🗺️ Picks of the Week — June 11
Nigeria Suspends Twitter, El Salvador Bitcoin, Great Apes Habitat Gone by 2050, Amsterdam Tests Roboats, Bangladesh Transgender Tax Rebate, Peru Presidential Race Too Close To Call
Itttt’s Friday! Which means it’s time to finish the week strong and dissect some global news.
On the slate today is Nigeria who has banned Twitter; El Salvador who became the world’s first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender; Africa where the habitats of the Great Apes could be gone within three decades; Amsterdam who’s testing electric boats on its canals; Bangladesh who’s offering companies a tax rebate for hiring transgender people; and Peru whose presidential election has gone down to the wire.
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Data Corner 🧮
A couple datasets referenced in today’s edition…
Great Apes: Explore the world of apes, where they live and which threats they face, from the International Union for Conservation of Nature
Peru Election: Historical election data, from the Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance
Nigeria Suspends Twitter, Disregards as News Source
We start in Nigeria whose information minister suspended Twitter in the West-African country, after the platform banned President Muhammadu Buhari for abusive tweets toward Biafrans. Buhari’s temporary suspension stems from a tweet where he promised to respond to attacks he blamed on the Eastern Security Network — an armed pro-Biafra group that emerged during Nigeria’s civil war more than 50 years ago. Twitter claimed his tweet violated its abusive behavior policy, while Nigeria’s National Broadcasting Commission ordered TV and radio broadcasters to discount the platform as a news source.
Nigeria’s Twitter ban received fierce criticism from the U.S. and EU, who said cutting off communication wasn’t the answer to the country’s problems. Nigeria looks set to experience more internal instability after the recent death of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau. Last month, Nigerian authorities also claimed they uncovered a plot to remove Buhari from office over security concerns.
El Salvador to Adopt Bitcoin
More tech news this time from El Salvador, who became the world's first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. President Nayib Bukele outlined his plans at a recent Bitcoin conference in Miami. He claimed the move will “allow the financial inclusion of those who are outside the legal economy”. Salvadorans are highly dependent on remittances from abroad, which make up around 20 percent of the country’s GDP. Bukele tweeted that 70 percent Salvadorans don’t have a bank account and work in the informal economy.
Mobile payments app Strike announced it’s working with the country to help set up the country’s new financial ecosystem. The virtual currency is notoriously volatile because it doesn’t rely on a central bank and is digitally scarce — only 21 million bitcoins can be mined in total and 18.5 million bitcoins exist so far. There are certainly many complex issues for Bukele to iron out, but there’s no doubt his announcement will earn him more positive PR among his nation’s young voters.
Previous Picks of the Week 👀
🔎 Picks of the Week — June 4
🔎 Picks of the Week — May 28
🔎 Picks of the Week — May 14
🔎 Picks of the Week — May 7
Great Apes Could Lose Habitat by 2050
To Africa next whose great apes could lose more than 90 percent of their current habitat within three decades. The primate family that most resembles humans comprises endangered gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans. The spaces they inhabit are at risk due to climate change and activities including agriculture, mining, and commercial logging, as well as human population growth. Scientists made the prediction using years worth of data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature apes database.
Describing a “devastating” picture ahead, the study’s authors said they worry that apes won’t be able to migrate to other climatically suitable regions by 2050, by which time they predict their habitats will be lost. Fiona Maisels, a researcher from the Wildlife Conservation Study and one of the 60 scientists that worked on the report, said climate change is forcing lowland vegetation uphill. In order to stay alive, great apes and other animals who depend on this food either have to move with it, or “become locally extinct.” Their conservation will depend on how much humans can mitigate the effects of climate change and maintain connectivity between suitable habitats for apes in the future.
Amsterdam Tests ‘Roboats’
Speaking of mitigating climate change, innovators in the Dutch capital are pioneering autonomous electric boats as a form of transportation along the city’s 60 miles of waterways to reduce pollution. The small vessels, aptly named ‘roboats’, travel at a maximum speed of 4mph, and their battery life ranges from 12 to 24 hours. The electric boats are operated by a computer and use sensors to navigate around objects in the water. The roboats will also be able to pick up trash from Amsterdam’s canals, which have a huge waste problem.
Around 3,500kg of garbage is removed from the city’s canals every day. This is due to their manmade air bubble, a three-year pilot project set up two years ago to trap waste before it reaches the North Sea. Until now, humans have been in charge of collecting waste, which inspired a local company to set up a “plastic fishing” tour so visitors could help clean the canals. But before the roboats are allowed to operate, their developers must clear legislation to allow them to operate autonomously, and prove their privacy settings are secure.
Video: Futuristic autonomous boats being developed for Amsterdam
Peru Presidential Election Too Close To Call
Some election news next from Peru, whose presidential runoff hangs in the balance. With more than 98 percent of votes counted, leftist candidate Pedro Castillo declared victory with 50.3 percent of the vote, while right-wing populist candidate Keiko Fujimori sits on 49.7 percent. Fujimori is the daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori, who was imprisoned for human rights violations. The younger Fujimori accused Castillo of electoral fraud as 300,000 votes have been contested.
Regardless of the results, Peru is deeply divided. Supporters of both candidates have taken to the streets in protest or support of Fujimori’s accusations. Human Rights Watch director Jose Vivanco tweeted that any allegations of electoral fraud must be accompanied by serious evidence, and it isn't thought t the results will change by enough. Whoever wins will become the country’s fifth president in three years, and will inherit an economy severely dented by the pandemic, and one of the world's highest Covid death rates.
Bangladesh Transgender Tax Rebate
We finish this week in Bangladesh, whose government is offering tax rebates for companies that hire transgender people. Firms where trans employees constitute at least 10 percent of the workforce will receive a five percent rebate, or a refund of 75 percent of trans workers’ salaries. Bangladesh recognizes its trans population as hijras, which translates to “third gender” since 2013, and allowed them to vote in 2019.
Bangladesh is home to approximately 1.5 million trans people, who face daily threats and discrimination including their ability to access education. There is progress however as in March, the country’s first trans news reader, Tashnuva Anan Shishir, made her debut on national TV. Speaking to Reuters, LGBTQ activists celebrated the government’s proposals, but warned they should be implemented properly and encouraged them to take place on a wider scale.
Thanks for making it all the way to the bottom. We’ll see you on Monday for another job board update and column from Daniel 👋 🌊