News
Hard Numbers: More good food news, runaway Argentine inflation, Ivorian pardon, Bangladesh fuel price hike
Paige Fusco
170,000: Four more ships carrying almost 170,000 metric tons of grain left Ukraine's Black Sea ports on Sunday, the same day the first foreign-flagged vessel arrived there since the Russian invasion in February. More welcome news for mitigating the global food crisis, although it'll take months to reach pre-war export levels.
90.2: Analysts now predict that Argentina's inflation will reach a whopping 90.2% this year, 16.2 percentage points higher than the previous estimate. Getting inflation under control is priority no. 1 for Sergio Massa, the newly minted "super minister" in charge of saving the economy.
20: Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara pardoned his predecessor Laurent Gbagbo, sentenced in 2018 to 20 years in prison for stoking political turmoil that led to a brief civil war in 2011. Gbagbo returned from exile a year ago after the ICC acquitted him of war crimes during the same period.
50: Bangladesh has raised the price of fuel by 50%, its largest-ever hike. The government needs to cut back on subsidies in order to get a big IMF loan, but the move is already triggering mass protests and will likely result in higher inflation.1,170: The number of high-rise buildings in Kyiv that were left without heating following a barrage of Russian attacks last night on Ukraine’s capital and its energy facilities, per Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hold up signed documents regarding securing the supply of critical minerals and rare earths, at a bilateral meeting at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo, Japan, October 28, 2025.
Representatives from the European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, and others will meet in Washington this week to discuss a strategic alliance on critical minerals.
80,000: The number of people estimated to be in the streets of Czechia on Sunday to show their support for President Petr Pavel after he blocked the nomination of an environmental minister who performed the Nazi salute and posted Nazi memorabilia.
The US has started handing $1,000 to the bank accounts of newborn babies. But can policies like this one help boost sagging birthrates in advanced democracies?