My Daily Routine (MD Mujeeb Subhan)

  RIYADH: Saudi Arabia announced plans on Tuesday to inject investments worth $3.2 trillion into the national economy by 2030 in a bid to diversify the oil-reliant kingdom's biggest companies. The announcement by de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman underscores an effort to jumpstart the domestic economy as the top crude exporter battles high youth unemployment and a coronavirus-triggered downturn. "The total investment injected... into the national economy is expected to reach 12 trillion riyals ($3.2 trillion) by 2030," Prince Mohammed said in a speech carried by state television. Twenty-four of the kingdom's biggest companies, including energy giant Aramco and petrochemical firm SABIC, will lead the investment drive by contributing five trillion riyals over the next decade, the crown prince told reporters later at a virtual briefing. He said the companies, many of them listed, had agreed to lower their dividends and redirect the money into the domestic e...

As Joe Biden is set to assume power this month, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday hoped that the US President-elect would end the incumbent Donald Trump's "Cold War" policy towards Beijing and return to a "sensible approach" by restoring normal ties. The Trump administration launched a broadside against China on all fronts, including trade, Tibet and Taiwan besides, scathing criticism against the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) headed by President Xi Jinping. The Chinese side hopes that the next US administration will return to a sensible approach, resume dialogue with China, restore normalcy to the bilateral relations and restart cooperation, Wang, who is also a State Councillor, told the state-run Xinhua news agency in an interview. "China-US relations have come to a new crossroads, and a new window of hope is opening," he said. Biden, who defeated President Trump in the November 8 Presidential election, is scheduled...

  United Nations:   An additional 207 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty by 2030 due to the severe long-term impact of the   coronavirus   pandemic, bringing the total number of the world's extremely poor to more than a billion, a new study from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has found. The study assesses the impact of different   COVID-19   recovery scenarios on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), evaluating the multidimensional effects of the pandemic over the next decade. The study is part of a long-standing partnership between the UNDP and the Pardee Center for International Futures at the University of Denver. "Severe long-term effects of the   COVID-19   pandemic could push an additional 207 million people into extreme poverty on top of the current pandemic trajectory, bringing the total to over 1 billion by 2030," noted the study. The 'Baseline COVID' scenario, based on current mortality rates and the most recent...

  I’m increasingly troubled, when, in discussions of China’s reemergence, every time I raise the question, “What does the United States consider China’s legitimate interests to be?” I am greeted by a stony silence. The answer to that bottom-line question may determine whether the United States can reach a stable coexistence with China, or whether the conflict is inevitable. Sorting out that question has sparked a debate in the pages of policy journals: Is the source of Chinese behavior fueling U.S.-China tensions driven mainly by a will to exercise great-power prerogatives, or by the Communist Party’s Marxist-Leninist ideology? This is not an academic squabble: Power is negotiable but ideology, like religion, offers little room for accommodation. Coming to terms with a reemerging China requires understanding that the balance of power is shifting. The post-World War II order was not ordained by God to last forever. China has a much bigger footprint, and the West clearly doesn’t like...

Lost in the commentary about this month’s U.S. presidential election is just how difficult it is to unseat authoritarian-leaning populists through the ballot box. In fact, around the world, relatively few opposition parties manage to unseat such movements that way, at least in their first attempt. That’s because the populists’ willingness to break norms, drum up anger, and erode checks and balances typically is appealing and works to further institutionalize their power. In Latin America, where autocratic populism has a long history, only two populist presidents have lost elections since the 1980s: Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua in 1990 and Hipólito Mejía in the Dominican Republic in 2004. The rest have won popular votes, only abandoning power under military pressure, as in the case of Bolivia’s Evo Morales in 2019; societal pressure, as happened to Peru’s Alberto Fujimori in 2000; or because of constitutional limits to their reelection, as for Colombia’s Álvaro Uribe in 2010. The most imp...

Researchers are in the process of developing more than 170 potential vaccines to protect against coronavirus. Never before have so many teams worked simultaneously to create a drug that could save the lives of millions of people. The News is following the race to create a vaccine to protect against COVID-19. Experts say it will only be when we have a fully functioning, tested and proven safe vaccine that the world can begin to return to normal. Below is a tracker to help you follow the progress of the groups around the world trying to develop one first. Currently leading the race is the Russian group from the Gamaleya Research Institute. Russia has approved the vaccine for use on its people even though it has not undergone the usual rounds of testing. A British/Swedish group from the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca is close behind as it was the first to embark on Phase 3 testing - the final stage required before a licence is granted. https://twitter.com/mujeebsubhan786 https://web...