This is a focused recap of international news stories by Newsendip: holidays in Portugal, a resort in the Philippines, a “Croatian tragedy” and more.
- A swimming pool in a Philippines’ protected area
- From Peru to Italy: The delicate wool of the vicuñas
- Power outages in Paraguay because of cryptocurrencies
- Dutch first study on discrimination of people with Asian origin
- Mandatory conscription for women in Denmark
- A “Croatian tragedy”: The president who wants to be prime minister
- Surprising appetite of Portuguese holidaymakers
The influencer who exposed an illegal resort
The Chocolate Hills in the Philippines are a geological formation on Bohol island consisting of more than 1,200 hills spread over 50 square kilometers (19 square miles). The lush green vegetation that covers them turns to a chocolate-brown color during the dry season, hence the name. It is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the Philippines. A video of a resort with a swimming pool, slide, and cabins in this protected area gathered 17 million views and caused an uproar on social media, leading to an inquiry into how it was allowed to operate. The board meant to manage the protection of the environment allowed the resort to use “at least a 20 percent portion of the hills,” on which it conducted illegal water extraction, which raises questions about the country’s environmental protection system.
Loro Piana accused of underpaying for the world’s most expensive wool
In the Lucanas province of Peru’s Ayacucho region, one of the country’s poorest local communities harvests the world’s most expensive wool from vicuñas. The ancestral practice involves the pursuit, capture, and shearing of vicuñas, wild ancestors of the domesticated alpacas inhabiting the Andean high plateaus. Italian fashion luxury brand Loro Piana stands as the primary buyer of this fiber, with which they manufacture the Harlan Coat, selling for more than 30,000 dollars. However, the LVMH-owned firm has been criticized because it pays local communities a meager sum of just over 1,000 Peruvian soles for a kilogram of fiber (280 dollars). Ten years ago, the community earned pretty much the same and it cost Loro Piana 400 dollars.
The attractive Paraguayan energy to mine cryptos
Paraguay boasts some of the world’s greenest and most cost-effective energies, sourced almost entirely from the world’s third-largest hydroelectric power plant, the Itaipu Dam, located on the border with Brazil. The cheap electricity makes it a “veritable oasis for Bitcoin miners” and the energy-demanding creation process of many cryptocurrencies. However, the process is not always done legally, resulting in an overload of the electric grid and regular power outages across the country. Authorities have decided to crack down on these farms. Last week, more than 1,000 cryptocurrency processing machines were found and seized at a site located in a 16,000-person town.
Discrimination of the Asian population in the Netherlands
The first in-depth research on discrimination against the Asian community in the Netherlands surveyed over 2,500 Dutch people of Southeast Asian descent. More than one in three people of Southeast Asian origin claim to be victims of discrimination in the Netherlands. Numbers are the highest for the Dutch people of Chinese origin as one in two feel discriminated against. A feeling of heightened discrimination has occurred since the COVID-19 outbreak. About half a million Dutch of Asian origin live in the Netherlands, or about 3% of its population size.
Denmark recruits women into the military
Given the geopolitical context, Denmark aims to boost its defense spending by 40.5 billion Danish crowns (5.9 billion dollars) over the next five years. The Danish government unveiled plans to implement mandatory conscription of women into the military, seeking to bolster the number of young individuals engaging in basic military training. However, the decision to implement female conscription goes beyond promoting gender equality: After years of reduced budget spending, Denmark now faces a shortage of male personnel. In 2022 alone, some 2,000 individuals left the military, the highest number recorded since 2010.
A hectic start to the Croatian election
On March 17th, the president of Croatia, Zoran Milanović, publicly announced plans to run for prime minister and contest the incumbent Andrej Plenković without resigning from his position. The move was deemed unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court. He also declared that the executive head’s election would occur on a Wednesday in April, deviating from the norm of Sunday elections. His party, the Croatian Social Democrats, even refrained from endorsing the candidate, but it did not seem to hinder his attempt to take down what he considers “the most corrupt administration in Croatia’s history.” Former presidents of Croatia considered the move a “universal shock” and a “Croatian tragedy.”
The Portuguese investment in traveling
Inflation, rising interest rates, loss of purchasing power, real estate crisis, political instability: The Portuguese population faces multiple challenges that could bring down the mood for traveling. Yet, the first months of the year saw a 20% jump in bookings from 2023, already a record-high year, to the surprise of a tourism industry far from exempt from the rising prices. “We’re convinced that the [our clients] don’t see traveling as a cost, but rather as an investment,” explains Rui Pinto Lopes, head of tourism agency Pinto Lopes Viagens.
