Roundup #231
By Justin Long
#231 – December 18, 2020
See archives & subscribe here. Please share this with others.
Know about a trend among the unreached the Roundup isn’t watching? Something surprise you last week? Email me here.
Additionally, this is the last Roundup for 2020. I will be on break for the last two weeks of the year.
New Events
East Africa
Desert locust re-invasion threatens millions across the Horn. UN
… Ethiopia rains, Somalia cyclone = favorable breeding conditions… AllAfrica
Kenya, Somaliland agree on direct flights to Hargeisa. AllAfrica
… first destination for Kenya Airways into a Somali region …
Kenyan Christians traveling for Christmas fear al-Shabaab bus attacks. CT
… traveling on buses near Somali border …
Tigray-war
Some concerns that Ethiopia’s conflict could yet become a regional war. ECFR
As war goes on in Ethiopia, ethnic harassment is on the rise. NYT
Govt orders businesses to re-open, first aid convoy arrives. MEMO
How Ethiopian doctors fled militia attacks. Hiraan Online/BBC
Northern Africa
After 30 years, USA drops Sudan from state sponsors of terrorism list. NYT
“Algerians are hurting”: Dinar’s dramatic fall deepens economic woes. Link
Middle East eye has an explainer on Western Sahara. Link
EuroCFR: dispute could escalate conflicts across N Africa, Sahel. Link
“To end the killings in Libya, the cost balance needs to change.” HRW
… crime has been normalized, cost of unlawful killings is zero.
… domestic courts barely functional
Sat-7 announces first Christian tv programs made in Tunisia. Link
Western Africa
Boko Haram blamed for Niger attack: 28 killed, 800 houses burned. Reuters
337 students missing in Nigeria after gunmen attack (Boko Haram). Bloomberg
Nigeria orders mobile users to link phones to ID numbers. Bloomberg
… “196 million active phone lines, 41.5m Nigerians had req’d identity numbers”
Western Asia
After Nagorno-Karabakh war, trauma, tragedy and devastation. NYT
… “It’s going to be hard to forgive.”
Years after Daesh, Iraqis forced out of refugee camps into uncertain future. MEMO
And in Mosul, life and resilience shines. CSM
… Iraqis are slowly, resiliently breathing life back into their streets & shops
Syria’s conflict isn’t over yet: more fighting in Idlib. VOA
Deepened & prolonged poverty affects Syrian refugees & their hosts. ReliefWeb
… est. 4.4m people in host communities in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraqi Kurdistan
… 1m Syrian refugees and 180,000 Iraqi IDPs pushed into poverty due to Covid-19
Turkey’s coffeehouses, a hub of male social life, may not survive virus. NYT
… “Every day I used to come here… this is our second home… it’s a place I love, I see my friends, and I am happy and I play games.”
South + Central Asia
The Virus Trains: How lockdown chaos spread Covid across India. NYT
India gears up for world’s largest vaccination drives. Straits Times
… over 300 million expected to get doses in first phase through July
India farm protests: mass strikes intensify. Independent
… Indian farm widows join the protests against reforms. Reuters
… small farmers fear changes = end of guaranteed minimum prices for crops,
… leave them at the mercy of big retailers.
… “suicide by struggling farmers has been a problem in India for years”
… Protests are likely to continue; buses bringing more people in from Punjab
India now a ‘dangerous and violent space for Muslims.’ Independent
… “South Asia State of Minorities Report 2020” – PDF
Love & the law: Hindu-Muslim couple challenges marriage rule. CSM
The possibility of a currency devaluation in Iraq. IOR
… would help the government, but hurt the purchasing power of Iraqis …
Victims of War and Conflicts: Child Labor in Afghanistan. Khaama Press
Covid-19 runs unchecked in Pakistan’s overcrowded prisons. AP
Balochistan: Pakistan’s land of the disappeared. CNA
… claims of 55,000 kidnapped; 18,000 bodies found since 2000
Tajikistan: pandemic wreaks havoc on migration lifeline. Eurasianet
… food prices have jumped >25%, and few jobs in Tajikistan
… the country depends on remittances from workers in Russia
… 2019 remittances = $2.5b, or 33% of T’s GDP. Halved in 2020.
