Beirut Blast a Painful Reminder for Small Texas Town

August 18, 2020

Remembering the West, Texas Explosion of April, 2013 | Support for Beirut | GZERO World

In 2013, a blast at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas nearly leveled the town and killed 15 people. The cause--an explosion of the chemical ammonium nitrate, the same substance involved in the tragic blast that occurred recently in Beirut, Lebanon. GZERO Media traveled to West, Texas, to meet Mayor Tommy Muska. Hear his harrowing story, and his words of support for a city thousands of miles away.

Watch the GZERO World episode: Lebanon Post-Blast: Rage in the Streets of Beirut

Hard Numbers: Bolivia’s left-wing streak ends, small boats continue sailing to the UK, Canadians strike, Africa wants to put its real size on the map

People celebrate after early official results show Bolivian presidential candidate Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga of the conservative Alianza Libre coalition in second place, and as the ruling party Movement for Socialism (MAS) was on track to suffer its worst electoral defeat in a generation, in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, August 17, 2025.

REUTERS/Ipa Ibanez

20: The centrist Rodrigo Paz and the conservative Jorge Quiroga advanced to Bolivia’s presidential runoff election after winning the most votes in Sunday’s first round, ensuring that a left-wing politician won’t occupy the country’s presidency for the first time in 20 years.

Beirut Blast a Painful Reminder for Small Texas Town

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Beirut Blast a Painful Reminder for Small Texas Town

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20: The centrist Rodrigo Paz and the conservative Jorge Quiroga advanced to Bolivia’s presidential runoff election after winning the most votes in Sunday’s first round, ensuring that a left-wing politician won’t occupy the country’s presidency for the first time in 20 years.

Hurricane Erin intensified quickly over the weekend, becoming a Category 5 storm packing wind speeds of 160 miles per hour.

Pakistan and China have deep strategic and economic ties that go back decades. On GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, Former Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Khar explains why Pakistan sees China as a “force of stability” in Southeast Asia.

GZEROMEDIA

Subscribe to GZERO Media's newsletter: Signal

Following a terrorist attack in Kashmir last spring, India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers, exchanged military strikes in an alarming escalation. Former Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Khar joins Ian Bremmer on GZERO World to discuss Pakistan’s perspective in the simmering conflict.

Former Pakistani Foreign Minster Hina Khar joins Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World Podcast to discuss the intense, four-day conflict with India last spring, Pakistan’s perspective, and the dangers of rapidly escalating tensions between two nuclear-armed nations.

Putin and Trump get to yes. #PUPPETREGIME

A military confrontation between India and Pakistan in May nearly pushed the two nuclear-armed countries to the brink of war. On Ian Explains, Ian Bremmer breaks down the complicated history of the India-Pakistan conflict, one of the most contentious and bitter rivalries in the world.

Think you know what's going on around the world? Here's your chance to prove it.