undermine the credibility of Shinzo...
US accuses Switzerland, Vietnam in currency manipulations - 12/17/2020
The US said that Switzerland and Vietnam had manipulated their currencies to avoid balance of payments adjustments and, in the case of Vietnam, also to gain a competitive advantage in international trade. They reserved the right to take action. The US Treasury Department called Switzerland and Vietnam currency manipulators following a review of the macroeconomic and currency policies of its main...
Australia files WTO complaint against China - 12/17/2020
Australian Trade, Investment and Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham has announced that Australia will initiate a formal complaint procedure with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against China's actions against barley imports from Australia. Relations between Australia and China, which in turn was hit by US trade sanctions back in 2018, escalated in the spring of this year. At that time, the...
Ireland fines Twitter for breaching European data protection law - 12/16/2020
The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has imposed a fine of € 450 thousand on the American microblogging service Twitter, whose European headquarters is registered in Ireland. The fine was imposed for violation of the European Data Protection Law (GDPR), which came into force in 2018. In January 2019, Twitter announced that it had fixed an issue that could have caused private tweets from...
US electoral vote confirms Biden's election - 12/15/2020
The electoral vote has confirmed the election of Joseph Biden as president of the United States. The results of the state-by-state vote show this. The Democratic candidate has secured the support of all 55 electors from California, thus gaining more than the 270 votes needed to be elected. Of the 538 votes, Biden already gets 302, while the incumbent Republican candidate Donald Trump gets 232....
Germany introduces strict lockdown until January 10 - 12/14/2020
Germany will close non-grocery stores and service businesses from December 16 to January 10. The country is tightening quarantine, which has already been in effect in the country for more than a month, to cope with the rise in the incidence of coronavirus. The German government, in agreement with the federal states, will tighten quarantine from December 16 due to coronavirus. This follows from...
UN: 270 million people in the world are on the brink of starvation death - 12/11/2020
David Beasley, Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme, while accepting the Nobel Peace Prize for the organization, called on the world to use its wealth to fight hunger. He said "because of multiple wars, climate change, the widespread use of hunger as a political and military weapon, and a pandemic that makes all these problems several times worse, 270 million people are at risk of...
Saxo Bank's Outrageous Predictions 2021: COVID-19 vaccination will destroy corporations and major cities will stay empty - 12/09/2020
On Tuesday, Danish Saxo Bank published its traditional Outrageous Predictions for the next year. Saxo Bank describes its 10 'shocking predictions' as a 'series of unlikely and underestimated events which, however, could cause financial markets to be hit by a very powerful shock wave'. According to Saxo Bank, the retreat of the coronavirus due to mass vaccination in 2021 will dramatically...
UK and EU agree on Northern Ireland's status - 12/09/2020
The UK will give up the most controversial provisions of the Internal Market Bill after it has reached agreements in principle with the EU on issues relating to the status of Northern Ireland, said Michael Gove, Cabinet Office Minister. The Internal Market Bill, introduced into Parliament by the government, is designed to regulate trade between four parts of the United Kingdom after the end of...
