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Hard Numbers: GOP hush-hush, al-Aqsa tensions flare, Iran-Saudi thaw gets real, still inking at 106
Courtroom sketch of US President Donald Trump in court for his arraignment in New York.
REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg
57: Hush hush! According to a new Economist/YouGov poll released after the indictment of former US President Donald Trump, 57% of Republicans believe that failing to report spending campaign cash on hush-money payments is a crime. That's down from 76% in early March, as largely conservative media have questioned the legal basis and political motivations for the charges against Trump.
7: On Thursday, the foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia met in China for the first time in over 7 years, agreeing to resume diplomatic ties and reopen embassies. For more on the geopolitics behind the Iran-Saudi détente — and Beijing's role in helping the two Middle East rivals patch things up — read our primer here.
350: Israeli police arrested at least 350 Palestinians during a pre-dawn raid on the al-Aqsa Mosque complex in Jerusalem on Tuesday. Authorities say militants had barricaded themselves inside the complex ahead of Passover, when Jewish worshippers will enter the site. Palestinians responded to a second raid Wednesday with rockets from the Gaza Strip, two years after Israel and Hamas fought a brief war that started over violence related to access to the holy site.
106: Whang-Od, an Indigenous tattoo artist in the Philippines, is the oldest person to be featured on the cover of Vogue magazine. The 106-year-old Whang-Od is famous for being one of the last people alive who performs batok, the traditional art of tattooing by hand in the mountainous Kalinga region.Xi Jinping will welcome Donald Trump with lots of pomp and circumstance. The summit, though, will be short on substance.
Israel used AI in Gaza in a way that felt "potentially uncomfortable for the US military tradition" says Bloomberg reporter Katrina Manson.
Ian Bremmer breaks down the complicated reality inside Venezuela after Nicolás Maduro’s removal from power. While the Trump administration sees the operation as a major foreign policy victory, Ian argues the harder challenge is only beginning; turning Venezuela into a stable economy and a representative democracy.
Even Eurovision cannot escape geopolitics, South Africa’s constitutional court opens door to Ramaphosa impeachment vote, Zelensky’s former right-hand man accused in corruption probe