Monday Briefing | February 19

Ramaphosa (left), Nelson Mandela and Jacob Zuma (right) attend the Convention for a Democratic South Africa in 1991. | Photo courtesy Getty/AFP, Walter Dhladhla

Stories to Follow

Ramaphosa’s first steps in South Africa: Once the African National Congress (ANC) demanded Jacob Zuma resign after 8 years as president due to corruption allegations, Cyril Ramaphosa assumed office as Deputy President. Ramaphosa faces the challenge of rebuilding trust in the ANC by tackling unemployment and crime, credibly fighting corruption, and cleaning up the ANC. Nelson Mandela’s party legacy of freedom fighting is on the line.

Military intervention in Rio de Janeiro, on the orders of President Temer: Despite Temer’s single-digit popularity levels, the power of this former vice president to impeached Dilma Rousseff, is far from speculation. The intervention, justified by the Administration due to security concerns, collaterally stops Congress from voting on Mr. Temer’s pension reform and caters to the growing sector of the population that would support military rule in Brazil again.

Russian meddling in U.S. elections: US. national security adviser H.R. McMaster made waves with his statement on Saturday at the  Munich Security Conference: “With FBI indictment, evidence of Russian interference is incontrovertible.”

Happening This Week

Yann LeCun, Director of Facebook AI Research: Obstacles to Progress in Deep Learning & AI | Feb 20, 10-11 AM, Pfizer Auditorium (5 MetroTech Center, Brooklyn)
Elon Musk seems to have fear of nothing, not even of rocketing a car into space. Yet, he is terrified of Artificial Intelligence. Fellow billionaire Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, profoundly disagrees. Find out why in the new talk of the ECE Seminar Series on Modern Artificial Intelligence. 

After the 19th Congress: China in 2020, 2030 and 2050 | Feb 23, 3-5 PM, NYU China House (8 Washington Mews)
NYU China House brings Dr. Angang Hu, one of the pioneers and leading authorities in the field of Contemporary China Studies, for a discussion on the future of China. Claim your free ticket here. 

The Debate about RCTs in Development is over.  We won. They lost. | Feb 21, 4:30-6 PM, 14A Washington Mews, 1st Fl.
Before walking to NYU’s Development Research Institute (DRI), RSVP here if you want to get deep into the debate of how to conduct research in economic development.

In Your Free Time

The Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea now enter their final week. The definitive guide on what to watch and when is, oh-so-not-surprisingly, the BBC’s.

This Monday Briefing is brought to you by Matias Ahumada Rioja.