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Weekly Summaries

29th of March – 4th of April

The Ever Given is Freed

The giant container ship, which got stuck in the Suez Canal on March 23rd, has finally been freed. Completely blocking one of the most important trade routes for a period of six days, some argue that the blockage held up to $10 billion in trade each day as hundreds of cargo ships had to wait to pass through the Suez Canal. The economic impact is not the only consequence of the blockage, however. As global trade increased, ship sizes have increased as well. In fact, the Ever Given is longer than the Empire State Building in New York City is tall. The blockage has now shown that bigger is not always better, perhaps impacting how cargo ships will be built in the future.

Other News

  • The trial over the death of George Floyd began.
  • An ambush in a port town called Palma in Mozambique last week has left dozens of people dead and forced tens of thousands to flee. The Islamic State has since claimed responsibility.
  • Widespread famine is threatening to come up in Yemen. In the previous years, foreign aid helped cope with the famines, but with the current situation resulting in more countries focusing on their internal matters, the famine could prove to be disastrous in what is already the Arab world’s poorest country. 
  • Myanmar’s security forces have started attacking the media, arresting 56 reporters last week.

By Lilly

Hi everyone! My name is Lilly and I am a high school student based in Germany, where I am currently enrolled in the IB diploma programme. Aside from founding EconIR WEB, I am also the President of JEC Berlin. Being a student who has a deep interest and passion for economics and international relations myself, I know how challenging it can be to find ways to engage with your areas of interest. Therefore, I created EconIR WEB. I hope that through EconIR WEB we will be able to build a strong community of students who share the same passion. Cant wait for you to join!