Hey, this is Sham, your very own news curator. I'm a little overwhelmed with my paid work right now. Be gentle with me. I wish I could do whlw full-time and live off of it.
In issue #340, I talk about the illegal stuff the British government wanted to do to deal with refugees it doesn't want, Chinese tech innovations in AI (because ChatGPT is not everything), and Guatemalan politics (a lot is at stake). Plus, a South African steamy thriller on Netflix has kept me busy during my free time, a long read about a Ugandan couple that's reclaiming the African road trip (it's so white still), Lebanese comics, an all-female rock band from Kurdistan in the 1980s, and so much more.
If you like this newsletter, yay! These lengthy emails take me hours and hours to write, research and make fun-to-read. You can support my work if you become a paid subscriber or buy me coffee. Or, just forward it to a friend.
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Estimated reading time: 10 min
You have access to all of my sources by clicking on what's underlined.
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A UK court ruled that the British government cannot send asylum seekers to Rwanda
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What happened
Recently, the Court of Appeal in the United Kingdom ruled that the government's plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is unlawful. 'It would violate the European Convention on Human Rights, which the UK is party to.' The charity Asylum Aid brought this case against the government.
Good to know: What is an asylum seeker? What is a refugee? According to the UN's refugee agency, an asylum seeker is someone who has applied for shelter and protection in another country. A refugee is a person who has fled conflict or persecution in their own country. The legal rights of refugees are protected by international law. However, it is up to host countries to decide whether an asylum seeker is granted refugee status.
Why this matters
The rights of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers are protected by international law, regardless of how and why they arrive in a country. UNHCR most recently estimated that, by end of 2022, for the first time in recorded history, the number of people forcibly displaced is now 108.4 million, and over 35.3 million refugees.
Tell me more
Judges said (interestingly, it was not a unanimous decision) that the East African country had not provided enough safeguards to prove it is a "safe third country", meaning there is "a real risk" that people sent to Rwanda will be returned to the home countries they fled. Rwanda, however, vows it is 'exemplary' in the way it treats refugees. However, Rwanda itself creates thousands of refugees every year and its government is yet to guarantee a safe environment for Rwandan refugees settled across the world to return home. The UK has already given Rwanda US$177-million for this plan (and it was going to get even more expensive; according to government assessment US$215,035 per person). No asylum seeker has actually been sent to Rwanda so far. The first flight was scheduled to go in June 2022, but was cancelled after legal challenges.
'Fun' fact: The airline which was scheduled to take asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda was called 'Privilege Style'.
Tell me more about Rwanda's refugees
According to the most recent figures by the UNHCR, there are still more than 200,000 Rwandan refugees in the DRC, close to 24,000 in Uganda, 10,000 in the Republic of Congo, close to 6,000 in Zambia, more than 4,000 in Mozambique, close to 4,000 in Malawi and more than 2,000 in Kenya. There are compelling reasons why so many Rwandan refugees do not want to – or do not feel safe enough to – return to their motherland. Memories of war, genocide and conflict, inequality, poverty and a 'not free' human rights record, writes Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, a Rwandan political figure, in an opinion piece for Al Jazeera.
Did you know that in 2022, the UK received more than 89,000 asylum applications, the highest number for 20 years? Of these, more than 23,800 people and their dependents were granted a form of protection.
What now?
The UN's refugee agency, which advised the court on matters of international refugee law during the appeal, was like, 'yes, this is a good ruling. UK government, try other measures'. Home Secretary Suella Braverman called the judgment "disappointing", and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said they will appeal last week’s verdict in the Supreme Court.
On a related note, meanwhile, Rwanda wants to become the 'Singapore of Africa' and has successfully attracted two huge fintech companies, as Alexander Onukwue reports for Semafor. Two of Africa’s biggest fintech players are expanding their operations in Rwanda, Chipper Cash (pan-African money transfer company) and Flutterwave (Africa's largest payment network).
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There is a lot of AI innovation in China right now
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What happened
 Since ChatGPT took the world by storm late last year, Chinese tech giants and startups have been rushing to join the AI race by launching similar AI chatbots one after another.
Why this matters
All over the world, generative AI startups are popping up. To really stay in the loop (and to decenter Western-centric knowledge production), keep an eye out for more tech updates everywhere.
Tell me more
Caiwei Chen for rest of world writes about these four Chinese startups that everyone in tech in China is talking about:
- DeepLang AI: Two natural language processing researchers at Tsinghua University, Qi Fanchao and Li Xiaoxiang, trained this large language model on Chinese-language content, and created a dictionary that suggests a list of words based on users’ descriptions and a classical Chinese poetry generator. Tencent is one of the bigger funders.
- Zhipu AI: Founded by Tang Jie, another talent from Tsinghua University (yes, this is where a lot of tech magic happens in China in general) created a large language model that can be integrated into Qihoo's search engine (a big competitor to Baidu).
