FinPol Digest

 This week Monday, the world woke up to yet another Covid-19 vaccine news – the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was reported to give highly promising results in both efficacy and safety. This was joyous after Pfizer and Moderna too announced promising results of their vaccine candidates. But on Thursday, multiple news rounded up in the US and UK questioning the data of the Oxford vaccine. But the questions weren’t regarding vaccine’s safety but efficacy.  The trial data present three efficacy levels – overall efficacy of 70%, a higher of 90%, and a lower of 62%. This was because during the trial the participants were given different vaccine doses. Some of the volunteers were given half of the planned dose strength in error. But the low dose group produced better results. This has left experts around the world scratching their heads.  The Covid-19 vaccine is to be given in two shots, four weeks apart, with the second shot as a booster to the first. Regulators were told of the e...

  United States Presidential Elections have rendered the highly controversial president Donald Trump out of the White House. The current votes count show nearly 80 million American people to have voted for Joe Biden, making him the 46 th President of the United States of America. This voting has been unprecedented as no candidate has ever received such high count of votes.   But what more this voting highlighted was that Trump managed to receive 11 million more votes than he received in 2016. This is a cause of concern as it showcases Trump’s increased support in various communities going under stress. These communities are the ones struggling with poverty and unemployment, with inadequate healthcare and childcare. This wasn’t predicted by-election pandits and that should be enough to scare the Democrats for 2024.   Though Trump widely caused chaos in the country with his policies regarding immigration, his unapologetic stand for causes like Black Lives Matter, atroc...

In China, religion might not be talked about much but holds a great significance. The country prides itself on having organized religion formation and somehow rejects the idea of unrecognized or unpopular religion.  The communist government recognizes merely five religions which are-- Chinese Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism. But this is propagated by the Chinese government as an achievement because the rule recognizes itself as an atheist government.  The problem is that any practice apart from these groups which are supervised by the recognized groups the Protestant Three-Self Patriotic Movement or the Buddhist Association of China receives a very critical treatment by the communist government.  Any organizations or religious institutions that are run other than these groups are cracked down to the core and receive a tough call on its existence. These practices by the authority are receiving critical treatment. Foreigners however receive some amount o...

In most media reports Qatar has been termed as a dangerous country to visit for any purpose and it becomes even more dangerous for western women, who are mostly unknown to the environment of the gulf country.  In recent days, one such incident highlighted the brutality that people and specifically women face in the country. A group of women which included as many as 13 Australian women was assaulted by Qatari authorities making the visit their worst nightmare.  One of the women came forward and spoke to a digital platform called 60 minutes Australia where she described the horrendous incident that happened to her. A nurse by profession, the woman who belonged from Victoria, Australia told that even if she feels uncomfortable sharing her story she will do it to warn people.  Her story began as she boarded her flight from a national airport in the Middle East. She was unknown to the fact that a baby of a few hours was found in the garbage and the Qataru police made all the ...

US President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday said that as soon as he formally takes over his new office, he would work towards making the US rejoin World Health Organisation, Paris Climate Pact, and explore diplomatic strategies that pressurize to make China ‘play by the rules’. Biden mentioned the above plan of action while answering a question about his remarks during the presidential debate, wherein he said that wanted to punish China for the way it has been working. Speaking at a bipartisan group meet of governors, Biden clarified his approach towards China and said that more than “punishing” the rival nation through economic sanctions or tariffs, his administration would resort to strategic diplomatic means to make Beijing understand “that they have got to play by the rules”. Playing by rules was also his reason for the US to rejoin the WHO and the Climate agreement, which the Trump administration exited in July 2020 and June 2017, respectively. Biden said, “That is one of the reasons...

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in an ambitious pro-climate move, adopted the plan to ban sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030. The plan was earlier scheduled to be implemented by 2040. Johnson made the announcement on Wednesday while disclosing a 10-point climate change plan , a part of his "green industrial revolution".   British premier also introduced certain concessions for hybrid vehicles, stating that the government would allow the sale of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles until 2035. Hybrid car makers claim that hybrid vehicles can run for tens of kilometers on battery before switching to a conventional engine.   Johnson in his statement said, “Our green industrial revolution will be powered by the wind turbines of Scotland and the North East, propelled by the electric vehicles made in the Midlands and advanced by the latest technologies developed in Wales."   The UK government highlighted that the new climate plan would also help in job creation and would ...

