๐ The EU and UK reach a new deal on Northern Ireland
Plus: South Africa placed on financial watchdog list
Hi there Intriguer.ย A tiny home in the Brazilian favela of Belo Horizonte has won ArchDailyโs prestigious international ‘House of the Year‘ award. Built with common materials found in the favela, it was designed to maximise natural light. We admire how the proud bachelor owner also uses his unique dwelling to throw banging parties: โWe barely have 66 square metres, but Iโve had parties here with close to 200 people.โ
Todayโs edition is a 4.9 min read:
- ๐ฌ๐ง The UK and EU (potentially) figure out Northern Ireland.
- ๐ฟ๐ฆ South Africa placed on financial watchdog โgray listโ.
- โ Plus:ย Turbocharging the solar transition, how the papers are covering Nigeriaโs election delays, and some intriguing insights from the son of Iran’s last shah.
– VC & EP
๐บ๏ธ AROUND THE WORLD
- ๐ณ๐ต Nepal: The Communist Party has left Nepal’s ruling coalition after the Prime Minister declined to support its presidential candidate. If the PM loses an upcoming no-confidence vote, Nepal will form its 12th government since becoming a republic in 2008.
- ๐ง๐พ Belarus: Anti-Russian partisans in Belarus have destroyed a Russian surveillance plane at an air base near the capital, Minsk. The attack has raised concerns that Belarus, whose pro-Russia president is currently in China for talks, might enter the Russo-Ukraine War.
- ๐ฒ๐พ Malaysia: Two Abu Dhabi-based firms will pay the Malaysian government $1.8B for their role in a years-long corruption scandal known as 1MDB. Investigators say the firms knowingly helped former PM Najib Razak and others embezzle taxpayer dollars.
- ๐ธ๐ป El Salvador: 2,000 inmates have been transferred to El Salvadorโs new โmegaprison“, which has a claimed capacity of 40,000 people. Some 60,000 have been arrested for suspected gang ties since El Salvador entered a state of emergency last March.
- ๐ธ๐พ Syria: Representatives from several Arab countries, including Jordan, Egypt, and the UAE, met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Sunday. Arab governments are beginning to re-engage with Syria after more than a decade without formal ties.
๐ฌ๐ง UNITED KINGDOM | BREXIT
UK and EU might have stepped over one of Brexitโs final stumbling blocks
Briefly: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak struck a deal with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday (27 February) to break a years-long deadlock over Northern Ireland (NI).
A little background: The Republic of Ireland is part of the EU, while NI is part of the UK. They share an island (called Ireland). Some on the island (up north) are proudly British. Others are proudly Irish. Some are proudly both. And everyone was part of the EU… until Brexit.
The UK then signed a deal with the EU known as the Northern Ireland Protocol, to avoid dividing the island with polarising EU-UK border checks. Until now, this meant EU officials instead checked goods on ships passing between the British mainland and NI.
However, pro-British voices on the island (aka ‘unionists’) didn’t like the way this separated them from the British mainland, and instead wanted a ‘hard’ EU/UK land border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Pro-Irish voices (aka โnationalistsโ) oppose dividing the island like this: Ireland hasn’t had a land border since the Good Friday Agreement ended decades of sectarian violence in 1998.
The Windsor Framework, announced outside Windsor Castle on Monday, attempts to resolve all this. It allows NI to be in both the UK and EU markets by creating:
- ๐ข A โgreen laneโ to eliminate the customs border for British goods destined for NI, and
- ๐ด A โred laneโ to preserve the customs border for British goods destined for the Republic of Ireland.
Intrigueโs take: Brexit is the ultimate political quicksand, helping drag several of Sunakโs predecessors to their demise. Many pro-Brexit lawmakers in Sunakโs own party (plus pro-British lawmakers in NI) oppose this latest deal, and have promised to vote against it when given the opportunity. Something tells us this isnโt the last weโll hear of Brexit ๐
Also worth noting:ย
- Pro-Brexit lawmakers accused Ursula von der Leyen of undermining the British Monarchโs apolitical status by meeting with King Charles during her visit.
- As of February 2023, only 33% of Brits continued to support Brexit.
๐ฐ GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES
How different newspapers covered:ย The election delays in Nigeria.
Links:ย Cameroon Tribune, The Guardian,ย CNN.
Sponsored byย The Assist
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๐ฟ๐ฆ SOUTH AFRICA | FINANCE
South Africa placed on money laundering โgray listโ
Briefly: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global financial crimes watchdog,ย placed South Africa (and Nigeria) on its money laundering โgray listโ last Friday (24 February).
Like getting put on Santaโs naughty list, a FATF listing is a serious reputational blow. It also means more scrutiny and costs for South African banks, making it tougher to do business and invest in the country.
South Africa’s rand fell against the US dollar as investors digested the news. Meanwhile, the South African government pledged to address FATFโs concerns and strengthen its regulations to fight money laundering and terrorism financing.
Intrigueโs take:ย Unemployment in South Africa is now around 34% (ten times the US rate). Its economy is actually smaller than it was a decade ago. So South Africa needed this FATF listing likeย Grey’s Anatomyย needed a 19th season.
Also worth noting:ย
- The OECD is forecasting South Africaโs economy will grow 1.1% in 2023 and 1.6% next year.
- Last year, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was accused of covering up the theft of $4M in undisclosed foreign currency he kept hidden in a sofa.
๐ CHART OF THE DAY
๐ตย Here comes the sun, doo-doo-doo-doo…๐ต
Solar power is set to overtake all other power sources by 2027 according to the International Energy Agency. New solar photovoltaic capacity will account for 60% of all new power installations in the next five years.
Last yearโs energy crunch,ย ambitious climate goals, and generous US and EU green subsidies are all behind the boom. But a core driver is cost: solar costs have dropped 99% over the past four decades, including an 89% drop from 2009 through 2019 alone.
Geopolitically, this is excellent news for China, which controls over 80% of global solar panel manufacturing. Itโs also great news for Yuma, Arizona,ย the worldโs sunniest city (which logs 4,015 average annual sunshine hours), but less so for Totorรณ, Colombia (whose residents get just 637 hours of sunshine per year).
๐ EXTRA INTRIGUE
Weโre very online, so you donโt have to be.ย
๐ณ๏ธ POLL TIME!
Will the new Northern Ireland deal stand the test of time? |
Yesterday’s poll:ย How confident are you that a new President can fix Nigeria’s problems?
โฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ ๐ 100% (2%)
๐จโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ ๐ 75% (7%)
๐จ๐จ๐จ๐จโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ ๐ค 50% (27%)
๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉ ๐ 25% (36%)
๐จ๐จ๐จ๐จโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ ๐คญ 0% (29%)
Your two cents:
- ๐ ย ย G.F: “I think we give presidents a bit too much credit. One man, no matter the position, won’t be able to fix all of the problems Nigeria faces alone.”
- ๐คย ย H.L: “The next president has an insurmountable task ahead of him but some of the solutions are rather straightforward. Itโs only a question of political will.”