New Events
Covid-19 Dashboard
… now: over 8.3 (+0.8) million cases, 450k deaths
… 6/12: over 7.5 (+0.9m) million cases, 421k deaths
… 6/5: over 6.6 (+0.8m) million cases, 391k deaths
… 5/29: over 5.8 million cases, 360k deaths
Trackers: Johns Hopkins, NYT, CovidTracking.com
Travel re-opening
African countries dropping curbs to limit economic harm.
N. Africa/Egypt-Sudan (266m)
Algeria to relax coronavirus lockdown.
Libya: eight new mass graves discovered.
How mercenaries shaped Libya’s war.
… an insightful longread on superpower machinations in the war …
Sudan: Revisiting the ‘children of Darfur‘
… photojournalist finds out what happened to those growing up in the midst of genocide …
E. Africa/Horn (520m)
Coronavirus spreading through displaced camps in Somalia?
… Red Cross fears it is. 2.6 million people are in the camps.
W. Africa/Nigeria-Sahel (457m)
Nigeria plans to re-open schools, worship centers despite spike in cases
… then Lagos State suspended plans to reopen places of worship
Spike in rape, violence during lockdown
… studies suggest 1 in 3 girls by age of 25 …
Boko Haram kills dozens, razes village in the north.
Youths, Covid-1 and north-east conflict from ReliefWeb
… a very short but data rich analysis …
… 246 million people around the Lake Chad basin, almost same as USA pop …
Sahel
Escalating Jihadist violence in the Sahel region
W. Asia / Saudi-Iran (303m)
Iran: Government no longer providing birth-control methods
… in attempt to revive population growth, now at 1.7/woman …
Iraq: a new Prime Minister takes stock of his bloodied land
… ‘even the stones seem to have voices’ …
Syria: victorious in war, facing economic meltdown.
South-central Asia (2.1b)
Afghanistan: Desperate for any care, Afghans flock to herbalist’s ‘vaccine’.
… a mixture of opiates and herbs …
India:
Portraits of every day life in Gujarat.
India’s comfort food tells the story of its pandemic.
How Asia’s largest slum chased away Covid-19.
Lockdown to be reimposed on Chennai as virus cases spread.
India-China: Worst clash in decades over disputed border areas
… an account of ‘what really happened that night‘
… Briefing on why India and China are fighting.
Living on the edge, Pakistani Hindus still feel safer in India.
India’s ‘Goddesses of contagion‘ provide protection?
… just don’t make them angry …
Nepal’s ‘Summer of Discontent‘
… protests by young people over handling of Covid-19 …
Pakistan:
The lockdown ended a month ago; now the hospitals are full.
Warns coronavirus could peak at a million cases.
Seals parts of several cities to prevent virus spread.
Central Asia: Coronavirus dashboard in Eurasia.
… an index of news about Covid-19 coming out of Central Asia …
East Asia (1.6b)
China:
New outbreak in Beijing led to flights being cancelled
… schools being closed, parts of the city on lockdown …
… ‘Partial lockdown a sign of the world’s new normal‘
USA passes legislation on treatment of Uighurs …
… calls for sanctions against officials responsible for human rights abuses
Hong Kong’s new police unit to enforce new security laws.
… ‘legislators working day and night on new laws’
Foreigners in China worry about their future as US, China clash.
Churches in China begin reopening.
N Korea destroys SKor liaison office in southern city of Kaesong
Kim sister takes bigger role in threats against South Korea
Southeast Asia (700m)
Cambodia: a spiritual army battles an earthly pandemic.
… no faith in government response, rural villagers turn to the divine
Indonesia: ‘New Normal policy downplays virus, is a disaster in the making.’
West Sumatra governor asks for ‘The Bible in Minang’ to be removed from the Google Play store: ‘It makes us uncomfortable.’
Thailand nationwide curfew lifted after 21 days with no local cases.
Spirits need a home in Bangkok
… ‘and maybe a Strawberry Fanta’ …
Singapore to remove most virus restrictions this weekend.
Europe/North America (1,125m)
For much of Europe, reopening day is here.
Travel returns, but not confidence about what comes next.
Migrants in Russia: Virus = no money to live, no means to leave.
Too close for comfort, and the virus, in Russia’s communal apartments.
Secret church services in Mexico, Brazil to defy Covid-19 rules.
… ‘Enter through the back door’
New Data
New UNHCR Global Trends report on Forced Dsiplacement.
… 1% of world forced to flee their homes
… 79.5 million forcibly displaced, up from 70.8m in 2018
New Learnings
The multiple language versions of ‘The Blessing’ are nice:
… E Asia: S Korea …
… SE Asia: Malaysian … Singapore …
… Europe: Spanish … France … Sweden … Irish …
… N Africa: Arab
… W Africa: Ghana … Nigeria
… S Africa: Zimbabwe
… I’m sure there are more. There are covers in various languages by individual singers. These are the choirs that I found. Looking at these will bring you to more.
If you miss being able to travel, Taiwan is offering ‘pretend to go abroad‘ airport tours: relieve immigration, embarking on a plane, disembarking and going home.
In photos: the Carnival on the City’s Margins: the Sonepur Mela of Bihar.
Futuristics/Technology
New drug improves chances of survival for Covid-19 patients
… note that it doesn’t prevent infection, just decreases mortality rates …
Bowing to critics, Zoom will end-to-end encrypt all calls, ‘free or paid.’
… a ‘less robust form of encryption’ (transit encryption) for paying customers.
… ‘2-tiers would allow law enforcement to regulate illicit content’
… Zoom has a bigger problem because they cancel accounts at China’s request.
Using drones to monitor locusts, stop them
China is collecting DNA from 10s of millions of men, boys.
… building a sweeping genetic database to add to surveillance capabilities
Benedict Evans on solving online events
… highlights why I don’t like online conferences …
Also, Benedict Evans doing a deep dive on face recognition and AI ethics.
… lots to be learned about the nuances of this issue here …
Walmart is testing a cashier-less store.
… America’s largest employer …
Fascinating: AI goes from simple sketches to detailed photo portraits