Monthly Archives: January 2022

January 31, 2022 · 5:19 am

Global Affairs Weekly Stories (Week of January 30, 2022)

Here’s what’s going on in the world for the week of Jan. 30, 2022.

Global News

Where we are with the hyped Metaverse, and what challenges companies and governments will need to surmount to actually make the Metaverse work.

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A subvariant of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus has been detected. While better at evading the body’s defenses, its unknown how severe or infectious the new subvariant actually is. The subvariant was found mostly in cases Denmark and has spread to the UK and parts of Asia.

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The Asteroid-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), funded by NASA, can now scan the entire night sky every 24 hours. This system can now give up to a full days’ warning for a 20-meter-wide asteroid and up to three weeks’ warning with 100-meter-wide asteroids.

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Americas

The International Monetary Fund is requesting the government of El Salvador remove Bitcoin as legal tender for the country’s bonds and currency due to the high risks and volatility of the currency.

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Taiwan’s vice president, William Lai, is traveling to Honduras to shore up ties with the government following the election of Xiomara Castro. Castro had floated the idea of reestablishing ties with China but recently walked those ideas back.

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 Anti-vaccine protestors marched in Ottawa on Saturday, desecrating the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the process. The Canadian Trucking Alliance believes many of the protestors have no connection to trucking as the majority of the Alliance’s members are already vaccinated.

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Africa

South Africa is building out an indigenous vaccine production site that will produce both foreign and domestically created vaccines for COVID and other pathogens and distribute them throughout the continent within the next few years. Other countries on the continent are in various stages of developing sites for local vaccine production.

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Almost 40% of the population of Tigray is suffering extreme hunger according to the World Food Programme. The Amhara and Afar regions are also suffering from severe hunger.

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Burkina Faso has been suspended from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) after a recent coup in the country removed democratically elected president Roch Marc Christian Kabore, citing his failure to stem ongoing violence in the country. Delegations will meet with the military coup leaders later next week.

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Europe

Explainer: Ukraine Crisis and NATO.

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U.S. president Joe Biden is sending some troops to Eastern Europe to bolster NATO forces in the region in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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The EU is bringing a case against China to the World Trade Organization. Beijing retaliated economically against Lithuania for the country allowing Taiwan to open a diplomatic outpost in Vilnius.

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Middle East

Thailand and Saudi Arabia reestablished diplomatic ties.

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Iraq could lose 1/3 or arable land and 20% of the nation’s water resources by 2050 due to climate change.

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Lebanon will not disarm Hezbollah but has pledged not to allow the country to be used as a safe haven for groups to launch attacks or activities that harm other Arab states in the region. Neighbors have called on Lebanon to help fight the regional drug trade.

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Asia

Indian company BrahMos Aerospace inks deal with the Philippines government for the sale of BrahMos shore-based anti-ship supersonic missiles. Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand are also in various stages of engagement with the company regarding missile deals.

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Almost a year since the military of Myanmar overthrew the democratically elected government.

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According to an investigation by the New York Times, the Modi Administration purchased Pegasus spyware from the Israeli NSO group in 2017 to spy on civilians.

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January 26, 2022 · 4:57 am

Global Tech Stories (January 25, 2022)

Here’s what’s going on in the world of technology for this Tuesday.

Social Media company Meta plans on developing a powerful AI supercomputer by mid-2022. Meta plans to use this super computer to train their systems, such as content moderation and machine learning.

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A new firmware-based implant malware has been discovered recently by Kaspersky. This malware is the most advanced of its variety so far discovered.

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Researchers at the University of Michigan and Northeastern University developed a topological optimization algorithm that promises not only to cut down time and resources in finding the best designs for architecture, but to reshape the world.

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Self-powered soft temperature sensors have been developed and can lead to the development of smart clothing and soft robotics.

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Banana peels and apple cores may one day fuel your car, fertilize crops and create valuable components to electrical devices. A way to make biofuel, fertilizer, and electrodes out of organic waste material has been created.

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An atomic level layer of graphene could provide protection for next-generation accelerators.

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January 24, 2022 · 6:07 am

Global Affairs Weekly Stories (Week of January 23, 2022)

Here’s what’s going on in the world for the week of Jan. 23, 2022.

