Is Bitcoin the New Gold?

The divide’s growing. Former President George W. Bush congratulated President-elect Joe Biden Sunday. He’s the latest among a slow stream of Republicans looking to move oneven as President Trump’s campaign reasserted unproven claims of voter fraud from the parking lot of Four Seasons Total Landscaping, a business situated next to a cremation home and a sex shop in Philadelphia. Across the world in Myanmar, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s party is expected to retain power after Sunday’s national elections. (Sources: CNN, WaPo, Philadelphia Inquirer, NYT)

2. Best Deal for Business?

A predictable president-elect in Biden … and a Republican Senate and conservative judiciary to control the leftist instincts of his agenda: Has Wall Street got its dream outcome? Vote on Twitter. The tumult of the U.S. election hasn’t impacted China though — the country’s exports grew at their fastest rate in 19 months. (Sources: WSJ, Reuters)

3. Fire and Fury

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has sacked his army chief, reshuffling his military brass as fighting intensifies in the northern Tigray region amid tensions with the local government there. Meanwhile, nature is unloading its own ammunition, with Tropical Storm Eta killing dozens in Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Cuba and triggering landslides across the region. It’s now headed toward Florida. (Sources: BBC, FT, Al Jazeera)

4. Beating Shame

Chinese students have set up sanitary pad dispensers in nearly 250 university campuses across the country to tackle period shaming and shine a light on stigmas surrounding menstrual health that the country continues to grapple with. (Source: Guardian)

Missing a luxury cruise or the feeling of flying? Trust Asia’s pandemic-scarred travel industry to find you a fix. Singapore last Friday started two-day “cruises to nowhere.” Ships will sail into international waters and then return to the city state. And airlines in Taiwan, Hong Kong and India are offering rides where you strap in, enjoy the in-flight experience, complete with chef-prepared cuisine and pampering, before flying back home. 

She’s been compared to Michelle Obama — for her grace, poise, and for lifting the profile of Black women in Costa Rica, a country with deep-seated racism. But she also shares parallels with Serena Williams for fighting to bridge the gender wage gap. Yet Campbell Barr has gone where neither Obama nor Williams has — as Latin America’s first Afro Latina vice president. She played the saxophone and flute growing up. Now she’s making Costa Rica move to her political rhythm. Defying death threats, she forced the removal of a racist textbook from the national curriculum. In the book, a Black boy who speaks with monkeys falls in love with a blonde, blue-eyed girl. In reality, Costa Rica has fallen for this brown-eyed champion.

2. Jewel Howard Taylor

She’s the ex-wife of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, who was sentenced to 50 years in prison for war crimes in Sierra Leone. She’s also deputy to Liberia’s current president, former soccer star George Weah. And it’s that successful transformation — Howard Taylor insists she had no idea of her former husband’s actions — that points to her political skills. A devout Roman Catholic who once tried to get Liberia to adopt a death penalty for homosexuality, Taylor is now recovering from COVID-19 but quietly critiquing her own government over law-and-order failures. Is she laying the ground to challenge Weah?

3. Mehriban Aliyeva

Is it her? Or is it her daughter? Azerbaijan’s first lady since 2003 is also its vice president, and has had so many plastic surgeries done to her face that during a visit to capital Baku in 2008, U.S. officials weren’t sure if they were speaking with Aliyeva or one of her daughters. She has posed for Vogue, and is increasingly the country’s international face, whether it’s in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin or with public statements against Armenia during the ongoing conflict. Aliyeva is often called the “Queen of the Caucasus.” Will she someday replace the “king” — her own husband?

Aliyeva has company. Here’s a quiz: Which other country has a first lady who’s also vice president?

For years, cryptocurrencies were synonymous with wild fluctuations. Now for the first time, analysts at J.P. Morgan are pitchingBitcoin as the new gold — a safe investment guaranteed to rise in value with time. Meanwhile, groups like PayPal have recently started allowing users to buy cryptocurrencies.

2. Talkin' Bout a Revolution

More like funding a revolution, actually. Thousands of young Nigerians who’ve taken to the streets in recent weeks to demand an end to police brutality are financing their revolution using cryptocurrency. By Oct. 22,bitcoin accounted for 40 percent of the $387,000 collected by one of the leading groups behind the protests.

3. Trick or Treat

You know cryptocurrency has joined the mainstream when it becomes a part of kiddie celebrations. A Canadian crypto enthusiast gave bitcoin gift cards to trick-or-treaters this past Halloween.

You might beat them at soccer, but not at wit. Briefly leading the English Premier League over the weekend, soccer club Southampton FC poked fun at President Trump’s calls to stop counting votes while he was ahead in key states, with a tweet of its own. Like Trump, they soon slipped — Southampton’s now in fourth place.

2. Processor Horror

Remember those ridiculously slow computer processor speeds, when copying anything from one folder to another could take hours? Nevada’s snail-paced counting of votes has drawn comparisons with the 1990s when we were patient enough to endure that sluggish process without switching to TikTok in frustration.

What’s the best election meme you’ve come across — or made? Share with us!!

It has more names than a secret agent. Also called mahewu, mageu and amarhewu, this gluten- and dairy-free maize-based beverage is popular across South Africa, Zambia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Botswana, Namibia and Mozambique. It has a slightly sour taste and muddy color — but it’ll clear your mind.

2. Pu Erh

Like the best wine, this black tea with an earthy flavor from Yunnan, China, ages well. This fermented brew has for centuries worked as a cure-all for everything from weight loss and stress to cholesterol and blood cleansing.

3. Pozol

This one’s easy to crack. Made from corn and cacao, this Mexican drink was a historic favorite of indigenous communities, seen as a source of nutrition and sustenance, and continues to be popular in southern Mexico today. Salud!

On Thursday, we asked if you could match words that mean “total mess” to countries where you might hear them. The correct answer? Klerezooi — the Netherlands; Despelote — Argentina; Kosa Kubwa — Kenya.