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Why African free trade area could be the game-changer for the continent’s economies
Aug 14, 2020 08:37Most economists see structural transformation as one of the main routes to Africa’s sustainable development. What it means is changing the share of agriculture, manufacturing and services in an economy. It is a central aim of the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
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As pandemic rages on, world economic recovery looks ever shakier
Aug 05, 2020 13:42The world economic outlook has dimmed again, with still-rising coronavirus infections and the risk of renewed lockdowns increasing the chances that any rebound will reverse course. Over 17 million people have been infected worldwide by the coronavirus and more than two-thirds of a million people have died. That has forced governments to impose strict lockdown measures to curb the spread of the virus, keeping citizens at home and businesses closed and spurring recessions that aren’t over yet.
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The way the coronavirus messes with smell hints at how it affects the brain
Aug 05, 2020 13:30The virus responsible for COVID-19 can steal a person’s sense of smell, leaving them noseblind to fresh-cut grass, a pungent meal or even their own stale clothes. But so far, details remain elusive about how SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, can infiltrate and shut down the body’s smelling machinery.
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'This is not frugal. This is stupid': EU's $2.1 trillion coronavirus deal falls short on demand for just, green recovery
Jul 29, 2020 13:45European governments said they would deliver a green recovery plan from the Covid-19 pandemic, but they have cut funding for health, research, and climate, and failed to guarantee that public money won't go to polluting industries.
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Self-inflicted wound of Brexit will make it harder for UK to recover from COVID
Jul 27, 2020 16:12Even as Britain pivots its pandemic response and struggles to reopen businesses and schools amid the global pandemic, it is simultaneously hurtling toward its final, year-end break with the European Union (EU) — a self-inflicted wound that will be even harder to heal from in the age of COVID-19, as it will not have access to the huge pool of rescue funds recently negotiated by the 27 remaining EU nations.
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EU leaders in bitter clash over Covid-19 recovery package
Jul 26, 2020 16:19Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, accused his Dutch counterpart of using the same methods as his country’s former communist leaders on Sunday, as EU leaders publicly clashed during tense and acrimonious negotiations over the terms of a proposed €1.8tn budget and recovery package for the bloc.
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The collapse of Iran nuclear deal would be a failure of EU values
Jul 19, 2020 10:36Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araqchi says the three European signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran have not abided by their commitments and this is why Iran has requested activation of the deal’s dispute resolution mechanism in a letter to the European Union’s foreign policy chief.
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Worst virus fears realized in poor or war-torn countries
Jul 01, 2020 13:19Coronavirus lockdowns are likely the most effective safeguard, but they have exacted a heavy toll even on middle-class families in Europe and North America, and are economically devastating in developing countries. India’s lockdown, the world’s largest, caused countless migrant workers in major cities to lose their jobs overnight.
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Emerging markets are awash in confidence
Jun 25, 2020 10:18Emerging markets head into the final full week of the first half buoyed by confidence the global liquidity rush will keep risk assets supported even as the COVID-19 pandemic shows no signs of letting up. Developing-nation stocks are approaching their highest level since March, while dollar-denominated bonds have just clocked up an eighth week of gains.
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What Donald Trump really thinks of European leaders
Jun 25, 2020 10:11Former US National Security Adviser John Bolton in his explosive book writes of the 2018 G7 summit in Canada, saying “Trump didn’t really like either Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or French President Emmanuel Macron, but he tolerated them, mockingly crossing swords with them in meetings, kidding on the straight.”