Global News

A tax on pollution aimed at companies might incentivize companies to actually invest in cleaner energy and green production methods according to new research.

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The Catholic Church will now formally recognize women for lay roles of catechist and lector. These roles had long been performed by women informally despite being officially reserved for men, but Pope Francis recently announced they would be formally recognized by the Church.

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How much electricity is produced by renewable energy sources will vary, but this infographic gives some of the latest estimates and helps clarify the challenges the world faces in transitioning to clean electricity.

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Americas

Fish exports from Brazil is making major gains in China, but a lack of regulation in Brazil threatens local communities and risks overfishing. The parts of the fish being exported are normally thrown away, but in China they’re valued for medical uses.

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The Canadian Trucking Alliance, an organization representing truckers across Canada, spoke out against planned protests scheduled for Jan. 29 at the nation’s capital. The protests target the cross-border vaccine travel mandate by Canada and the United States, which requires truckers to be fully vaccinated.

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The Biden Administration introduced new rules to help attract talent from foreign students by introducing rules to help international students spend up to 36 months in academic training. The Department of Homeland Security also introduced 22 new fields to a program that provides three years of training with employers and another initiative aimed at connecting domestic employers with trained international students.

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Africa

An explainer on why the military is in mutiny in Burkina Faso.

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Enset, a traditional staple in the diets of communities in South and Southwest Ethiopia, could provide millions with food security as climate change changes rain patterns and threatens crops.

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COVID vaccines will need a shelf-life of three to six months to be effectively distributed by recipient countries, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Many of the received vaccines have expired due to logistical challenges and storage requirements.

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Europe

Protestors in Istanbul protest against the hosting of the Olympics in China, citing human rights abuses and allegations of genocide against the Uighur population.

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Ukrainian government officials are treating the claims about Moscow attempting a coup to install a sympathetic government in Kyiv as credible. The claims were made by the U.K. foreign office, allegedly based on US intelligence but have not provided evidence yet.

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A Taliban delegation headed to Norway on Sunday probably to convince The US and Western nations to unfreeze financial assets to the tune of $10 billion. The delegation will meet for three days with delegations from the US, Western government officials, human rights and women’s rights advocates, and members of the Afghan community in Norway.

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Middle East

An Israeli company developed a drone capable of firing sniper rifles or standard rifles while flying. The drone is in advanced stages of development and not yet ready for deployment, but the system is based on existing technology used against Hamas.

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Iran may be voting in the United Nations General Assembly soon after South Korea paid off the country’s outstanding dues. The funds were obtained from frozen Iranian assets in South Korea, and in active coordination with the United Nations Secretariat, US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control and other agencies.

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Due to COVID-19, the League of Arab States will be rescheduling their annual meeting. While no agenda has been set, there are many issues for the group to focus on.

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Asia

Chinese investment causes trouble in Serbia.

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Afghan women graduates of Code to Inspire are turning to crypto currencies to receive aid and money from abroad as Taliban rule has left the economy in ruins. The organization, based in Herat, taught women how to code before the Taliban took over, and these women had taught others how to set up wallets to receive and transact in crypto currencies as a way to get around the frozen financial system and limits on cash withdrawals at local banks.

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Eighty-four percent of the population of Tonga has been affected by ashfall and a tsunami as a result of the recent volcanic eruption. Limited communications and Internet have been restored and aid is coming from New Zealand and Australia, while aid has been promised from Japan, China, The Asian Development Bank and World Bank.

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January 19, 2022 · 5:29 am

Global Tech Stories (January 18, 2022)

Here’s what’s going on in the world of technology for this Tuesday.

Scientists developed a new way to speed up the growth of antibiotic resistance in bacteria, allowing for both the mapping out of routes to resistance and the discovery of these strains before they occur in nature. This effectively allows scientists to discover antibiotic resistance in targeted bacteria in the lab before it develops in nature and develop treatments that can target specific routes to antibiotic resistance before they develop.

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A vision of how the metaverse works with crypto-based assets. While the metaverse is not ready for the world, here’s how the economics of metaverse shopping might work, as well as moving between the different realms of the metaverse.

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Problems like traffic jams and the supply chain crisis could be problems of the past with a new artificial neural network created in Germany.

