The Weekly Focus Edition 42
Suez canal block:
An important port for shipping goods all around the world is blocked. The Suez Canal is blocked by an extremely large container ship. For those who are not aware the Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway located in Egypt; the dock has access to the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. The canal is one of the world’s busiest trade routes. This is an extremely dire issue causing much financial loss. About 6.3 million barrels of crude oil worth a staggering 400 million US dollars have been halted. Not only does this affect trade, but the insurance company will also have to give millions of dollars for the lost product and damage cost. 400 million dollars are being lost every single hour! 12% of international trade is passed via the Suez Canal so a lot of damage is occurring. Furthermore, many smaller vessels like boats, more shipping containers and people are stuck in the canal. It is extremely vital to solve this issue because the global economy is at risk. Already, the financial world has faced setbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All we can do is hope for the light at the end of the tunnel.
By Arhaan Zaveri
The Gaganyaan Mission
“The four cosmonauts who have been shortlisted for the first manned space mission for India have completed their training for the Gaganyaan mission in Russia,” said an official from Russia. This ambitious project costs up to Rs. 10,000 crore and will be launched in 2022, India’s 75th year of Independence. These four pilots will be the top runners for the project. The contract of the Indian candidates was signed on 27th June 2019. The training centre was named after Yuri Gagarin on February 10th 2020. It was paused in March due to COVID-19 and it resumed in May. The whole process has included a lot of different things and a lot of money has been spent.
By Krishnav Bubna
Football News
The FIFA World Cup is in 2022 but the qualifiers have already begun. Most players have taken a break from club football and are now playing with their respective teams in the World Cup Qualifiers. There are going to be 2 matches played; the first and second leg. The matches played till now:
MATCHDAY 1
Wednesday 24 March
Group A: Portugal 1-0 Azerbaijan, Serbia 3-2 Republic of Ireland
Group D: Finland 2-2 Bosnia and Herzegovina, France 1-1 Ukraine
Group E: Belgium 3-1 Wales, Estonia 2-6 Czech Republic
Group G: Gibraltar 0-3 Norway, Latvia 1-2 Montenegro, Turkey 4-2 Netherlands
Group H: Cyprus 0-0 Slovakia, Malta 1-3 Russia, Slovenia 1-0 Croatia
Thursday 25 March
Group B: Spain 1-1 Greece, Sweden 1-0 Georgia
Group C: Bulgaria 1-3 Switzerland, Italy 2-0 Northern Ireland
Group F: Israel 0-2 Denmark, Moldova 1-1 Faroe Islands, Scotland 2-2 Austria
Group I: Andorra 0-1 Albania, England 5-0 San Marino, Hungary 3-3 Poland
Group J: Germany 3-0 Iceland, Liechtenstein 0-1 Armenia, Romania 3-2 North Macedonia
Fans are also excited for the new jersey’s which are going to be released by their teams.
Shreyas Iyer has been ruled out of the ODI series and the whole IPL due to a subluxated shoulder.
Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami will be playing IPL for CSK and PBKS respectively.
“Unfortunately, that might be the case,” said Chris Woakes about him missing NZ tests if he plays the IPL final.
New Zealand beat Bangladesh to win the ODI series 3-0.
England beat India to draw the series 1-1
Other News
US President Joe Biden invited 40 world leaders including PM Narendra Modi to a Global Climate Summit
20 Chinese Military Air Craft entered Taiwanese Airspace
Students in Bangladesh protest against PM Modi's visit.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey takes some responsibility of the US Capitol Riots on January 6th.
Adidas, Nike and H&M are some of the brands being boycotted in China. Pictures of people burning shoes and clothes surfaced.
North Korea launched 2 missiles into the sea, Flew over 450 kilometres, say Japanese intelligence services,
Tech News
An android virus is hiding as a critical update in people’s phones and it has the ability to take complete control of the victim’s device
A WhatsApp scam offers users free Amazon items for finishing a survey
The president of NASSCOM, Debjani Ghosh, declared that AI could play a crucial role in growth of the farm sector
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said that India will play an important role in the 5G era
Digital Fortress
Author: Dan Brown
Rating: ★★★★★
Age: 12+
Review: Another one of Brown’s thrillers- nothing less of perfection. After a grasping beginning- sometimes leaning on to the romantic end- Brown snatches back the reader's attention to the problem at hand: NSA’s invincible code-breaking machine finds itself unable to break a code and the US intelligence has no way of catching terrorists until they unscramble this sequence. Built by a former member of the NSA, to get back at the organisation, Susan Fletcher, the head of committee, finds herself contemplating prioritising work over vacation- but little does she know that the work she’s about to let go of may just kill her husband (thus the cheesy start). Who knew cryptography could be that important a job?
On 21st March 1931, the European Space Agency suggested that the universe is 13.92 billion years old.
On 22nd March 1903, a drought caused Niagara Falls to run out of water.
On 23rd March 1933, Adolf Hitler was given dictatorial power.
On 24th March 2020, the PM of India, Mr Narendra Modi, announced a 21-day long lockdown to keep SARS-CoV-2 under control.
On 25th March 1960, the first guided missile was sent into the skies from the United States’ nuclear-powered submarine, Halibut.
On 26th March 1953, Dr Jonas Salk publicised that he successfully tested a Polio vaccine.
On 27th March 1977, the biggest ever aviation accident occurred with 583 casualties when two planes collided in Spain.
Walmart has a lower acceptance rate than Harvard
Written by Vivaan Dharamshi
Edited by Nirvaan Zaveri