Hard Numbers

19: The arrival of Egyptian-born footballer Mo Salah to Liverpool FC correlated with a nearly 19% drop in Islamophobic hate crimes in Liverpool's home region and a 50% drop in Islamophobic tweets by Liverpool supporters, according to a new study. (Liverpool FC is a UK soccer team that just won the UEFA Champions League, for our American readers or anyone who's been living under a rock).

5: New US State Department rules will require visa applicants to the US to provide email addresses and phone numbers going back five years, in addition to all social media handles. The State Department says this will affect nearly 15 million would-be visitors every year.

90: If you're worried about climate change, what you do on land is only part of the problem: maritime shipping accounts for 90 percent of all global trade and ships tends to burn the dirtiest, lowest-quality fuels available, making them one of the most significant sources of global pollution today.

150: Russia requires more than 150 online services to save user data and pass it on to the government if requested. Just this week, it added the dating app Tinder to that list. #SwipeFromRussiaWithLove

More from GZERO Media

German Chancellor and chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Angela Merkel addresses a news conference in Berlin, Germany September 19, 2016.
REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

Angela Merkel was elected chancellor of Germany on November 22, 2005, becoming the first woman to hold that job. During that time Merkel was arguably the most powerful woman in the world, presiding over one of its largest economies for four terms in the Bundesregierung. Twenty years on, the anniversary is a reminder of how singular her breakthrough remains. It’s still the exception when a woman runs a country.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivers the State of the European Union address to the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, France, September 10, 2025.
REUTERS/Yves Herman

While the European Union has never been more critical, it is also facing a trifecta of divisive challenges.

In this episode of “Local to global: The power of small business,” host JJ Ramberg sits down with Chapin Flynn, Senior Vice President of Transit and Urban Mobility at Mastercard, and Mark Langmead, Director of Revenue & Compass Operations at TransLink in Vancouver, to explore how cities are making transit easier, faster, and more seamless for riders–an approach known as frictionless urban mobility.