News
May 14, 2019
14,000: A sprawling NYT report says more than 128,000 people have disappeared into Syria's government prison system, where torture, rape, and summary executions are rampant, since the start of the civil war in 2011. Some 14,000 people are believed to have been tortured to death, with one officer proudly calling himself "Hitler."
2/3: Cuba, hit by tighter US sanctions and shrinking imports of cheap oil from Venezuela, has returned to a policy of rationing basic foodstuffs. The state-controlled economy imports roughly two-thirds of what its 11 million citizens eat, at an annual bill of $2 billion.
2.8 billion: Since 2016, Facebook has deleted some 2.8 billion "fake" accounts as part of a Whack-A-Mole style effort to stamp out disinformation campaigns designed to mess with elections. The tech giant's next big test on this score is the European Parliamentary election later this month.
815,000: The tariffs that the Trump administration imposed on imported washing machines last year helped to create nearly 2,000 new jobs in the United States, at a cost to consumers of more than $815,000 per job created, according to a University of Chicago study. #TradeoffsOfTradeMore For You

A photograph posted by U.S. President Donald Trump on his Truth Social account shows him sitting next to CIA Director John Ratcliffe as they watch the U.S. military operation in Venezuela from Trump's Mar a Lago resort, in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., January 3, 2026.
@realDonaldTrump/Handout via REUTERS
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In this "ask ian," Ian Bremmer analyzes Trump’s recent meeting with Zelensky and how close (or far) Russia and Ukraine are from a peace deal.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa attends the military parade of the Syrian army in Umayyad Square in central Damascus to mark the one-year anniversary of the fall of the Assad regime, on Dec. 8, 2025.
Mohammed Al-Rifai/dpa via Reuters Connect
A year ago this month, Syria’s brutal dictatorship collapsed. There are signs of recovery, but sectarian violence threatens to undermine the optimism.
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