The US state of Texas, the country's biggest energy hub which is proud of its oil industry, was hit by a frost. It caused massive power outages that left millions of people without power and dealt a sensitive blow to the oil industry. Nearly 75% of the country is covered with snow. Meanwhile, thermometers in Dallas, one of the biggest cities in the southern state of Texas, have reached minus 18...

The UN has warned of likely food shortages due to the COVID-19 crisis. It could take at least five years to deal with the economic impact of the pandemic, the organisation's special envoy said. People living in poor countries are at even greater risk of food shortages in 2021 due to the pandemic crisis, said Agnes Kalibata, the UN special envoy for the 2021 Food Systems Summit. "Food systems...

The Mongolian authorities want to get the Anglo-Australian mining corporation Rio Tinto to agree to jointly terminate the agreement to develop the Oyu Tolgoi gold-copper deposit. It was reported by the Financial Times (FT), citing sources. The Mongolian authorities want to terminate the agreement, but do not want to do it unilaterally, fearing that it could harm future foreign investment in the...

According to Bloomberg calculations, Algeria's oil and gas exports fell by 30% in 2020. The negative trend has continued this year - in January, crude oil sales fell to 290 thousand barrels per day, down 36% from December and the lowest since 2017.  The agency cites mismanagement of the country's oil and gas industry and insufficient investment in the sector as the reasons for this...

Bloomberg has forecasted the time it will take countries to vaccinate 75% of the population. The agency based its calculations on current vaccination rates in advanced countries and the volume of vaccines delivered. Three-quarters of the population is the fraction of people that scientists believe is necessary to build up collective immunity, although the estimate is rather vague, the agency...

According to the Financial Times (FT) sources at several major law firms, large firms are increasingly considering excluding Hong Kong from their legal contracts "out of concern that China's growing control could affect the legal rules" of that autonomy. The publication notes that senior lawyers from ten major law firms in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore are reporting increasing enquiries from...

The United Arab Emirates will be the first Gulf country to allow foreigners to obtain citizenship. Investors, scientists, doctors and inventors who are approved by the government will be able to apply for the passport. Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have adopted amendments to the law that will allow certain categories of foreigners to obtain citizenship of the country. It was reported by...

According to a report from the US Department of Economy, the country's GDP for the fourth quarter of 2020 grew by 4% compared to the previous quarter, which was the highest growth rate in the history of statistics. However, compared to the previous year the US economy shrank by 2.5% in the fourth quarter and in the full year the country's GDP shrank by 3.5% year-on-year. This is the worst...

The UN's largest-ever public opinion poll on climate shows that 64% of people consider climate change to be a global emergency, and 59% of them believe that whatever is needed to fix it should be done as soon as possible. The large-scale survey, which took place between October and December 2020, involved 1.2 million people from 50 countries, where 56% of the world's population lives. The people...