15: Sometimes hard numbers are hard time. South Africa's top court has sentenced former president Jacob Zuma to 15 months for failing to appear at an inquiry into corruption that occurred during his time in office. Separately, Zuma is facing charges over graft involving a $5 billion arms deal from the 1990s, before he was president.
32: Annual asylum applications in the EU and several affiliated countries fell 32 percent last year to 485,000 claims, the lowest total since 2013. Officials say the decrease was due chiefly to pandemic-related travel restrictions rather than any softening of demand for safe haven in Europe.
21: The semi-autonomous state of Puntland in Somalia has executed 21 men who were convicted of being members of al-Shabab, a jihadist group that controls large swaths of Somalia and has wreaked havoc across East Africa. The men were killed by firing squad.
3: Rightwing Swedish opposition leader Ulf Kristersson has three days to try to cobble together a government after center-left PM Stefan Löfven resigned as a result of losing a no-confidence vote last week. If he fails, other parties can try, but after four failed attempts the country would go to snap elections.In this episode of ask ian, Ian Bremmer explains why Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky enters his latest White House meeting with President Trump in a stronger position than he did just a few months ago.
Competitive pay. 401(k) contributions upon employment and 6% company match once eligible. Up to 16 weeks of combined paid maternity and parental leave. These benefits and more inspire generations – Daidrian’s 18-year Walmart journey motivated her son Jonothan to launch his own career as a Walmart associate. Learn more.
US consumers have spent nearly $74 billion more on gasoline and diesel since the war in Iran began in February
Last week, Microsoft joined more than 100 companies to publish an open letter on the importance of open-weight AI models in expanding access to AI and giving organizations greater control over the technology they use. The paper draws parallels to the open-source software movement, positioning open-weight models as an important foundation for a broad and competitive AI ecosystem while emphasizing the need for responsible safeguards. Read the letter here.