- Baichuan Intelligence: Tsinghua graduates and search company Sogou executives Wang Xiaochuan and Ru Liyun founded Baichuan Intelligence. The startup launched Baichuan-7B, an open-source, pre-trained model available in Chinese and English.
- Lightyear AI: This startup is making all the buzz right now. There are some big names behind the project. Its founder is Wang Huiwen (the founder of delivery giant Meituan), and its funding comes from Tencent, Kuaishou founder Su Hua (behind Kwai or Snack Video, TikTok's main competitor in China), and venture capital firm Zhen Fund (one of the largest Angel investors in China). We know nothing about what Lightyear AI is working on, but something big is a-brewin'.
Anything else I should know about tech in China?
Well, the World AI Conference took place in Shanghai (it's annual thing and all the big AI players in the country were there; there was a robot throwing balls). Elon Musk attended virtually (there is rumour he trying to get favourable market treatment by kissing a**), OpenAI (the creator of ChatGPT) didn't attend the conference at all. China's AI industry is going through a development boom phase, with the scale of the core industry at 500 billion yuan (about US$69 billion) and the number of AI enterprises exceeding 4,300, according to Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology Xu Xiaolan. Some even say, China will become a world leader in AI by 2030.
Zoom out: In general, China's digital economy has grown a lot over the past seven years. According to a research report released last Wednesday at the Global Digital Economy Conference 2023 in Beijing, from 2016 to 2022, the scale of China's digital economy increased by US$4.1 trillion, with a compound annual growth rate of 14.2 percent. And in 2022, the digital economy made up 41.5 percent of the country's entire GDP.
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Where are you going politically, Guatemala? A status update on the upcoming election
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What happened
On Sunday, June 25, elections were held in Guatemala, in which against all odds Bernardo Arévalo, the candidate of the Semilla movement, obtained second place with 11.7% of the votes. This would allow him to go to the second round of elections on August 20 with Sandra Torres, candidate of the National Unity of Hope (UNE), who obtained 15.8% of the vote.
Why this matters
Tell me more
Many people in Guatemala are frustrated with how things are run politically. "Nearly one in six voters, fed up with Guatemala’s self-serving political system and failing state institutions, spoiled or left blank their ballots," writes Will Freeman for Americas Quarterly. The remaining candidates? Arévalo (12.25 percent) and Sandra Torres (15.78 percent). Arévalo is from a relatively young party, Semilla; Torres not so much. Arévalo is considered an outsider, deemed as "pragmatic, but not utopian", Torres conservative and an establishment favourite.
Zoom out: This whole 'outsider becomes potentially super important political figure all of a sudden' thing is turning into a thing in the Americas, think Peru's Pedro Castillo or Colombia's Rodolfo Hernández.
Tell me more about Arévalo
Before entering Congress with Semilla in 2020, he had never participated in politics. His job titles are actually 'diplomat, sociologist and NGO worker'. Yes, his dad (who was a schoolteacher himself) was president (1945-51) but his very reform-y ideas weren't all too popular (with the CIA). His successor, who tried to do the same as Arévalo senior, was ultimately crushed by a coup ("thanks" again, CIA). This didn't leave Arévalo junion with a lot of 'political vitamin B'. Arévalo senior spent decades in exile, and his son maintained a low profile after returning to Guatemala at age 15 to study. His platform is all about policy, his motto "for a livable country", he's basically 'airport dad energy'.
