Bombshell Postal

NEED TO KNOW

Bombshell Postal

SOUTH AFRICA

The head of South Africa’s Post Office, Fathima Gany, recently dropped a bombshell on lawmakers. As the Financial Times reported, Gany announced that she needed a $214 million bailout for the service or else it would be forced to shut down. She shed 4,000 of 11,000 staff and closed a third of the postal service’s branches, yet still couldn’t claw out of bankruptcy or the $487 million debt load.

The fate of the country’s Post Office, founded in 1792, symbolizes the problems that South Africa faces today. Basic services are decaying. Economic opportunities are tightening. Costs are rising. Poverty is inveterate. The International Monetary Fund listed those and other problems facing the country.

The debt especially concerns many outside of the country. China, for example, has invested heavily in South Africa as well as other countries on the continent. As outlined by the China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, these deals often involve Chinese financing of extractive industries, like mines; infrastructure to move goods, like new railways, roads, ports, and airports; and diplomatically and politically beneficial projects like sports stadiums.

At the recent China-Africa Summit in Beijing, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, for example, felt moved to refute sentiments that Chinese investors in Africa were setting the stage for a “debt trap” where Africa was forever in hock to the Chinese, Reuters noted. In the same remarks, he said he and Chinese leaders had reached a new energy deal that would benefit South Africans. He didn’t specify details.

But it is clear: Ramaphosa is presiding over a state that is crumbling. A judge recently sent a top official in the country’s national passenger railway system to prison for 15 years for using forged university qualifications, for instance, the Associated Press reported. The case revealed that he even used a fake job offer to entice railway executives to double his salary to convince him to stay with the organization.

Meanwhile, as Ramaphosa spoke in the Chinese capital, his political standing at home was perhaps weaker than ever. As World Politics Review wrote, Ramaphosa only managed to barely win reelection in the South African Parliament in June after promising to share power with opposition leaders and appointing their handpicked candidates for a few cabinet seats.

He was vulnerable because his party, the African National Congress, which overturned the racist Apartheid regime in the 1990s, had performed poorly at the May polls, losing its parliamentary majority for the first time in three decades. The party had failed to fix the country’s most pressing challenges: high unemployment, inequality and corruption, explained CBS News.

Still, as Chatham House wrote, “South Africa’s election provides an important example (for the region): that leaderships can no longer take power for granted, and that citizens across the region are seeking real change … and are impatient (for it).”

THE WORLD, BRIEFLY

Double Hitter

EUROPEAN UNION

Europe’s top court on Tuesday dealt a major blow to two US tech giants in two separate rulings, which analysts said underscored the European Union’s accelerating efforts to rein in Big Tech’s influence over markets and tax systems, CNBC reported.

On Tuesday, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled against Apple, concluding a legal battle that started in 2016 when the European Commission ordered Ireland to recover up to more than $14 billion in back taxes from the US firm.

The case dates to a 2014 investigation by the commission into Apple’s tax arrangements in Ireland, where its EU headquarters are located. The commission accused the company of receiving “illegal” tax benefits over the course of two decades.

The Irish government, which had sided with Apple, called the case one of “historical relevance” and reiterated its stance that it does not give preferential tax treatment to any company.

Meanwhile, Apple will incur a one-time tax charge of $10 billion in its fiscal quarter ending this month, in response to the ruling.

The company maintains that it has always paid taxes where required and lambasted the commission for trying to change the rules retroactively.

Separately, the bloc’s top court upheld a $2.6 billion antitrust fine against Google for favoring its own shopping search results over those of competitors.

The court upheld the original 2017 fine, ruling that the company’s behavior was discriminatory and hindered competition, Politico wrote.

Google expressed disappointment at the verdict, countering that it had made changes to comply with the commission’s ruling. However, critics said that the company’s adjustments have been insufficient.

This case is part of a larger antitrust campaign against Google, which is still contesting a record $4.74 billion fine related to its Android operating system.

Observers noted that both cases underscore the EU’s increasing regulatory pressure on tech giants, which has intensified under the new Digital Markets Act (DMA), a sweeping law that prohibits “self-preferencing” and enforces stricter oversight on companies, such as Apple, Google and Meta.

