1. In the first half of the year, the prices of major agricultural products such as beans, corn and cotton in Brazil rose sharply, up more than 70% from the same period last year. In addition, the prices of rice and wheat also rose 55% and 40% respectively over the same period. Experts predict that the prices of protein foods such as meat, eggs and milk produced in Brazil will continue to rise as higher grain prices will increase the cost of raising livestock.

2.WTO: the rise in trade indicators reflects not only the current intensity of trade expansion, but also the depth of the impact of the epidemic in 2020. The outlook for world trade is still overshadowed by downside risks. The epidemic continues to pose the greatest threat to trade prospects. This round of strong recovery in global trade is inseparable from the fact that countries are stepping up efforts to “scramble for goods” to replenish the market in the context of the gradual lifting of economic blockades in order to meet pent-up demand.

3. Facebook and YouTube have successively banned Taliban content from appearing on their platforms. Facebook said that because it identified the Taliban as a “terrorist organisation”, the platform would continue to ban all Taliban-related content and set up a team of Afghan experts to monitor and delete Taliban-related content. A spokesman also told the business insider website that the company was “taking the initiative” to delete content praising the Taliban.

 4.Office of National Statistics: average house prices in the UK rose 13.2% in the year to June, the highest annual increase since 2004. Buyers are racing to complete their purchases before the end of the stamp duty holiday, while demand for larger properties outside London remains. 

5.In recent years, the trend of global warming has become more and more obvious. Experts say it has rained at the highest point of the Arctic Greenland ice sheet for the first time since records began. On August 14, it rained at the highest point of the Greenland ice sheet 3216 meters above sea level, and the temperature above 0 ℃ lasted for about 9 hours. From 14 to 16 August, the local rainfall was about 7 billion tons, the highest since records began in 1950. 

6.Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world. According to the World Bank, the GDP in 2020 is about 19.8 billion US dollars, and the per capita GDP in 2020 is 508 US dollars. Nearly 40 per cent of the population lives in absolute poverty on less than 1 US dollars a day. According to the latest World Bank report, the Afghan economy is “fragile” and “dependent on aid”, and 75% of government spending comes from international aid. Therefore, the cut-off of aid funds and the freeze of foreign exchange reserves mean that the already weak Afghan economy will be further dealt a blow, and that the future governance of the Taliban will face challenges.

7.PayPal: UK customers will be allowed to buy, hold and sell digital currencies from this week. PayPal’s UK products will rely on Paxos, a digital currency company regulated by New York.

8.Recently, the Asian bumblebee, commonly known as the “killing Hornet”, appeared in the US state of Washington, where the local emergency began to carry out encirclement and suppression programs. The killer bee is nearly 5 centimeters in size and can fly at a speed of 32 kilometers per hour. it can kill entire bees in a few hours and sometimes attack humans, which is as toxic as the venom of some poisonous snakes.

9.Recently, a public health study at the University of Oxford found that the efficacy of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines against Delta mutated viruses will diminish within three months. The efficacy of novel coronavirus in preventing infection decreased from 85% and 68% two weeks after the second dose to 75% and 61%, respectively, while the decline in vaccine effectiveness was more significant in people over 35 than in people under 35.

10.On August 20, Lee Ki-il, first Controller of South Korea’s Central disaster Safety response Department, said that the vaccination of the first dose of vaccine in the country was expected to be completed before the Mid-Autumn Festival, so the adoption of the “coexistence with epidemic” model could be considered at the end of September or early October. At present, the epidemic prevention department is discussing this.