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Hard Numbers: Japanese women go to naked party, Australian fires rage, French farmers fume, and Zambian creditors get paid.
1250:Washoi! Women crashed the party at Japan's 1250-year-old Naked Festival, a traditionally all-male event designed to drive out evil spirits. While they didn’t actually bare all, the first-ever female participants successfully trampled gender norms while ensuring that the festival continues as Japan’s population ages.
2000: Wildfires have forced more than 2,000 people to flee towns in western Australia. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged all necessary assistance to combat the blazes, which are being exacerbated by an El Niño weather pattern known to fuel fires, cyclones and droughts.
1 : Angry French farmers delayed the opening of a major Paris farm fair by one hour, protesting costs, bureaucracy, and environmental regulations. Amid calls for his resignation, President Emmanuel Macron promised to meet with union representatives and stakeholders. European governments are concerned that the farm lobby could feed gains by the far right in European Parliament elections this June.
13 billion: Zambia’s 13bn mountain of debt is a little lighter today, thanks to deals struck with creditors China and India. It’s welcome news as the African nation contends with past defaults, depreciation of the kwacha, a revival of inflation, and a drought that was “one of the worst in living memory.” Zambia now plans to resume talks with private creditors and is back on track for a 1.3 billion bailout by the IMF.Assange vs. America, again
The legal saga of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange neared its end Monday as Britain's High Court considered his final appeal of a U.S. extradition request.
Facing 17 espionage charges and one for computer misuse over the 2010 publication of classified war documents, the Australian native asserts he acted as a journalist and is protected by the First Amendment. His supporters, including members of the Australian Parliament, have called for his release on legal and humanitarian grounds.
Why has this case dragged on so long? In 2012, Assange sought sanctuary in Ecuador's London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden on rape charges. In 2019, Ecuador revoked asylum, and UK authorities detained Assange in Belmarsh Prison for bail evasion. While Sweden retracted its sex crimes accusations, the US filed espionage charges in 2019 and sought Assange’s extradition — a move he has resisted, citing suicide risks and declining health.
If convicted, the 52-year-old Assange faces a possible 175-year sentence, though American officials claim the figure would be much lower. Assange’s spouse Stella argues the case is a political witch hunt, asserting, “If he’s extradited, he will die.”
What’s next? The UK court will hear the case for two days. If it greenlights extradition, Assange’s legal team may try to get an emergency injunction from the European Court of Human Rights.Hard Numbers: Facebook turns 20, DeSantis’ vote cost, Eurozone inflation falls, Dark money Down Under, Paris’ Grape Escape
20: On Sunday, Facebook turns 20 years old. Take a moment to look back at the social network’s early days – when it was a platform for dorky teens playfully “poking” each other. That was before the Obama 2008 campaign demonstrated its political utility, before young Egyptians showed dictators its threat to their power in 2011, and long before the site became a dumpster fire of Boomer conspiracy theories. And as for the teens? On Wednesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized to families who had been victimized on his platforms during a Congressional hearing on online child safety.
7,169: How much does getting your vote cost? Well, if you caucused for Ron DeSantis in Iowa, it came out to about $7,169 after the once-hopeful rival to Donald Trump spent a staggering $168 million on his campaign, only to flame out and quit after he wound up 30 percentage points behind the GOP front-runner.
2.8: Inflation in the Eurozone fell to 2.8 after rising in December, but don’t get too excited about a possible rate cut from the European Central Bank. The index is still running well ahead of its 2% target, and prices for services in particular remain stubbornly high.
57 million: Nearly AU$57 million (~US$37 million) donated to Australian political parties in 2022 and 2023 was of unknown origin, according to an analysis by the Australian Electoral Commission published Thursday. The so-called “dark money” represents about a quarter of all funding to major political parties Down Under, where the identities of donors below AU$15,200 are not subject to compulsory disclosure. (~US$9988).
