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120 million: Between now and March, officials expect around 120 million Hindu pilgrims to gather at the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna, and Saraswati rivers near the city of Prayagraj in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The celebration, known as the Kumbh Mela festival, will be so big that it is expected to be visible from space.

993: Governments around the world executed 993 prisoners in 2017, according to Amnesty International. The tally doesn't include China, thought to be the world's top executioner, which keeps the frequency of its use of capital punishment a closely guarded secret. This week a Chinese court hastily sentenced a Canadian citizen to death in a drug smuggling case, in a decision many saw as a thinly-veiled response to Canada's detention of a top Chinese tech executive.


90: Approximately 90 percent of all economic espionage cases handled by the US Justice Department over the past seven years have involved China. Alleged theft of American intellectual property is one of the major sticking points in trade talks and the growing strategic confrontation between Washington and Beijing.

31: Around 31 percent of Britons say they trust the European Union, the second lowest in the common bloc above only Greece.

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Hard Numbers: Kenya restarts railroad project without China, South Africans return from Ukraine war, the rapper who wants to run Nepal, Russians say things are going well
$4 billion: The amount Kenya wants to raise in order to complete a partially built railway line that was abandoned in 2019. The project, which will link Nairobi with South Sudan, Uganda, and Kenya, came to a halt after initial funding from China dried up. This time around, Kenya wants to finance the project itself, through new import tariffs, [...]
​An army soldier stands guard at a post at the Friendship Gate, following exchanges of fire between Pakistan and Afghanistan forces, at the border crossing between the two countries in Chaman, Pakistan February 27, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone.

An army soldier stands guard at a post at the Friendship Gate, following exchanges of fire between Pakistan and Afghanistan forces, at the border crossing between the two countries in Chaman, Pakistan February 27, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone.

REUTERS/Abdul Khaliq Achakzai
Pakistan and Afghanistan in “open war”Pakistan has declared “open war” against Afghanistan, as the two sides engage in the fiercest clashes in years. On Thursday, Afghan’s Taliban-run forces launched six cross-border attacks on Pakistani military positions. Pakistan retaliated today with air attacks on Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia, hitting Afghan [...]
Former British ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson leaves his residence after he was released following his arrest by London police on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, following the release of U.S. Justice Department files linked to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in London, Britain, February 26, 2026.

Former British ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson leaves his residence after he was released following his arrest by London police on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, following the release of U.S. Justice Department files linked to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in London, Britain, February 26, 2026.

REUTERS/Toby Melville
The ghost of Jeffrey Epstein continues to haunt the world.This week kicked off with British police arresting Peter Mandelson, former UK ambassador to Washington, on suspicion of “misconduct in public office” from his time as business secretary between 2008 and 2010. Mandelson wasn’t named in the arrest records, part of the UK’s rules banning them [...]
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands during a press conference in Jerusalem on February 26, 2026.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands during a press conference in Jerusalem on February 26, 2026.

GIL COHEN-MAGEN/Pool via REUTERS
Modi, Netanyahu seek to boost India-Israel tiesIndia is set to advance a trade and defense technology deal with Israel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said as he wrapped up a two-day visit to the Jewish state on Thursday, the latest sign that the relationship is blossoming. But the two countries weren’t always close friends – they only established [...]