Kevin Allison is a Senior Editor for Signal. Based in Washington DC, he looks at how technology is reshaping global affairs. Kevin is also a Director in the Geo-Technology practice at Eurasia Group. Kevin holds degrees from the University of Missouri and from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He was also a Fulbright Scholar in Vienna, Austria and a 2015 Miller Journalism Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute. Prior to GZERO Media and Eurasia Group, Kevin was a journalist at Reuters and the Financial Times. He has lived in eight US states and has been an expat four times.
94,587: Mexico deported 94,587 Central American migrants last year. That’s 20,000 more than the United States sent home in 2017, but less than 40 percent of the roughly quarter-million Central Americans who transited the country on their way to the US.
37,000: Around 37,000 Chinese soccer fans bought tickets to the World Cup this year, while up to 60,000 Chinese citizens have traveled to Russia to witness the 30-day spectacle, despite China not qualifying for tournament. No word on whether the roster includes China’s #1 fan — President Xi Jinping, who has made increasing China’s prowess in the beautiful game a national priority.
40: Iran’s currency, the rial, has lost around 40 percent of its value against the dollar since the US pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in May. The plunging value of the domestic currency, which has ratcheted up the cost of living, was a major factor in protests that hit Tehran and other Iranian cities this week.
27: Just 27 percent of families in Venezuela had continuous access to public supplies of safe drinking water in April. Decrepit pipes, hijackers, and military diversions of water in the capital, Caracas, have contributed to shortages as Venezuela’s economic collapse continues.
6: Nigeria passed India to become home to the most people living in extreme poverty in early 2018, according to a recent Brookings analysis. Six Nigerians join the ranks of the world’s poorest every minute, while poverty in India continues to fall.
