News

Hard Numbers: Migrants overwhelm Italy, Myanmar activists executed, EU gas solidarity tested, China's BRI sours on Russia

Hard Numbers: Migrants overwhelm Italy, Myanmar activists executed, EU gas solidarity tested, China's BRI sours on Russia
Sea Watch crew member gives lifejackets to migrants on an overcrowded inflatable boat in the Mediterranean Sea.
Nora Bording/Sea Watch/Handout via REUTERS

1,200: Almost 1,200 undocumented migrants from Africa and the Middle East arrived over the weekend in Italy, where immigration centers are already overwhelmed. Giorgia Meloni, the far-right frontrunner to become the next PM, has vowed to crack down hard on migration if she gets the top job.

4: Myanmar's military junta executed four pro-democracy activists, the first time the country has carried out the death penalty since 1988 according to the UN. The four include a former MP and all were convicted of committing "terror acts."

15: Some EU member states are pushing back against Brussels' plans to cut natural gas consumption by 15% to ensure winter supplies as Russia lowers deliveries. So much for EU solidarity in the face of possible gas rationing for much of the bloc.

0: Investment in Russia by China's Belt and Road Initiative has dropped to zero for the first time. Although the Chinese are buying a lot more Russian fossil fuels since the invasion of Ukraine, Beijing worries that future infrastructure projects inside Russia could become exposed to Western sanctions.

More For You

QatarEnergy's liquefied natural gas production facilities, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar, on March 2, 2026.
REUTERS/Stringer

The US-Israeli war with Iran has badly damaged oil & gas producers in the Gulf and consumers in the Indo-Pacific. But not all countries within those regions will feel the pain equally.

A Russian LNG tanker, Arctic Metagaz, damaged earlier this month and currently adrift without crew, floats in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea between Malta and the Italian islands of Lampedusa and Linosa, in this handout picture released on March 13, 2026.
Marina Militare/Handout via REUTERS

700: The tons of fuel and liquefied natural gas aboard a Russian tanker that is currently floating around the Mediterranean Sea unmanned, after a drone attack earlier this month prompted the crew to abandon ship.