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Hard Numbers: Vanilla sees the sky, heat dome sweeps the US South, new sub discovery, riots in France

Vanilla the chimpanzee reacts after seeing the sky for the first time at Save the Chimps sanctuary in Fort Pierce, Florida.
Vanilla the chimpanzee reacts after seeing the sky for the first time at Save the Chimps sanctuary in Fort Pierce, Florida.
Save the Chimps/via REUTERS

28: Vanilla, a chimpanzee locked in a claustrophobic cage at US research labs for 28 years, was last year relocated to a sanctuary in Florida, where she is now free to frolic as she wishes. The sanctuary this week released a video of Vanilla seeing the sky for the first time, and it will wreck you. Happy Friday!

12: At least a dozen people have died as a result of a brutal heat dome sweeping the southern United States. Blistering temperatures are also plaguing northern Mexico, where temperatures surpassed a brutal 121 F (49 C) in recent days. Meanwhile, the heat dome, which occurs when a high-pressure mass is stuck over a certain area, is expected to spread.

11: Some 11 days after the Titan submersible went missing while on an exploratory mission of the Titanic wreckage, search and recovery crews say that some human remains have been found among the debris pulled from the ocean.

40,000: As riots continue over the death of a French youth outside Paris by police during a traffic stop, France plans to deploy 40,000 cops to quell the violence and halt nighttime bus and tram services. The spiraling situation presents a quandary for President Emmanuel Macron, who doesn’t want to be seen as unsympathetic to racial justice causes but also can’t be seen as soft on lawlessness — such is the curse of radical centrism!

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Members of security forces stand guard outside a polliong station, a week late in a special election, after the local governing party kept voting closed on election day, amid accusations of sabotage and fraud, in a presidential race still too close to call as counting continues, in San Antonio de Flores, Honduras, December 7, 2025.
REUTERS/Leonel Estrada

More than a week after Hondurans cast their ballots in a presidential election, the country is still stuck in a potentially-dangerous post-election fog.