by Prachi Mahima
This past week saw quite a stir in US politics with President Trump blaming on Barack Obama yet again after Robert Muellers indictment of 12 Russians who played a role in the 2016 US elections, right before the Helsinki meet. In the middle east, Israel and Palestine engaged in a large-scale attack mutually, biggest one since 2014, leading to considerable casualty and damage.
Besides politics and policies, on the bright side, a striking achievement was made in the healthcare sector against fear of bio-terrorism on Friday. Also, nominations for the 2018 Emmy awards were revealed with numerous popular TV shows making the list.
Helsinki meet to be the highlight of the week for USA and Russia
A summit between US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin is scheduled for Monday, 16th July in Helsinki. Following the meet with Theresa May in UK over Brexit, Trump is headed for a meet with Putin to discuss matters like co-operation in combating international terrorism and in tackling the North Korea nuclearization issue, the Wall street Journal reported. What would otherwise be a normal political meet is now highly-anticipated because just prior to the meet, Robert Mueller, a special counsel of the US has indicted 12 Russians for hacking into the Democratic partys network and emails in the 2016 elections.
According to a report by The Guardian, seeing Trumps questionable steps in political matters including sympathy for Putin even after recent indictments and attacking close allies, US senates and democrats have advised the president to abort the meeting on account of his incapability in handling the big talk. In his response, President Trump chose the familiar path of blaming Obama for this new crisis, tweeting about it on 14th July. In such circumstances, the implications of the meeting are unpredictable and may prove dangerous for USA as the democrats have claimed.
The stories you heard about the 12 Russians yesterday took place during the Obama Administration, not the Trump Administration. Why didnt they do something about it, especially when it was reported that President Obama was informed by the FBI in September, before the Election?
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2018
Unrest in the Middle East claims lives and heavily injured civilians
A big Gaza border clash happened this week, claimed to be the biggest one after the 2014 Gaza war. It was reported on Friday that Israel military launched air strike on the Hamas in Palestine after more than 90 rockets were fired on Israel by the latter. According to BBC news, three Israelis were hurt badly after which air strike was launched against the Hamas. Two were killed and 12 injured, Palestinian health officials said.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed anger on the Hamas attack and confirmed strict action against Hamas terrorism. The attacks by Israel are expected to be more severe based on circumstances. However, Palestinians officials later said a ceasefire has been agreed upon but no confirmation came from the Israel side of the conflict, keeping the situation tense on the Gaza border.
Breakthrough in the field of Science and medicine
On Friday, the Food and Drug administration (FDA) approved a drug, tecovirimat or TPoxx which is supposed to cure smallpox. Although, small pox was eradicated completely in 1980, there still remains threat of a pandemic on account of bio-terrorism or laboratory failures. According to the New York Times, although the disease was eradicated in 1980, stores of the virus still exist – one in Russia and the other at the Centre for Disease control and Prevention, Atlanta. The disease may be non-existent right now, but if is ever used as a weapon for bio-terrorism, the drug will come in handy.
Medical experts have considered this development a major breakthrough in the field of medicine, in case terrorists were to ever unleash the horror of the deadly disease on the unprepared world. The experiments for the same started right after the 9/11 attacks, reportedly. Since smallpox vaccines cannot be used on all people, this new drug is revolutionary.
2018 Emmy nominations were announced on Thursday
The nominations for the 70th annual Emmy awards were announced on 12th July. The popular fantasy series, Game of Thrones, regained its position among the nominees, bagging 22 nominations after a year gap in 2017. Alongside, The Handmaids Tale, 2017’s biggest Emmy winner, is also topping the charts this year with 20 nominations, while Westworld stands in between the two with 21 nominations. The 2018 nominations are special also because this year Sandra Oh from Killing Eve became the first Asian woman to be nominated for lead actress. Besides these top series, Stranger Things and This is Us were also bagged nominations.
The Comedy series category has tight competition with eight series contending for the awards. While three-time consecutive winner Veep could not make the list this year, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel stands in competition against Donald Grovers Atlanta. In the recent past, Vox critic Todd VanDerWerff had pronounced Atlanta to be one of the best shows.
Something like Atlanta is a lot closer to the heart of Twin Peaks than the many shows that really TRIED to be Twin Peaks.
Todd VanDerWerff (@tvoti) May 18, 2017
Among other comedies nominated were Barry and Glow, Vox listed on Thursday. The Primetime Emmy awards will air in September, 2018.
Prachi Mahima is a writing analyst at Qrius