1.6 million: French police are investigating the theft of 83 wine bottles from one of Paris’ finest restaurants in a $1.6 million caper. The loss was noticed when the sommelier of the 442-year-old Tour d’Argent restaurant did an inventory of his 300,000 bottles and could have occurred anytime between 2020 and 2024. GZERO sends our condolences *hic* – we have no idea what happened *hic*. 🥴😬Hard Numbers: Truck backup at Polish border, Maldives says bye to India’s troops, Australia clinches Cricket World Cup, Swift postpones Rio show amid deadly heat
3,000: For the past 11 days, Polish truckers have blocked roads leading to three border crossings with Ukraine, protesting what they call “government inaction” over a loss of business to foreign competitors since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Traffic is now backed up 30 kilometers on one of the routes, with an estimated 3,000 trucks waiting to cross.
75: The recently elected president of the Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, formally asked India to withdraw its 75-person military contingent from the country. Muizzu won the presidential election in September on an “India Out platform” and is seen as more closely aligned with China.
6: On Sunday, Australia won a record-extending sixth Cricket World Cup against India with a six-wicket victory at Narendra Modi Stadium. Despite starting the tournament sidelined by a broken left hand, Australian player Travis Head scored 137 runs and was named man of the match, becoming only the seventh player to score a century in a men's World Cup final.
140: On Saturday, megastar Taylor Swift postponed her second concert in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, after a 23-year-old woman died at her Friday show, apparently due to the sweltering combination of temperature and humidity, which felt like 140 degrees Fahrenheit, the highest index Rio has ever recorded. In a handwritten note shared on her social media, Swift said she had a “shattered heart.” “There's very little information I have other than the fact that she was so incredibly beautiful and far too young,” she wrote.
Hard Numbers: Iceland's eruption alert, Scott's campaign ends, Myanmar junta's challenge, Japan's evacuation drill, Aussie's Tuvalu deal, Djibouti's first satellite
12: All eyes are on Iceland as the island nation braces for a volcanic eruption on a 12-mile stretch of the Reykjanes Peninsula. The town of Grindavik, population 3,000, has been evacuated after hundreds of earthquakes rattled the country within 48 hours and amid fears that it could be completely obliterated.
7: Sen. Tim Scott on Sunday suspended his campaign for the presidency just four days after the latest presidential debate in Miami and amid reported fundraising woes. Scott's departure leaves 7 contenders vying for the Republican presidential nomination.
50,000: A Myanmar fighter jet crashed Saturday near the country’s border with Thailand during fighting between military forces and the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, who claimed responsibility for downing the plane. The ruling junta, installed after a 2021 coup, says the jet crashed due to a technical problem. The military is battling rebels on numerous fronts, including in Shan State on the border with China, where 50,000 people have fled since an anti-junta offensive was launched last month by three ethnic minority insurgent groups.
200: Japan held a tsunami evacuation drill on Yonaguni, its westernmost island, which sits just 68 miles from Taiwan. In anticipation of that country’s presidential elections in January and amid fears of Chinese aggression, Tokyo twinned the exercise with a drill to help residents respond to any attempt by Beijing to take control of Taiwan. About 200 Yonaguni officials and members of Japan's Self-Defense Force took part in the exercise.
280: Under a new treaty called the Falepili Union, Australia will grant 280 visas per year to residents of the low-lying island nation of Tuvalu, which is at risk from rising seas thanks to the effects of climate change. It marks the first time Australia has offered residency to foreign nationals based on this threat. The treaty also commits Australia to defend Tuvalu from military aggression and obliges Tuvalu to forgo other defense pacts unless it obtains Australia’s prior approval.
1A: In collaboration with engineers at the French Centre Spatial Universitaire de Montpellier, the African Republic of Djibouti launched its first satellite this weekend from the Vandenberg Space Force Base. Djibouti 1A will collect national, real-time data from climatological and seismic stations, including temperature, rainfall, river depth, and hydrometry, to help boost agricultural production and monitor environmental changes.
