What To Watch Out For This Week

Our online issue is out this afternoon! Unfortunately, we won’t be able to physically distribute it due to the Covid measures, but we guarantee you the quality of our articles is worth the reading. 

On Saturday, we interviewed Riccardo Taranto, Bocconi Managing Director, concerning the University management of the pandemic. The interview will be out soon; we also asked him the questions you pointed out in our IG poll, so make sure you don’t miss that!

University News

Bocconi confirmed there have been few positive cases in Castiglioni, whose 180 residents are now in quarantine until the 18th of October. Then, negative-tested students will be free to leave the residence. Should all students living in other residences fear to be confined in their apartments overnight as well?

Partials are coming! In fact, this will be the last edition of Monday Briefing before the upcoming exams session, which will entail us dealing with bloody Respondus again. We will resume the column after that, hoping that most of us survived.

World News

Vice Presidential Debate saw running-mate Kamala Harris facing VP Mike Pence. Contenders Kamala Harris and Mike Pence clashed over the coronavirus pandemic and the government’s handling of the situation in the only debate ahead of next month’s election. The tensions between Democrats and Republicans have been rising over the past months, with the Trump-Biden and Pence-Harris debates serving as methods to “blow off some steam”. With just 23 days until the next US election, the spotlight has been cast on US politics. The 90-minute televised debate at the University of Utah was marked by the problematic management of the pandemic by the Trump administration and the circulation of misleading information and false hopes.

China joins WHO-backed vaccine programme COVAX rejected by Trump. China has joined a global scheme for the distribution of COVID-19 vaccine backed by the World Health Organization, which gave a major boost to an initiative shunned by US President Donald Trump. The decision to join the global fight against the spread of the virus follows criticism over Beijing’s handling of the pandemic. Though the actual contribution of China to the COVAX programme hasn’t been specified, the involvement in the joint programme has been welcomed by many nations. The WHO is even assessing domestically made vaccines for possible international use in the next few months. As many as 171 nations have joined the programme to back equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, with both the US and Russia being absent from this initiative. 

EU lawmakers break off talks with states on European recovery plan. On Thursday, European Union lawmakers broke off talks with EU government representatives over the bloc’s budget and a 1.8 trillion euro COVID-19 recovery package. A deal between the European Parliament and governments is required to adopt the EU’s largest-ever financial stimulus, which EU leaders agreed on at a July summit to help lift European economies from the deepest recession on record. Clashes between EU lawmakers and governments over EU budgets are common, but they have so far always ended up in agreements. Talks will resume in the next weeks and, should a deal be reached, national parliaments will then have to ratify it.

Two scientists win Nobel Prize in Chemistry for Crispr Gene editing.  Emanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudha have won the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry for their gene editing technique. Their work on “genetic scissors” that can cut DNA at a precise location, allowing them to make specific changes to specific genes, has been internationally welcomed and recognized. Already, doctors have used the technology to experimentally treat sickle cell disease with promising results. 

Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict: reports of fresh shelling dent ceasefire hopes. After two week of fighting, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a temporary truce during talks in Moscow on Friday October 9th. The leader of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, Arayik Harutyunanm, told the AFP news agency that the situation was “calmer”, but warned that the truce was precarious. The purpose of the fragile ceasefire was to allow the two countries to exchange prisoners and recover bodies from the recent bout of fighting. More than 300 people have died and thousands have been displaced since the long-running conflict broke out once more on September 27th after the damaging 1990s war.

Notizie italiane

È morto Franco Bolelli, scrittore e filosofo milanese. Muore dopo una lunga malattia Franco Bolelli, scrittore, saggista, filosofo e collaboratore di Repubblica. Era nato nel 1950. La sua dipartita viene annunciata dalla moglie. Bolelli viene descritto dai suoi cari come un uomo dai molteplici interessi, pieno di energia e di amore per la vita. 

Mezzi pubblici h24, tetti green e piste ciclabili: le richieste della Milano green. Beppe Sala chiede l’aiuto dei Governi per raggiungere un “Global Green New Deal” che vede Milano come protagonista. La città vede la pandemia come una opportunità per poter diventare più green e vuole riuscire a diventare carbon neutral entro il 2050 , tramite nuovi progetti che si aggiungeranno a quelli già attuati.

Timori per l’aumento dei contagi. I nuovi contagiati superano da alcuni giorni i 5000 nel nostro Paese. Dopo il ritorno dell’obbligo di indossare la mascherina all’aperto, si preannuncia un nuovo DPCM con misure restrittive per limitare i contagi e prevenire un nuovo lockdown. Si parla in particolare di limitazione degli sport di contatto, chiusura anticipata dei locali, potenziamento dello smart working e maggiori controlli sui mezzi pubblici.

L’ultimo messaggio di Liliana Segre. Commovente, denso di ricordi e di emozioni, l’ultimo discorso tenuto a Rondine dalla senatrice a vita Liliana Segre, la quale ha deciso di smettere di incontrare le scuole dopo 30 anni di testimonianze. Anche questa volta si rivolge ai ragazzi, in particolare agli adolescenti, facendo appello alla forza e alla potenza che accompagna la loro gioventù, incitandoli a non lasciarsi abbattere dalle difficoltà della vita e a non diventare schiavi del consumismo.