The Off Button

AUSTRALIA

Australia is planning to set a minimum age for children to use social media this year, as part of efforts to address concerns about users’ mental and physical health caused by excessive screen use, Reuters reported Tuesday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese unveiled the initiative, saying his center-left administration before introducing the minimum age bill would first run an age verification trial for preventing access to pornographic websites and limiting younger users from using social media services.

Although the minimum age has not yet been specified, children between 13 and 16 years old can no longer access social media sites and platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.

Albanese said many parents were complaining about their children’s usage of social media, adding that he wants to see children “off their devices and onto the footy fields and the swimming pools and the tennis courts.”

If implemented, the legislation would put Australia among the first countries in the world to impose age restrictions on social media.

More than 80 percent of Australia’s 26-million population are on social media, according to government and tech industry data.

Even so, there are still questions about the new policy’s implementation and effectiveness, including how usage would be restricted.

Digital rights advocates and analysts also wondered if restricting social media for children would prompt them to start using it in secret. Other concerns include excluding children “from meaningful, healthy participation in the digital world, potentially driving them to lower-quality online spaces.”

The proposal comes amid increasing pressure on tech companies to address social media use among teenagers.

Observers told the Financial Times that screen use could be one of the main campaign issues in next year’s parliamentary election.

The opposition Liberal Party has said it would introduce a ban on the use of social media for those under 16 within 100 days of being elected.

Flaring Up

INDIA

Indian authorities imposed an indefinite curfew and shut down the Internet in parts of Manipur on Tuesday after student protests erupted in response to a renewed surge of ethnic violence in the northeastern state, the Associated Press reported.

Manipur, with a population of 3.7 million people and bordering Myanmar, has been embroiled in violent ethnic clashes since May 2023 between the predominantly Hindu Meitei community and Christian Kuki tribes.

The Kukis oppose the Meiteis’ demand for special status, which would allow them to buy land in the hills, a region traditionally occupied by tribal groups.

Despite the presence of security forces and attempts by the government to broker peace, the unrest has claimed more than 250 lives and displaced tens of thousands of people.

Violence has flared up over the past 10 days after armed groups launched drone and rocket attacks that killed at least nine people.

In response, the state government imposed a curfew in three districts while also suspending Internet and mobile data services until Sunday.

Officials said the restrictions are aimed at curbing the spread of misinformation and hate speech that could inflame tensions, adding that “anti-social elements” could exploit social media to incite violence through hate messages and videos, Bloomberg noted.

On Tuesday, police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of students, who attempted to march to the governor’s residence to demand peace.

The demonstrators gave Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya 24 hours to respond to a list of demands, including the removal of the state’s top police official and security adviser for failing to control the violence.

DISCOVERIES

Expensive Shake

A groundbreaking study proposes that the secret to the formation of large gold nuggets lies in the earth-shaking power of earthquakes.

Researchers from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, discovered that seismic activity could induce a phenomenon known as the piezoelectric effect in quartz, a common mineral in the Earth’s crust, leading to the accumulation of gold particles into sizeable nuggets.

Published in Nature Geoscience, the study addresses a long-standing geological mystery about how can large gold nuggets form despite the low concentrations of gold typically found in natural fluids.

For example, the formation of a 22-pound gold nugget would generally require an enormous volume of water with dissolved gold – about the equivalent of five Olympic swimming pools.

“This was always a bit of a conundrum, especially when there isn’t field evidence supporting the alternative gold-forming processes,” Christopher Voisey, a geologist at Monash University and co-author of the study, told Scientific American.

Voisey and his team conducted experiments that simulated the conditions of an earthquake. They placed quartz crystals in a fluid containing dissolved gold and subjected them to quake-like forces. The stress on the quartz generated an electric charge – known as the piezoelectric effect – that facilitated the accumulation of gold nanoparticles on the mineral’s surface.

“This mechanism can help explain the creation of large nuggets and the commonly observed highly interconnected gold networks within quartz vein fractures,” the researchers wrote.

The study provides a plausible explanation for the formation of orogenic gold deposits, which are commonly found in regions where tectonic plates have collided.

These deposits account for about 75 percent of the world’s mined gold, which typically comes from cracks in quartz veins. The findings could also have practical applications in gold prospecting, potentially guiding prospectors to rich gold deposits, other researchers told the Guardian.

While the hypothesis is promising, further research is needed to fully understand the process.

Voisey added that he and his colleagues plan to explore different pressures and temperatures to refine their understanding of how piezoelectricity can contribute to the formation of gold.