Explanation

The coronavirus pandemic has the potential to lead to an increase in inequality in almost every country at once, the first time this has happened since records began. The virus has exposed, fed off and increased existing inequalities of wealth, gender and race. Over two million people have died, and hundreds of millions of people are being forced into poverty while many of the richest – individuals and corporations – are thriving. Billionaire fortunes returned to their pre-pandemic highs in just nine months, while recovery for the world’s poorest people could take over a decade.

Explanation

The full moon of January, called the Wolf Moon, will occur on Thursday, Jan. 28, at 2:16 p.m. EST (1916 GMT) according to NASA.

The moon will be in the constellation Cancer, and rises just a few minutes before sunset.

Explanation

Hungary’s medicine and food safety regulator on January 29, 2021 approved China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, making it the first country in the European Union to do so.

Explanation

On 31 January 2021, Stardust 1.0 was launched from Loring Commerce Centre in Maine, United States. It became the first-ever commercial space launch powered entirely by biofuel.

Explanation

As the end of the Brexit transition period approaches, Turkey and the United Kingdom have signed a Free Trade Agreement ("FTA") to avoid any disruption and amendments to tariffs in place due to the existing E.U. Customs Union. 

Explanation

Israel on January 17, 2021, advanced plans for 780 new illegal settler homes in the occupied West Bank, settlement watchdog Peace Now said, adding the move puts Israel “on a collision course” with the incoming US administration.

Explanation

The UN and humanitarian partners in Afghanistan are seeking $1.3 billion to assist almost 16 million people in need of life-saving assistance as a result of decades of conflict, recurrent natural disasters, and the added impact of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

Explanation

Under a rules change, Muslim women officers in the South African armed forces will be able to wear headscarves while in uniform.

The change came after the Legal Resource Center (LRC) defended Maj. Fatima Isaacs in 2019 from charges over wearing a Muslim headscarf under her military beret. Isaacs was working as a forensic pathologist at a military hospital in Cape Town where she wore the headscarf for years, despite orders to remove it.

Explanation

The US Congress has passed a bill named after Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai that expands the number of scholarships to women in Pakistan.

The ‘Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act’ was passed by the House of Representatives in March 2020, and the US Senate adopted it by a voice vote on January 1, 2021.

Explanation

The President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a law that sanctions the ‘Second Optional Protocol’ to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The protocol entails a formal commitment to abolishing the death penalty.