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Indonesia is planning on following Germany and Japan in creating green hydrogen through power-to-X technology, or P2X technology. With the creation of a green industrial park in North Kalimantan, the government hopes to utilize renewable energy sources to produce chemicals and synthetic fuels.

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Researchers at Georgia Tech developed a class of catalysts for green hydrogen production that require fewer noble metals. This breakthrough lowers the cost of green hydrogen and could make it more common in future energy mixes.

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An AI platform that can analyze potentially cancerous lumps and show doctors the reason it determines whether the lumps are cancerous or not.

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In-Memory computing would allow data to be stored and analyzed in the memory network, but has been very difficult for MRAM (Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory) based systems. Samsung just did it. This is the next step in lower energy consuming AI semiconductor chips.

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The next place for a cyberattack could be the EV charging station, according to new research.

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January 17, 2022 · 7:16 pm

Global Affairs Weekly Stories (Week of January 16, 2022)

Here’s what’s going on in the world for the week of Jan. 16, 2022.

Global News

Scientists discovered a new metal where the electrical charge is carried by Cooper pairs rather than electrons. The Cooper pair belong to a class of particles called Bosons and looks more like a wave.

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Changes in the Antarctic are unique compared to prior periods. A new model on ice sheet changes in the southern most continent show how the last decade differs from the last century.

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The condition Space Anemia, where an astronaut’s red blood cell count drops dramatically while in micro-gravity, has been shown to continue for months while in space. The loss of red blood cells can be as great as 54% and it takes months for red blood cell levels to return to normal.

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Americas

Argentine towns are experiencing the hottest days ever recorded as many South American countries are experiencing a heatwave. The year 2021 has been one of the hottest on record due to climate change.

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According to the Pan American Health Organization, nearly every country in the Americas have cases of Omicron variant COVID-19. Most of the rising cases are in the East and Mid-Western United States, but cases in much of the Americas are rising and the rise will likely make the Omicron variant the dominant strain of the virus in months.

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One America News, a major right-wing news outlet and promoter of election conspiracy claims in the 2020 United States presidential race, has been dropped from DirecTV programming and will not be renewed by the company after their contract, with DirecTV owner AT&T, expires in April 2022. This is a massive financial hit to the outlet as allegedly 90% of their revenue comes from the contract.

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Africa

Tesla signed a deal to source graphite from mines in Balama, Mozambique. The move is part of the company’s efforts to diversify their supply chain.

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India is sending an infantry battalion to the Abyei region, between Sudan and South Sudan, as part of the United Nations peacekeeping force in the region.

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Ghanaian startup Float wants to solve financial access issues for small and medium sized businesses in Africa. The Ghanaian company is one step closer to that goal after raising 17 million USD seed capital, though they are not the only company to focus on small and medium sized businesses.

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Europe

Sweden sent additional military personnel to Gotland in response to increased Russian naval activity in the Baltic.

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Ukraine was hit by malware attacks that disrupted more than a dozen government websites.

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Serbia held a referendum to change how judges and prosecutors as part of judicial reforms. Supporters say the referendum will increase judicial independence, as part of Serbia’s goal to eventually join the European Union.

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Middle East

Kuwait is at risk of being unlivable due to growing excessive heat. Political inaction and lack of will by the government are hobbling climate action.

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A funerary route lined with tombs have been discovered in Saudi Arabia, many of which are more than 4,500 years old.

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The United Arab Emirates and South Korea signed a memorandum of understanding on a deal for the Gulf kingdom to purchase a missile defense system worth an estimated 3.5 billion USD. The two nations are also working on renewable energy projects and deepening economic and cultural ties.

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Asia

The future of the CCP is looking younger and more likely to have a college degree. They’re also more likely to be nationalistic.

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Some in China’s Gen Z view the West as “evil” and growing levels of overconfidence according to the director of International Studies Institute program at Tsinghua University.

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New Zealand and Australia are working on sending aid and support to Tonga after an underwater volcano eruption damaged the nation’s Internet and phone lines.

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January 12, 2022 · 5:11 am

Global Tech Stories (January 11, 2022)

Here’s what’s going on in the world of technology for this Tuesday.

