1. In 2018, at least 3.6 billion people around the world were suffering from water shortages for at least one month a year, and by 2050, the number of people with water shortages is expected to rise to 5 billion. The report points out that over the past 20 years, the amount of water stored on the earth’s land, that is, the sum of all water on the land surface and underground, “has been declining at a rate of one centimeter a year,” and that the frequency of this decline is likely to continue in the coming centuries. will have a major impact on global water security.

2. Trump fell off the US 400 rich list for the first time in 25 years. According to Forbes, Trump’s net worth is about US$2.5 billion, which is still US$400m short of the threshold for this year’s Forbes 400 rich list. The property tycoon ranked 339th last year, but his net worth has fallen by US$600m since the outbreak began, mainly because the property market in big cities, which accounts for the bulk of his wealth, has been in the doldrums.

3. The US State Department announces the number of nuclear warheads stored in the United States. As of September 30, 2020, the US military had 3750 active and non-active nuclear warheads, 55 fewer than the same period last year and 72 less than the same period in 2017. This is the first time in four years that the United States has released the data, and Trump refused to follow the practice of announcing the number of nuclear warheads when he took office in 2017.

4. Us Department of Commerce: affected by the COVID-19 epidemic and supply restrictions, the US trade deficit surged 4.2% month-on-month in August to US$73.3 billion, an all-time high. In addition, US imports and exports increased slightly, with imports rising 1.4% month-on-month to US$287 billion and exports up 0.5% month-on-month to US$213.7 billion in August.

5. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences: German scientist Benjamin Liszt and British-American scientist David Macmillan were awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their contributions to the “development of asymmetric organic catalysis”. Innovations in this field are of great significance to medical research and green chemistry.

6.Global economic growth in 2021 is expected to be slightly lower than the 6% forecast in July, according to Georgiyeva, president of MF. Economic fragmentation, inflation and high debt levels pose “more obvious” risks to a balanced recovery in the global economy.

7.Ethiopia’s Central Bureau of Statistics: the country’s food inflation rate continues to rise, reaching 42%. Although the local government has taken administrative measures to curb inflation, such as restricting food prices and banning rent increases, it has had little effect. In September, Ethiopia’s overall inflation rate reached 34.8%, an increase of more than 4 percentage points over the same period last year. Inflation in the non-food sector also rose to 25.2% from 20.8% in the same period last year.

8.According to a communique issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), due to the rise in energy and food prices, the inflation rate of OECD member countries has continued to rise since December 2020, reaching 4.3% in August 2021 and 4.2% in July 2021. In addition, inflation in the euro zone rose sharply to 3% in August, up from 2.2 % in July, but still lower than in the OECD region, while inflation in the US was as high as 5.3 % over the same period. Energy prices in the OECD region rose 18% in August, up from 17.4% in July and the highest since September 2008, the communique said.

9.Forbes released the latest 2021 American Rich list, with Bezos at the top, Blackstone Schwarzman and Warner Music bosses in the top 20. Bezos’ net worth has increased by US$22 billion in the past year, making him the first person on the Forbes list to be worth more than US$200 billion. The total wealth of the top 20 Americans has reached an unprecedented level-an increase of US$500 billion from last year to US$1.8 trillion-more than Canada’s GDP.