Hard Numbers: Zuckerberg helps fund US election, Latin American job losses, Germans for QAnon, cashless WFP

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan. Reuters

400 million: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have donated a total $400 million to help US state and local governments safely oversee the 2020 election, including funds to cover polling place rentals and personal protective equipment for poll workers. Meanwhile, conservative groups are suing Zuckerberg to block such private funding of elections.

9: It could take Latin America as long as 9 years for employment to return to pre-pandemic levels, according to research conducted by the Inter-American Development Bank. The impact of COVID-19 is widely expected to wipe out decades of progress on poverty reduction across the region.

200,000: Roughly 200,000 Germans are believed to be followers of QAnon, the extreme rightwing US conspiracy theory that claims that that US President Donald Trump is fighting a secret war against a left-wing elite "deep state" of Satan-worshipping pedophiles. It's the largest number of any non-English speaking country, and comes as social media platforms try to crack down on QAnon to curb the online spread of misinformation.

6.8 billion: The World Food Program needs $6.8 billion from its government and non-government donors over the next six months to help avoid a pandemic-induced famine around the world. The UN agency recently won the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize for its work on fighting global hunger.

More from GZERO Media

Young Iranian female protesters shout anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli slogans while participating in a protest to condemn the U.S. attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities in downtown Tehran, Iran, on June 22, 2025, amid the Iran-Israel war.
Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto

The United States is back at war in the Middle East: Late Saturday evening, the US military unleashed 75 precision-guided weapons, including 14 “bunker-buster” bombs, against Iran’s Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites. Israel followed up by hitting Fordo’s access routes on Monday. US President Donald Trump is now openly contemplating regime change.

A miniature statue of US President Donald Trump stands next to a model bunker-buster bomb, with the Iranian national flag in the background, in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, on June 19, 2025.
STR/NurPhoto

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he will decide whether to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities “in the next two weeks,” a move that re-opens the door to negotiations, but also gives the US more time to position military forces for an operation.

People ride motorcycles as South Korea's LGBTQ community and supporters attend a Pride parade, during the Seoul Queer Culture Festival, in Seoul, South Korea, June 14, 2025.
REUTERS/Kim Soo-hyeon

June is recognized in more than 100 countries in the world as “Pride Month,” marking 55 years since gay liberation marches began commemorating the Stonewall riots – a pivotal uprising against the police’s targeting of LGBTQ+ communities in New York.

Port of Nice, France, during the United Nations Oceans Conference in June 2025.
María José Valverde

Eurasia Group’s biodiversity and sustainability analyst María José Valverde sat down with Rebecca Hubbard, the director of the High Seas Alliance, to discuss the High Seas Treaty.

Housing shortages in the US and Canada have become a significant problem – and a contentious political issue – in recent years. New data on housing construction this week suggest neither country is making enough progress to solve the shortfalls. Here’s a snapshot of the situation on both sides of the border.