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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.
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.

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Last week, at the Munich Security Conference, a group of global technology providers, including Microsoft, announced the Trusted Tech Alliance — committed to shared, verifiable principles for trusted, transparent, and resilient technology across borders. At a moment of economic volatility and zero-sum technological competition, countries and customers are demanding greater accountability from technology providers. The Alliance addresses this by bringing together companies from across Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America around shared commitments: transparent governance, secure development practices, supply chain oversight, open digital ecosystem, and respect for the rule of law — ensuring the benefits of emerging technologies strengthen public trust while driving job creation and economic growth. Explore the Trusted Tech Alliance here.