This Week in 30 Minutes
September 12th, 2020
Hi there! We are two economists-to-be + one Business & Law major sharing with you, every Saturday, what we believe are the most relevant and interesting news of the week. The newsletter will be divided between all of our LinkedIn profiles. Please share, like, and comment all your thoughts and suggestions. Enjoy!
UK Plan to Undermine Withdrawal Treaty Puts Brexit Talks at Risk
The UK is planning new legislation that will override key parts of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, risking the collapse of trade negotiations with Brussels. Sections of the internal market bill — due to be published this Wednesday — are expected to “eliminate the legal force of parts of the withdrawal agreement” in areas including state aid and Northern Ireland customs, according to three people familiar with the plans. The move would “clearly and consciously” undermine the agreement on Northern Ireland that Boris Johnson signed last October to avoid a return to a hard border in the region, one person with knowledge of the plans said. Read more here.
Covid: Why Spain is Hit Worse Than the Rest of Europe
Spain this week became the first EU state to record more than half-a-million cases since the beginning of the outbreak. During the past 14 days, it has recorded 260 coronavirus infections per 100,000 of population — twice the level in France, the next worst affected country on the continent. Spain is again reporting up to 10,000 new cases a day — as it did at the peak of the pandemic in March and April. But Spanish officials insist the figures are not comparable. They argue that in March only about one case in 10 was detected, which meant daily tallies showed just a sliver of the real picture. Now, they say, the detection rate may be between 70-90 per cent. Read more here.
Belarus Opposition Leader Maria Kolesnikova Disappears
Maria Kolesnikova, one of Belarus’s main opposition leaders, vanished in Minsk on Monday morning, as the regime of autocratic leader Alexander Lukashenko battles to quell protests against his disputed re-election. Ms Kolesnikova was the last of the three women who spearheaded the campaign against Mr Lukashenko in last month’s presidential election to remain in Belarus, after Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and Veronika Tsepkalo fled the country under pressure from the security services. Read more here.
Alexei Navalny Out of Medically Induced Coma, says Berlin Hospital
The condition of poisoned Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny has improved, doctors treating him in Berlin said. Charité, the Berlin hospital where the most vocal critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin is being treated, said on Monday that Mr Navalny had been “removed from his medically-induced coma and was being weaned off mechanical ventilation”. “He is responding to verbal stimuli,” the hospital added in a statement. “It remains too early to gauge the potential long-term effects of his severe poisoning.” Read more here.
Russian Hackers are Targeting Both US parties, Microsoft Says
Russian government hackers who targeted the US Democratic party in 2016 have mounted increasingly sophisticated attacks on both Democrats and Republicans during the current presidential race, Microsoft said on Thursday. The disclosure from the computing company also included details of hacking attempts by a group operating in China, which Microsoft said had targeted people associated with Joe Biden, and attacks originating from Iran on people linked to Donald Trump’s campaign. Read more here.
China and India Agree to ‘Disengage Troops’ in Himalayas
India and China have massed tens and thousands of troops and heavy weaponry in their disputed border zone in the inhospitable terrain of Ladakh, where longstanding protocols over the area’s management have broken down since May. India and China have committed to “quickly disengage” troops on the Himalayan border to reduce the risk of further conflict. The agreement was reached in talks between S. Jaishankar, India’s foreign minister, and Wang Yi, his Chinese counterpart, in Moscow, days after the two countries accused each other of firing the first shots along the frontier in 45 years. Read more here.
Taiwan Claims ‘Severe Provocation’ After China Military Drills
Taiwan sounded the alarm over China conducting large-scale joint air and naval exercises inside its air defence buffer zone, a move Taipei denounced as a “severe provocation” and a threat to regional peace and stability. At a rare press conference called on Thursday night, Taiwan’s defence ministry said almost two dozen Chinese military aircraft and seven naval ships had operated between 7am and noon on Wednesday and Thursday in an area between Pratas, a Taiwan-controlled atoll in the South China Sea, and Taiwan’s south-western coast. A Taiwanese former senior military officer said the Chinese move was the most serious threat to Taiwan’s security since 1996, when Beijing fired missiles into waters just north and south of Taiwan. Read more here.
Kim Jong Un’s Dependence on China Grows as Virus Hits Economy
Kim Jong Un’s dependence on illicit Chinese business networks and aid from Beijing is set to increase as the North Korean leader faces the country’s worst economic crisis in almost a decade, analysts say. The 36-year-old dictator said last month that North Korea was struggling to meet its economic objectives. The admission was a rare concession of failure and a blow to his hallmark policy of economic growth alongside nuclear weapons development, a dual-track known as the “byungjin line.” The combination of tough US and UN sanctions, coupled with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent plunge in legal trade with China — as well as a series of recent typhoons and flooding — has increased the importance of revenue from North Koreans operating businesses in other countries, remittances from overseas workers and cash from cyber crime. Read more here.
Fire at Greek Island Migrant Camp Leaves Thousands Homeless
Thousands of asylum-seekers have fled a blaze that swept through an overcrowded camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, in what critics condemned as a predictable result of hardline EU migration policies. Brussels announced it would fund the immediate transfer of hundreds of unaccompanied children and teenagers from the Moria site to the Greek mainland, after the conflagration gutted shacks and container homes in a facility long notorious for its squalor. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek prime minister, declared a state of emergency on the island and warned the government would not allow asylum-seekers to leave Lesbos for the mainland. Read more here.
States Are in Desperate Search for Help Battling Record Wildfires
Facing a historic year of wildfire destruction across the West Coast, including more than three million acres consumed in California, the national emergency systems that rely on state-to-state assistance have been buckling under the strain. That has left emergency responders struggling to keep pace with fires that have destroyed entire towns and led to at least 15 deaths, with seven more people found dead on Thursday from a fire north of Sacramento. With millions of acres ablaze across the West Coast, states are having a tough time finding available fire crews. California resorted to calling in a team of firefighters from Israel. Read more here.
See you next week!