Hard Numbers: French union unity, German “revolution,” Sudanese exodus, missing Iranian data point, South Korean art heist that’s truly bananas

Unions attend the traditional May Day labor march to protest against the French pension reform law in Paris.
Unions attend the traditional May Day labor march to protest against the French pension reform law in Paris.
REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

8: Across France, hundreds of thousands of people joined May Day protests against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms. For the first time since 2009, all eight of the country’s top trade unions joined the rallies — a testament to the outrage at Macron’s decision to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.

3 million: More than 3 million people in Germany have already bought a new flat-fee ticket that enables them to use trains, buses, and metros anywhere in the country for about $50 a month. Admittedly, German public transport isn’t the sexiest topic, but this is evidently a “revolutionary” move: Until now, Germans have had to navigate a kopf-spinning patchwork of local and regional services, each with their own fare structures.

800,000: As Sudan’s civil war deepens, as many as 800,000 people could flee the country, the UN warned on Monday. A refugee exodus of that magnitude would put tremendous pressure on Sudan’s seven neighbors: South Sudan, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Central African Republic, and Libya.

2: Inflation is running very high in Iran. But we don’t know exactly how much because authorities have not released data for two months. Perhaps we’ve been hearing crickets because inflation has now topped a 1995 high of 49%. Following months of protests last year, Iran’s hardline President Ebrahim Raisi faces intense pressure to rein in prices, which have soared thanks to US sanctions.

120,000: That famous banana-taped-to-the-wall artwork has been eaten again. This time the culprit was an art student in Seoul who ate the musaceous meditation on “art,” and then taped the peel back to the wall. The piece, by artist Maurizio Cattelan, has been valued at $120,000. In other news to mess with your head, did you know that a banana is a berry but a raspberry is not? Don’t let that ruin your day.

More from GZERO Media

Listen: In 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin met at a summit and described their “friendship without limits.” But how close is that friendship, really? Should the US be worried about their growing military and economic cooperation? On the GZERO World Podcast, Ian Bremmer sits down with Pulitzer prize-winning national security correspondent for The New York Times David Sanger to talk about China, Russia, the US, and the 21st century struggle for global dominance.

Members of the armed wing of Nelson Mandela's African National Congress line up waiting to vote in a military base north of Pretoria, on April 26, 1994.
REUTERS/Corinne Dufka

On April 27, 1994, Black South Africans went to the polls, marking an end to years of white minority rule and the institutionalized racial segregation known as apartheid. But the “rainbow nation” still faces many challenges, with racial equality and economic development remaining out of reach.

"Patriots" on Broadway: The story of Putin's rise to power | GZERO Reports

Putin was my mistake. Getting rid of him is my responsibility.” It’s clear by the time the character Boris Berezovsky utters that chilling line in the new Broadway play “Patriots” that any attempt to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rise would be futile, perhaps even fatal. The show opened for a limited run in New York on April 22.

TITLE PLACEHOLDER | GZERO US Politics

Campus protests are a major story this week over the Israeli operation in Gaza and the Biden administration's support for it. These are leading to accusations of anti-Semitism on college campuses, and things like canceling college graduation ceremonies at several schools. Will this be an issue of the November elections?

The view Thursday night from inside the Columbia University campus gate at 116th Street and Amsterdam in New York City.
Alex Kliment

An agreement late Thursday night to continue talking, disagreeing, and protesting – without divesting or policing – came in stark contrast to the images of hundreds of students and professors being arrested on several other US college campuses on Thursday.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with Judge Amy Coney Barrett after she was sworn in as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S. October 26, 2020.
REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Some of the conservative justices (three of whom were appointed by Trump) expressed concern that allowing former presidents to be criminally prosecuted could present a burden to future commanders-in-chief.

A Palestinian woman inspects a house that was destroyed after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, April 24, 2024.
Abed Rahim Khatib/Reuters

“We are afraid of what will happen in Rafah. The level of alert is very high,” Ibrahim Khraishi, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, said Thursday.

Haiti's new interim Prime Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert holds a glass with a drink after a transitional council took power with the aim of returning stability to the country, where gang violence has caused chaos and misery, on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti April 25, 2024.
REUTERS/Pedro Valtierra

Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry formally resigned on Thursday as a new transitional body charged with forming the country’s next government was sworn in.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives at the Beijing Capital International Airport, in Beijing, China, April 25, 2024.
Mark Schiefelbein/Pool via REUTERS

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken brought up concerns over China's support for Russia with his counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing on Friday, before meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.