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Hi there Intriguer.ย Heard of toponyms? Theyโre words named after places. E.g., those spotted dogs from Croatiaโs Dalmatia region; the healthy sprouts first grown near Brussels; or the mid-calf pants that became a hit on the Italian isle of Capri. Does this seem a littleโฆ academic? Well even โacademicโ traces back to Akademos, the grove where Plato first dropped his knowledge.
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Todayโs briefing is a 4.3 min read:
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๐ธย Facebook hit with record fine over data transfers to the US.
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๐บ๐ฆ Anti-Kremlin militia groups mount a cross-border raid in Russia.
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โ Plus: An AI image spooks the stock market, how the papers are covering ongoing debt ceiling negotiations in the US, and some intriguing stats on Facebook.
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๐ง Todayโs Intrigue Outloud: What the heck just happened in Russia?
๐บ๏ธ AROUND THE WORLD
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๐น๐ผย Taiwan: The World Health Organisation has blocked Taiwan from participating as an observer in its annual assembly. Critics have accused the WHO of bowing to Chinaโs pressure in the past.
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๐ง๐พย Belarus: President Alexander Lukashenko has pardoned Roman Protasevic, a Belarusian dissident blogger, more than two years after Minsk diverted his Ryanair flight and hauled him off the plane. Protasevic released a series of apologetic statements, which his friends and family have said were products of coercion.
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๐น๐ญย Thailand: The leading Move Forward Party has signed a coalition agreement with seven other parties, promising a new constitution, reforms to the military, and an end to Thailandโs โquiet diplomacyโ abroad. A military government has ruled Thailand since a coup in 2014.
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๐ช๐จย Ecuador: Ecuadorโs electoral commission has provisionally scheduled the next general election for 20 August. The streets have mostly remained calm since President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the National Assembly last week.
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๐น๐ทย Turkey: Turkeyโs third-placed candidate has endorsed President Recep Tayyip Erdoฤanโs re-election bid in this Sundayโs upcoming run-off vote. Erdoฤan is now widely seen as the front-runner.
๐ธ EU | TECH & SECURITY
In one way, out the other.
Facebook hit with record fine for EU data breach
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Briefly: Tech giant Meta has been hit with a record โฌ1.2B ($1.3B) fine by Irish regulators and ordered to suspend all EU user data transfers to the US. The penalty is the biggest fine in EU data protection history.
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Regulatoooors (sorry, big Warren G fans here) accuse Facebook of unlawfully transferring data from European users to the US, where the companyโs vast ad-targeting operation is headquartered.
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This weekโs ruling was in response to aย 2013 lawsuit filed after Edward Snowden leaked ~1.7 million classified US files. The litigant (a privacy activist) argued the US offered no protection against surveillance of EU data.
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Since then, Brussels has been wary of sending yottabytes (yep) of Europeansโ data across the Atlantic. And attempts to hash out a deal keep getting quashed:
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An EU court struck down one US-EU deal in 2020 for being too lax
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EU officials are still scrutinising another deal reached last year, and
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This weekโs decision says Meta canโt rely on standard contractual clauses eitherโฆ
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Intrigueโs take: If you share Intrigue on Facebook (please do), and someone across the Atlantic โlikesโ it (please do), where does that data get stored? And how? Traditionally, US firms have often just stored it in the US under US law.
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But this weekโs EU ruling potentially changes all that.
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And while engineers figure out the specifics (new data centres? end-to-end encryption?), boardrooms will be coming to a stark realisation: they can no longer assume the whole world is their market.
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Also worth noting:
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Metaโs head of global affairs is Nick Clegg, the UKโs former deputy prime minister. Heโs said the company is appealing this weekโs decision.
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Meta has previously suggested it might pull out of the EU if regulators ban data transfers to the US. Others assess this is unlikely, as Meta generates a quarter of its $114B revenue in Europe.
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Meta says it has 21 data centres around the world: 17 in the US, plus one each in Denmark, Ireland, Sweden and Singapore.