Raspberry Pi doesn’t need to upload software to scanned devices, it reads unique electromagnetic fields generated by viruses and malware when they are active.

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Tufts University created a model to trace the spread of misinformation and disinformation that reflects more realistic spreads of false news and conspiracy theories.

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The Metaverse provides opportunities for terrorists and criminals.

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Explainer – 5G according to an electrical engineer.

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The future of robotic coordination and communication could lay with concurrent transmission.

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Organic micro pollutants can be removed from water in milliseconds with a new process using light. This is a possible solution to microplastics in the ocean and rivers.

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January 10, 2022 · 5:19 am

Global Affairs Weekly Stories (Week of January 9, 2022)

Here’s what’s going on in the world for the week of Jan. 9, 2022.

Global News

A new strain of COVID-19 has been discovered in Cyprus, which combines Omicron variant genetic signatures with a Delta variant genome. How infectious or lethal this new variant is compared to either Delta or Omicron, is unknown but it might be surpassed by Omicron.

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Events in Kazakhstan pose a complication for the US-Russian talks on Ukraine.

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The James Webb telescope has fully opened and will move to its final position in two weeks. The telescope should be ready for operations in the summer. The telescope was so large, it had to be folded origami style before being set into orbit.

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Americas

New legislators took office in Nicaragua after President Daniel Ortega’s party won 75 of the 90 seats in elections. The elections themselves were of questionable fairness as Ortega jailed opponents before the elections that the Organization of American States voted to condemn by a majority of 25 members.

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Voters in Barnibas, Venezuela elected Sergio Garrido, an opposition candidate. This particular win was in the heart of Chavismo influence and after another opposition candidate had been retroactively disqualified despite presidential pardon.

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A look back at the January 6th Insurrection in the United States. On Jan. 6, 2020, supporters of Donald Trump attempted to stop the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s win and the ensuing riot caused by the insurrectionists has been the subject of congressional investigation.

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Africa

Villagers in the district of Mutoko, Zimbabwe, are being forced from their land by foreign mining companies such as Jinding. The government has a history of ignoring local complaints due to concerns over angering China.

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ECOWAS will freeze access to all financial assets in banks and aid to Mali as part of new sanctions imposed on the country in response to the Malian military announcing they will stay in power for another four years rather than hold elections to transition the country back to democracy.

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A spokesperson for the Tigrayan forces said a government airstrike killed 56 people at a camp for displaced people on Saturday. While the claims could not be verified, the region has been cut off from international scrutiny and the UN has reported airstrikes killing civilians in the region in December.

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Europe

Bosnian Serbs celebrated an outlawed holiday commemorating the founding of a Serbian state in Bosnia, which started the civil war and genocide against Croats and Bosniks. Attending the ceremony were representatives from Russia, China, and France’s National Rally party and Serbia.

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Turkish Cyprots are taking to the streets to protest Ankara’s influence in the region due to economic and political turmoil on the northern half of Cyprus and the recent revelation of a blacklist by the Turkish government of dissidents.

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Turkish defense minister Hulusi Akar warned Athens against “provocative actions” in the Aegean Sea after the Greek government voted to extend their territorial rights to 12 nautical miles around Greek islands in the Aegean, which could block Turkey’s own access to the region. He also spoke of Ankara’s wish to resolve territorial disputes through dialogue.

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Middle East

Iraqi Parliament elected their Speaker Sunday. Mohammed al-Halbousi, a Sunni lawmaker, will be taking over after the temporary speaker Mahmoud al-Mashahadani fell ill.

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Princess Basmah bint Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and her daughter Souhoud Al Sharif were released after three years of imprisonment at Al-Ha-ir maximum security prison in Saudi Arabia. Princess Abdulaziz Al Saud is an advocate for constitutional reforms and humanitarian aid in the kingdom.

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US President Joe Biden nominated Army Lt. Gen. Erik Kurilla to head US Central Command in the Middle East. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be top commander of US forces in the region.

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Asia

Sri Lanka asks for a debt restructuring from China due to the economic impact of COVID-19.

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Almost 6,000 people have been arrested and 164 killed according to the government in Kazakhstan. The country was wracked by protests and subsequent violence after the government and Russian security forces were deployed to put down the protests. The country was also affected by an Internet blackout that limited information and access to services as the government attempted to smash the protests initially sparked by a fuel price increase.

