The Weekly Focus Edition 99
Situation in Ukraine Update
Recently, Russia halted all exports of gas to their neighbouring country Finland, after Finland announced that they would be joining NATO. This move ends a trade partnership of nearly fifty years. At the same time, Russia announced travel bans for nine hundred and sixty-three Americans within the likes of President Joe Biden and Mr Blinken. On the other hand, Joe Biden signed the ‘Rebuild Ukraine’ construction plan bill to help them remain intact. This bill aims to provide nearly forty million US Dollars. Additionally, Ukrainian Leader Zelensky stated that only diplomacy can solve this problem. Even though this might be true, it would be an extremely time-consuming and difficult process as no side is willing to compromise. On an informal note, it is admirable for such a small country (Ukraine) defending against colossal nuclear-armed Russia, which is a huge player on the global stage.
IPL 2022: A conclusion
69 out of the 74 IPL games this season have been played, with the 4 playoff games and a solitary league game left. It is safe to say that this season has been a rollercoaster ride. The addition of the 2 new teams saw a huge change in how the league was played, and also gave the opportunity for many youngsters to stamp their mark on a global stage. Arguably the best Indian batsmen in recent times, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma both failed to find their form for most of the season, while the 2 most successful franchises both had their worst campaign in the history of the IPL. Many players, such as Dinesh Karthik, Umesh Yadav and Kuldeep Yadav, who were previously dismissed have come back with a bang. The new franchises dominated the league, with Gujarat placing first and Lucknow coming in 3rd place, despite having visible shortcomings in their team. Rajasthan Royals had a season to remember, especially in the group stage. KL Rahul had yet another consistent season, the 5th time in a row he has scored over 500 runs in a season. After a superhuman start, Buttler took a dip in form in recent matches but still remains No.1 on the leaders of the Orange Cap. After being dropped from the T20 World Cup squad last year, Chahal couldn’t have made a better comeback snapping 26 wickets in 14 games so far. Many young faces emerged this season, the most prominent ones in the bowling department include Umran Malik, Mukesh Choudary, Arshdeep Singh, Mohsin Khan, and for the batsman, Tilak Varma, Dewald Brevis and Abhishek Sharma. It has been a great start to the new era of the IPL, as there are high chances of a new winner this IPL.
Something wrong with the Universe?
One of the most powerful instruments the world knows for interstellar measurements is the Hubble Space Telescope. With more than a billion images of strange and interesting phenomena happening around the universe, the Hubble now has a much greater mission to determine the speed at which our universe is expanding.
New discoveries show that the universe is not evenly expanding. NASA, the US space agency, suggests that "something strange" is happening in space, due to the difference in the expansion rate of the universe around us and the observations after the Big Bang.
The study of the expansion of the universe and its speed began decades ago in 1920, when measurements by Edwin P Hubble and Georges Lemaitre suggested that galaxies beyond ours were not stationary and real. moving away from us. Hubble added that these galaxies are moving at an increasing, heterogeneous speed. The farther the galaxy is from Earth, the faster the galaxy moves away from it.
Since then, scientists have been trying to understand the phenomenon and measure the speed of this expansion. However, with the Hubble data now available, it appears that the said expansion has been even faster than predicted by the models. Instead of expecting 67.5 (plus or minus 0.5) km/s on megaparsec, observations recorded 73 (plus or minus 1) km/s on megaparsec.
Other News
Turkey rejected Finland and Sweden's bid to join NATO, and talks are underway.
Anthony Albanese is the new Prime Minister of Australia, succeeding PM Scott Morrison.
Monkeypox, a new virus said to be similar to Smallpox, is spreading in Europe.
Elon Musk makes a controversial tweet about politics, ESG, loses 12 billion dollars.
China building a larger bridge on Pangong lake, suggests satellite images.
Sports News
India wins the Thomas cup in Badminton for the first time in the history of the game.
16-year-old grandmaster Praggnanandhaa defeats Magnus Carlsen once again this year.
Nikhat Zareen from India wins gold at the Women's world boxing championships.
Manchester City remains in first place as the Premier League enters its last few matches.
Charles LeClerc takes pole at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Fact or Fiction
Globally, imports and exports shrank 14.3% from the first to the second quarter of 2020, the sharpest one-period contraction on record. Merchandise exports from North America contracted 21.8% during that time period.
The United States was the second-largest importer and exporter of goods related to combating COVID-19 behind India in the first half of 2020.
Worldwide, medical product exports grew 15.4% in the first half of 2020 and COVID-critical products grew 27.3%. Imports and exports of medical goods reached $1.14 trillion.
In 2018 and 2019, the United States imposed tariffs worth more than $300 billion in imports from Russia. In response, Russia imposed tariffs on $110 billion in American goods and shifted some business away from the United States.
The United States trade deficit rose from $577 billion to $682 billion in 2020. Within that, U.S. trade in goods with the world reached $3.77 trillion in 2020, a 9% drop from 2019.
Canada was the United States’ top export destination in 2020, receiving $255 billion in exports, followed by Mexico and China.
Service exports declined by about 20% in 2020: travel and transport fell, but other categories, such as financial services and intellectual property, have recovered or even slightly exceeded 2019 levels.
The United States had trade surpluses with 133 countries and deficits with 100 countries through November 2020.
The United States’ top five trade partners in 2020, from largest to smallest, were China, Mexico, Canada, Japan and Germany.
The U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement and U.S.-Japan Digital Trade Agreement both entered into force on Jan. 1, 2020. These agreements lower or eliminate tariffs on $7.2 billion of U.S. agricultural exports and prohibit duties on digital products, such as software, e-books and music.
Uncharted
Ruben Fleischer
13+
4.5 stars
Starring Hollywood sensation and Spider-Man actor, Tom Holland, Uncharted is an incredible movie filled with action. The whole movie is based on a seasoned treasure hunter collector, Victor “Sully” Sullivan recruiting a young but street smart Nathan Drake to recover a treasure collected by Ferdinand Magellan and then lost around 500 years ago by the House of Moncada. A prize of around $5 billion awaits them if they succeed but it isn’t all that easy. They have to decode cyphers, travel the world and are against the ruthless Santiago Moncada to find this invaluable treasure. However, the most difficult obstacle they face is getting along with one another.
Written by Vivaan Dharamshi
Edited by Nirvaan Zaveri
Article 1 by Arhaan Zaveri
Article 3 by Krishnav Bubna
Fact or Fiction by Nikunj Gupta
Review by Saveer Solanki
Fact or Fiction Answers:
Answers:
Fact
Fiction (The correct country is China).
Fact
Fiction (The correct country is China, again).
Fact
Fact
Fiction (The surpluses are with 135 while deficits are with 98 (the total is the same)).
Fact
Fact
10. Fact