Hard Numbers

$143 million: If you think you had a rough Valentine's Day, things could be worse. In 2018, the US Federal Trade Commission recorded over 20,000 romance scams, whereby individuals were lured by phony online profiles and eventually exploited for their money, costing the affected $143 million dollars. That was up from $33 million in losses in 2015.

5,000:The humanitarian goods awaiting entry into Venezuela from Colombia could feed around 5,000 people for ten days and provide medical assistance to 10,000 people for 90 days, according to the American embassy in Colombia.

73: Sectarian divisions run deep in Nigeria. The Muslim and Christian populations are roughly equal, but their political views diverge. Some 73 percent of Muslims approve of the current government, against just 24 percent of Christians.

31: Turkish President Erdogan has pledged to sell cheap food dubbed "people's vegetables" to combat rising food costs that saw prices rise 31 percent in January. Erdogan says he's resolved to put an end to "food terrorism."

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Israel approved the Gaza ceasefire deal on Friday morning, bringing the ceasefire officially into effect. The Israeli military must withdraw its forces to an agreed perimeter inside Gaza within 24 hours, and Hamas has 72 hours to return the hostages.

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French President Emmanuel Macron is scrambling to pull France out of a deepening political free fall that’s already toppled five prime ministers in two years. Tomorrow he’ll try again—and this time, says Eurasia Group’s Mujtaba Rahman, the fifth pick might finally stick.

In these photos, emergency units carry out rescue work after a Russian attack in Ternopil and Prikarpattia oblasts on December 13, 2024. A large-scale Russian missile attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure left half of the consumers in the Ternopil region without electricity, the Ternopil Regional State Administration reported.
U.S. President Donald Trump takes part in a welcoming ceremony with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, November 9, 2017.
REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

China has implemented broad new restrictions on exports of rare earth and other critical minerals vital for semiconductors, the auto industry, and military technology, of which it controls 70% of the global supply.