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In addition to the devastating human toll of last weekend’s Texas floods, which have so far taken the lives of at least 100 people – including dozens of children – initial estimates put the economic damage to people’s homes, businesses, and public infrastructure at upwards of $18 billion.
The number of US weather and climate-related disasters that have inflicted at least $1 billion worth of damage has in fact grown significantly over the past two decades, as weather patterns become more severe, a phenomenon experts attribute to climate change. Here is a look at this tragic trend since 1980.
The BRICS, a loose grouping of ten “emerging market” economies led by Brazil, Russia, India and China, held their 17th annual summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this weekend. While the official readout from the summit emphasized their commitment to multilateralism, the guestlist begged to differ. Five of the 10 leaders were no-shows, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
While the group’s declaration took aim at tariffs increases and recent attacks against Iran, it stopped short of mentioning the US or naming President Donald Trump directly. For more, here’s GZERO writer Willis Sparks’ explainer on why the BRICS are a bad bet.Iran’s Supreme Leader faces a number of challenges in the wake of the devastating 12-day war with Israel, and the perennial weakness of Iran’s economy is chief among them. Economic mismanagement, corruption, and strict Western sanctions have sapped output, weakened the currency and contributed to high inflation for years. But the recent spike in tensions with the US and Israel has accelerated the collapse of the Iranian rial, which has halved in value against the dollar since the end of last year. Here is a look at how the Iranian Rial has performed against the greenback since 2022.
Mexico and Brazil are exploring ways to boost their trade ties, and there’s certainly room for improvement: bilateral commerce between Latin America’s two largest economies amounted to just $13.6 billion last year. That’s less than 10% of Brazil’s trade with China, and not even 2% of Mexico’s trade with the US. While the two countries have historically competed for dominance, the Trump administration’s latest tariffs and the election of left-wing leadership in both Brazil and Mexico have motivated closer cooperation.
Here’s a look at where trade between Brazil and Mexico currently stands.
In the race to develop “superintelligence” – AI that exceeds human intelligence – Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is assembling an all-star team to challenge competitors like OpenAI and Google. Cost doesn’t appear to be a factor, with Zuckerberg reportedly offering up to nine-figure compensation packages and $100-million bonuses to researchers from rival tech giants. It’s just a tip of the iceberg for a company gearing up to invest “hundreds of billions” to AI research.
Here’s a look at everyone we know Meta has recruited for its new “superintelligence” team, and which companies they came from.
Hong Kong’s League of Social Democrats, the last active pro-democracy party in the Chinese-controlled territory, announced on Sunday that it was disbanding, putting another nail in the coffin of the city’s democracy. China’s draconian national security law of 2020 has led to hundreds of arrests in recent years, all but silencing Hong Kong’s broader opposition movement. With the folding of the League of Social Democrats, Hong Kong’s Beijing-installed Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu will now rule without even the slightest hint of dissent.
Jeff Bezos and fiancée Lauren Sánchez’s lavish wedding in Venice is drawing global attention — and local backlash. The opulent affair has sparked protests in Venice, with residents protesting about Amazon’s environmental impact, growing inequality, and long-brewing anger that Venice’s government prioritizes tourism over local needs. Earlier in the week, the betrothed had to change their location over threats from environmental protesters to fill the canals around the event with inflatable crocodiles. It has since been moved to a more secure, and secret, location.