News
Hard Numbers: Sinn Féin wins, HK gets new pro-China boss, Nigeria grounds flights, NYC rats on a rampage
Annie Gugliotta
27: For the first time, Sinn Féin became the largest party in Northern Ireland's assembly after winning 27 seats in Thursday's election. The result matters because Sinn Féin openly supports reunification with the Republic of Ireland, an EU member state, and because UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson might use Northern Ireland to pick another fight with Brussels.
99: John Lee was "elected" Sunday as Hong Kong's next chief executive. The former top cop got 99% of the vote from a committee of some 1,500 politicians and tycoons almost entirely handpicked by China, which is expected to further tighten its grip on the territory and quash remnants of its pro-democracy movement with Lee in charge.
1.68: On Monday, Nigeria will become the world's first country to ground all domestic flights because refined jet fuel is too expensive. The airlines say they can no longer shoulder the soaring cost of fuel, which has almost tripled to $1.68 per liter this year.
7,400: Move over, Pizza Rat. New Yorkers called in some 7,400 rat sightings in April, the highest monthly rate in over a decade. The pandemic has pushed them out of the subways and onto the streets of the Big Apple, where the rodents continue to feast on their favorite scraps.In this special edition of “ask ian,” Ian Bremmer reflects on the life and passing of his beloved dog, Moose.
2.8 is way above the UN target of 1.5 degrees that was set by the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has deployed 500 troops to Milan and tightened nationwide anti-rioting laws in an effort to quell unrest that has gripped the city since the weekend.
President Trump has changed course on Ukraine before. We all remember the Oval Office pyrotechnics (and the reconciliation). But his latest turn toward Russia could prove harder to reverse.