๐ฐ GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES
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How different newspapers covered: Ongoing discussions on the US debt ceiling.
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Links: The Guardian, Washington Post, China Daily.
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Todayโs briefing is sponsored byย The Progress Network
Canโt stop doomscrolling?
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There’s a lot going right in the world, but you wouldn’t know it from the news. Check out The Progress Networkโs free weekly newsletter, What Could Go Right?, for some balance.
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It covers the work being done to solve the worldโs most complex issues and shares constructive ideas for a better future.
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When you sign up, youโll also get their free reading and listening guide on the progress humanity has made in just the past few decades.
๐บ๐ฆ UKRAINE | DEFENCE
Anti-Putin militias mount attack inside Russia
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Briefly: A contingent of Russian nationals from two anti-Putin militias mounted a cross-border assault from Ukraine into the Russian region of Belgorod on Monday (22 May). Russia said it repelled the attack on Tuesday.
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Both groups have previously described operating under Ukrainian command, and video suggests they were using equipment also employed by the Ukrainian military. Of course, Kyiv says the militants were acting on their own initiative.
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For its part, the Kremlin called them โsaboteursโ and โterroristsโ.
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Intrigueโs take: These fighters were back in Ukraine a couple of days after first entering Russia. So what was their objective? It seems there were three:
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Embarrass the Kremlin
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Undermine Putinโs domestic narrative of invincibility, and
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Force Russia to reallocate resources from the frontlines to its vast border
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The incursion probably achieved objective #1, and the Kremlinโs control of Russian media makes #2 difficult to measure. As for #3, time will tell.
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Also worth noting:
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One of the groups, the Russian Volunteer Corps, claimed responsibility for a similar attack in the Russian region of Bryansk back in March.
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The previous attack in March prompted Russiaโs president to cancel a planned trip and convene his security council.
๐ EXTRA INTRIGUE
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Some intriguing stats on Facebook, the worldโs third most popular website:
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2.04 billion – Facebookโs daily active users as of early 2023
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10% – the proportion of total Facebook users residing in the US and Canada
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4 million – the number of โlikesโ placed on the platform every minute
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$562B – Metaโs market value as of May 2023, placing it among the top ten most valuable companies in the world by market cap
๐ธ (FAKE) PHOTO OF THE DAY
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An AI-generated image of an explosion at the Pentagon caused a stir on social media after a fake Bloomberg account tweeted it (and Russia Today later retweeted it). The stock market dipped briefly during the confusion.
๐ณ๏ธ POLL TIME!
Do you agree with France’s decision to ban air routes that can be covered by a train journey of less than 2.5 hours? |
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Yesterdayโs poll: Which country has the best coffee?
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๐จ๐จ๐จโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ ๐ช๐น Ethiopia (15%)
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๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉย ๐จ๐ด Colombia (26%)
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๐จ๐จ๐จโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ ๐ฎ๐น Italy (15%)
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๐จโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ ๐ป๐ณ Vietnam (5%)
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๐จโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ ๐ง๐ท Brazil (7%)
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๐จโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ ๐ฎ๐ฉ Indonesia (4%)
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๐จโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ ๐ฐ๐ช Kenya (7%)
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๐จโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ ๐น๐ท Turkey (5%)
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๐จ๐จโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ ๐ฆ๐บ Australia (11%)
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โฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ ๐ฑ๐ง Lebanon (2%)
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Your two cents:
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R: โThe correct answer is Panama. This year we hope to beat our record, $6,000 a pound (NOT a kilo); in an exclusive on-line auction.โ
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๐ป๐ณย H.H.O: โVietnam is known for producing high-quality coffee and is one of the world’s largest exporters of coffee beans. [โฆ] Vietnam’s unique coffee culture, favourable growing conditions, and dedication to quality have certainly played a significant role in establishing its reputation for excellent coffee.โ