Will rich nations foot the bill for a global ‘pandemic treaty’?

 

World Health Organization member states have agreed to negotiate agreement on pandemic preparedness.

Save the Children estimates that for every $1 invested in the global COVID-19 vaccination drive, rich nations could avoid losing $35 from their budgets.

Yet, wealthy nations have failed to provide poorer countries with vaccines. And there has been a lack of coordination to tackle the pandemic.

Why is Pfizer sharing its COVID-19 pill but not its vaccine?

As big pharma refuses to share its COVID vaccine secrets, the WHO hires a South African lab to crack the mRNA code.

Pfizer’s chief executive Albert Bourla says his COVID-19 oral antiviral drug is “a real game changer”. He claims the pill cuts the risk of hospitalisation and death by 89 percent.

But unsurprisingly campaigners are already raising concerns that the rich world will once again corner the anti-viral market. Dr Githinji Gitahi, the chief executive of Amref Health Africa, explains what needs to be done for the equitable distribution of vaccines.

How climate change is leading to a rise in violence in the Sahel

 

The UN estimates 80 percent of the Sahel’s rain-fed farmland is affected by degradation due to erratic rainfall.

More than 1.3 million people have been plunged into extreme poverty in the Sahel, as the Belt of Africa experiences its deepest recession since independence due to COVID-19.

How China’s ageing population may topple its economic ambitions

 China is struggling to encourage couples to have more children, risking its long-term economic prospects.

China’s status as the factory of the world is under threat. Not from the United States, which is looking at ways to slow its economic dominance, but from its own falling birth rate.

Fewer babies mean fewer workers to power factories and economic growth.

How China came to dominate the South China Sea

As China contests islands from Japan to Malaysia, it has deployed its ‘maritime militia’ across the South China Sea.

In March, more than 200 Chinese fishing vessels occupied a reef off the coast of the Philippines.

They were manned not by fishermen but ex-navy officers, who operate nearly identical vessels estimated to number 3,000.

 

Rising seas: A failure of economics to cut greenhouse emissions

 Changing the way we measure economic growth may help redress the balance between nature and the exploitation of resources.

Warnings about the consequences of climate change are arriving at an alarming pace.

Vulnerable countries will be the most affected, despite being the least responsible for climate change.

As China tightens its grip on Hong Kong, could Taiwan be next?

Beijing has held military drills near the Taiwan Straits and has deployed marines and missiles to its southern coast.

As China’s President Xi Jinping consolidates his power, scrapping a two-term presidential limit and cracking down on voices opposed to him, he has taken a firmer grip on the northwestern region of Xinjiang and self-governing Hong Kong.

His next focus could be the island of Taiwan. Xi has gone as far as saying it is an “inevitable requirement for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese people”.

 

How China, COVID-19 and investors pushed Zambia into debt default

 Zambia becomes the first African nation to default on its debts in the pandemic era.

The G20 nations, made up of the world’s biggest economies, struck an historic agreement on restructuring debt for some of the world’s poorest nations.

Is it time to break up Facebook’s monopoly?

 

While the $800bn social media giant faces pressure to curb hate speech and disinformation, it has also been accused of stifling competition.

For years now, Facebook has been accused of not doing enough to curb the spread of hate speech and disinformation, failing to regulate content that pushes everything from coronavirus conspiracies to holocaust denial to genocide.

It has also been accused of crushing the competition, through acquisitions, copycat products and throttling news content providers.

Why is President Bolsonaro’s popularity on the rise in Brazil?

Despite downplaying the seriousness of COVID-19, Brazil’s president’s approval rating is at its highest since he took office.

Brazil has the world’s second-highest number of coronavirus deaths after the United States.

President Jair Bolsonaro’s dismissive stance has helped oversee the coronavirus’ rapid spread, with more than four million cases and 135,000 deaths rocking the country. Millions have lost their jobs and the economy is in recession.

 

Suganomics: Can Japan's new prime minister fix national economy?

An ageing population, huge debts and a recession - we look at the challenges facing Japan's new prime minister.

Chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga has replaced his boss, Shinzo Abe, as prime minister after Abe stepped down due to ill health.

Suga's challenge is to make sure the 2020s are not a wasted decade.

The country is quickly racking up debts - expected to hit 268 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of this year - to cope with the pandemic.