… Russia-Tajik travel extremely limited, migrants can’t get in to work
Uzbekistan has made progress in eliminating forced labor, but… Diplomat
… it hasn’t entirely stopped it in the cotton sector …
Eastern Asia
China is building a ‘super’ dam on the Yarlung Zangbo River. Straits Times
… close to line of control in Tibet
… “far-reaching impact on India’s north-east water security”
… river flows into Arunachal Pradesh, then to Assam, then to Bangladesh
China building massive Myanmar border wall after virus cases spike. Diplomat
More Chinese students return to China after getting degree. China Daily
… 700k Chinese students went abroad to study in 2019
China raises Covid penalties for incoming flights. China Daily
… airlines will get 2-week suspension if 5 passengers on a flight test positive
Book review: Shandong, the Revival Province. Global China Center
… this is a very long review of the details in the book …
Southeast Asia
In Indonesia, a blurred boundary between the living and the dead. NYT
… the elaborate death rituals of the Toraja of Sulawesi (75% Christian) …
Isaan road trip: a brief travelogue in Thailand. CNN
Thailand relaxes travel restrictions for citizens from 56 countries. Jakarta Post
… visitors from Australia, France, USA can enter without visas now
… requires pre-travel Covid-19 negative test to enter country,
… still undergoing a mandatory two-week hotel quarantine
The Internet as battleground in Thailand’s Covid-19 Tinderbox moment. Diplomat
… “8 million Thais may be out of work by the end of 2020”
As Singapore ventures back out, migrant workers are kept in. NYT
… low wage workers mostly confined to dormitories …
… through 2022, minorities from Covid-prevalent countries working in Covid-free countries will likely find themselves restricted …
Data
Covid case data
… 12/18: 73.9m cases, 1.6m deaths (2.1% CFR)
… 11/20: 57.0m cases, 1.3m deaths (2.2%)
… 11/13: 53.0m cases, 1.29m deaths (2.4%)
… 11/6: 49.1m cases, 1.24m deaths (2%)
… 10/29: 44.8m cases, 1.17m deaths
Trackers: Johns Hopkins, NYT, CovidTracking.com
Chart: Blasphemy laws still common around the world. Economist
Australia-NZ travel bubble. NYT
The hurdles to getting the Covid vaccine to Africa. All Africa
How the pandemic changed how [some] live and work. SMH
One quarter of the world may not get the vaccine until 2022. Stat
Longer Reads
Spiritual Warfare in the African context. Lausanne
… interesting, useful survey …
In a pandemic, should missionaries leave or stay? Lausanne
… a mental model for the missiology of risk …
Covid-19 has posed new challenges to the world’s waste-pickers. Economist
… The “invisible recyclers”: Syrian refugees living in Jordan’s informal waste sector. SyriaDirect
The Hole in Africa’s heart. AllAfrica
… Analysis: swathes of the continent are home to people whose efforts at self-rule or traditional ways of life have challenged state attempts to deal with Covid-19. The “lawless third” of the continent – all of Libya, half of Algeria, much of the Sahara & Sahel, north Nigeria, the Horn, and a crescent of the African forest belt – is difficult to reach and engage. This by implication also discusses challenges to reaching these areas with Good News. “The people living in these zones deserve equitable access… regions that are under-serviced fall into three, sometimes interlinked categories…”
Why people still starve in an age of abundance. MIT TR
… % undernourished dropping, but absolute number rising (similar to unevangelized)
… Hungry: 2014, 628.9m; 2019, 688m; if unchecked, 2030, 840m
… 10 extreme hunger hotspots (apparently Oxfam has a list; would like to find)
Futures
Huwaei tested AI software that could recognize Uighurs. WPost
… could send automated “Uighur alarms” to authorities …
EU proposes sweeping new rules for online businesses. WPost
… could cause fundamental changes for tech giants …
Passenger planes being converted to freighters. Reuters
… less travel, more e-commerce shipping …
AI co-pilots US military aircraft for the first time. CNN
… “in 10 to 15 years, widespread/ubiquitous use of robots in most militaries”
Lack of stable electricity holds back high-growth African economies. Link
Newly-launched satellite can see inside of ‘some’ buildings. Futurism.
… can see through clouds, and in day or night …
USA FDA authorizes first OTC fully at-home antigen test for Covid-19. FDA
… test will cost ~$30 …
Amazon reveals it’s 4-seater robotaxi. TheVerge
… looks like one of those little terminal-to-plane buses you’d see at an airport …
… guessing this will be used on company lots, airplanes, other controlled environments
Algorithms for Love: Japan will launch an AI dating service. Singularity
… one of the lowest birth rates in the world, below replacement level
… 25 of 47 prefectures already provide some kind of matchmaking service
… estimate population will fall from 127m (2015) to 88m (2065).
Last Five
Was this helpful?
I am trying the newly repaired open & click tracking, which gives me feedback on what sorts of articles are most useful to you, the reader. I’d still love to know that you find this useful: if you click this thank you” page on my website, I’ll see the click on my web page and feel a little warm and fuzzy glow from knowing I helped you. And, “you’re welcome” to the 36 people who clicked the link last issue.
Be a true fan: support the Roundup
The Roundup is perhaps the most visible thing I do in mission research. If you give, you’ll support this weekly publication as well as the rest of the work I do documenting movements and engagement gaps, which helps missionaries and mission agencies know where to send workers. (Thank you to the 17 so far in December!) Click here to donate.
