News
Hard Numbers: Odesa in darkness, Pan Am 103 arrest, Japan religious solicitation ban, Peruvian early vote
A vendor waits for customers in a small store that is lit with candles during a power outage in Odesa.
REUTERS/Serhii Smolientsev
1.5 million: Over the weekend, Russian airstrikes with Iranian-made drones knocked out the power network in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, leaving 1.5 million people in darkness. Meanwhile, the US warned that defense ties between Moscow and Tehran are rapidly expanding into a full-blown military partnership.
270: The US Department of Justice announced Sunday the arrest of a Libyan intelligence officer charged with making the bomb that in 1988 brought down Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 270 people. It's a major development in the investigation of the bombing, which foreshadowed the threat of international terrorism more than a decade before 9/11.
7,300: Japan's parliament passed Saturday a new law banning religious groups from "maliciously" soliciting donations, with violators facing up to a year in prison or a $7,300 fine. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's approval rating has plummeted over the ties between his ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the controversial Unification Church following the July assassination of former PM Shinzo Abe by an ex-member of the Moonies.
2: At least two people died in violent protests demanding the resignation of Peru's newly minted President Dina Boluarte. Boluarte — who was sworn in just days ago after her old boss, Pedro Castillo, was removed following a botched self-coup — announced Sunday that she won't serve the entire remainder of Castillo's term and will call an early presidential election in April 2024.
Europe can no longer rely on the US and must step up to defend its own future, Ian Bremmer reports from the Munich Security Conference.
Think you know what's going on around the world? Here's your chance to prove it.
A poster featuring Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, is installed on a sign leading to the parking area of the Sandringham Estate in Wolferton, as pressure builds on him to give evidence after the U.S. Justice Department released more records tied to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in Norfolk, Britain, February 5, 2026.
British police arrested former Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor today over allegations that in 2010, when he was a UK trade envoy, he shared confidential government documents with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.