Hard Numbers: Polish culture wars, Burkina Faso refugees, US jets for Taiwan, big loss for Norway

August 18, 2020

67,800: The town of Tuchow in southern Poland will receive $67,800 in government funding after losing access to EU financial assistance for declaring itself "free of LGBTQ ideology." LGBTQ rights have become a flashpoint of Polish culture wars, with the ruling Law and Justice party pushing for what it calls "pro-family" policies in rural parts of the country despite EU threats to withdraw funding if such towns discriminate against LBGTQ people.

1 million: About one million people are now displaced due to increasing violence in Burkina Faso, where jihadist groups and a trigger-happy army are wreaking havoc on the local population. On top of climate change, which is making droughts more intense and frequent, now now the coronavirus pandemic has aggravated an already dire humanitarian emergency in the country, one of the poorest in Africa.

66: The US Air Force has agreed to sell 66 F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan. The sale comes amid rapidly deteriorating ties between the US and China, which considers Taiwan part of its territory, and just a week after the US made its highest-level visit to the island since recognizing the People's Republic of China in 1979.

$21 billion: Norway's sovereign wealth fund lost 188 billion kroner ($21 billion) in the first half of 2020 as a result of plummeting stock prices worldwide due to COVID-19. Close to 70 percent of the fund — where the Norwegian state invests its oil revenues — is held in stocks.

Chaos erupts overnight on US campuses. What’s next for student protesters?

NYPD officers arrive at Columbia University on April 30, 2024, to clear demonstrators from an occupied hall on campus.

John Lamparski/NurPhoto via Reuters

Last night, hundreds of NYPD officers entered Columbia University in riot gear, one night after students occupied a building on campus and 13 days after students pitched an encampment that threw kerosene on a student movement against the war in Gaza.

UN: North Korean missiles were used in Ukraine

FILE PHOTO: A view shows parts of an unidentified missile, which Ukrainian authorities believe to be made in North Korea and was used in a strike in Kharkiv earlier this week, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine January 6, 2024.

REUTERS/Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/File Photo

The United Nations found evidence that Russia struck the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv with a North Korean Hwaseong-11 missile in January, according to a new report.

Netanyahu: Rafah invasion looms, cease-fire or not

An Israeli soldier looks on from a vehicle near the Israel-Gaza border, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Israel, April 30, 2024.

REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Despite offering a watered-down hostage deal proposal to Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said an invasion of Rafah — the southern Gaza city where over a million Palestinians are sheltering — would move forward “with or without” a cease-fire.

Hard Numbers: Polish culture wars, Burkina Faso refugees, US jets for Taiwan, big loss for Norway

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Chaos erupts overnight on US campuses. What’s next for student protesters?

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UN: North Korean missiles were used in Ukraine

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Despite offering a watered-down hostage deal proposal to Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said an invasion of Rafah — the southern Gaza city where over a million Palestinians are sheltering — would move forward “with or without” a cease-fire.

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Hard Numbers: Polish culture wars, Burkina Faso refugees, US jets for Taiwan, big loss for Norway

GZEROMEDIA

Subscribe to GZERO Media's newsletter: Signal

More from GZERO Media

On GZERO World, Pulitzer prize-winning New York Times correspondent David Sanger argues that China's rise and Russia's aggressive stance signal a new era of major power competition, with both countries fueling instability in the US to distract from their strategic ambitions.

Last night, hundreds of NYPD officers entered Columbia University in riot gear, one night after students occupied a building on campus and 13 days after students pitched an encampment that threw kerosene on a student movement against the war in Gaza.

How will the international community respond to an Israeli invasion of Rafah? How would a Trump presidency be different from his first term? Are growing US campus protests a sign of a chaotic election in November? Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.

The judge in the so-called hush money case in New York against presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has fined the former president for repeatedlyviolating a gag order that bars him from publicly criticizing witnesses and jurors.

GZEROMEDIA

Subscribe to GZERO Media's newsletter: Signal

The United Nations found evidence that Russia struck the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv with a North Korean Hwaseong-11 missile in January, according to a new report.

Despite offering a watered-down hostage deal proposal to Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said an invasion of Rafah — the southern Gaza city where over a million Palestinians are sheltering — would move forward “with or without” a cease-fire.

There’s a voice on the internet that sounds just like me. In a way, it is me.

Eight major newspapers, all owned by the hedge fund Alden Global Capital, are suing ChatGPT maker OpenAI in federal court in Manhattan, alleging copyright infringement.