🌍 Canada joins US and EU in banning TikTok

Hi there Intriguer. We all know what it means to rain cats and dogs. But in Australia, it also rains fish. Locals in Lajamanu, a community on the northern edge of the Tanami Desert, were stunned to see live fish falling from the sky last week. Strong winds there can suck water and fish from rivers and dump them hundreds of kilometres away. For heaven’s hake…

Today’s edition is a 5.0 min read:

• 🇨🇦 Canada joins the US and EU in banning TikTok from government phones.

• 🇾🇪 Yemen inches towards another truce.

• ➕ Plus: A world leader spots a mystical woodland elf, how the papers are covering the poisoning of Iranian schoolgirls, and tis the sea-son for some fun facts about seagrass.

– VC & EP

🗺️ AROUND THE WORLD

1. 🇰🇷 South Korea: South Korea, Japan, and the US held their first trilateral economic security dialogue on Monday, focused on stabilising the supply chains for biotech, semiconductors and critical minerals.

2. 🇭🇺 Hungary: Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said he supports China’s peace plan for Ukraine and Russia, a position that puts him at odds with other Western leaders. Orbán is one of the few European countries attempting to maintain ties with the Kremlin.

3. 🇳🇿 New Zealand: Japan and New Zealand are working on an intelligence sharing pact. Wary of China’s growing heft, Japan has already signed intel pacts with three of the ‘five eyes’ intelligence alliance (the US, UK and Australia), and is seeking deals with the other two (Canada and NZ).

4. 🇨🇴 Colombia: The future has arrived in Colombia, where a judge has held the first trial in the Metaverse. In case you were wondering, yes, the Magistrate’s avatar wore black legal robes.

5. 🇮🇷 Iran: Brazil has allowed two Iranian warships to dock in Rio. In a classic fake-out, President Lula da Silva seemingly bowed to US pressure and barred the ships from docking ahead of his visit to Washington last month, only to give the green light once he got back.

🇨🇦 CANADA | TECH

Canada jumps on the latest TikTok trend: banning the app

Briefly: Canada has become the latest Western nation to ban the popular social media app TikTok from all government issued devices. The new measures were introduced due to security concerns associated with sharing personal data with a Chinese company.

Canada’s not alone (except in its love of buying milk in a bag): The EU and the US have issued similar bans, and one US congressman even described TikTok as like having a spy balloon in your phone. India banned the app altogether in 2020.

Officials are worried that the terabytes of personal information collected by TikTok can be accessed by Chinese authorities. A 2017 law in China requires companies to hand over any personal data relevant to the country’s national security.

However, not everyone is worried. A recent report by the Georgia Institute of Technology said “TikTok is […] not a tool of the Chinese state” and the costs of a nation-wide ban would outweigh the benefits.

For its part, Beijing has accused Washington of using national security as a fig-leaf to protect US tech companies from competition. And its foreign ministry asked, “How unsure of itself can the US, the world’s top superpower, be to fear a young person’s favourite app?”

Intrigue’s take: As ties between the West and China deteriorate, more governments will restrict TikTok. All social media platforms harvest user data to some extent, but the current geopolitical climate is exacerbating pre-existing (and legitimate) concerns about China’s approach to data.

As a plus, we might see fewer twerking legislators.

Also worth noting:

• TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is scheduled to testify before the US Congress later this month.

• The EU and US have been working on finalising a data transfer deal that will protect Europeans’ privacy when their data is moved across the Atlantic to US servers.

📰 GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

How different newspapers covered: The poisoning of hundreds of schoolgirls in Iran.

Links: Hindustan Times, The Guardian, AP.

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🇾🇪 YEMEN | CIVIL WAR

Yemen tries to bring Houthis back to the negotiating table

Briefly: A ship carrying general commercial goods has arrived at Yemen’s Hodeidah port for the first time since 2016. Hodeidah is the second-largest port in the country, and has been under the control of Houthi rebels since the Yemen Civil War began eight years ago.

Yemen’s Saudi-backed government described the shipment as a “trust-building exercise” that could restart truce negotiations, which stalled when the Iran-backed Houthis declined to extend a ceasefire in October.

But the rebels have no incentive to quit while they’re ahead. They control not only Hodeidah but also Sanaa (Yemen’s capital) and the country’s international airport. They even have a fleet of attack drones. So most expect the Houthis to hold out for more concessions before returning to the negotiating table.

Intrigue’s take: The West doesn’t like the Houthis; neither does Saudi Arabia, nor its Gulf partners. But that doesn’t mean the Houthis are going anywhere. Meanwhile, two-thirds of Yemen’s 33 million people need vital aid.

Also worth noting:

• There are two parallel truce processes moving right now: one via the UN, and the other (more promising) via Oman.

• The UN has been working to raise $4.3B in humanitarian assistance; the US promised $444M on Monday.

🐦 TWEET OF THE DAY

“Everything is mystical…”

… so says Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), who shared a picture to his 9.6 million Twitter followers over the weekend of… a mischievous woodland elf known in Mayan folklore as an ‘aluxe’.

Many doubted the veracity of AMLO’s claims (the pic did the rounds a couple of years ago, not three days ago). But few doubted his conviction!

Either way, the tweet was a welcome distraction for AMLO, who spent the weekend watching massive protests unfold in Mexico City’s Zócalo Square. The protestors were rallying against his recent move to cut funding to Mexico’s independent electoral agency.

👀 EXTRA INTRIGUE

Today the UN celebrates World Seagrass Day to raise awareness of the importance of these underwater meadows. So, here’s some fun Wednesday facts about Seagrass to give you a dose of vitamin sea (sorry):

1. Seagrass meadows cover only 0.1% of the ocean floor.

2. Despite that, they store up to 18% of the world’s oceanic carbon.

3. Seagrasses can be found in every continent apart from Antarctica.

4. 21% of all seagrass species are categorized as Near Threatened, Vulnerable or Endangered. (That one isn’t very fun).

5. A single acre of seagrass meadow can support over a million underwater species.

🗳️ POLL TIME!

🎁 While we didn’t quiiiiite reach our ambitious goal of 10,000 new subscribers in February, we did get pretty darn close! So, we’ll be sending something special to three amazing folks who shared the Intrigue with a lot of friends:

• Emi 🇦🇺

• John 🇬🇧

• Maritza 🇺🇸

And thank you to everyone else who helped nudge us towards our goal!

Yesterday’s poll: Will the new Northern Ireland deal stand the test of time?

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 💪 Yes, no one wants to drag this even longer (34%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⚔️ No, there’s still plenty that could go wrong (66%)

Your two cents:

• ⚔️ G.M: “The UK government is still trying to figure out the feasibility of their new Freeports, this seems even more complex.