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Climate change is causing the Brahmaputra River to flood and erode tribal lands in Assam state, in India. The Mising, a tribe heavily affected by the loss of lands to flooding, also faces legal challenges to reclaiming land after flood waters recede due to a lack of legal documentation to land claims and deeds. The government has not come up with long-term solutions yet to the flooding and erosion.

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January 3, 2022 · 4:46 am

Global Affairs Weekly Stories (Week of January 2, 2022)

Here’s what’s going on in the world for the week of Jan. 2, 2022.

Global News

Five good stories for the environment for 2021.

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Economic and political reforms in China will have winners and losers outside the country’s borders. Here is an analysis of who might gain and lose from the Common Prosperity campaign.

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The Tequila Splitfin, a Mexican fish species that was extinct in the wild, has been conserved in captivity and is now being reintroduced to its native habitat. The effort was community drawn and supported, and provides a template for other communities to follow to preserve endangered species.

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Americas

Guatemala’s Valor Party is attempting to pass a bill that would give amnesty to imprisoned military, government and police members convicted of crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity, torture and other nationally and internationally recognized crimes perpetrated during the Guatemalan civil war. Similar bills have been attempted but defeated, though the current president is the former vice-presidential pick for the 2019 election.

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The Mexican state-owned company Petroleos Mexicanos will reduce exported oil to 435,000 barrels a day in 2022 and stop exporting by 2023, as part of the country’s effort to become energy independent. Mexico is one of the most prominent players in international oil markets.

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Several Latin American countries have higher rates of vaccination against COVID-19 than Europe and North America. While there are outliers like Brazil, many have been successful in vaccinating their populations. This in large part due to a combination of imported vaccines and the development and production of local vaccines.

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Africa

The United States has cut Guinea, Mali and Ethiopia from participation in the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a program that provides duty-free access to the US market in return for meeting eligibility requirements like political pluralism and lowering trade barriers.

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In Mali, the military junta is proposing to stay in power another five years despite the timeline set by West African mediators. The move risks greater sanctions by neighboring countries.

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In a blow to the credibility of the Sudanese military’s transitional government and power-sharing agreement, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok resigned. While the military claims to be on track to a civilian controlled government by 2023, protestors in the country are not swayed and have promised more protests this year.

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Europe

The Conservative Party lost control of a seat they held for nearly 200 years in a by-election last Friday, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The seat, in North Shropshire, was won by 6,000 votes by Helen Morgan of the Liberal Democrats party.

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Russia pivots to China for energy exports, as the two nations embrace closer economic and political ties. Gazprom will be finalizing an energy deal to build a pipeline from the Yamal Peninsula in Siberia to China, called Power of Siberia 2, with the capacity of 50 billion cubic meters of gas annually. This is the second such pipeline connecting Russian energy products to China’s markets.

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France takes over the EU Presidency for the next six months. Climate, member-wide digitalization, and “strategic autonomy” are the areas France will most heavily focus on during this period.

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Middle East

Iran launched a rocket into space, carrying three research devices. While this was a space launch, the technology to launch the rockets could also be used to launch missiles.

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More calls for the Tunisian government to release information on the whereabouts of Noureddine Bhiri, the deputy president of the Ennahdha party, after he was detained by plainclothes police officers last Friday.

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Bahrain has sent an ambassador to Syria for the first time in 10 years, following the lead of other Gulf States.

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Asia

Evergrande shares will be suspended from trading Monday as part of efforts to combat the company’s liquidity troubles. The company is the most heavily indebted developer in the world, with more than 300 billion USD in liabilities.

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 South Korea’s Lee Jae-myung, the front runner for Democratic Party, promises to work with the USA to develop nuclear submarines for the country. The ruling party’s presidential candidate also promises to work on mediation for the US and North Korea and to end Seoul’s use of strategic ambiguity in US-China relations by pursuing “pragmatic diplomacy based on national interest”.    

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EU is considering additional sanctions and arms embargo on Myanmar, citing abuses and escalating violence by the military. The country was taken over by the military after a February coup and has faced internal violence by the military against various groups including ethnic minorities and pro-democracy protestors.

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