MAY 2021

Major Chokepoints of the World 1. Strait of Gibraltar This strait between the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean has the United Kingdom’s tiny Gibraltar Colony as well as Spain on the north and Morocco and a small Spanish colony on the south. US warplanes were forced to fly over the strait (as protected by the 1982 conferences) when attacking Libya …

Europe’s “Sinatra Doctrine” on China The EU wants to go its own way Backdrop “When it comes to China, the primary concern of the EU and its members is to avoid being sucked into a superpower struggle between America and its geopolitical rival. For that, the EU has to develop its own independent position on China,” says Josep Borrell, the …

The Emerging Bloc Editorial May-2021

WHO Report on the Origins of Covid 19 A look at the key takeaways 1. Markets are the most probable source of major transmission of the virus. The focus is back on markets that sell animals. Covid-19 made its global debut amid a cluster of cases linked to the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan in late December 2019. Researchers tested …

Wakhan Corridor CPEC+ for Pakistan Pakistan is an ideal country for the CARs to have strong trade and diplomatic ties with, owing to mutual interests, social linkages on the base of religion, topographical vicinity, customs, culture, and social and religious values to some extent. Absence of a common border with any Central Asian state was one of the principle obstacles …

Pakistan Joins the Madrid System A remarkable achievement Pakistan has recently joined the Madrid System of Trademark of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). With this development, the trademark holders of Pakistan would be able to protect their rights in more than 100 countries, by filing a single application at the WIPO. Similarly, the member countries of the Protocol would …

Global Gender Gap Report 2021 The World Economic Forum, an international NGO based in Cologny, Geneva Canton, Switzerland, has released the 2021 edition of its Global Gender Gap Report. Now in its 15th year, the report benchmarks the evolution of gender-based gaps in four areas: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. It also examines …

Sports for Development and Peace When you go from Prince Road to Jinnah Road in Quetta, on your left is the Government Science College compound that stretches from Masjid Road Chowk to Jinnah Road Chowk. The buildings of all the educational blocks of the college are connected to Patel Road on the south and Jinnah Road on the west. On …

World in Focus ( MAR-APR 2021) National & International March 16: National Highway Authority (NHA) and Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) signed an agreement under which NHA’s entire network will be monitored by using satellite technology. March 17: The first shipment of privately-imported Russian vaccine, Gam-Covid-Vac or Sputnik-V, comprising 50,000 doses arrived in Karachi. March 17: Prime …

Zakat and the Covid-19 Pandemic Covid-19 – the major health crisis that began in Wuhan (China) and was later declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) – has transformed into one of the worst economic crises of all time. The impact of the crisis is visible everywhere in the world, from migrant labour problems in India to an …