Hard Numbers: Erdo vs. Nordics, China’s economic slump, new Nigerian voters, bridge to Sicily, Ukrainian chopper crash

January 17, 2023

A hand with the Turkish flag colors in the halt expression beside flags of Sweden, Finland & NATO

Paige Fusco

130: Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wants Finland and Sweden to hand over 130 political dissidents that Ankara calls "terrorists" in order to approve their joint application to join NATO. His demand comes a week after Kurdish activists in Stockholm hung an effigy of Erdoğan from a lamppost to protest against the Turkish leader for holding the Nordics' NATO bids hostage.

3: China’s economic growth dropped by more than half to 3% in 2022 from the previous year, its second-lowest level in four decades, mainly due to zero-COVID and a sluggish property sector. But the outlook for 2023 is more promising after Xi Jinping ditched pandemic curbs and loosened restrictions on real estate borrowing.

10 million: Nearly 10 million new voters — 84% of them under age 34 — have registered for Nigeria's general election on Feb. 25. Unfortunately, more than one-tenth were told to come back because their applications were invalid in a country with a troubled history of problems at the ballot box.

3.3: Italy's PM Giorgia Meloni wants to do what even the mighty Roman Empire could not: build a 3.3-kilometer (2.05-mile) bridge connecting the mainland to the island of Sicily. The government says the project would bring in big bucks for Italy's poorest region, but critics have panned the idea as political grandstanding.

18: At least 18 people — including Ukraine's Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi — died in a helicopter crash near Kyiv on Wednesday. We don't know yet if the cause was an accident or a Russian attack. Monastyrskyi is the most senior Ukrainian official to have perished since the war began almost 11 months ago.

Advancing Indigenous economic reconciliation and our energy future

Enbridge

Enbridge and Six Nations Energy Development LP have joined forces to advance a 200-megawatt wind energy project in Saskatchewan, which will produce emissions-free energy to support over 100,000 homes. The project is Enbridge’s first Indigenous partnership in wind energy and the first Indigenous partnership in the province. Six Nations, a consortium of Indigenous groups from Saskatchewan, will have the opportunity to acquire equity ownership of at least 30% of the project, supported by loan guarantees of up to $100 million from the Saskatchewan Indigenous Investment Finance Corporation. Learn more here.

Partnering for the future: Indigenous communities and energy transition

Listen: In this episode of Energized: The Future of Energy, host JJ Ramberg and Enbridge CEO Greg Ebel talk to Justin Bourque, President of Athabasca Indigenous Investments, and Mark Podlasly, Chief Sustainability Officer of First Nations Major Project Coalition. They discuss how a partnership deal between Enbridge and 23 Indigenous communities in northern Alberta is improving life for those communities and how Indigenous peoples are investing in the energy transition—and their futures.

Myanmar junta calls for peace talks with minority militias — not pro-democracy fighters

FILE PHOTO: At a secret jungle camp in Myanmar's eastern Karen state, a fitness coach and other civilians are training with armed ethnic guerrillas to fight back against the country's military takeover.

REUTERS/Independent photographer

After a year of rebel victories that have left Myanmar’s ruling junta on the defensive, its chairman, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, invited ethnic minority armies to peace talks in a state television broadcast on Tuesday.

Listen now: How partnering with Indigenous communities can help shape the future of energy

Enbridge

In this episode of “Energized: The Future of Energy,” a podcast series from GZERO Media's Blue Circle Studios and Enbridge, host JJ Ramberg and Enbridge CEO Greg Ebel talk to Justin Bourque, President of Athabasca Indigenous Investments, and Mark Podlasly, Chief Sustainability Officer of First Nations Major Project Coalition. They discuss how a partnership deal between Enbridge and 23 Indigenous communities in northern Alberta is improving life for those communities and how Indigenous peoples are investing in the energy transition—and their futures. Listen to this episode at gzeromedia.com/energized, or on Apple, Spotify, Goodpods, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hard Numbers: Erdo vs. Nordics, China’s economic slump, new Nigerian voters, bridge to Sicily, Ukrainian chopper crash

GZEROMEDIA

More from GZERO Media

Graphic Truth: Latino voters and votes since 1980

Latinos make up the largest minority group in the US, accounting for nearly 15% of eligible voters. They are also one of the fastest-expanding electoral forces – first-time Latino voters account for half of the growth in US eligible voters since 2020.

Advancing Indigenous economic reconciliation and our energy future

Canadians manage to give Modi a headache for a change

Trudeau has been accused of turning a blind eye to foreign interference for years. But on Monday, his team showed a sign of progress as it took a series of carefully orchestrated steps designed to push back at India's prime minister.

Partnering for the future: Indigenous communities and energy transition

GZD 10/17/24

GZEROMEDIA

Zelensky lays out his “victory plan” at home and in Europe

On Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky presented his much-discussed “victory plan” to Ukraine’s parliament.

US keeps trying to change Israel’s behavior, with few results

From the IDF’s offensive in Rafah to its more recent invasion in Lebanon, there have been myriad examples of Israel taking escalatory steps that Washington has vocally opposed.

Another shot at the Rainbow Nation dream?

This unexpected alliance between South Africa’s long-ruling ANC and the Democratic Alliance has shown early signs of promise.

Myanmar junta calls for peace talks with minority militias — not pro-democracy fighters

After a year of rebel victories that have left Myanmar’s ruling junta on the defensive, its chairman, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, invited ethnic minority armies to peace talks in a state television broadcast on Tuesday.

Listen now: How partnering with Indigenous communities can help shape the future of energy

Hard Numbers: Erdo vs. Nordics, China’s economic slump, new Nigerian voters, bridge to Sicily, Ukrainian chopper crash

GZEROMEDIA

Subscribe to GZERO Media's newsletter: Signal

More from GZERO Media

Latinos make up the largest minority group in the US, accounting for nearly 15% of eligible voters. They are also one of the fastest-expanding electoral forces – first-time Latino voters account for half of the growth in US eligible voters since 2020.

Trudeau has been accused of turning a blind eye to foreign interference for years. But on Monday, his team showed a sign of progress as it took a series of carefully orchestrated steps designed to push back at India's prime minister.

GZEROMEDIA

Subscribe to GZERO Media's newsletter: Signal

On Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky presented his much-discussed “victory plan” to Ukraine’s parliament.

From the IDF’s offensive in Rafah to its more recent invasion in Lebanon, there have been myriad examples of Israel taking escalatory steps that Washington has vocally opposed.

This unexpected alliance between South Africa’s long-ruling ANC and the Democratic Alliance has shown early signs of promise.

After a year of rebel victories that have left Myanmar’s ruling junta on the defensive, its chairman, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, invited ethnic minority armies to peace talks in a state television broadcast on Tuesday.