Europe
Hard Numbers: El Salvador vs gang talk, crap demand soars, Delhi sees meat beef, Ukrainians at the US border
Gang members are secured during a police operation at Izalco jail.
Reuters
15: A new law in El Salvador threatens people with 15 years in prison for sharing information about gangs. The measure, passed amid a state of emergency due to gang violence, is meant to stymie communication between them. But human rights advocates already worried about the authoritarian leanings of President Nayib Bukele say it could be used to stifle free expression more broadly.
9: There’s a big beef in the Indian capital of Delhi, where local officials of the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP party asked meat shops to close for the nine-day Hindu festival of Navratri (Hindus regard cows as sacred animals). The move provoked online outrage from opposition leaders and Indian Muslims, who said the move was discriminatory.
14: Prices for good-quality solid manure in the US state of Nebraska have recently risen to as much as $14 per ton, nearly double their normal price. Farmers’ demand for this sort of crap has soared globally because it’s a substitute for chemical fertilizers, which are more expensive than ever as the war in Ukraine undercuts supplies.
2,000: More than 2,000 Ukrainians have arrived at the US southern border in recent days, seeking refuge in the United States. President Biden recently pledged to accept up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, and he plans to lift pandemic-related restrictions on immigration in May. Those two moves together could generate a fresh border crisis as officials struggle to cope with a soaring number of migrants.US President Donald Trump listens to a question from a reporter prior to signing an executive order on AI next to Sriram Krishnan, Senior White House Policy Advisor on Artificial Intelligence, US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and David Sacks, chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., USA, on December 11, 2025.
Artificial intelligence and Donald Trump's foreign policy are creating huge tail risks for markets.
Last week, Microsoft released a new report offering an in-depth look at AI adoption across the United States, with state- and county-level insights for the first time. While more than 30 percent of working-age Americans now use AI tools, adoption remains uneven across regions, with significantly higher usage in urban areas and communities tied to universities. The findings point to a broader challenge: without stronger access to infrastructure, skills, and education, AI’s benefits risk remaining concentrated rather than broadly shared. Read the full blog here.
The maker of the large-language model Claude became the latest AI giant to file to go public.
Hundreds took to the streets in Kenya after the US announced plans to build an Ebola quarantine center on a Kenyan air base, with protesters warning the facility risks introducing a disease the country has never recorded. President Ruto is defending the project.