Hard Numbers: Another South American leftist on the ropes?

21 million: China has pledged $21 million to Nepal over the next three years as part of its latest attempt to pull that country away from India's sphere of influence. This follows China's earlier promise to build a railway connecting Nepal and China.

6: The Greens Party made historic gains in Switzerland's national elections on Sunday, getting a six-point boost since 2015, taking 13.2 percent of the vote. While the anti-immigration Swiss People's Party remains the leader despite a slip in support, the Greens' rise reflects voters' concerns over climate change, which emerged as the dominant electoral issue.

9: India and Pakistan blamed each other for an exchange of fire in disputed Kashmir that killed nine people on both sides. This was one of the deadliest episodes since renewed fighting between the hostile neighbors began in August after India stripped the region of its semi-autonomy.

45: Bolivia's President Evo Morales fell short of outright victory in Sunday's presidential elections, taking 45 percent of the vote with most ballots counted. Many have taken to the streets in recent weeks to protest the leftist firebrand's increasingly authoritarian instincts. Bolivia's weak opposition will now get a chance to beat the 15-year incumbent in December's runoff elections.

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Listen: On this episode of the GZERO World Podcast, while the Gaza war rages on with no end in sight, Ian Bremmer and three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman discuss how it could end, who is standing in the way, and what comes next. It may seem premature to talk about a resolution to this conflict, but Friedman argues that it is more important now than ever to map out a viable endgame. "Either we're going to go into 2024 with some really new ideas,” Friedman tells Ian, “or we're going back to 1947 with some really new weapons."

2024 04 04 E0819 Quick Take CLEAN FINAL

Ian Bremmer's Quick Take: On the back of the Israeli Defense Forces strike killing seven members of aid workers for the World Central Kitchen, their founder, Chef Jose Andres, is obviously very angry. The Israelis immediately apologized and took responsibility for the act. He says that this was intentionally targeting his workers. I have a hard time believing that the IDF would have wanted to kill his workers intentionally. Anyone that's saying the Israelis are only to blame for this—as well as the enormous civilian death toll in this war–I strongly disagree.

President Joe Biden pauses during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023.
Miriam Alster/REUTERS

Biden told Netanyahu that the humanitarian situation in Gaza and strikes on aid workers were “unacceptable,” the White House readout of the call said.

Commander Shingo Nashinoki, 50, and soldiers of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force's Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade (ARDB), Japan's first marine unit since World War Two, take part in a military drill as U.S. Marines observe, on the uninhabited Irisuna island close to Okinawa, Japan, November 15, 2023.
REUTERS

Given the ugly World War II history between the two countries, that would be a startling development.

Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko listens to the presidential candidate he is backing in the March 24 election, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, as they hold a joint press conference a day after they were released from prison, in Dakar, Senegal March 15, 2024.
REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Newly inaugurated Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, in his first act in office, appointed his mentor Ousmane Sonko as prime minister on Wednesday.