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Hard Numbers: Turkish corruption probe, Shenzhen tech lockdown, costly Russian donation, giant pumpkin ride
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the NATO Summit in Madrid.
Jakub Porzycki via Reuters Connect
5: Five Turkish opposition parties filed legal complaints to demand the state investigate allegations of corruption against allies of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling party, which the judiciary has long been thought to be soft on. The claims were first made in May 2021 by Sedat Peker, a fugitive mafia boss-turned-whistleblower who went viral with his unhinged YouTube clips detailing dirt on the president and his buddies.
11: China shut down the world's largest wholesale electronics market in Shenzhen after the southern megacity reported 11 COVID cases on Sunday. The closure of the tech hub will put even more pressure on already tight global supply chains due to Beijing's zero-COVID policy.
16: Russian journalist Andrei Zayakin was charged with illegally funding an extremist group after donating $16 to the Foundation for Fighting Corruption, a banned NGO started by jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Zayakin is the first person to be publicly charged for donating to the organization and faces eight years behind bars if convicted.
38: An American man from Nebraska celebrated his 60th birthday by floating for 38 miles along the Missouri River on a hollowed-out giant pumpkin. The trip is now being verified for the Guinness World Record for the world's longest on the orange vegetable.South Sudan is accusing neighboring Sudan of launching a drone strike that killed at least 73 people at a market in Abyei, a disputed, oil-rich region of roughly 4,000 square miles claimed by both countries.
In this Quick Take, Ian Bremmer says President Donald Trump's approach to the war in Ukraine is putting more pressure on President Volodymyr Zelensky and raising concerns among European allies about the future of NATO.
Ongoing student protests in France descended into looting and riots over the weekend as more than half a million people took to the streets across the country.
After his father was killed in a plane crash in 2023, Pavel was tapped to lead Wagner.