fondfeed – Page 26

March 2, 2021 0

Where Do We Stand With the Pfizer Vaccine?

By fondfeed

On Monday, November 9, BioNTech, a biotech company owned by a Turkish-German couple, Dr. Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci, together with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer shared some promising news in the wake of the intense race toward eradicating COVID-19. The preliminary but potentially conclusive results of the trial of the mRNA vaccine against the novel coronavirus have sparked flickers of hope around the world. If successful, this will be the world’s first-ever mRNA vaccine. Out of 11 vaccines currently in late-stage trials, only one other company, Moderna, is developing mRNA vaccines against COVID-19, announcing on November 16 that its vaccine also comes with a 94.5% efficacy rate.

March 2, 2021 0

Can FinTech Hold the EU’s Capital Markets Together?

By fondfeed

As the European Union is approaching the Brexit endgame, the risk of further fragmentation is looming over its already fractured capital markets. The future composition of Europe is not the only force at play. Regulatory divergence, reignition of a trade war between the United States and China, the EU’s intended response to the situation in Hong Kong, the reassertion of national sovereignty in Europe’s separatist regions, declining trust in financial institutions or the backlash against globalization are all alive and kicking.

March 2, 2021 0

Why Has Islamophobia Risen in America?

By fondfeed

Islamophobia in the US has increased ever since the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Discrimination and hate crimes against American Muslims skyrocketed immediately after the deadliest assault on US soil took place. Despite sporadic efforts by former President Barack Obama to bridge the religious and racial divides, anti-Muslim prejudice was further heightened after the election of Donald Trump in 2016, leading to what the Council on American-Islamic Relations described as a “sharp rise” in a campaign against “innocent Muslims, innocent immigrants and mosques.”

March 2, 2021 0

Welcome to The Economist’s Technological Idealism

By fondfeed

Every publication has a worldview. Each cultivates a style of thought, ideology or philosophy designed to comfort the expectations of its readers and to confirm a shared way of perceiving the world around them. Even Fair Observer has a worldview, in which, thanks to the diversity of its contributors, every topic deserves to be made visible from multiple angles. Rather than emphasizing ideology, such a worldview places a quintessential value on human perception and experience.

March 2, 2021 0

Education’s Harsh Law of Classroom Supplies and Demand

By fondfeed

Every good citizen should understand that education is the bedrock of civilization. At the very least, it keeps the children occupied while their parents are outside earning a living. Politicians claim that education is a top priority. But when cornered, they usually admit that budgeting education comes a little further down the list.

March 2, 2021 0

Pastoral Nomads in North Africa Consider In-Place Farming

By fondfeed

North African pastoralism, an agricultural method used for centuries by nomadic people in the steppe highlands, is on the decline. Facing limited grazing land due to overuse and drought, pastoral nomads are favoring more sedentary farming methods like growing fruit or nut trees and crops.

March 1, 2021 0

The Perils of Federalism in Time of Pandemic

By fondfeed

Germany is a federation, and so are Belgium, Spain and Austria. Switzerland is a confederation — something of a federation plus. Federations consist of relatively autonomous entities, like states in the US, states and territories in Australia, provinces in Canada, Länder in Germany and Austria, cantons in Switzerland. Until recently, these institutional arrangements posed relatively few problems. With COVID-19, this has very much changed.

March 1, 2021 0

What If Humans Really Could Fly?

By fondfeed

Since hindsight is always 20/20, and now we thankfully have 2020 in hindsight, it’s time to celebrate. In particular, to celebrate a commercially irrelevant but wondrous technology that might allow humans to fly through the air under our own power, like birds. This is the stuff of dreams.

March 1, 2021 0

What Ails Corporate Governance in India?

By fondfeed

Most businesses perish not because of strong competition or adverse macroeconomic conditions but because of cracks within. One such failing is weak corporate governance. For publicly listed companies, this often translates to controlling shareholders or “promoters” pursuing policies and practices in their own interests at the expense of minority shareholders. It turns out that companies with such promoters are at greater risk of crises and near-death moments in bad economic cycles. Those companies with better governance, where promoters act responsibly in the interests of shareholders, tend to do better during adversity. In fact, savvy investors now treat good corporate governance as an intangible asset.

March 1, 2021 0

Three Scenarios for a Post-Coronavirus World

By fondfeed

As the COVID-19 crisis is gradually slowing down, the world is bracing itself for a very likely second wave of the pandemic. While the shortcomings of the global response and the preparedness of individual countries will be open for debate and analysis for a long time to come, attempting to forecast what architecture the international system will assume after the immediate health crisis is over may prove to be even more challenging. While experts offer a wide variety of perspectives, the debate on the post-coronavirus world is characterized by some recurring themes, such as the future of globalization, the fraught relationship between the United States and China, the challenges facing the European Union or the future role of populism and the radical right.