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Hard Numbers: Trump’s favorability, Niger attack, lone ship braves Black Sea, Vietnamese EV maker’s big debut, neo-Nazis take to the streets

Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he campaigns in Iowa.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he campaigns in Iowa.
Reuters

35: A new poll finds that just 35% of Americans have a favorable view of Donald Trump, while 62% have an unfavorable view of the former president. The survey, which also found that 53% approve of the recent Justice Department decision to indict Trump, was conducted before Trump was indicted Monday in Georgia.

17: Seventeen Nigerien soldiers were killed and scores more were injured when a jihadist group launched an attack Wednesday near the border with Mali. It’s the first major attack in that country in six months and comes just weeks after a military coup that regional and Western leaders have warned will leave a power vacuum that the Islamic State and al-Qaida affiliates will seek to exploit.

1: On Wednesday, a 1,000-foot-long civilian container ship, stranded in Odesa since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly 18 months ago, became the first to leave port since Russia threatened to sink all ships moving to and from Ukraine. Kyiv says the safe corridor it has established will help ships maneuver past mines. But there is no guarantee that Russian forces won’t attack them.

85 billion: On its first day of trading in New York, shares in Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast closed above $37, giving the company a stock market valuation of $85 billion. Compare that with the market capitalization at Tuesday’s close of $48 billion for Ford and $46 billion for General Motors.

3: Germany saw a three-fold increase in marches by neo-Nazi groups and other far-right extremists in the first six months of this year, perhaps as a result of the end of the COVID regulations that prevented public protests. Want to understand why the far-right is on the rise in Germany? Read our explainer here.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with journalists to comment on new U.S. sanctions targeting two major Russia's oil producers, as well as other international issues, in Moscow, Russia, October 23, 2025.
Sputnik/Alexander Shcherbak/Pool via REUTERS

The US has paused Russian oil sanctions in a bid to stabilize energy markets rocked by the war with Iran. Administration officials stress that it’s a “tailored” measure, applying only to oil already loaded onto tankers, but it’s still a gift to Russia, which has already been clocking an extra $150 million daily in oil revenues since the war began.

A Boeing C-135 Stratotanker / Stratolifter military aircraft known as KC-135 of the United States Air Force USAF configured as Air Tanker Transport for aerial refueling, powered by 4x CFMI jet engines and tail number 63-8003. The military plane spotted flying over the Netherlands in the blue sky from Mainland USA to Tel Aviv TLV to support the Israel USA - Iran war known as Operation Epic Fury by the US Department of Defense. Venlo, the Netherlands on March 2, 2026
Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto

4: The number of crew members aboard a US refuelling plane – out of six total – who died after the aircraft crashed in neighboring Iraq on Thursday, US Central Command said this morning.