  Monday, November 16, 2020. EU High Representative JosepBorrell warned that planned housing projects by Isreal in the southern city of Jerusalem al-Quds could hinder the future formation of a Palestinian state. He described the construction in Jerusalem's suburbs as 'illegal' and said he was 'concerned' about Israeli plans to build more homes in the area. In many countries in the world, especially in Europe, oppose the violence and illegal settlement of  Israel  against  the Palestinian people  and their land, and call for it to be stopped and prevented. The EU has always repeated any support restoring "meaningful process" towards resolving the dispute between the two sides. Israel's construction project in the Palestinian territories further undermine hopes for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The international community has tried to bring the two sides closer,  but Israel has been illegally occupying the West Bank. Since...

Peru as a nation failed on Sunday when its interim President had to tender his resignation after huge protests. Manuel Marino confirmed his resignation in a short televised address after he was softly threatened by Congress to either resign or face censure. All of this happened because of a number of things that went wrong among which, the inability of Congress to not fix on the success of Marino was one. In the address, the 59-year-old president said that he had acted within the law. "I, like everyone, want what's best for our country," he said. He added that despite what Congress and protesters suggest, he wants to do what's best for the nation. When congress elects his success, the leader will be the third President to rule the country in a span of a week. The decision to oust the Interim leader came after hours of unrest and complaints of the people that also led police to act violently which further led to injuring dozens of people and killing two. One of the HUm...

Tuesday, November 10, 2020. Reports from the central region of Somalia said that the explosion occurred outskirts of Dhuusamareeb, the capital city of Galmudug. The type of explosion was a landmine targeted convoy of soldiers on their way to Sinna-Dhaqo. At least two soldiers were killed and three others were injured in the blast. Additional troops arrived at the scene and removed the bodies and wounded soldiers from the blast. State government officials have not yet commented on the attack. In recent days, there have been movements on the outskirts of Dhusamareb between government forces, Galmudug forces and Al-Shabaab fighters who occasionally attack the administration's capital. On the other hand, Al-Shabaab has increased the number of extortionate animals being sold to Mogadishu and other major cities controlled by the government and regional administrations. Security officials said thousands of goats, cattle, and camels were being sold by al-Shabaab in Mogadishu and othe...

 I want to share my stand about the reading I had. This is the political, religious, and financial weight, Saudi Arabia enjoys a strong position in global affairs. This nation has always played a crucial role in times of crisis, as a reliable partner for most countries in the world.   It enjoys a rare global and regional role owing to the religious and economic clout of Saudi Arabia. The oil-rich Kingdom also has a vital role to play in stabilizing global markets for energy. In fact, Saudi Arabia has always pursued wise and prudent strategies in times of global political and economic challenges to help its partners, and the world, recover quickly from these difficulties.

 France is on its toes after a series of attacks on the civilians and is taking every possible measure in its hand to protect the country. The latest development in the actions taken by the French officials is dissolving the Turkish nationalist ‘Gray Wolves’ movement that supports the Turkish President.  The Interior Minister of France Gerald Darmanan has announced on Wednesday that the cabinet will take its call on dissolving the extremist Turkish nationalist ‘Gray Wolves’ movement.  This step is bound to increase tensions between Turkey and France especially after the two countries have already exchanged a war of words---one attacking the Islamist terror groups while the other denying any such behavior. With the French government dissolving the Gray Wolves movement, it has directly targeted president Erdogan as the movement is linked to the Nationalist Movement Party, an ally of the ruling party in Turkey.  The group was involved in escalating the tensions in an on...

 Iran ridiculed the United States elections and scoffed at the claims of the current president Donald Trump during a televised address where he quoted the US president's claims of vote fraud to criticize the vote. Iran has maintained for the longest time that their stand towards the US election remains trivial as this address was no different for the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He made it clear that whether Trump regains his spot or Biden emerges as the choice, it hardly matters to Iran, said Khamenei as the nation marked the 1979 U.S. Embassy hostage crisis. Even though the top officials have maintained that US elections have nothing to do with Iran but it will heavily impact Iran as if Trump comes to power again, he will probably do everything to completely disrupt the economy of the country while as his speeches reflect, Biden might go a little softer on Iran. Biden has time and again said that he will give Iran an opportunity to have its take would ‘consider’ re-ente...