Hard Numbers: Danish snap vote, South Korean arms sales boom, global trade slowdown, Haitian anarchy

A mink at a Danish farm.
A mink at a Danish farm.
Ritzau Scanpix/Mads Claus Rasmussen via REUTERS

7: On Wednesday, Danish PM Mette Frederiksen called a snap election seven months before the end of her term, with the ruling center-left bloc tied in the polls with the center-right opposition. Frederiksen's approval has tanked recently due to her role in the government's illegal and botched attempt to cull the country's entire population of … mink.

20 billion: South Korea might export more than $20 billion worth of weapons this year, surpassing China and Germany to become the world's fourth-largest arms exporter. Over the past five years, South Korean arms sales have grown the most of any top exporting country.

1: The WTO says global trade will only grow by 1% next year due to slow Western demand and a sluggish Chinese economy. That'll ease inflation a bit but also raise the odds of a worldwide recession in 2023.

30: Americans were complaining about $5 gasoline just a few months ago, but Haitians now have to cough up a whopping $30 per gallon of gas in the capital, Port-au-Prince. Haiti has been embroiled in a state of near-anarchy since PM Ariel Henry scrapped fuel subsidies and prices doubled overnight. Armed gangs are occupying the main fuel terminal, demanding Henry’s resignation.


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