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United States: The country's Supreme Court has ruled that race can no longer be considered a factor in university admissions. (CBS News) (Progressive) Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson had a lot to say about this. (The Nation)
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France: A police officer shot and killed a 17-year-old kid, Nahel M, of North African descent, during a traffic stop in Nanterre. "Last year, a record 13 people were killed in France after refusing to stop for police traffic checks. In 2017, officers were handed greater powers to use their weapons." (Al Jazeera)
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Bosnia and Herzegovina / Republika Srpska: The National Assembly of Republika Srpska voted to suspend all decisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Constitutional Court, a move described as "legal secession" and a violation of the 1995 Dayton Agreement. The region's president, Milorad Dodik, had criticized the court for having foreign judges and an anti-Serb bias. (Reuters)
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Chile / Mexico: Chile assumed a temporary presidency of the Pacific Alliance from Mexico amid a diplomatic conflict which saw Mexico refusing to hand over the presidency to Peru due to the removal of president Pedro Castillo in December 2022. (Reuters)
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Sierra Leone: Julius Maada Bio was sworn in as president of Sierra Leone for a second consecutive term. His opponent, former Foreign Minister Samura Kamara, rejected the results and claimed the election was rigged. (CNN)
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Iran / Canada: Iran brought charges against Canada at the International Court of Justice for allegedly violating Iran's state immunity by designating it a sponsor of terrorism. (AFP via France 24)
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Sri Lanka: The Sri Lankan Department of Wildlife Conservation cancelled plans to export about 100,000 endangered toque macaque Old World monkeys to China after several environmentalists initiated legal action in the Court of Appeal against the export. (AFP via ABS-CBN News)
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Uzbekistan: Uzbek authorities announced that incumbent president Shavkat Mirziyoyev has been re-elected with 87.1% of the votes. (Reuters)
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Thailand: The Criminal Court of Thailand acquit a student activist and four others of obstructing Queen Suthida's motorcade during the 2020 pro-democracy protests in Bangkok. The group faced a potential sentence of up to 16 years in prison or execution under Thailand's lèse-majesté laws. (AFP via The Manila Times) Also, interestingly, the Thai prime minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, announced his retirement from political office. (CNA)
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Vietnam / Australia : The Vietnamese government released Australian democracy activist Chau Van Kham from a 12-year prison sentence on terrorism charges following an appeal by Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese. (AP)
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Brazil: The electoral court reached a majority to convict former President Jair Bolsonaro, ruling him out of elections until 2030. Five out of seven justices voted to convict the 68-year-old Bolsonaro for abuse of power and misuse of the media over his actions in July 2022, ahead of the election, when he summoned ambassadors to vent unfounded claims about Brazil's electronic voting system. (Reuters)
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South Africa: The European Court of Human Rights ruled in favour of South African runner, Caster Semenya, stating her previous appeals against World Athletics' testosterone regulations were inadequately reviewed, potentially enabling her to recontest these rules due to her hyperandrogenism. (Reuters)
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Watch... Multi-media archive: "The Jiyan Archives" by Raz Xaidan. "The Jiyan Archives" is a public multimedia archive dedicated to preserving and documenting the lives, culture, identity, and diversity of Kurdish women. The Jiyan Archives is a fully independent project that is self-funded. One of my favorite gems: this article about Khanzad, an all-female rock band that formed in Erbil, south Kurdistan, in 1980, truly surprised me (positively). Check it out, and if you like it, contribute to keeping it alive. Raz Xaidan is also launching a newsletter about Kurdish women, past & present, soon.
Listen to... Podcast episode: "Inside The World of Lebanese Comics with Rawand Issa" (60 mins) by BULAQ | بولاق. Comics artist Rawand Issa talks about her book 'Inside the Giant Fish'; her path from journalism to graphic art; artist groups and collectives across the region; the "new school of Arab comics," and the challenges of making a living as a comics artist. If you're looking for new graphic novels to read/gift to your friends, there are some good suggestions like Lamia Ziadé’s "My Port of Beirut", or Lena Merhej’s "I Think We’ll Be Calmer in the Next War".
Read... Article: "‘No Ugandan has ever crossed here’: reclaiming the African road trip" by Caroline Kimeu for The Guardian. "High costs and visa restrictions have historically made it harder for Africans to travel the continent, compared with Europeans or North Americans. There is little data on the number of people making such journeys through countries, but leisure and safari tourism in Africa is still largely dominated by western travellers," writes Kimeu. Her article is about a Ugandan couple on their first-ever African road trip, the comments they receive (in Lesotho, an official says "I’ve been at this post for eight years and no Ugandan has ever crossed through"), and the racism they experienced while in Europe. All African borders are not gone yet. However, last week, Kenya decided to open its doors to all African citizens looking to travel for business purposes.
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"Fatal Seduction" on Netflix, a seven-episode thriller from South Africa, starring Kgomotso Christopher, Nat Ramabulana and Thapelo Mokoena. The thriller is a local adaptation of the Mexican telenovela, 'Dark Desire'. The storyline: "'Fatal Seduction' is about a married professor who is pulled into a passionate affair with a younger man that uncovers a path of tragedy and betrayal from those closest to her." Highly recommended because you get to hear a lot of Xhosa and Zulu being spoken, and what more do you want?
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Have you switched to Threads yet?
If you're still on the fence about it:
A Taliban official from Afghanistan is recommending that people stay on Twitter because of its approach to free speech.
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That's it from me. I made banana oats cake today, a new recipe from TikTok. I ate half of it right away. #ImpulseControl
For the maps, say thanks to Wikimedia Commons.
Map 1: John Doe / CC-BY-SA-3.0
Map 2: John Doe / CC-BY-SA-3.0
Map 3: John Doe / CC-BY-SA-4.0
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Hey, I'm Sham, the person behind this newsletter. Since 2014, I email a bunch of strangers once a week, curating news headlines from Asia, Africa and Latin America. I work under the assumption that, here in the West (I live in Berlin, Germany), we don't read or know much about the global majority, aka the rest of the world.
My goal is to help you burst your Western-centric bubble.
If you want to know more about me, visit my website or follow me on Twitter or Instagram.
Questions or feedback? Just reply to this email. I intend to write back.
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