Hard Numbers: US inflation cools down, Russian oil prices heat up, global hunger grows, Pakistan gets relief

Red cart full of dollars to show US inflation
GZERO World

3: Annual inflation in the US continues to fall, coming in at just 3% in June, the lowest rate in more than two years. Still, core inflation — which sets aside volatile costs for energy and food — is still at 4.8%, far above the Fed’s target of 2%.

60.32 The price for a barrel of Russian oil hit $60.32on Wednesday, cracking the $60 price cap that the G7 has tried to impose on Moscow since December. A major factor in the price bump was last month’s decision by the OPEC+ group of oil producers to cut production in order to raise global prices.

783 million: As many as 783 million people — nearly 10% percent of the global population — faced hunger last year, according to the UN. That number rose by more than 120 million since the last study in 2019. Conflict, climate fluctuations, and pandemic-related economic hardships were to blame.

3 billion: Pakistan on Wednesday won approval for a long-awaited $3 billion bailout from the IMF, while also getting a check for $1 billion from the UAE. This came just a day after the Saudis put $2 billion in the Pakistani Central Bank. Pakistan is mired in one of its worst financial crises in recent memory and has neared default several times already this year.

More from GZERO Media

- YouTube

The next leap in artificial intelligence is physical. On Ian Explains, Ian Bremmer breaks down how robots and autonomous machines will transform daily life, if we can manage the risks that come with them.

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer is flanked by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof as he hosts a 'Coalition of the Willing' meeting of international partners on Ukraine at the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) in London, Britain, October 24, 2025.
Henry Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS

As we race toward the end of 2025, voters in over a dozen countries will head to the polls for elections that have major implications for their populations and political movements globally.

The biggest story of our G-Zero world, Ian Bremmer explains, is that the United States – still the world’s most powerful nation – has chosen to walk away from the international system it built and led for three-quarters of a century. Not because it's weak. Not because it has to. But because it wants to.