Are China-Australia ties boomeranging back?
Anthony Albanese is the first Australian prime minister to visit Beijing since 2016, as both sides signal their readiness to work on their long-running rift. At a meeting on Monday in the Great Hall of the People, Chinese President Xi Jinping said, “the China-Australia relationship has embarked on the right path of improvement and development” after years of trade spats and accusations of political meddling.
As the satirical Australian series “Utopia” illustrates, Canberra has to walk a fine line. China accounts for over a third of Australian trade, and is willing to use that leverage in political disputes. In 2020, when then-Prime Minister Scott Morisson called for an investigation of China’s role in the origin of the COVID-19 virus, Beijing slapped import restrictions on Australian agricultural products. Those remain in place, despite the thaw.
Australians clearly feel threatened by China, after allegations of political interference led Canberra to ban foreign political donations in 2017 and Huawei communications technology in 2018. In a poll this year, 75% of the population say they see China as a military threat in the coming years.
The visit with Albanese seems further proof Beijing has accepted that its aggressive diplomatic tack in the late 2010s was unsustainable. It also bodes well for the summit between Xi and President Biden at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting next week in San Francisco, though the Taiwanese elections in January still loom large in the US-China dynamic.Hard Numbers: Quake hits Afghanistan again, Venezuela’s opposition field narrows, Oz rejects “The Voice,” antisemitic attacks on the rise
11: The field is narrowing slightly ahead of the opposition primary in Venezuela next week, the winner of which will face off with Nicolás Maduro in 2024. Freddy Superlano, of the Voluntad Popular party, withdrew from the race on Friday, throwing his support behind frontrunner Maria Corina Machado, a neoliberal from the Vente Venezuela party who supports privatization and reducing the size of the state. Machado is the leader of the remaining 11 candidates, and while she has been disqualified from running by Chavista-controlled courts, that isn’t stopping her – or her supporters.
60: Australians decisively voted “No” on Saturday to a proposal to amend the constitution to allow Indigenous people to create a body that represents them in government. Dubbed “The Voice,” the proposal was rejected by 60% of voters, while 40% voted yes. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, while disappointed by the result and divisiveness of the campaign, said he respected the results and the democratic process.
50: With war raging between Hamas and Israel, there has been a shocking rise in antisemitic attacks around the globe. In the UK, there was a fourfold increase in antisemitic incidents between Oct. 7 and 10 – a total of 89 episodes – compared to 21 from the same period a year ago. In France, home to Europe’s largest Jewish community, there were 50 antisemitic acts last week, and in the US, where hate crimes have already been on the rise, there is fear of a spike in antisemitic attacks linked to the violence in the Middle East.
Will Australians back Indigenous referendum?
Australians will vote on Saturday in a referendum on whether an Indigenous Voice to Parliament should be enshrined in the constitution. “The Voice,” as it has become known, would establish an advisory body to the government on issues that affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Importantly, it would have no legal power to enforce its recommendations.
Background. Indigenous Australians, also known as the First Australians, include hundreds of thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have lived on what is now Australian territory for thousands of years. Currently, they make up about 3.8% of the country's 26 million people.
For much of the first half of the twentieth century, Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families as part of a government scheme to hasten the disappearance of Indigenous culture. These children, who were often placed in state-run institutions rife with abuse, became known as The Stolen Generation.
Since then, Indigenous Australians have been stuck in a cycle of poverty and are incarcerated at disproportionately high rates, currently making up 32% of the prison population.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, for his part, has been pushing hard for Aussies to vote “yes” in order to address historic wounds and improve living conditions for impoverished Indigenous communities.
But proponents of a “no” vote, including the opposing Liberal Party, say that creating a race-based, unelected body is divisive and will only exacerbate racial divides and have few actionable implications.
In order to pass, a majority of voters and a majority of states (four out of six) will need to vote in favor. No referendum has ever passed without bipartisan support and the latest polls show that this one is unlikely to either.