The Fed’s rate hike in 2023, COVID fears the Olympics and a sea drone Art and Culture News

WEEK BY NUMBER

We’ve put together numbers to find out from the biggest economic news of the week so you can impress yourself and your friends.

It’s Friday again and if you miss it, we’ve put together the most outstanding business and economic stories of the week to keep you in the hole.

We’ve covered everything from artificial intelligence only from the Atlantic-based sea drone to the fear of the Tokyo Olympics disrupting Japan’s economic recovery to the profile of the NBA agent who created AFA Sports – officially the only African sportswear company to cover an Olympic team.

The AFA is creating the necessary jobs in inflation-affected Nigeria. Speaking of inflation, the U.S. Federal Reserve has revised upwards its U.S. inflation forecast this year – and has surprised many by pointing out that interest rates could rise as soon as 2023.

While some things go up, others have to go down. Last year the COVID-19 video game industry is slowing down as people get out of hibernation and leave control. Finally, a British computer scientist is preparing to auction the original code for a small thing called the World Wide Web. Maybe you heard about it?

Let’s dive into these stories and more.

3.4 percent

The US Federal Reserve expects inflation to rise in 2021, which is one percentage point higher than the March forecast. Al Jazeera’s Kaelyn Forde announces the latest meeting of Fed officials and their vision for the world’s largest economy here.

$ 175.8 million

According to Newzoo analysis firm, the gaming industry is expected to generate worldwide revenue in 2021 – a small drop from last year when COVID-19 restrictions kept people at home and kept the video game market afloat.

As the economy reopens, the gaming industry is struggling to catch up with last year’s momentum and numbers, not to mention tackling serious pre-pandemic problems, such as a chronic lack of diversity in the industry. To see how it responds to these challenges, Al Jazeera’s Amy Thompson (almost) introduced this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) – one of the biggest gaming fairs. Read the highlights of E3 here.

5

How many weeks until the start of the Tokyo Olympics. Not everyone in Japan is keen to sustain them, fearing that the Games could become an expansionary event that would cause further cuts to COVID-19 and hinder the country’s economic recovery.

Nurses, medical associations, business leaders and one of the government’s top medical advisers have called for the Olympics to be postponed or canceled again. Al Jazeera’s Lorian Belanger has the story here.

700

How many kilograms of experiments can there be in the modular compartments of the Mayflower Autonomous Ship, in a sea drone driven by an artificial intelligence “captain” who set sail during his week-long transatlantic voyage.

Mayflower is trying to make the world’s first fully autonomous transatlantic voyage, guided by an artificial intelligence trainer and a captain and a “navigator”. [File: Oliver Dickinson for IBM/ProMare]

Yes, yes captain! Al Jazeera’s Dee Ann Divis has that story here.

800

AFA Sports, a clothing brand also known as “Africa for Africa” Sports, has created several jobs since it was launched in Africa in November 2016. In a short time, it has become one of the hottest sports goods and clothing on the continent. the company, and is the only African sportswear company to officially wear a team to the Japanese Olympics next month.

AFA Sports plans to open an athletics shoe factory in Africa next year to increase production on the continent to 100 percent [Courtesy of AFA Sports]

AFA Sports is the idea of ​​Ugo Udezue, a former agent of the National Basketball Association, on a mission to unite Africa through sport. Al Jazeera’s Idah Waringa has its own story here.

9,555

How many lines of code will be put up for sale as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) when Sotheby auctioned off the original source code for the World Wide Web written by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee. NFTs are digital files based on blockchain technology that verify the legitimate ownership of an item. Berners-Lee says it is “an opportunity once in the world” to innovate the art world.

When Berners-Lee first presented his proposal on the Internet, then his boss gave him an opinion: “Blurry but exciting.” More than 30 years later, the World Wide Web connects 4.6 billion people. Read more about the benchmark auction here.