In retrospect, the decision by the Communist Party of China (CPC) to impose a new security law on Hong Kong seems to have been preordained. Historically, rising powers always try to expand their spheres of geopolitical influence once they pass a certain stage of economic development.
It has been a calamity for the United States (US) that, when two national tragedies – the COVID-19 crisis and the country’s legacy of racism – collided this spring, the occupant of the White House was an unstable person, totally unfit to govern.President Donald Trump’s inability to cope with the pandemic has so far led to more than 112,000 deaths, one of the world’s highest per capita mortality rates for COVID-19, with the coronavirus still spreading to areas not previously hit.
Would you believe that the coronavirus was developed by a government to weaken its foreign rivals? Or that “patriots” created it to foment a revolution against “big government” and the “deep state”? Sadly, far too many people who have encountered such disinformation online have shared it with their friends and family.Nonetheless, we are learning more about who produces fake pandemic news, and how to stop its circulation.
The threat of COVID-19 has not prevented the international community from communicating and cooperating with one another through the “new normal” mode of interaction – video conferencing. Many organisations have resorted to this type of communication in order to maintain contact with its members. This includes the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) which held an online summit on 4 May, 2020. The NAM was established in 1961 in Belgrade during the post-World War II period.
One of the most affected segments of our society that has been shaken by the global pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus, SARS CoV-2, is the education sector. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the lives of all learners in the Philippines since March. There have been many enthralling stories of learners being distressed by the spread of the deadly virus as schools across the country were closed.
Food security is still the top priority in President Joko Widodo's second term as part of his economic development agenda for national development 2020-2024.
I was recently stunned to learn of the serious consideration being given to deliberately infecting human volunteers with the SARS-CoV-2 virus in order to assess the effectiveness of potential COVID-19 vaccines.My first reaction was that the advocates of such “human challenge studies” had gone so mad with panic that they had forgotten the history and horrors of medical experimentation on humans.
The Group of 20 (G20) leaders urgently need to reconvene to agree on an enhanced and more strongly coordinated global response to the COVID-19 crisis.
COVID-19 lockdowns may be gradually easing, but anxiety about the world’s social and economic prospects is only intensifying. There is good reason to worry: a sharp economic downturn has already begun, and we could be facing the worst depression since the 1930s.
China’s decision to crack down on Hong Kong with a new security law has shocked the world. But to those who read the resolution issued last November by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), it comes as no surprise. In that document’s section pertaining to Hong Kong, the CPC signalled its intention to assert full control over the former British colony.
The World Bank’s International Comparison Program (ICP) has just released its latest measures of price levels and gross domestic product (GDP) across 176 countries, and the results are striking. For the first time ever, the ICP finds that China’s total real (inflation-adjusted) income is slightly larger than that of the United States (US).
The novel coronavirus, COVID-19, which triggered a global pandemic at a confounding pace has affected the whole world.