 

Is this the end of the Middle East's oil rush?

Crude oil exporters are struggling to balance budgets with low oil prices. Plus, South Africa could face a debt crisis.

 Oil revenues in the Middle East and North Africa fell from more than $1 trillion in 2012 to $575bn in 2019, according to the International Monetary Fund.

The pandemic has meant demand for fossil fuels has been decimated and may not return. Have oil-exporting countries done enough to diversify their economies?

Coronavirus and the economy: Can the world cope with more debt?

As stocks soar to record highs and inequality deepens during the pandemic, is it time to finally confront capitalism?

With more than 22 million coronavirus cases and almost 800,000 deaths worldwide, the health crisis is far from over, as countries face second waves of coronavirus cases.

We may have seen some of the worst economic costs, but more pain could be lurking in the months ahead.

Against this backdrop, the United States and China have potentially also inched closer to a new Cold War.

Should Britain pay reparations for its part in the slave trade?

British banks, prime ministers and parish vicars made millions from the slave trade. Plus Wirecard's missing billions.

The toppling of slave owner Edward Colston's statue amid the Black Lives Matter protests has raised some uncomfortable questions about the United Kingdom's role in the slave trade.

The transportation of more than a million Africans as part of the triangle trade helped build the British economy.

South China Sea: Beijing extends its military and economic reach

China has dramatically increased its defence budget over the past 10 years. Plus, Nigeria prepares to export gas.

High in the Himalayas, China has been exerting its presence to deadly effect. Last month, 20 Indian soldiers were killed in hand-to-hand combat in a disputed territory along the Sino-Indian border.

The standoff between the two nuclear neighbours is just the latest move by Beijing to use its growing economic might in political and territorial disputes.

How much money does the world owe China?

China loans more money to the world than the richest 32 nations. Plus, the man behind a $1 trillion stock market crash.

China has been rapidly rolling out its Belt and Road Initiative to build new roads, ports and rail lines in mostly developing nations, extending the country's reach across continents.

China says the infrastructure will benefit countries while critics say China is extending unfair influence over others.

Many nations have been rethinking their involvement amid accusations that China has overpriced projects.

Pandemic proves there is only one world reserve currency

The mighty dollar shows reserve currency dominance. Plus, India's banking troubles and travel industry under COVID-19.

Rich nations have spent more than $9 trillion so far on tackling the economic fallout from COVID-19. And more spending is on the way as governments try to ensure there is a functioning economy post the pandemic. 

The damage done is likely to surpass the financial crisis and maybe even the Great Depression. 

It is the worst economic crisis in the last 70 years.

France in Africa: Is it all about the oil?

France is backing a Libyan warlord and Chad's dictator. Plus, the economic cost of Brexit.

Despite vowing to stop propping up strongmen in Africa, France is backing a Libyan warlord and Chad's dictator. 

Many welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron’s promise in 2017 to end what was known as “Francafrique”, or France’s sphere of influence over its former colonies in Africa. But many say France is still up to its old games.

In Libya, Macron has thrown his lot behind the renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar, secretly supplying arms and training despite the UN and Libya’s former colonial power, Italy, backing the government in Tripoli. Forces loyal to Haftar have blockaded oil ports and have stopped pipelines, strangling the economy of much-needed funds.

How drones have come to dominate the battlefield

How drone technology became a multibillion-dollar industry. Plus, Putin's economic record and Xi's biggest test yet.

Unmanned ariel vehicles (UAVs), or drones, have come a long way since their introduction in the first Gulf War in 1991. At the time, they were used just for surveillance and intelligence gathering.

A decade later, a Predator drone fitted with a missile was used by the CIA in an attempt to kill Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

And almost 10 years on from that failed attempt, the assassination of Iran's Qassem Soleimani became the first time a senior military figure has been killed on foreign soil.

Counting the cost of US military bases around the world

How much does the US spend on its military bases around the world? Plus, the meat industry and the French digital tax.

There are 200,000 US troops stationed at hundreds of bases in countries and territories outside of the US. Despite President Donald Trump's promises to remove US troops from the Middle East, the number of troops in the region has increased.

Since 9/11, American taxpayers have spent $6.4 trillion on wars and military action in the Middle East and Asia, according to the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs at Brown University. And according to US central command, there are between 60,000 and 70,000 US troops in the Middle East.