News
Hard Numbers: Indians get vaxxed, Barbados gets a president, Germany gets (close to) a coalition, Turkey won’t get stiffed for US jets
REUTERS
1 billion:One billion Indians have now gotten at least one COVID vaccine shot. It's a big turnaround for the country, which stumbled with the initial rollout and then suspended vaccine exports for months to deal with a deadly wave in the spring. Still, only 30 percent of the eligible population is fully vaccinated in India, the world's largest manufacturer of vaccines.
4: Barbados has appointed Sandra Mason as its first president, to replace Queen Elizabeth II as head of state in a few weeks. Barbados is the fourth former British colony in the Caribbean to become a republic after Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, and Dominica.
12: The center-left SPD, the Greens, and the center-right FDP have published a 12-page document laying out how they plan to govern Germany in a three-way coalition. Among other things, the partners have agreed to leave tax rates alone, respect debt limits, phase out coal by 2030, and increase the minimum wage to 12 euros ($13.97) per hour.
1.4 billion: Turkey says it'll recover a $1.4 billion downpayment for US-made F-35 fighter jets, perhaps by using it to purchase less advanced F-16 jets. Washington recently blocked Ankara from getting the F-35s after the Turks defied the US by buying a missile defense system from Russia.The war in Iran is entering a more dangerous phase.
The Regime's viral banger "Special Military Operation" is NOW STREAMING on most platforms, including those TWO BIG ONES. #PUPPETREGIME
In this Quick Take, Ian Bremmer breaks down the escalating US-Israel war with Iran and its ripple effects on global markets and supply chains.
As missiles fly and oil prices soar, the Iran war is exposing another major resource vulnerability in the Middle East: water. Fresh water has been a scarce commodity in a region defined by a dry climate and low rainfall, but attacks on the region’s desalination plants, which convert seawater into drinking water, threaten to open a new front.