31.9%: Citizens of Hong Kong still aren’t enthused about the “patriots only” system of pseudo-democracy, as just 31.9% of the city’s 4.1 million registered voters showed up at the polls in Sunday’s legislative election. China implemented this system – whereby only pre-approved candidates can run – in 2021. Turnout in the last election before this new rule, back in 2016, was 58%.
2: Tensions between two old rivals in East Asia continue to rise. Chinese fighter jets twice fixed their radar on Japanese military planes that were flying over international waters over the weekend, the Japanese government said. Beijing disputed Tokyo’s account. Japan is frustrated that the Trump administration hasn’t offered more support amid this growing dispute.
$1.08 trillion: China’s trade annual surplus climbed past the trillion dollar mark this last year, reaching $1.08 trillion. No country has reached such a level of exports before. The record comes despite US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China, which Chinese companies have bypassed by shifting the transshipment or final assembly of products to other countries. It is also due to China now selling twice as much to the EU as it buys.
8: First the jewel robbery at the Louvre, and now, two different men stole eight engravings from French artist Matisse and five from Brazilian painter Candido Portinari from a library in São Paulo, Brazil on Sunday.
$82.7 billion: Netflix, the world’s largest streaming service, announced on Friday that it would purchase Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns HBO Max. However, the deal could be over before it begins: Trump said yesterday that the deal “could be a problem” because of Netflix’s existing market share in streaming. His administration must greenlight the deal before it goes through.
As AI creates new opportunities, the people who understand a community best play an important role in determining how those opportunities take shape. Across the US, Microsoft is supporting AI literacy classes as part of a new program developed in collaboration with the Public Library Association, working through trusted local institutions to help people build practical AI skills. By pairing new technology with local knowledge, the initiative is helping communities explore how AI can support their needs and open new possibilities, while putting local leaders and organizations at the center of that work. Read the full story here.
Russia is testing NATO’s red lines with escalating drone attacks and airspace violations. Can Europe defend Ukraine and itself without help from the US? Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski joins Ian Bremmer on GZERO World.
Who among us has not gotten stiffed by a superpower. #PUPPETREGIME
Is Putin's war machine starting to crack? Poland's foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski discusses Ukraine's battlefield gains and mounting economic pressure on Russia.